Page B2
December 1, 1999
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■ Metro/Sports
Blazers flirt with disaster... and he show's up
PORTLAND. Ore. (AP) - The Portland
Trail Blazers have been close to this
kind o f loss for som e time. A nd the
Indiana Pacers w ere in just the m ood
to give it to them.
“W e are not tough right now ,” said
Brian Grant, the only Blazers player
w ho show ed any grit in M onday
nig h t’s 93-91 loss to Indiana. “W e
have got to get tough; we have no
s c ra p . L a te ly w e h a v e b e e n
struggling, the last four or five games.
Just getting by .
T he Blazers had won three straight
and nine o f 10, but since a 36-point
win over Atlanta on Nov. 13, Portland
has hardly looked like the dom inant
team everyone expected when ow ner
Paul A llen put together a starting
lineup with a salary o f about $53
million.
D uring that span, the Blazers were
pushed to the lim it by O rlando,
Philadelphia, C harlotte, M innesota
and H ouston - w hich are a com bined
32-37, and they lost to Cleveland.
“W e have been flirting with disaster
for som e tim e now ,” Blazers coach
M ike D unleavy said after his team fell
to 13-3 overall and 5-1 at home. “A lot
o f things contributed to this loss. We
d id n ’t have good shot selection and
u p -fo r-g ra b s
reb o u n d s
an d
hitting shots when
they had to. After
Sundaynight’s 102-
91 loss at Seattle -
In d ia n a ’s fifth in
sev en gam es -
coach L arry Bird
ripped his veterans,
s a y in g i f th e y
w ouldn’t put forth
the effort, he would
p lay his y o u n g er
players.
“T h ere’s no secret
in this game: If you
play hard and play
with som e desire,
y o u ’re going to win
a lot o f gam es,” he
said.
S till, he d id n ’t
sound satisfied.
A sked ifhis players
were listening when
he told them h e’d
shake up the lineup
if their play didn’t improve, Bird said:
“They better be, because I’ve had
enough o f it. I really have. Guys get
paid a lot o f m oney to play hard, and
they sho u ld com e out here and
respect the gam e, and go after it like
w e d id n ’t get m any loose balls.
Indiana played a really energetic
game. T hey deserved to win it.”
The Pacers w orked harder, snaring
they w ant to w in.”
“I’m still the go-to guy on this team ,”
M illersaid. “ Id o n ’tc a r e if l goO-for-
20. The ball better be in m y hands at
T he A ssociated P ress
T he A ssociated P ress
the end o f the game. If the ball is not
going to be in m y hand, I shouldn ’ t be
around here.”
“W e’ve been stum bling for the last
couple o f w eeks, and it’s som ething
we felt w as going to catch up on us,”
Pippen said. “W e’re not getting out
and running and scoring.”
Rasheed W allace had 20 points and
11 rebounds for Portland.
Sampras ready to do battle with Agassi in 2000
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Fred Couples took a wild trip through the 1999 Skins
Gam e, whacking shots out o f rocks, sand and even a
flowering shrub.
A model o f inconsistency. C ouples still m anaged to
rewrite a string o f records as he took the tournam ent title
for the third time and won $635,000 in the 18-hole event.
His total take was a Skins G am e all-time high, and he won
$410,000 o f that on one hole, also a tournam ent record,
w ith a scram bling birdie on No. 18.
The finishing hole was typical o f Couples ’ play over the
two days, w hen he either w as hitting into trouble or
knocking in birdie putts.
O n No. 18, he did both.
“I had nine birdies, and I bet I still only shot par,” said
Couples, alluding to the fact that individual scores aren ’t
kept.
Despite already being the Skins G am e career-leading
money-w inner. Couples h ad n ’t planned to play this year.
He joined the foursome as a replacement for the late Payne
Stewart.
W ith the $410,000 and tournam ent title riding on No. 18,
Couples began by pulling his drive o ff the fairway to the
left. The ball sailed into a shrub and w edged in between
bloom s, 6 inches o ff the ground.
N o problem. Couples poked a recovery shot into the
fairway, then sailed a4-iron shot some 210 yards, stopping
the ball 15 feet from the pin. A fter watching Sergio Garcia
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Sometimes, the em otional highs o f
the football playoffs are tempered
w ith pain. That w as the case Friday
night at Civic Stadium.
As M arshfield lined up for the finish
o f its Class 4A quarterfinal game
against Central Catholic, its leader
lay sedated on morphine in a Portland
hospital bed.
TrevorW oods’ left leg was in traction.
A Central Catholic player hit him low
after he com pleted a 13-yard pass;
the bone snapped above the knee.
T he injury ended the high school
careerofoneofM arshfield football’s
great leaders.
Later, with 1:12 left, Marshfield trailed
21-17. The Central Catholic fans were
celebrating as backup quarterback
Luke M orrow took the snap.
O n fourthand28 from the Pirates’ 16,
th e d esp erate p lay u n fo ld ed as
planned. Three receivers raced down
the left sideline. M orrow heaved a
long pass to a clum p o f players. The
ball, w hich was tipped twice, floated
into the arm s o f an uncovered M itch
W ade. T h e M a rsh fie ld rec eiv e r
sprinted untouched for the winning
score.
Back at Legacy Emanuel Hospital &
H ealth Center, new s o f M arshfield’s
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JJortlanh
Observer
January 23, 2000 at 4 p.m .
Join the celebration and see the Portland Observer
family and friends take on the Portland Trailblazer’s
Alumni Team. This benefit will create scholarship
funds for those less fortunate and will create a
monument to what Joyce Washington stood
for...equal opportunity and an education for
everyone.
weakened, blood thickens
and J?is heart beats faster
Magnify that by a day,
Sponsored by Citizens for a Healthy Workplace
Everybody deserves smokefree air.
45 years.
M orrow told W oods not to worry.
The Pirates w ould w in for him. They
kept their word.
W oods w ill b e on th e sid e lin e
Saturday at A utzen S tadium for
M arshfield’s sem ifinal gam e against
Beaverton. “They w o n ’t be able to
keep me aw ay from that,” he said.
The team w o n ’t have W oods’ 1,730
yards passing or his 18 touchdowns,
but it will have the best part. Even on
crutches, Trevor W oods will find
some w ay to contribute.
Les Schw ab / Blazer A lum ni vs.
The Portland O bserver C ory C o u g a r’s
C harity B asketball G am e
After just minutes of expo-
sure jo secondnana smoke
fir^nniune system is
You want your
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shined. Late in the gam e, W oods led
the trailing Pirates on a 70-yard drive.
M arshfield overcam e a sack and two
15-yard penalties. O n second and 25,
W oods com pleted a 17-yard pass.
On third and eight, he ran the option
for a first down. W ith 40 seconds left,
the Pirates scored to w in 21-17.
W oods is not a rah-rah leader. He is
quiet before games. But he do esn 't
miss a chance to praise his teammates.
A nd he never criticizes them for
mistakes.
And so on Friday, w hen W oods was
carried into his father’s van in the first
quarter, his substitute ran over to
speak to him. M orrow , a junior, also
grew up w ith football. M orrow ’s
father, G ene, retired this year after
coaching N ew port H igh School for
The Joyce Washington Memorial Scholarship Fund
Presents
It's a scientific fact -
s fuming inside
a week, a year, and he
may as well be
smoking, himself
his putt.
Skins game com petitors donate 20 percent o f the money
they win in the tournam ent to charity, and C ouples chose
to donate 30 percent o f his earnings to the Payne Stewart
M em orial Fund, honoring his friend who died in a plane
crash on O ct. 25.
G arcia donated 20 percent o f his m oney to the sam e fund,
and O ’M eara split his donation betw een the Stew art fund
and another charity he picked to honor the late W innie
Palmer, A rnold Palm er’s wife.
Couples, w ho w on a record 11 skins as he added the 1999
title to his victories in 1995 and 1996, again proved well-
suited to the Skins G am e format, in w hich horrible play on
som e holes can be offset by good shots and big putts at
the right time.
victory boosted W oods.
W oods, who has a 4.0 grade-point
average, is a terrific athlete, but an
even better teamm ate.
“ He is the best leader I’ve had in 29
y e a rs o f c o a c h in g h ig h sc h o o l
football,” M arshfield coach K ent
Wigle said. “He is pretty special when
it com es to that.”
T h is seaso n w as th e C o o s B ay
n ative’s first as a varsity starter. Few
Pirates quarterbacks, how ever, were
b e tte r p r e p a re d . W o o d s ’ lo n g
apprenticeship began in the fourth
grade as a M arshfield ball boy.
He played flag football and trained as
a gym nast in grade school. In the
seventh grade, he began pole vaulting
and playing tackle football.
The speed and agility required by the
v a u lt m a d e W o o d s a b e tte r
quarterback. W hat helped him most,
though, was the m ental discipline he
developed at national track meets.
W oods’ poise was param ount in a
s e a s o n - o p e n in g v ic to r y o v e r
M idw estern League rival Churchill.
T h e p o w e rfu l L an cers k n o ck ed
W oods dow n an d h arassed him
throughout the game. But the lanky
senior stood in the pocket and m ade
plays.
In the first round o f the playoffs
a g a in s t G le n c o e , W o o d s ag ain
?Ì F L
Wort
miss a 10-foot try for birdie, Couples then calm ly rolled in
Trevor Woods is down, but not out as
Marshfield prepares for 4 A championship
11 I in
when free from injury, he w as still in
a class o f his own. “ I ’ve n ever
questioned m y ability w hen I play
against the best players in the world
but to be honest I d idn’t except I
couldplay at that level here. ’ ’ Despite
com peting in so few tournam ents this
year, Sam pras still found tim e to earn
a few m ore lines in the record books,
becom ing the only player this century
to win six W imbledons and equalling
A ustralian Roy Em erson’s record o f
12 grand slam titles.
After w inning in Los Angeles in
August, he becam e the m an with most
weeks num ber one in the history o f
the ATP rankings w ith a total 271
weeks — one m ore than Lendl.
Eastern Conference
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deserves it.”
But Sam pras, who ended the year as
the num ber one player for a record
sixth consecutive tim e in 1998, did
not dism iss a suggestion that he
rem ained the best player in the world
despite A gassi’s achievements.
“ W e could argue about that all day ,”
he said after equalling Ivan L endl’s
record o f five trium phs in the year-
end event with an impressive 6-1 7-
5 6-4 victory. “M aybe it sent him a
m essage but that’s not the w ay I look
at it. It’s not a personal thing with
Andre.” Sampras, who hasdominated
m en’s tennis in the 1990s, com pleted
only eight tournam ents this year but
P ete S am pras m a d e a p o in t by
outplaying A ndre A gassi in the last
m atch o f the decade, setting up an
intriguing battle for tennis supremacy
next year. A fter closing a frustrating,
injury-dogged season by beating the
w orld num ber one in straight sets at
the A TP Tour w orld cham pionship
final on Sunday, Sam pras was elegant
enough to adm ire his long-tim e rival.
“A ndre has played m ore and been
m ore consistent, ’ ’ he said o f A gassi ’ s
trem endous run w hich saw him finish
the year in top spot for the first tim e
in his career. “W inning tw o grand
slam s and being in the final ofanother
Alami
U
d o e s n ’t h ap p e n v ery o ften . H e
A ssociated P ress
V I
s .
Couples hacks way out of shrub
to records, big payday
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