O ctober 24,2001
3 Z l |c ^ i î o r t l a n b ( O b s e r v e r
Pa«e B3
B Sports / METRO
Blazers Celebrate Read to Achieve Week
Ducks
Shine, But
Cardinals
Slip Away
Keenan Howry (left) outpaces Simba Hodari o f the Stanford
Cardinals for his second touchdown catch o f the day.
photo by D avid G iezyng /T he P ortland O bserver
Johnny P aylor o f the T railblazers team takes a
break to read a ch ild ren ’s story to tw o A lbina H ead
Start students.
M em bers o f the T railblazers participated in the
N B A ’s Read to A chieve W eek, a com m unity out­
reach reading event that w as held at the R ose Room
in the Rose G arden on M onday.
Reaching an estim ated 50 million children a year.
Read to Achieve is the most extensive educational
outreach initiative in the history o f professional sports.
T hroughout the w eek, the N B A ’s 29 team s will
host local reading events, w hich are designed to
help prom ote the im portance o f reading and educa­
tion in local youth and their fam ilies.
Big Unit, D ’backs Finish
Off Braves in NLCS
Sooners No. 1
In BCS Ratings
Defending national cham pion
O klahom a tops the first ed i­
tion o f the Bow l C ham pion­
ship S eries standings. T he 7-
0 Sooners are follow ed by N e­
braska and U CLA . M iam i —
No. 1 in the U SA T O D A Y /
ESPN poll — stands fourth in
the BCS.
Earnhardt Jr.
Scores Rousing
Talladega Victory
T A L L A D E G A , Ala. - Dale
Earnhardt Jr. headed o ff a late
challenge from Tony Stew art
and stayed in front o f huge
last lap w reck to win the EA
S p o rts 5 0 0 a t T a lla d e g a
S u perspeedw ay. E arnhardt
p a s s e d B o b b y L a b o n te ,
S tew art's team m ate, entering
the first turn o f the last lap to
take com m and. E arnhardt,
w ho claim ed a $ 1 m illion bo­
nus, scored his third victory
o f the season. S tew art fin­
ished second and Je ff Burton
third.
by M ike L opresi
G anett N ews S ervice
A T LA N T A — F our years old,
and the A rizona D iam ondbacks
are going to the W orld Series.
Behold the pow er o f pitching. T wo
pitchers, especially. O ne o f them
R andy Johnson, w hose long w ait
for a W orld Series trip ended not
w ith all-conquering dom inance
but the mighty will o f holding back
an entire team , even w hen the
m agic had left his left arm. T he 3-
2 victory that resulted closed out
the A tlanta Braves in the N ational
League Cham pionship Series 4-1.
The D iam ondbacks now' aw ait the
start o f the W orld Series at home
Saturday.
The D iam ondbacks, a creation
o f the 1990s, were pushed by many
hands. Sunday, it w as a hom e run
from the unlikely bat o f Erubiel
Durazo, a fifth-inning two-run shot
th a t sh o o k T u rn e r F ie ld an d
doom ed T om G lavine. And spec­
tacular relief from Byung-H yun
K im . S eco n d b asem a n C raig
C ounsell, huge in early gam es,
was nam ed series M VP.
But in the end, the Braves were
done in m ost o f all by the Big Two.
A rizona needed four gam es in
this series. Jo h n so n and C urt
Schilling w on three. In 25 innings,
they gave up three runs, struck
out 31.
M ost o f the tim e, they blew
through the Braves. But Sunday,
w ith so m uch at stake and the
W orld Series so close, Johnson
had to grind w ith everything he
had. Especially in the seventh in­
ning, w hen his location left him.
Brian Allen slips away (right) from Duck defender Wesley Mallard as
the Cardinals find a way to “dodge the bullet”
to defeat the Ducks 49-42 in Saturday's Oct. thriller.
photos bv D avid G iezyng /T he P ortland O bserver
Kwan to Skate Alone
ARLINGTON, Va.— Michelle
K w an, the five-tim e national
cham pion, four-tim e w orld
cham pion figure skater, has
split w ith her coach o f 10
years, Frank C arroll o v er the
direction o f her career. The
m ove m eans K w an w ill w ork
alone in the upcom ing W inter
Olympics.
Lions’ Moore
Out for Season
PO N T IA C , M ich. - T he D e­
tro it L io n s p la ce H erm an
ivioore, m e m o s i p r o u u c u v e
receiver in team history, on
injured reserve w ith a hip in­
jury, m eaning that he will miss
the rest o f the 2001 season.
M oore, w ho is in his 1 l 'h sea­
son, injured his hip in the sec­
ond quarter o f Detroit ’ s 31 -26
loss at M innesota.
No.l Capriati Struggles
to Win Over Qualifier
Z U R IC H , S w itzerland - Jen ­
nifer C apriati m ade an uncon­
vincing start to her reign as
the No. 1 player, needing three
sets to beat Russian w ild card
N a d ia P e tr o v a at th e
S w isscom C hallenge. T his
w as her first singles m atch
since she overtook M artina
H ingis for the top ranking.
She show ed little intensity
against Petrova, w inning 6-3,
3 -6 ,6 -2 in the second round.
October 27 - A p ril 28
P ost T imes : Friday • 7:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday • 1:00 p.m.
(503) 285-9144 • 1001 N. Schmeer Rd.
www.portlandmeadows.com
F ree P arking
F ree M ainline A dmission
.1
t
O regon sparkled Saturday,
then fizzled as they allowed turn­
overs, a surprise onside kick
and tw o blocked punts to dash
their hopes o f a victory and end
a 23-game home winning streak.
O regon, sporting a 14-point
fourth quarter lead, allow ed un­
thinkable and w hat proved to
be unforgivable oversights and
m istakes to keep them from
putting any points on the board
w hen they needed them m ost -
the fourth quarter.
T he D u ck s w a tc h e d th e
gam e, a hom e w inning streak
and possibly a national ch am ­
pionship sneak out the back
d o o r in their 49-42 loss to
Stanford ( 4-1,3-1 in the Pac 10
Conference).
Even with K eenan H ow ry 's
school record in all-purpose
yards 338, the D ucks co u k ln ’t
find a way to put any 4,h quarter
points on the board.
As the D ucks look at their
next contest with Pac 10 leader
W ashington State, one w ould
only hope that the D ucks are
clear that thou shall not think a
lot o f small things will not make
a m em orable big thing.