SPORTS
WEEKEND, APRIL 18-19, 2015
Sports shorts
Manziel hopes to
earn back respect
after stint in rehab
CLEVELAND (AP) —
Browns quarterback Johnny
Manziel has apologized to
the team and its fans and
asked for privacy during his
recovery from an undis-
closed substance problem.
Manziel
released a
statement
through the
Browns
on Friday.
He thanked
doctors and staff at Caron, a
Pennsylvania facility which
specializes in the treat-
ment of drugs and alcohol.
Manziel was discharged
last week following a 2
1/2-month stay.
Manziel says he takes
“full responsibility for my
actions” and he intends to
“work very hard to regain
everyone’s trust and re-
spect.”
Manziel, who earned his
“Johnny Football” nickname
while winning the Heisman
Trophy as a freshman at
Texas A&M, intends to
attend Cleveland’s offseason
practices next week.
NBA
Blazers limping into playoffs
Portland weighed down
by glut of injuries
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
PORTLAND — The Trail Blazers limp
into their ¿ rst-round playoff series against
the Memphis Grizzlies on a four-game losing
streak, as injuries ¿ nally appeared to catch up
with the Northwest Division champions.
Now the question is whether those woes
will extend into the postseason.
The Blazers will likely start the playoffs
on Sunday in Memphis with guard Damian
Lillard, center Robin Lopez and forward La-
Marcus Aldridge but those appear to be the
only real certainties to start.
Nicolas Batum, who joins Aldridge and
Lopez up front, is nursing a right knee contu-
sion that kept
SPORT
him out of the
regular-sea-
son ¿ nale, a
114-98 loss to #4 Portland # 5 Memphis
the Mavericks
Blazers
Grizzlies
in Dallas on
(51-31)
(55-27)
We d n e s d a y • Sunday, 2 p.m.
night.
• at FedEx Forum
CJ McCol-
lum, who had
been thrust into the starting lineup following
Wesley Matthews’ season-ending Achilles in-
jury and Arron AfÀ alo’s shoulder injury, also
missed the Dallas game with a sprained left
ankle.
Aldridge came back for the ¿ nale after
missing two games with a sore left foot and
Portland ended the regular season 51-31. The
Blazers wound up with the higher seed be-
See BLAZERS/3B
“This is not
acceptable.This is
a worldwide event
that the city of Las
Vegas is involved
in. It’s one of the
craziest things I’ve
ever seen.”
— Bob Arum
Boxing promoter on the
lack of ticket sales for
the highly-anticipated
Manny Pacquiao-Floyd
Mayweather fi ght at the
MGM Grand on May 2.
Tickets have yet to go on
sale, which is unheard of
according to promoters
such as Arum. Arum has
heard of people cancel-
ling their reservations
to Las Vegas because
they’re afraid they can’t
get tickets.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1966 — Bill Russell of
the Boston Celtics becomes
the ¿ rst African-American
head coach of an NBA team.
1999 — Wayne Gretzky
ends his NHL career at Mad-
ison Square Garden with an
assist, setting up a second-pe-
riod goal as his New York
Rangers fall to Pittsburgh 2-1
in overtime.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
AP Photo/LM Otero
Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge,
left, is defended by Dallas Mavericks center Tyson
Chandler (6) during the fi rst half of an NBA bas-
ketball game Wednesday in Dallas.
UMATILLA
OUR VIEW
Viks sizzle in the heat Moore an
Umatilla’s
Fabian Carde-
nas leads the
pack in the
boys’ 1500
meter run on
Friday at the
River’s Edge
track meet in
Umatilla.
Hall of Famer
Abdul-Jabbar has
bypass surgery
LOS ANGELES —
Basketball Hall of Famer
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is
recovering after undergoing
quadruple coronary bypass
surgery.
A hospital
statement
FACES Friday says on
Abdul-Jabbar
had the surgery
on Thursday at
Ronald Reagan
UCLA Medical
Center.
Abdul-Jabba r
Dr. Richard
Shemin, who
performed the surgery, says
the 68-year-old former NBA
and UCLA star is expected
to make a full recovery.
Abdul-Jabbar is the
NBA’s all-time leading scor-
er with 38,387 points during
a 20-year career with the Los
Angeles Lakers and Mil-
waukee Bucks. The 7-foot-2
center was known for his
trademark sky hook.
In the statement, Ab-
dul-Jabbar says he’s looking
forward to getting back to
his usual activities soon and
he asks that people cherish
and live life to the fullest.
1B
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS
Staff photo by E.J.
Harris
Zitterkob wins four events at home track meet
By SAM BARBEE
EO Media Group
Two meets, two vastly dif-
ferent sets of conditions.
Last Saturday in Stan¿ eld, a
brutal wind send javelin throws
all over the ¿ eld and runners
had to gameplan. Friday, near-
80-degree temperatures forced
athletes, coaches and fans alike
scampering for water and any
shade they could ¿ nd.
For Umatilla’s Amie Zitter-
kob, however, the conditions
were picture perfect.
The Eastern Oregon-bound
sprinter won four events Fri-
day at the River’s Edge invite
in Umatilla, an event that is not
traditionally kind to the host
Vikings. Sprinting coach Mike
Mosher said, for whatever rea-
sons, his runners haven’t run
their best on their home track,
and he’s not sure why.
“It could be a surface thing
and we have to resurface,” he
said of the home struggles.
“But in general, I don’t know.
Maybe (it’s) pressure (from)
fans (and) friends. You’re
working the meet, you’re not
relaxed like you would be at
an away meet — you’re doing
other things. Just in general
for some reason, that’s kind of
where it’s been.”
Combine those potential
pressures and distractions with
See TRACK/2B
unusual case
H
eaps of Blue Mountain Community
College records have fallen with a
basketball in the hands of Mar’Shay
Moore. On Thursday she made more
history, this time with a ballpoint pen.
By signing a Letter of Intent with the
University of Oregon, Moore became the
¿ rst Timberwolf player to ink with a Pac-12
school and just the third ever to sign with a
Division-1 university.
What she’s done on Mosby Court
has already made her the T-Wolves’
greatest hoops ambassador. With a smile
permanently af¿ xed across her face, she’s
carved out the best two years in school
history. But, what happens next, while she’s
Deep in the Woods of Matthew Knight
Arena, will provide a
stronger endorsement for
BMCC.
This is a quantum
leap. There’s a reason that
Moore and former Yakima
Valley players Earlysia
Marchbanks (Oregon
State) and Rosetta Adzsu
Erik
(Washington State) are
Skopil
the only ones to make
Sports
it this decade. It takes a
special talent, with special
circumstances to complete it.
Moore has both.
A wiry 5-foot-8 combo guard whose
ability to get buckets was unparalleled in
the conference this year, no one doubts that
she has the game.
And, a change in regime in Eugene
provided the circumstances.
For over a decade Kelly Graves ruled
the West Coast Conference at Gonzaga.
Last year he split town looking for a new
challenge in Eugene. After one season it’s
clear he’s found it. The Ducks won just 13
games in his premiere, and ¿ nished ninth in
the Pac-12.
Coaches, Graves included, typically shy
away from going the JUCO route. Four-
year players provide stability. But Moore
offered something Graves and his staff are
in dire need of — experience.
“Normally they probably wouldn’t
take JC transfers,” said former BMCC
coach Christy Martin, who brought Moore
to Pendleton from Fort Vancouver High
School in Washington two years ago and
whose connection with Graves helped her
land in Eugene. “But, because they need
See SKOPIL/3B
WNBA
Schimmel not selected in Draft
Louisville guard
keeping busy off
the court
East Oregonian
MISSION — Louisville
guard Jude Schimmel went
undrafted in the 2015 WNBA
Draft on Friday.
Some mock drafts had pro-
jected her going in the third, and
¿ nal, round.
As a senior at Louisville,
Schimmel averaged 7.3 points,
3.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds per
game while memorably leading
Louisville to a 60-52 win over
South Florida in the NCAA
Tournament that sent the Cardi-
nals to their third-straight Sweet
16.
Schimmel scored six of her
13 points in the ¿nal 69 seconds
of that win.
“I knew that I had to be a
leader,” Schimmel told reporters
after that game. “At that point
we needed somebody to step up
and I said ‘why not me.’”
Louisville forward Shawnta
Dyer said the 5-foot-6 guard had
earned her teammates’ trust long
before then.
“She’s the smallest one on
the court, but she makes big
plays all the time,” she said in
an interview with The Couri-
er-Journal after the South Flori-
da game. “Jude is always clutch.
We have a lot of con¿ dence in
her, and she knows it.”
Louisville’s season ended in
the next round with an 82-66
loss to Dayton, and Schimmel
¿ nished her Cardinals career
with a senior class that is the
winningest in program history at
112-31. She is seventh all-time
in steals with 221 and 10th in as-
sists with 392. She also ¿nished
with 711 career points.
She told IndianCountry.com
that she’d been preparing her-
self for the possibility of going
undrafted, which was why she
started working on master’s de-
gree in sports managment after
earning her bachelors degree in
three years.
“I got into sports administra-
tion because I thought I wanted
to manage my sister,” she said
of older sibling Shoni, who be-
came the ¿ rst Native American
to be drafted in the ¿ rst round
when she went No. 8 to the At-
lanta Dream in 2014. “I wanted
a better understanding of the
political and the ¿ nancial part of
the WNBA, regardless if I am a
professional athlete or a manag-
er. I thought I might take my sis-
ter’s career as my own. Trust is a
big thing out there, and it would
set us both up for success.”
See SCHIMMEL/3B
AP Photo/Chris O’Meara
Louisville guard Jude Schimmel (22)
shoots over South Florida guard Shale-
thia Stringfi eld (23 )during a game this
season. Schimmel went undrafted in Fri-
day’s WNBA Draft.