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Sports Wednesday, January 17, 1990 The Gamecock 9 Impatient Hoi embarrassing By JEFF NICHOLS Sports Editor | If patience is one of the seven r?1 virtues, then Charlotte Hornets J fans must be concentrating on the other six. Last year, Hornets tans were Lgi praised as the most enthusiastic, M most loyal fans in the league. Wins and losses didn't matter. Fans sang and danced in the aisles, onl Going to a Hornets game was like 1 going to a party. ble Now, the second season is here, the Suddenly, Hornets fans are having tiv< a hard time facing the music, pla That's mainly because, right now, wc the tune sounds something like the tez second worst record in the league. Ch Not exactly music to the fans' < ears. But then, their own music oui doesn't sound good either. In fact, far it is embarrassing. abi The "boo birds" are singing in tha Charlotte. The party is over. the Not everybody is booing, of co course. But you might have a hard wf time convincing Kelly Tripuka of the that lately. 1-] A year after leading the Hornets in scoring and narrowly missing the out on Comeback Player of the ye Year honors, Tripuka is having a sp< rough season to say the least. pr< He has had to overcome a back injury earlier in the year and is att now facing what the Hornets fans th< have placed on his back ? the th< role of team scapegoat. tej It is a role he shrugged off for nij much of the season. But finally, in Y] a recent post-game interview, Tripuka admitted, while fighting back lit tears, that the boos were getting to re; him, that he did not appreciate the le; boos, and he did not feel he de- frc served them. ne Soon after Tripuka's interview, Bi which was shown on all Charlotte an TV stations, we learned that he is an now trailing only James Worthy for most votes in the Western Con- th ference All-Star balloting. ye If Kelly Tripuka deserves any- di thing less than being singled out lo for a young team's lack of success, it's a place on the All-Star team. Does this mean Hornets fans, fe who are obviously stuffing All Star ballot boxes, are a compassionate bunch after all? No, it oli&n Com| . ii.iFi'f-rrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr i rr rrrrrrrrrr r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r rVr r r _r r r r rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ^rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp'-'" rrrrr^-rrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrr Mexic; Restaurant " in Five Great Mexic Serving Late N Sur 733 Santee Ave. / _w ! <* R veiuxfiveu & bmr Comer of College and Main Street 252-8060 J Don't T The return Wednesday V 0 January # ALL ABC REGULATI 'nets fans A Charlotte }m isrw r jEL JEFF NICHOLS I y embarrasses them further. -act: Tripuka is having a horri- BP year. You don't put a man on lyA All-Star team out of retrospec- 0"* i sympathy for him. There are tyers in the league who have /xrt tr> Ka laff rvff Bi I1KUJ LUVJ IIOlVJ tw UV 1V11 Uil Ul^ im because of fan wars in arlotte. Dver the holidays, I got a kick t of listening to many of these is whine publicly. They whined out traffic (suddenly, the fact it Charlotte trails only L.A. for ; honor of worst traffic in the untry escaped them), they m lined about pizza prices, and ;y whined about guys shooting 10. And when asked to explain why ty boo, in just the team's second ar of existence, most fans reDnded with, "Hey, these guys are 3S " But, in fact, if they really paid ention to what they're saying, ^ j fans might realize that since i Hornets are a pro team, these ( ims they're playing night-in-and ?ht-out must not be made up of T V1CA All-Stars. And if they thought about it a tie more, they would probably _ alize that the other teams in the - , ague now know what to expect P? am Charlotte this year. The Hor- ^ ts are part of the family now. 3*P01 it they are still little brothers, an^ ' d they are going to get kicked can c ound a while. 8*ve Sure, the Hornets have beaten He emselves more than once this Sc lar. But don't take too much ere- failei t away from guys named Ma- with ne, Robinson, Johnson and Jor- cle ii in, just to name a few. Boos are commonplace in pro- W ssional sports, but the Hornets pair and ] Fe See Pep Talk page 10 He a ALWAYS WANTEI em day heros have a new not wear capes or fly th 1s and place them where nunity Service Programs, Can r>,r7Ir,rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrVrrrrrr IE LUCKY,: YOU'LL rrrrrrrrrr r r r - r r r r rrrrr r rrrrrrrrrrrr'-rrrrrrrrrr "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I & Bar ? Points" -| :on FrinH light Menu a< C idays ? 256-7764 | _ Stop KffiWnfi^H IWpilfflPPiB jpropjjT^^ bsssbebmhi \A\ss of the Ving Fling f 17. ONS ENFORCED jjjl^ iniof ceM5.. o-"? ^ ?o^ iaoi ocaoui i. uaimci ouui cu ciyi il pvjniio 111 i ucouajr o \jsj sjcDver Louisville. SC declares McKoy 2 EFF NICHOLS semester only if 1 s Editor mer school and me you happen to be adept at knocking down nters, hitting the open man in a motion offense canw i eel seating full-court pressure - and if you think you ^uar.f an ?^,a, lo it against major college basketball competition, a ~on' ^ IC USC head coach George Felton a call. McKoy, a 6-foc ' needs you. Conn., was avera >phomore shooting guard Troy McKoy, who second shot gave I I two courses in the fall semester and finished Maryland in the a 1.08 grade-point average according to an arti- Classic in Richmo a The State Tuesday, is academically ineligible. There are now ith Monday's loss of McKoy, Felton has only a 1989-90 NCAA to of guards remaining ? sophomores Jo Jo English Starting point g Brian Popovich. lahoma in the sur Jton may not have McKoy back until next spring, was lost for the i vill be eligible for basketball in next year's fall chips in his left I ) TO BE A HERO..." name these days, VOLUNTEERS. They rough the sky, but we applaud their they're needed most: The Office of npus Activities Center, 777-6688. TrTr-rr[TT'Tr 'j-rrrrrrrrrrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrrr rrrr r*~ r'~ rr rr rr rr r'' ONLY LOSE YOUR LICENSE. r rrrr rrrr r r. r - r r r > - rrrrrrrrrrrri~rrrrrrrr -r^r^rr. r . r _ _ - ^ r r r r r r r r r r r p rHE 5IO ^ I Baked Chicken w/Potatoes 51 KU andG$T9n9Salad oe e . Gyros $2.95 o25 b. Main w/French Fries $3.75 iross from the Towers all 771-4455 Large ?"* Salad Delicious GYROS always .? Need Educational Assistance To Help Pay For Your College? Need Some Extra Income During School? Let the Air National Guard Help Solve These Problems For You!!! We Have The Following Programs Available For You: THE G.I. BILL $5,040.00 STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM $10,000 CASH ENLISTMENT BONUS $2,000.00 TUITION ASSISTANCE $2,000.00 GOOD EXTRA INCOME HIGH TECH TRAINING SOUTH CAROLINA AIR NATIONAL GUARD McEntire ANG Base, Eastover, SC 29044-9690 776-0661 Lady Gar get by Lo By DAVID CARAVIELLO Staff Writer pre Danny Ford and Nancy Wilson Wi don't have much in common. One tha is a football coach, the other a ba- rno sketball coach. One chews tobacco, the other doesn't. One is goi 1 - - i -1 xrn ? A ?k/> unaer investigation oy trie i>v./\/\, mc the other is not. nit But after USC's 65-52 victory wh over the Lady Cardinals of Louis- def ville Monday night, Wilson likened her team to Ford's. ing "Well, I probably shouldn't hin quote a Clemson person," Wilson on< said, "but I remember reading in fivi an article on Danny Ford when he thr was talking about this years' foot- lea ball team that one mark of a good I team is to be able to play flat and wit still win. I think that's exactly La< what we did tonight." 31 The game itself looked like a net four-part miniseries. The first half 1 was pretty even. Then, USC ex- roc ploded in the first few minutes of tw< the second half, going up by as 18much as 18 points on good defense Wi and transition. lay Louisville mounted a furious ] rally midway through the second cle half, cutting the lead to as little as at six. But the Lady Gamecocks Ga came through in the clutch as de- ? fense once again secured the win. icademicaiiy ie appeals for admission into sum- I >ets academic standards then. ion will have to make due with two 1 nine-man roster unless he picks up I ie hasn't ruled out. )t-7-inch guard from East Hartford, 9 ging 4.8 points a game. His last- HI he Gamecocks a 52-51 victory over I first round of the Central Fidelity ? nd on Dec.l. three guards missing from Felton's umament team. uard Brent Price transferred to Oknmer. Junior guard Barry Manning season three weeks ago with bone hand. ?he Ga - ' ? * - * wasc-Fi tJJV TheT XQ7 Xjkj Fall an 40% a ESPRIT, I CAMBRIDGE, and 01 716 Saluda I The Garnet & Blacl ILP ? WHEN: Wednesda WHERE: Russell TIME: 7:3 NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED! ALL I ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND! FOR MORE INFO, Instrumental Perform With The Columbia Men & Women Brass. Wood1 Welco No Marching . Trav< Day: 786-3810 necocks uisville I thought the defense was tty good, especially at the end," Ison said. "I feel like the shots t they made were tough shots, st of the time anyway. They're a good team so they're ng to create some easy shots for mselves," she said. "It was defiely a feeling throughout the ole game that if we didn't do it ensively it was long gone." rhe game seesawed in the openminntp.s with I JSC falling be id by as much as three points at i time. USC boosted the lead to e. Then Beth Hunt converted a ee-point play for a 19-11 USC d. Sherry David's three-pointer j; :01 left in the half put the 3y Gamecocks up by seven at -24 and gave them a much ided halftime boost. JSC exploded out of the locker >m in the second half. Hunt hit 3 free throws. David nailed an -foot jumper. Freshman Marsha illiams hit three consecutive ups. By the time the smoke had ared, USC was up by 19 points 49-30 with 8:14 left. The Lady mecock defense had also kept See Gamecocks page 10 ineligible B iJ PMBp Troy McKoy [tieco^, ^)" . .. U| AWESOME T| ALTERNATIVE 90.5 raffic Light id Winter Sale nd 50% OFF RUSS BERRENS, IVY, JENNIFER REED, ther brands. 765-9972 ^^arbook^taff1! oin Us. I y, January 17th I House 316 \0 PM NTERESTED STUDENTS CALL 777-3888^bJ Musicians College Wind Ensemble wind. Percussion Players me ?1 Meet People Night:788-9262