The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 02, 1999, Page Page 11, Image 11
Wednesday, June 2,1999
Baseball
. was meant
to be played
with wood
WALLACE continued from page 9
do with the bats.
lb many normal people, there's
only one decision: use wood.
The game of baseball was
meant to be played with wooden
bats.
Fans love to hear the crack of
the bat, not the ping of it, or
!H' t W i**-"Ural mmWmm Wmsim
wnatever mat nornoie souna is
that the aluminum monstrosities
H x- * Cjc m IBfll Hi TmImiBBI
make.
Baseball is the only major sport
in the world that has allowed a
rule change in which a vital peace
of equipment has been severely
altered.
College football players don't
use a special football designed, to
make it easier to throw.
If a player has small hands or
a weak arm, he deals with it.
College basketball players don't
use a ball thafs lighter or smaller,
either.
In today's world, where
athletes are bigger, stronger,
quicker and, in general, healthier,
having aluminum bats in college
baseball is purely ignorant
Thke last year's Major League
Baseball season, for example.
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa
shattered Roger Maris' home ran
record, using wooden bats, of
course.
The fact that two guys, not
just one, hit way above the 60
marie makes it clear that athletes
just a few years younger do not
need the help of aluminum.
The rest of the 1999 NCAA
Baseball Iburnaraent will continue,
and teams like Clemson and The
Citadel will continue to play in
games that drag for four hours
and need 30 runs to decide a
winner.
And the trend will continue
until the NCAA wises up and
reverses the rule it passed in 1973
that allows the use of aluminum
bats. The players aren't getting
slower, and they aren't getting
weaker. Unless the NCAA does
something soon, you might as well
sit back, relax and plan on
spending four hours at the ol'
ballpark just to see two teams
score more points than the
Carolina football team in a game
in which contests used to be
decided with numbers like 2-1,
not 21-14.
NBA Co
Pacers face
Game 2 wi
By Chris Sheridan
Associated Press
runiAMADm TO
v/Liiu? iiicncw IUIA.
Knicks have played some of their
best basketball in the first game of
each of their three playoff series.
Their Game 2s have been different
stories.
"We've talked about staying
hungry, but we talked about that in
Miami and were down 23-15 at the
quarter, and we said the same thing
before Game 2 in Atlanta and were
down 13-2," coach Jeff Van Gundy
said.
"So we've said all the right things,
but we haven't done it yet If we come
out like we have in all the Game 2s,
we're going home with a loss."
The Pacers will be trying to avoid
falling into a 2-0 deficit that history
has shown to be almost impossible
to overcome.
Only seven teams have come back
from such a deficit in a seven-game
series, and only two, the 1994 Houston
Rockets and 1969 Los Angeles Lakers,
made such a comeback after losing
the first two games at home.
"Everybody knew this series was
going to be a war. Now we have one,
"Indiana's Jalen Rose said.
Rose was one of several players
singled out for criticism by Indiana
coach Larry Bird.
Bird was displeased that Rose
NATO dema
KOSOVO continued from page 3
partner countries, will help create a
force of 50,000, nearly double the
number originally envisioned more
than two months ago.
The details of a possible accord
came as envoys from Russia, Finland
and the United States met Tuesday
at a German hotel overlooking the
Rhine River to discuss several
remaining obstacles, NATO demands
for foreign troops on Yugoslav soil to
police the peace deal among the most
serious.
Thp TCnsnvn pnnflipf Viae fnrpoH
more than 850,000 ethnic Albanians
from their homes and homeland since
March, mostly to tent camps in
Albania and Macedonia.
In a new twist, Serb authorities
are allowing only ethnic Albanians
with valid passports to cross into
Macedonia, the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees said today.
UNHCR spokesman Kris
Janowski said only a trickle of people
crossed into Macedonia on Monday
because of the new controls. Some
286 people arrived in Albania amid
CAROLINA SPORTS
nferenc
? crucial
th Knicks
got sucked into one-on-one
confrontations with Latrell Sprewell.
He also said Rik Smits will need
to get involved earlier offensively,
and Reggie Miller will have to avoid
foul trouble.
What Bird was most upset with
was his team's defense, especially in
transition.
The Knicks scored 22 points on
fast breaks, capitalizing on the
athleticism and quickness that has
distinguished this year's version from
past New York teams.
"We like to think that our strength
is defensive transition, but it wasn't
there," Smits said.
Miller called on his teammates
to raise their games ? especially it
the Knicks concentrate their defense
on stopping the most famous Knicks
killer of them all.
"It's up to the other guys to take
it personally," Miller said.
After practicing at Market Square
Arena, the Pacers wore somewhat
of a shellshocked look after having
a night to digest what happened to
them on their home floor.
Their 11-game winning streak,
which included a seven-game
unbeaten streak in the postseason,
meant nothing to a Knicks team that
led for most of the game and converted
all the big plays down the stretch.
nds withdra
shellfire and rockets.
"We don't know what sort of game
they're playing, whether it's some
sort of trick or uniform policy,"
Janowski said in reference to the
Serbs.
On the diplomatic front, Finnish
President Martti Ahtisaari and former
Russian Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin
expressed optimism that the talks
including U.S. Deputy Secretary of
Qimho TalKri+f AmiM loarl arwvn
WWAIV UK1WWV/ XtUILA/(/t WIUU 1V/UU OVA/1X
to a political solution.
But Britain's defense secretary
said NATO is far from satisfied with
President Slobodan Milosevic's latest
stratagem.
"He has broken promise after
promise," George Robertson said at
the Defense Ministry. "His track record
leads to one conclusion: We must not
and cannot trust his words."
If the German talks are successful,
Ahtisaari would travel with
A*?r?/W??tnvliri 4-sx 4-V*I-, nn*M4-n1
v^iici uuuiyi urn tu uic xugusiav uipiun
to meet with Milosevic Tbday
Before leaving Moscow for Bonn,
Chernomyrdin would not give details
about "new proposals worked out by
the Russian side" but said he expected
e Finals
Blazers try
from Elliott
By Bob Baum
Associated Press
PORTLAND - The Western
Conference finals don't resume until
Friday, and the Portland Trail Blazers
will need every minute of the layoff
to repair their psyche.
"I think it is the toughest loss
that we've had all season," Damon
Stoudamire said.
"But the good thing about this is
... we've got three days to regroup,
and then they're going to come into
a hostile environment in Portland."
rrn _ ni _ _ _ 1. i l _
ine Diazers couumi neip dui De
rattled by Monday night's 86-85 loss
to San Antonio in Game 2. After all,
they didn't trail in that game for 47
minutes and 51 seconds.
Then Sean Elliott stood on his
tiptoes, his feet barely in bounds, and
hit the three-pointer that gave the
Spurs a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven
series.
It seemed to Portland's players
that fate just wouldn't let them beat
San Antonio.
Four times this season the Blazers
have taken the Spurs to a tight finish,
only to lose.
"It took incredible shots to beat
us," Portland coach Mike Dunleavy
said.
"I'd give [Elliott] 100 bucks to see
him make that shot again. It was
one of those shots you dream about
making... I told the guys they have
iwal of Yugosl
that the talks would bring progress.
"This week must be decisive in
the search for a compromise on how
to direct the military conflict into a
nlionnnl " Plinr?nrmrr^ir?
said. "All sides, including the United
States, Europe and Russia, have an
enormous desire to find a political
solution."
While Milosevic said dozens of
civilian deaths in recent days from
NATO bombings endangered peace
efforts, his foreign minister reiterated
that Belgrade would accept the general
principles set down by Russia and
the seven top industrialized
rlomrv?r!?mDC fnr onHinrr TTnomrn
ViVJXIWI UVlV^kJ i.V/1 V/UUUXg tliv A1WQUVU
crisis.
The private Beta news agency
said Zivadin Jovanovic had sent a
letter to German Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer accepting the
principles, "including the presence
of United Nation troops" in Kosovo.
Robertson said the Yugoslav
acceptance was not enough, that
Milosevic also must sign on to NATO
troops in any international Kosovo
peace force, but Milosevic was starting
to bend.
Page 11
heat up
to recover
A V In s^wr\ V/^p
i o wr
nothing to hang their heads about.
It's getting harder and harder for
this team to beat us."
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich
said the momentum of the miracle
comeback from an 18-point thirdquarter
deficit probably won't last
until the weekend.
"If we were coming back and
playing tomorrow, it would be huge,"
he said.
"But Friday is like 2 1/2 weeks
from now. Nobody will even be able
to remember this game."
The Spurs won't fly to Portland
until Wednesday afternoon, after
they've worked out in San Antonio.
The Spurs' eight-game playoff
winning streak will be tested in the
noisy Rose Garden, where the Blazers
lost just three times during the regular
season and are 5-0 in the playoffs.
Still, Portland must win four out
of five, including at least once in the
Alamodome, to advance to the finals.
"I don't see why we can't," Greg
Anthony said. "We're a real confident
basketball team. We're a real talented
basketball team."
The Blazers are at least comforted
by the fact they weren't run out of
the Alamodome. They lost the opener
80-76 and had a chance at the tying
shot with six seconds to go. They led
Game 2 comfortably most of the way
and lost only because of an amazing
shot.
lav troops
Alliance officials insisted there
will be "no negotiations' with Belgrade
until the Yugoslav government halts
the violence in Kosovo, withdraws
4(J,(XX) troops trom the province and
allows 50,000 NATO-led troops in to
secure the return of hundreds of
thousands of refugees.
In Washington, National Security
Council spokesman Michael Hammer
expressed skepticism that Milosevic
is serious about peace. "Everybody's
wondering whether we're on the edge
of a breakthrough," Hammer said. "I
think it's a bit premature."
NATO pressed ahead with its
escalated air campaign. In Kosovo,
U.S. A-10 *Warthog*jets struck Serb
forces clashing with ethnic Albanian
rebels in the hills along Albania's
border.
Belgrade and large parts of
northern Serbia suffered another
blackout after two transformer stations
were hit on the outskirts of Relprade
Beta said.
NATO said its jets struck the
presidential villa at Dobanovci just
outside Belgrade, where Milosevic
has a command bunker.