The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 03, 1999, Page 13, Image 13
USC Schedule
■ Men’s basketball vs. Court Authority, 7:30 p.m.
■ Women’s Soccer at SEC tournament, Thursday
Gamecocks ready
to move forward
Seven freshmen make debuts tonight
by Kevin McCrarey
Staff Writer
The USC men’s basketball team
will try to take its first steps toward re
bounding from an 8-21 season when they
open against Court Authority tonight.
This game is the first of two exhibi
tion games Carolina will play before be
ginning the regular season. Next week,
the Gamecocks play Lithuania-Salai.
This will also be the first game in
the post-BJ McKie era for the Gamecocks
and the first opportunity to see who, if
anyone, will step up and be the team’s
next superstar.
It is the youngest team of coach Ed
die Fogler’s tenure, with five players play
ing their first games in a Carolina uniform.
Guard Herbert Lee Davis is the only
senior on the team, and forward Anto
nio Grant and guard David Ross are the
only juniors.
The Gamecocks will take on a Court
Authority team loaded with former col
lege players, many of whom had stellar
college careers. Many of their players
have played professionally overseas and
one, Edmond Sherod, had a brief NEA ca
reer with the New York Knicks and New
Jersey Nets.
Court Authority has played only one
game this season, an 84-83 loss to Navy
on Monday. Guard Warren Peebles and
center Phil Stinnie led the team with 16
and 14 points, respectively.
The starting lineup for the Gamecocks
will be: guards Davis, who averaged 6.3
points per game last season,
and Aaron Lucas (5.7 ppg);
forwards Grant (5.7 ppg) and
Damien Kinloch (2.2 ppg);
and center Tony Kitchings,
who was amedical redshirt last
year and saw little action.
Court Authority will start
Vince Wilson and Peebles at
guard, and Jason Williford and
Tim Davis at the two forward
spots. Wilson, Who buried two
treys against Navy, will start
at center.
The game will begin at 7
p.m. at Frank McGuire Are
na. Tickets are still available.
Sean Rayford photo editor
Sophomore Aaron Lucas, right, will be expected to lead the Gamecock offense
at 7 p.m. tonight in USC’s first game against Court Authority, an exhibition match.
Women's soccer to begin SEC tournament
by Shannon Rooke
Staff Writer
When South Carolina women’s soc
cer coach Sue Kelly decided to take
on her fifth year coaching the USC
team, she had no idea it would end up
finishing the season 14-5 and 6-3 in the
Southeastern Conference.
“I knew we had the potential and
the tools,” Kelly said. “It just depend
ed on the staff utilizing their talent and
how the team responded. This is the
best group of young people that I’ve
ever coached and their chemistry, re
spect for themselves and respect for
the program would make anyone
proud.”
Now, seeded fourth and heading in
to their second consecutive SEC tour
nament appearance, Kelly will lead the
Gamecocks to Nashville, Tenn., to take
on the other seven top seeds in the con
ference.
Carolina’s main weapon is senior
Jennie Ondo, with 14 goals and four
assists. After her performance in the
Gamecocks’ past two regular-season
games, she was named to the Soccer
America team of the week and also
earned the SEC Player of the Week
award.
“I always knew that we’d do this
well because of the positive attitude
we’ve had all season,” Ondo said. “One
thing that I am looking forward to is
taking on Florida again, because we
need to prove to them that we’re
better than they are.”
Alongside Ondo is Mindy Sanders,
Carolina’s assist leader with 13.
“We’re definitely ready for this
tournament and we have been for a
while,” Sanders said. “We’ve accom
plished so many things this season,
which makes us optimistic and sure
that we are capable of
winning.”
The Lady Game
cocks will kick off their
tournament appearance
against fifth seed Van
derbilt at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday. Despite con
stant criticism since last
season, Kelly and her
players have been con
fident they will prove
them?elves this season.
“We’re looking to
take it a game at a time,”
Kelly said. “But the hard
work, blue-collar ap
proach, principles and
ethics are the only rea
son that we’re 14-5.”
The rest of the tour
nament field:
Florida: The top
seed for the second con
secutive year, the Gators
finished their regular season 8-0 in the
conference. Looking to win their fourth
straight SEC title, Florida has allowed
only eight goals all year and leads the
SEC in goals with 68.
Players to watch: Sophomore Ab
by Wambach heads up the conference
with 51 total points and is second in
goals with 19. Senior Sarah Yohe fol
lows her teammate closely with 50
points and leads the SEC in goals with
21.
Mississippi: Finishing 4-5 in the
SEC and winning the Western Division,
the Mississippi team, seeded second,
has its highest tournament seed ever
and is making its third consecutive ap
pearance.
Players to watch: Freshman Brid
get Brooks leads her team with a to
tal of 14 goals and 29 points. Junior
Regan Scanlon is tied for fourth in
the SEC in assists, with eight on the
season.
Kentucky: After winning the tour
nament in 1995, the Wildcats have
reached the semifinals in the past two
years. They have been 5-5 in the six
previous tournaments and now look to
bring the title back to Kentucky.
Player to watch: Sophomore An
nie Gorge is third in the SEC with 33
points and has tallied 13 goals for the
Wildcats this year.
Vanderbilt: Ending their season
6-3 in the conference and placing them
selves in the fifth seed, the Com
modores are hosting the tournament
for the first time since 1993. Although
no seed lower than four has ever won
the title, Vanderbilt has earned its sev
enth straight year appearance in the
tournament and is looking to change
that streak.
Players to watch: Freshman Jen
nifer Talavera leads the Commodores
with seven goals and 14 points. Junior
Kim Szurovy has added six goals, two
assists and 19 points.
Georgia: Seeded sixth, the
Bulldogs are returning to the tourna
ment after missing it last year. They
ended the regular season 5-4 and out
shot their opponents 377-166.
Players to watch; Junior goalkeeper
Nicole Williams has recorded 10
shutouts and 241 saves. Forward
Amy Berbary has added seven goals
and three assists to her record.
Tennessee The Lady Vols finished
their season with a 5-4 record and will
make their second straight appearance
in Nashville.
Players to watch: Sophomore Al
ison Campbell has put in 11 goals and
assists for her team.
Arkansas: After making back-to
back appearances in 1993-94 and 1996
97, the Lady Razorbacks are returning
to the tournament in 1999. Their most
recent title is the 1996 western divi
sion championship.
Players to watch: Sophomore Hol
ly Collins is tied for fourth in the SEC
. with eight assists. Freshman Megan Bals
has recorded 83 saves, which places
her in fourth, as well.
Sean Rayforo photo editor
Kim Murray enjoys the rain following Monday’s practice. The Lady
Gamecocks begin the SEC Tournament on Thursday.
Brad Walters Graphics editor
The Slate
National Football Conference
East Division W L Home Road Div Str
Washington 5 2 3-1 2-1 2-2 W-l
Dallas 4 3 3-0 1-3 3-1 L-2
New York Giants 4 3 2-1 2-2 2-2 W-2
Arizona 2 5 1-3 1-2 2-2 L-2
Philadelphia 2 6 1-3 1-3 1-3 L-2
Central Division
Detroit 5 2 3-1 2-1 2-0 W-2
Green Bay 4 3 3-1 1-2 2-1 L-l
Minnesota 4 4 2-2 2-2 1-3 W-2
Tampa Bay 3 4 2-1 1-3 0-2 W-l
Chicago 3 5 2-2 1-3 1-0 L-3
West Division
St. Louis 6 1 4-0 2-1 3-0 L-l
San Francisco 3 4 2-1 1-3 1-2 L-3
Carolina 2 5 1-2 1-3 1-2 L-2
Atlanta 2 6 1-3 1-3 2-2 W-l
New Orleans 1 6 1-3 0-3 1-2 L-6
American Football Conference
East Division W L Home Road Div Str
Miami 6 1 2-1 4-0 2-1 W-4
New England 6 2 3-1 3-1 2-1 W-2
Indianapolis 5 2 4-1 1-1 2-2 W-3
Buffalo 5 3 3-1 2-2 2-1 W-l
New York Jets 1 6 0-4 1-2 0-3 L-3
Central Division
Tennessee 6 1 4-0 2-1 4-0 W-3
Jacksonville 6 1 2-1 4-0 3-1 W-4
Pittsburgh 4 3 1-2 3-1 3-1 W-2
Baltimore 2 5 1-3 1-2 1-2 L-4
Cincinnati 1 7 0-4 1-3 1-3 L-3
Cleveland 1 7 0-3 1-4 0-5 W-l
West Division
Kansas City 5 2 4-0 1-2 2-1 W-3
Seattle 5 2 2-1 3-1 1-1 W-2
San Diego 4 3 2-2 2-1 2-1 L-l
Oakland 4 4 2-2 2-2 0-2 L-l
Denver 2 6 1-3 1-3 1-1 L-2
I
Tuesday’s Top News
• Walter Payton, the
NFL’s all-time leading
rusher, dies of liver can
cer at 45
• Buffalo Sabres goalie
Dominik Hasek to be out
at least two months with
tom groin muscle
• Rangers outfielder
Juan Gonzalez dealt to
Detroit in nine-player
deal
• Reds manager Jack
McKeon voted as AP
Manager of the Year
• Jeff Gordon loses five
members of his pit crew
to Dale Jarrett
7
Kyle Almond
Guest Columnist
Sports,
. business
don’t mix
Cs the college football regu
lar season draws to a close,
there are quite a few things
that we, the fans, can count on.
USC won’t score 20 points this
season. The Bowl Championship
Series system will screw a deserv
ing team out of a national title shot.
Army will play Navy. The Pac-10
still won’t comprehend the idea
of defensive football.
But the most disturbing cer
tainty we all face is the overexpo
sure of advertising in the season
concluding bowl games.
If you’ve ever watched a col
lege bowl in recent years, you know
what I’m talking about. Every game
is “sponsored” by a different com
pany, a company which then pro
ceeds to do the best it possibly
can to overwhelm the public with
a massive display of logos and
shameless promotion. It’s a sick
ening reality.
This vpar thp national rhamni
onship game will be the NOKIA
Sugar Bowl. When you sit down to
watch it, you can be sure you’ll see
and hear the word NOKIA roughly
537 times. The announcers won’t
refer to the game as the national
championship or the Sugar Bowl,
but as the NOKIA Sugar Bowl.
And why? What does a cellular
phone have to do with football? Ab
solutely nothing at all.
Last year, Florida State and Ten
nessee played in the TOSTITOS Fi
esta Bowl. I watched the entire
game, and not once did I see any
tortilla chips make a single tackle
or throw for a first down.
People watch football to watch
football. They don’t watch to
look for a reliable cellular phone
or some tasty chips.
Bowl games are a staple of a
sports fan’s Christmas vacation. It’s
a tradition that has stood the test of
time without such blatant adver
tising. So why the sudden change?
It’s sad to say, but sports is now
strictly business. We live in the age
of $100 million contracts and as
tronomical salaries. The theme of
the ‘90s? Sell to the highest bidder.
And nothing, not even a sport as sa
cred as college football, is exclud
ed.
As I previously mentioned, bowl
games are only one example of how
corporate America is taking over
sports.
I remember the days when a
new stadium or arena was named
after someone who put in years of
hard work and dedication to the
franchise (Lambeau Field), or after
an important person in American
history (R.F.K. Stadium). Now, a
business with the right bid can get
a major-league stadium named af
ter them.
There’s the MCI Center in
Washington, D.C., Coors Field in
Colorado, Ericsson Stadium in Char
lotte, PSINet Stadium in Baltimore
and countless others. Two of the
most storied arenas in sports, Boston
Garden in Boston and the Great
Western Forum in Los Angeles,
were replaced by the FleetCenter
and the Staples Arena, respective
ly
At this pace, every major sports
venue will have a corporate name
by the time I die.
It doesn’t stop there. There’s
been speculation over the past few
baseball seasons about putting lo
gos of corporate sponsors on ma
jor-league baseball uniforms. Yes,
that’s right. The powers that be have
actually been contemplating vio
lating the purity of our national pas
time. Could you imagine the Yan
kees abandoning their trademark
pinstripes for, let’s say, a big Taco
Bell logo? Or how about the Braves
with a Rolaids patch on their sleeve?
Yeah, it would be the most relief
they’ve had in recent memory, but
it would ruin the integrity of the
\ Almond seemgem