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(Samccock Confessions of a fantasy sports addict n&rnc Kyle Almond just as much help is a second-year for my addiction journalism major. gs alcoholic or He can be reached compulsive via e-mail at gambler. Fantasy gamecocksports® sports are starting hotmail.com. to run my life, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. I’m not talking about nude beach volleyball with Brooke Burke or a three-day marathon of Dungeons and Dragons. I’m talking about good old rotisserie baseball leagues, fantasy football and the rest, where I “draft” real-life professional athletes and beat the crap out of my friends’ teams based on my athletes’ success in their real-life games. I know it’s pathetic to let a mere game be the boss of me, but they say the first ste'p on the road to recovery is acceptance. And there’s no denying it; I have a problem. Need proof? I once had a day completely ruined because Robert Smith, the best running back on my fantasy football team, went down with a season-ending injury late in the season. I sulked all day because I would be forced to start the Giants’ lowly Rodney Hampton for the rest of the year. Hampton’s stats were a joke, and I had to accept the fact that my chances of winning the league were finished. I refused to eat the rest of the night. I’ve gotten sucky grades because instead of doipg my homework, I stayed up to watch my starting tight end play on Monday Night Football. I tried to explain priorities to my calculus teacher the next day, but she just didn’t seem to get it. You know you’ve lost it when you start screaming at the TV. I’ve yelled at managers for taking out my starting pitcher when he was on his way to getting a complete-game shutout. I’ve cursed quarterbacks for not throwing the ball to my starting wide receiver on third and-goal from the 1 -yard line. And if one of my soccer players gets a red card? I’ll start breaking stuff and then vow to save money to hire a hitman to take care of that petty excuse for a referee. Fantasy sports have threatened my relationships, too. My girlfriend wasn’t pleased when I passed on a dinner date to watch the Mets. She got upset when I drove six hours to visit her and spent three hours on her computer fiddling with my NBA roster. I would have bought her some flowers or something, but I spent all my money entering NCAA Tournament pools. I’ve also held grudges against my best friends for various reasons, such as not agreeing to a trade or talking trash after their team has annihilated mine. Oh, there was an election controversy this past whiter? I missed it. I was too busy checking box scores and looking for some free agent diamond in the rough who would catapult mb to a championship. When a fantasy sport is in full tilt, I couldn’t care less whether we bombed Iraq or Bush’s tax plan went through the Senate. I wouldn’t care if China decided to declare all-out war on us—if Pedro Martinez is on the mound, that’s all that matters. I’ve even started to pass up on the things that make guys tick. You want to go out drinking? Sorry, I don’t play fantasy sports under the influence. I might get raging drunk and trade Kobe Bryant for Vinny Del Negro. You want me to check out some hot lesbian porn site? No way, I’ve got to read the NHL injury report because I need to see if Steve Konowalchuk has recovered from that pulled groin. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve started seeing Peter Gammons, baseball’s Yoda, in my sleep, telling me who the hot prospects are. If anyone knows what Gammons looks like, you would know it’s one scary nightmare. I need help. I know it’s affecting my life, but I can’t seem to pull away. I feel like a poor man’s Darryl Strawberry, and fantasy sports are my crack. Some days I can go without thinking about it at all, and then the next day, I’m back at it, scouring the Net for numbers, looking for an advantage to pave the way for my fantasy glory. It’s a day-to-day process. You know, I think when this baseball season ends, I’ll go cold turkey and kick the habit for good. I will take control of my life. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do... OK, maybe after football season. Then I’ll stop for real. Clemson from page 10 game SEC series this weekend at Georgia. “We lost a couple heartbreakers in the (Mississippi Suite) series, but beating Clemson here would be a great way to get back on track,” he said. Gary Bell (6-4,3.62 ERA) will start on die mound tonight for USC. The junior college transfer started the season 5-1, but has lost three of his last four starts. Bell took his last loss of the season against I Clemson last month, allowing four runs over five innings of work, but Tanner is hopeful that Bell can reverse the trend tonight. “[Bell] pitched so well early, and then he ran into a couple tough spots, but he’s a quality pitcher, and, hopefully, the time off he’s had will give him a positive return,” Tanner said. Despite their recent struggles in conference play, the Gamecocks are still only two games beliind SEC East leaders Tennessee in the standings. USC is fourth in the division beliind Geoigia and Florida, who are both 10-8, and the Vols. The Gamecocks can make up some ground this weekend at Georgia, but will face weekend sets with Kentucky, Auburn and Florida to close out the regular _ season. “We’re not extremely happy, but we’re still in the hunt,” Tanner said. “We’ve got 16 games left, and. hopefully, good tilings will happen and we can peak at the right time. “We need to get hot... we’re still in a great situation if we can win some key games down the stretch.” Climbing their way back into the SEC lead is the No. 1 goal for Carolina’s players, but they’re not looking past their non-conference rival. “It’s Clemson,” Bell said. “It’s a big rival game, and there’s no question we’ll be fired up for this game.” The Tigers lead the all-time series between the two schools 147-100-2. “There’s going to be great intensity and enthusiasm,” Meyer said, “and we’re going to be doing everything we can to win like it’s the last game of the season.” Tonight’s game is set to start at 7 p.m. Sports Briefs ■ Men’s teYinis falls in regular season finale to Vanderbilt The USC men’s tennis team lost a close match to Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday. The match was the last one of the regular season. The Gamecocks won three singles matches at Nos. 1,2 and 6. Seth Rose had little trouble disposiiig of Bobby Reynolds at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 6-4, while both Guillaume I.egat and Rodrigo Pacheco took their matches to tliree sets each. Legat, ranked'17th nationally, finished off an incredible regular season with a win over 80th-ranked Eddie Coates, 6 4,3-6,64. He will go into next weekend's SEC Tournament with only one loss in dual conference matches for the season. Pacheco came back front losing the first set to Brad Hantbrick to win in three &ts, 4-6,6-4, 7-5. The Gamecocks will travel to Lexington, Ky., later in the week for the SEC Tournament. ■ Playboy honors Carolina’s Edwards Kalimba Edwards, a rising senior outside linebacker at USC, has been selected to the 2001 Playboy magazine preseason All-America football squad. Edwards, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound linebacker from East Point, Ga„ was a consensus first-team All-SEC honoree Last year. He was also USC’s tliird leadntg tackier with 74 total stops (11 for a loss), and seven quarterback sacks. Edwards was a third-team All-America pick by The Associated Press last season. Edwards becomes USC’s second player in the past tliree years to be chosen to the magazine’s prestigious preseason All-America squad. Free safety Arturo Freeman, now with the Miami Dolpltins, was a preseason Playboy All-America in 1998. ■ Former S.C. Player of the Year signs with Lady Gamecocks USC women’s basketball head coach Susan Walvius announced Tuesday the signing of 1999 South Carolina Player of the Year, Koretha Johnson, to a letter of intent for the fall of 2001. With the addition of Johnson, the 2001 Lady Gamecock roster will feature three former South Carolina Players of the Year: Teresa Geter (1997), Shaunzinski Gortman (1998) mid Jolmson. Jolmson, a 5-foot-10 guard, is a native of Myrtle Beach'and graduated from Myrtle Beach High School in 1999. She lias spent the last two seasons playing for Howard Junior College in Big Spring, Texas. Jolmson led the Lady Hawks to the NJCAA Tournament in both her freshman mid sophomore years mid was nmned second team All-Conference as a freshman. During her two years as a member of the Howard Lady Hawks, Johnson averaged 10.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists mid 1.7 steals per contest. “Korctlia will be mi excellent addition to our team next fall,” Walvius said. “She is a very aggressive player who can hit tlie 3-point shot and put the ball on the floor and drive to the basket. She has excellent vision mid ball-handling skills and has improved her offensive and defensive skills during her two years at Howard.” If you drink, Don’t drive. Have a designated driver. It's a simple calculation: TIAA-CREF’s low expenses mean more money working for you. fa/cu/atoiy I The equation is easy. 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