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?..s THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, February 18, 2004 GSPHS 3gfl;;jg ■ "V X~'v ■ 'V W ■ V / NJ WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at Mississippi State, 8 p.m. Thursday B M \ B I f I H 1 BASEBALL vs. UNC-Wilmington, 3 p.m. Friday B J B B B_J ' B ' MEN’S BASKETBALL at Arkansas, 3 p.m. Saturday on Id Cl. B- B B B B . SOFTBALL vs. Middle Tennessee State, 1 p.m. Saturday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? B B W B B ILv MEN’S TENNIS vs. Richmond, 11 a.m. Saturday K-mailusatgamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu B y y B B B rV J MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK at USC Invitational, Saturday Mew turf to improve on ‘sand’ PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Josh Brown punts the ball in a game last season. The grass at Willlams-Brlce Stadium will be resodded for next season. BY JONATHAN HILLYARD THE GAMECOCK Following a season in which head football coach Lou Holtz called the playing surface at Williams-Brice Stadium “sand,” the USC athletics department has decided to resurface the field with brand-new natural grass. Over the past several months, the athletics department explored their options to improve the play ing conditions at Williams-Brice, including various artificial sur faces. However, after research at many other colleges and conver sations with a few pro teams, USC settled back on a natural playing surface. Artificial turf had previously been in place at Williams-Brice from 1968 to 1982; but in addition to the enormously high costs of ar tificial turf, a natural surface will save money for USC in the near fu ture. “The main reason we decided to stick with a natural surface is that so many artificial surfaces are relatively new, and we didn’t think there was enough conclu sive data that the instance of in jury is lower on those surfaces,” USC associate athletics director Kerry Tharp said. “If we were go ing to put this type of investment into a field, we wanted to have ab solutely conclusive data.” Tharp said the department was most seriously considering artifi cial surfaces known as Astro-Play and Field Turf. “We played last year at Ole Miss who has Astro-Play turf,” Tharp said. “Coach Holtz liked it a lot, and our players also liked it.” Tharp said that the possibility of having artificial turf in the fu ture has not been completely ruled but, but for the time being, the natural surface at Williams Brice will be much improved and is reportedly a different hybrid species than the existing turf. The cost of the new surface will be ap proximately $35,000, and the sod is expected to be installed imme diately after the spring game in April. The quality of the turf was sig nificantly below standards last year which wasn’t helped by an abundant number of home games — eight — last season. According to Tharp, there was a period of time in June in which field quali ty slipped, and the maintenance crew was unable to get it back in shape before the season started. He is optimistic, though, that an effective plan in dealing with in stallation and maintenance is in place and will be carried out suc cessfully. “We believe that we can put the type of natural surface down that will compete with any other sur face in the Southeastern Conference,” Tharp said. The athletics department made it clear that it would revisit the ar tificial turf debate in the future af ter a few inconsistencies are cleared up. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Men’s soccer to help children’s cancer fund . BY WES WOLFE TDK (IAMKCOCK The USC men’s soccer team, in conjunction with the Columbia YMCA and Children’s Chance, will play host to the fifth annual Kids Kicking for Cancer” Child and Parent Soccer Clinic this weekend. “This is a part of the Team Gamecocks program, but it’s a ser vice project that the soccer team adopted about four years ago,” USC head coach Mark Berson said. “It’s an annual big service event that our team puts on ... We’ve raised every year about three to five thousand dollars for Children’s Chance.” The men’s soccer players and coaches will be directing the at tendees in basic soccer skills, rules of the game and soccer strat egy and tactics. Also, the Children’s Chance mascot, Zig the Pig; will be around to entertain and interact with the participants. After the clinic, Carolina soc cer players will stick around to sign autographs for the partici pants. “It’s a great opportunity to give something back to the game and give something back to the com munity,” Berson said. “The play ers have an opportunity to demon strate some skills and have a chance to work with kids much the same that they had players and coaches to work with them as they came up. So it’s sort of every thing coming full cycle as far as their soccer experience.” The children who registered paid $50 if they were YMCA mem bers and $60 if they were not. The deadline to sign up was Feb. 14. Participants will each receive a free T-shirt with the admission fee. Every child participating in the clinic has to bring his or her own ball, shin guards and soccer clothing. The proceeds from the clinic, which is for children from 5 years old to 14 years old, will go to the Children’s Chance nonprofit. Last year’s clinic raised over $3,900 for the charity, which funds pro grams and services that address the problems of children with cancer. Children’s Chance operates five programs to fulfill its goal. First, the organization provides money, through a social worker, to help families of children with cancer with non-medical expenses like mortgage payments and other bills. Through a separate program, in-hospital social workers are able to provide families with immedi ate cost issues, like meals and phone calls. Additionally, the nonprofit or ganization assists children and families through counseling ser vices, a grant program that funds a wide array of activities and gets the word out in the community about issues involving childhood cancer. Samantha Higgins, a fourth year public relations student and public relations intern at Children’s Chance, said the event reflects well on USC and helps children in need. “I just think it shows how the university athletes do community service and are very involved in the community,” Higgins said. “This is such a special event, be cause it’s directly helping South Carolina’s children with cancer, and it also gives the university athletes a good reputation through their community service efforts.” The clinic will be held at the USC Fieldhouse at the corner of Whaley and Marion streets from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Women’s basketball takes hopes to MSU BY BRAD MOSELEY I'H K OAMKCUCK The USC women’s basketball team will travel to Starkville, Miss, to take on the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs on Thursday, looking for its second SEC win. Mississippi State has an 11-12 record overall and a 5-5 record in the SEC after a big win at Kentucky on Sunday. The Bulldogs’ ability to force turnovers and convert them into fast break points is perhaps one of their greatest strengths. That abil ity led to 28 fast break points for 'he Bulldogs against Kentucky, giving them their second straight victory over the Wildcats. The Gamecocks (10-13,1-9) head into Thursday’s game after a 69-58 loss to No. 14 Auburn. On paper it would appear that a Mississippi State team that has already defeated SEC rivals Alabama, Florida and Kentucky should be able to withstand the 1 9 Gamecocks on the Bulldogs’ home court. However, don’t be surprised if USC heads back to Columbia with its second SEC win. The Gamecocks average six points more than the Bulldogs and have a larger rebounding margin as well. Carolina also has better three-point and field goal percentages than Mississippi State. Additionally, the tv Gamecocks match up particular ly well against the Bulldogs in size. The Gamecocks need to im prove on their poor rebounding, which haunted them once again in their recent loss to Auburn. The Mississippi State game should be the perfect time to improve, be cause USC will enjoy a significant height advantage. The Bulldogs’ forward Mamie McKinney, a 6-foot sophomore, is the team’s tallest starter. The Gamecocks are expected to see significant rebounds and points in the paint from the height ad vantage that their forwards fresh man Iva Sliskovic and sophomore forward Olga Gritsaeva will have. Another key to winning the re bounding battle will be boxing out McKinney and guard Tan White, the Bulldogs’ two leading re bounders. The guard match-up probably favors the Gamecocks as well. The Gamecocks’ senior guards Kelly Morrone and Cristina Ciocan will face the Bulldogs’ junior guards Tiania Burns and White. Burns and White are Mississippi State’s leading scorers and will likely be the focus of the Gamecock defense. Bums boasts a 45.6 percent shoot ing percentage from the field this season, whereas White leads the Lady Bulldogs in scoring with an averagg of 18.5 points per game. Ciocan will look to reach the 1,000 point milestone for her career in Thursday’s game. She currently sits 20 points shy of that mark. Morrone, not far behind, will like ly reach the same milestone before the end of the regular season. With a win, USC would move ahead of Kentucky in the SEC un less Kentucky pulls off an upset at Arkansas. USC and Mississippi State will tipoff at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.ic.edu PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK Guard Cristina Clccan takes the ball Inside against Alabama. Love.and.hate Just give 'em the title and move on Saturday night the entire city of Boston collectively cried. With the uaue ue tween the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees that sent Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees, Boston was once again trumped by the Bronx Bombers and Xl_1.. - I SHAWN ROURK Second-year print journalism student 111C1JL UW11C1, George Steinbrenner. And many across the nation, whether in the city of Boston or around the country from fans who are just sick and tired of the Yankees, are crying foul. The only problem is he didn’t break any rules. So deal with it. There’s no way to make this deal null, no way to turn back the fact that A-Rod will be play ing third base for the Yankees this season, and no way to turn back the fact that some people believe this season is already over before it has began. Although Steinbrenner looks like Emperor of his “Evil Empire” and Brian Cashman his little Darth Vader on a stick, the fact is that they are one of the best businessmen in the game. Of course, having the gold lined pockets that Steinbrenner has doesn’t hurt either. But that’s the way things go. We live in a capitalist society, and each sports star is in it for the money and to get as much of it as he possibly can. And owners like Steinbrenner and Rangers owner Tom Hicks are happy to dish it out. Hicks, you ask? He gained a lot of cap room and Alfonso Soriano out of this. How did he do this? A little history lesson: Hicks started all this in the first place. When A-Rod signed with the Rangers a few years ago, he signed his name to a $250 mil lion contract. That’s about half of what this university uses to operate the entire campus in one year. On top of everything, the Yankees will most likely have to pay luxury tax penalties, still cut $60 checks to satisfy their part of the revenue sharing clause to the other teams in baseball. It does seem that Steinbrenner will do anything to win. He is the perfect exam ple of a cutthroat businessman in the economics of baseball. Whether you think that is a good thing or not is completely up to you. However, his spirit to win is what the whole idea of competition in baseball is about. Frankly, the rest of the owners need to get up and be more active in helping their teams succeed; just don t taKe it to the extent that Steinbrenner takes it to. Baseball definitely suffers from gluttony. From its owners to its players, there is no way that this sort of economy can continue to stay stable. But that’s just the way things are right now. Steinbrenner and the Yankees are just playing by the rules. Besides, the Angels and A’s are both winning games, and the even Angels won a World Series on little to no budget. So there’s something to be said for the little guy. Just not this year. Go ahead and give the Yankees the damn title; skip all the crap, and let’s focus back on the steroid con troversy some more. We media types always love a good con troversy. Greedy Yankees bad for baseball I awoke on Saturday and turned my TV to ESPN’s SportsCenter, as I usually do. Immediately I felt sick to my stomach as I saw aica Rodriguez’s face on the screen. Then I realized that this was not the A-Rod- to -Boston talks that have plagued the airwaves this off-season. This was far, far worse than that. JONATHAN HILLYARD First-year electronic journalism student I\UU1 iBUCi LIdUKU IU me Yankees. Are you kidding me? As I watched the report that said the deal was all but done, I could not help picturing Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in his office, leaning back in his multi-million dollar recliner, chuckling uncontrollably like a villain in a superhero movie. Then I pictured Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein in his office, weeping like a schoolgirl with his head buried in Viie hanHs I personally take the side of Epstein, in that the state of the New York Yankees has become, in my opinion, bad for Major League Baseball. Think about the Yankees’ presumed starting lineup for the upcoming season. This lineup will feature an in field that, even excluding the second baseman, is worth over $100 million. Every player in the lineup now has been, is or will be a Major League All Star. If talent were all that mattered in baseball, this team would not lose a single game. There is no doubt the Yankees will in fact lose a game, but I personally think they will lose a lot more -\ than expected. Let’s look at this year’s Los Angeles Lakers for a similar situation. They also beefed up their team in the off-season to include four presumed Hall of Fame players. But, in the same manner that might turn out to hurt the Yankees, chemistry was a major issue before the season even started. Could we see a Shaq-and-Kobe-like feud between American League MVP Rodriguez and incumbent shortstop Mr. Yankee Derek Jeter? What happens when or if Jeter gets hurt during the sea son and A-Rod steps in and plays lights out at shortstop? Not to mention the Yankees added the super-egos of Gary Sheffield, Kenny Lofton and Kevin Brown. If the boys in pin stripes can get along, the team will be absolutely scary; but if some personal vendettas get heated up in the clubhouse, it could mean trouble for the Yankees and especially man ager Joe Torre. My plea to Stembrenner is to take a look into the past. Not one player in ‘98 or ‘99 hit more than 35 home runs. It was the Jim Leyritz-, the Scott Brosius - and the Joe Girardi-type play ers that made those teams champions. It was not the Jason Giambi-, the Gary Sheffield- and the Alex Rodriguez-type players that brought the Yankees back to \ prominence. Until Big George realizes this, the Yankees will simply just be the highest paid and most heavily stacked team in baseball history. Lastly, if nobody in baseball can stop the Yankees, why can’t the government? Honestly, if we can break up Microsoft, why can’t we break up the most ridiculous monopoly in sports that is the New York Yankees? _■_1