The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 15, 2004, Page 13, Image 13
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, March 15, 2004 j[3
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L»UI I LdLL. B B B fl * B | BASEBALL vs. Jlavidson, 7 p.m. Tuesday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? | B ill Ikv WOMEN’S SWIMMING in NCAA Championships
E-mailusatgamecocksports@gwmsc.edu B B B _J at Cbllege Station, Texas, Thursday
MEN'S BASKETBALL vs. Memphis in NCAA Tournament, Thursday
‘Wrestlemania ’
deserves respect
as legitimate
sporting event
Every year around this time, World Wrestling
Entertainment presents one of the greatest sports/en
tertainment spectacles and, for the most part, it gets ig
nored by the general public because it’s deemed “fake”
by some.
Of course, I’m talking about “Wrestlemania,” which
has now been going strong for 20 long years. WWE
Wrestlemania XX will be shown on pay-per-view Sunday
at 4 p.m. PST.
ii an uu an i?oo, un aaac
strength of Vince McMahon Jr.’s pro
moting genius, MTV’s rock ‘n’ wrestling
connection and the popularity of
Hulkamania.
The WWF brought in Mr. T of “A
Team” fame to team with the Hulkster
against the formidable duo of “Rowdy”
Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful”
Paul Omdorff to main-event the inau
gural show at Madison Square
Garden.
Twenty years is a pretty long run, es
uuiloJLuci. 11 lg Ulcil Wlieil Ultfiii&i
Wrestlemania took place, the WWF didn’t even know if
there would even be a second one.
The primary reason wrestling always gets dissed pub
licly? Because it’s fake or scripted.
The primary reason so many people are “closet fans?”
Because it’s good!
First and foremost, let’s get some things straight.
Movies are scripted, “Friends” is scripted and, as far as
I’m concerned, most of the reality TV shows America is
currently addicted to are scripted, too.
Oh yeah, I went there.
Let’s not treat “scripted” like it’s a dirty word.
Casual wrestling viewers and non-viewers alike sim
ply do not understand wrestling the way the hardcore
fans do. Compare it to how an art critic looks at a painting,
fascinated by its intricate brushstrokes, while I would
stand there looking at it, saying, “I don’t get it.”
Yeah, it’s like that.
* The true art of wrestling is to make it look like you are
doing the highest possible amount of damage to your op
ponent while, at the same time, protecting your opponent
from getting hurt in the ring.
Anyone who thinks wrestling is “fake” needs to just
take one look at Mick Foley, who is coming out of retire
ment this weekend at Wrestlemania XX — or better yet,
read his first book, “Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and
Sweatsocks.”
Foley lost his right ear in the ring while attempting to
execute the “hangman” maneuver during a match sever
al years ago in Germany.
Foley also suffered a concussion and severe damage to
his head in his match against The Rock at the 1999 Royal
Rumble pay-per-view, documented in the film “Beyond
the Mat.”
The Rock and Foley competed in an “I Quit” match,
where The Rock handcuffed Foley’s arms behind his back
and then hammered him with eight-to-10 unprotected
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vnwu OA1V-H.O IV LiiV 11VUV.
Wrestling is no longer dominated by large, immobile
monsters like it was 20 years ago. Today’s wrestlers are
smaller and quicker, capable of moves in the ring that
you just didn’t see even a decade ago.
Guys like Rey Mysterio Jr., Chris Jericho, Eddie
Guerrero, Kurt Engel and Chris Benoit have redefined
the word “wrestler” over the past couple of years.
Engel, as he reminds fans on an almost-weekly basis,
won an Olympic gold medal while competing for the
United States as a wrestler in the 1996 Olympics. He’s a
legitimate athlete, and so are the other guys.
At Wrestlemania XII in Anaheim in 1996, an event I
attended in person, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart com
peted in an “iron man” match, where they wrestled each
other for more than 62 minutes for the WWF World
Heavyweight Title, before Michaels emerged victorious.
So wrestling is scripted. So what?
Hart and Michaels went into the ring in front of a
huge worldwide TV audience and strung together move
after move, sequence after sequence, for more than an
hour. There were no second or third takes like in sit
coms or in the movies. They had to go in front of the
cameras and the crowd one time and do everything right
the first time.
That’s pressure.
That’s why wrestling deserves the respect that, for
the most part, has eluded it since it became common
knowledge that the in-ring action was not actually com
petition.
IAN ROSS
Spartan Daily,
San Jose State
University
PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
Renaldo Balkman and head coach Dave Odom pause during the SEC Tournament.
Odom, Balkman
recognized by SEC
BY JONATHAN HILLYARD
TIIK HAMMOCK
Two Gamecocks were rewarded for their
great season last week when the SEC coaches
voted USC head coach Dave Odom as Coach of
the Year and forward Renaldo Balkman to the
SEC’s All-Freshman team.
Odom responded humbly to his fourth con
ference coach of the year award by deferring
most of the credit to his supporting cast.
“I can think of no award of this nature —
no coaching accolade — more closely tied to
the loyalty and hard work of a head coaches
staff, the commitment and determined per
formance of his team and the support of then
university and fans than this one,” Odom
said. “I am delighted to share this award with
all those who love and care about Gamecock
basketball.”
The 17-year head coach won the award in
the ACC three times during his tenure at
Wake Forest. He earned those awards in 1991,
1994 and 1995, and in 1995 was also named the
National Coach of the Year. The head
Gamecock was the first coach at USC to win
the award since Eddie Fogler did it in 1997.
The SEC’s coaches apparently took notice
of the superb coaching job Odom did with a
team that finished fifth in the SEC East last
year and was predicted to finish last in the
SEC this year. His year overshadowed that of
Mississippi State’s Rick Stansbury, whose
Bulldogs are ranked in the top five and took
the regular season SEC title.
“This year has been absolutely wonderful
for me,” Odom said at last Wednesday’s SEC
Tournament media day. “ I have seen this
team grow, and I have been lucky enough in
my coaching career to have never had a bad
staff, and this is the very best.”
Balkman became the first Gamecock since
Chuck Eidson in 2000 to be named to the
SEC’s All-Freshman team. The Tampa, Fla.,
native has served as the energy boost for the
Gamecocks this year and has lovingly been
nicknamed “The Plastic Man” by Carolina
faithful.
The 6-foot, 7-inch, 198-pound freshman al
most didn’t make it to USC at all. Academic
issues nearly prevented him from enrolling
in the fall until he was finally accepted to the
university and cleared to play in late October.
“South Carolina is the only place I wanted
to be,” Balkman said after being cleared in
the fall. “I was determined to see this through,
and it has been worth the effort.”
Balkman is averaging 7.1 points per game
and 4.7 rebounds per game this season.
The Associated Press named junior for
ward Carlos Powell to its All-Southeastern
Conference third team. The Florence native
led the Gamecocks in scoring this season.
Also being honored by the coaches at last
week’s SEC tournament was Mississippi
State’s Lawrence Roberts, who is in his first
season since transferring away from a
tragedy-stricken Baylor program. Roberts
was a unanimous first team All-SEC selec
tion.
In other awards, the SEC Defensive Player
of the Year went to Georgia’s Rashad Wright;
Freshman of the Year went to LSU’s Brandon
Bass; Vanderbilt’s Scott Hundley was named
SEC Sixth Man of the Year and MSU’s Shane
Power earned the first Scholar-Athlete of the
Year.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu
Women’s tennis team
annihilates 2 in-state
opponents, Harvard
BY WES WOLFE
TIIK CA.MKCOCK •
It was a mixed spring break for the No. 46 USC wom
en’s tennis team (94,-2-2 SEC), which dropped matches to
No. 19 Kentucky and No. 4 Vanderbilt but was able to
beat in-state rivals Winthrop and College of Charleston,
along with No.15 Harvard.
Kentucky-5 USC-2
The Wildcats (12-6,3-1 SEC) came out and took the
doubles point early, with Aibika Kalsarieva and Lara
Maurer beating Laura Ganzer and Christyn Lucas 8-2,
while Sarah Foster and Joelle Schwenk took out the pair
ing of Magda Wojdylo and Fallon Koon for the other win
for UK, 8-6.
Koon filled in for Danielle Wiggins, who moved up to
54th in the singles rankings last week. Carolina received
some solace in the doubles matches, though, as the team
of Miranda Gutierrez and Ayako Suzuki beat Kentucky’s
Christine Simpson and Liis Sober, 8-3.
The Gamecocks only managed two wins against the
Wildcats in singles play, with Gutierrez beating
Schwenk and Koon recording a win against Sober.
Ganzer fell victim to No. 25 Kalsarieva, Lucas lost to
Maurer and Justine Walsh’s match was awarded to
Simpson after Kentucky netted its necessary four
points.
USC-3 Vandy-4 *
The Gamecocks had a legitimate shot against the high
ly ranked Commodores (12-2,4-1 SEC), but fell short by
one point. The one point, won in doubles competition,
made the difference as Carolina and Vanderbilt split the
singles matches, 3-3.
The two losses in doubles play came honestly, though,
since one team is ranked third in the nation and the oth
er is 27th.
“The girls are playing really well, and they are get
ting better each match that we play,” USC head coach
Arlo Elkins said. "We have five combined freshman
and sophomores in our lineup and one junior who is
playing her first dual match action in two years, so I
am very pleased with our progress. If we keep this up,
we are going to be a tough team to beat by the end of
the season.”
Two of the wins came over ranked opponents, as
Wiggins took out No. 27 Audra Falk 7-6, 6-2 and Lucas
got past No. 80 Amanda Fish 6-4,7-5.
Also, Koon notched USC’s other win by beating
Annie Menees in three sets. However, Vandy’s talent
across the board proved to be too much for Carolina,
♦ TENNIS, SEEPAGE 14
PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK
Freshman Laura Ganzer in action for USC.
Baseball team stays perfect in 7-game spring break campaign
BY STEPHEN DEMEDIS
m: (iAMKCOCK
While much of the student body was
away this past week, the USC men’s base
ball team (17-0) was busy taking on No. 18
Clemson, Yale and Delaware State while
trying to maintain its undefeated record
and No. 3 national ranking.
USC-5 Clemson-2
In the first of four games between the
two in-state rivals, Carolina soundly de
feated the Tigers (6-7) by a score of 5-2. The
Gamecocks came out hot and scored three
runs in the first inning off of Clemson
starter Jason Berken. Bryan Triplett in
creased the lead with a two-run home run
fri the bottom of thefifth inning. USC
starter Billy Buckner got in the win and
moved to 3-0 on the season. Buckner and
reliever Chad Blackwell combined to set a
team record for most strikeouts recorded
in a game with 18. Buckner carried the
load with 16 strikeouts before giving way
to Blackwell.
Clemson-7 USC-8
On the road this time, the Gamecocks
had a challenge putting Clemson away and
took an extra inning to do so. USC won the
game in the 10th, 8-7. The lead went back
and forth between the two teams before the
game went into extra innings. Trailing by
two in the eighth, centerfielder Michael
Campbell doubled to right, scoring two run
ners to tie the game at seven. After a score
less ninth, sophomore Steven Tolleson
opened the 10th with a game-winning horjte
run. Also homering for Carolina were ju
nior Steve Pearce and senior captain
Landon Powell who scored his third of the
year. Blackwell came on in relief in the
sixth inning and got the win.
USC-6 Yale-1
USC returned to Columbia for a two
game series against the Yale Bulldogs (2
5). Carolina’s ace pitcher Matt Campbell
moved to 3-0 on the year as he stymied
Yale’s bats, allowing just one hit and strik
ing out 11. On the season, Campbell has
been extremely impressive. The junior
has struck out 32 and has not allowed an
earned run or given up a walk. Campbell
held Yale scoreless through eight innings
before giving way to reliever Cliff Donald,
who gave up one run before earning the
save. Although it was the first game in
which Carolina’s offense failed to produce
a home run, Pearce again provided the of
fense with a team-leading two RBIs. The
game was over in less than two hours.
USC-9 Yale-2
In the final game, the Gamecock offense
came to life in a 9-2 victory. Michael
Campbell led the way with a three-run
home run and an RBI single. Junior Jason
Fletcher got the win, striking out five and
allowing just one earned run. Powell went
3-for-4, extending his hitting streak to 10
games, but Triplett went 0-for-5, ending
his streak at 13 games. Leading the way
for Yale was outfielder Marc Sawyer, who
had three hits and an RBI.
USC-4 DESU-2
Carolina’s record moved to 15-0 with a
win Friday night over the Hornets (11-11)
by a score of 4-2. The Gamecocks scored
all four runs on home runs in the third in
ning and relied on four pitchers to get the
job done on the mound. Campbell led off
the third inning with a solo shot and af
ter a single, Triplett and Pearce hit back
to-back shots to increase the lead.
USC-7 DESU-0
In the second game of the series,
Carolina shut out Delaware State 7-0.
Junior pitcher Aaron Rawl struck out
seven on the way to his fourth win of the
year. The Gamecocks scattered their
runs through the game, bringing in most
with clutch-hit doubles. USC scored four
runs in the fourth inning, thanks to five
♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 14