Page 89 - Phoenix1999-2000

SPORTS Thursday, December 9, 1999 - Page 17 The Sports View: Upon further review Jill Krebs taking a look at the positive side of sports named All I hope this will cut into the American able just talking to. He is real in a CHRIS ANASTASIA Both these teams have not only basketball player. Asst. Sports Editor world of superficiality, and that is made Sunday afternoons more in- a much overlooked aspect in sports teresting and given their hometown time that he spends making really Iam not going to lie to you, I today. fans something to cheer about, they crappy rap albums. have no idea what to write about No handlers, drug convictions, are both true examples of what is -The NBA does not test for MIKE YESTRAMSKI for this issue. You have to under- or mistreated wives here. Just a good in professional sports. marijuana use in its players. Jeez, Sports Editor stand, the sports reporting busi- good man who works hard and Other positive aspects of one work stoppage was enough. Sophomore cross country run- ness is a pretty damn jaded pro- likes what he does. Cal Ripken is sports: You see, if they all were tested ner Jill Krebs became the first All- fession. what is good about professional -This will be Charles Barkley's for drugs, they would all be sus- American in that sport from West- What Iam trying to say is that sports. last season. God, Chuck ... quit pended, thus no players. it is hard to write a professional And it has to be positive to see whining! - Deion Sanders. His missing em Maryland. 35th in a field of Krebs finished sports column about a bunch of that the Indianapolis Colts and the' -Anna Koumikova ... Just look all of last season and part of this 213 runners at the NCAA Division ungrateful millionaires and be St. Louis Rams are both in first at her, c'mon. one with turf toe (he stubbed his III National Championships at Wis- happy about it. place in the NFL. -Lou Holtz is back in coaching toe, plain and simple) has given consin-Oshkosh. The top 35 run- I mean, there are not many To see these perennial losers, at South Carolina. me yet another new excuse for ners positive things in professional for lack of a better description, hav- This really isn't a big deal, ljust missing work. team. make up the All-America sports ... or are there? ing great seasons is just a testament wanted to write Gamecocks in this You see, there are still some Krebs finished the race in a time Imean, what is more positive to the hard work and pride these column. good things left in the sports of 17:40.4 which was her career that Baltimore's Cal Ripken?This teams have put into their on-field -The Baltimore Ravens. These world. best in a 5,000 meter course by 68 is a guy that goes to work every- product. inept bastards have given me Some are very humorous, or seconds. She finished 54.2 seconds day and plays as hard as he pos- Both teams are reflected by enough ammunition for four or five were at least' intended to be, and behind champion Rhaina Echols of sibly can just for the satisfaction their quarterbacks. The Colts' columns, at least. some were serious. the University of Chicago. of winning one more champion- Peyton Manning personifies the That, and the fact that actually That is the beauty of sports; Krebs was only the third run- ship. fulfilled promise that so few young pay Scott Mitchell (you know, the humor and gravity are held in the ner to qualify for nationals in WMC Of course, he makes a lot of stars deliver, leading his team with walking ham sandwich) to stand same space. history. money; he is an entertainer. a sense of grace and pride uncom- around and get made fun of by That is why I write this col- Krebs, along with sophomores Every time Ihave seen him in mon today. yours truly. umn. person, though, Ihave come away For the Rams, Kurt Warner is -Stevie Z. The best long range That is what I think is good Jayne Karolow, and Diana Pool, Holly Thompson, freshman Blair feeling like my $17 ticket was living the sports version of the shooter in the world. Attention about professional sports. Heinke recently gave Western money well spent. American Dream as he goes from Western Maryland men's basket- Have a great holiday and do Maryland it's first ever league title Ripken seems t'Q""b; the kind Arena League nobody to the NFL's ball team. not be afraid to laugh; you can of any kind in either men's or of guy that one could be comfort- leading passer. -Master P is now a semi-pro tell I'm not. women's cross country. A guide to the NHL in 1999-2000 - the players to watch MATT HURFF rently third in the league in scor- eluding Jason Arnott (5, 5, 10) and while also being a force on the to rival Detroit in return for pros- SlaffWriter ing. Pelf Sykora (5, 6, I J). power play. peers who are not living up to ex- How.ever, Roenick is not the The Flyers, however, have used Do the Flyers send back Gagne pecrarions. Yes, that brisk December chill only player scoring for Phoenix, as the struggles in New Jersey as an or look to trade Jones or Replacing Murphy in the front has filled the air, and that can only they spread their offense out be- opportunity to take control of the Brind'Amour? It would be wise to office, and as head coach, is long mean coe.thing, the NHL season is tween the lines. Phoenix has 24 usually strong Atlantic Division. attempt to use a veteran player to time organization member Bob heating up. ~ goals by forwards nor on their first Mark Recchi (10, 27, 32) ~as gain a package of rookies, espe- Pulford. Currently, there are sevemroi=--line_____ been outstanding and has made Ill- cially this season, since there is an Pulford returns to the coachl visional races showing promise for What hiiPfrent:d-t()-the..S.l~uries to Rod Brind' Amour and abundance of talented rookies on GM role after 13 years and hopes April, most notably, the action in Cup Champion Dallas Stars? Cur- KeitllTonerin-consequential. the market. to correct the path ofa team with- the Pacific Division. There, the sur- rently, they are stuck in a slump at Recchi has played with renewed However, that is unlikely. be- out direction. prising San Jose Sharks, led by the bottom ofthe Pacific Division. strength and focus this season. cause Flyers' coach Roger Neilson The only scoring power for the Owen Nolan (16 goals, 19 assists, where top scorers Mike Modano Last year he fell from his usual prefers veteran players. Blackhawks has been Tony Amonte 35 points) will have to deal with and Brett Hull have been ineffec- 40-50 goal standard playing for the Elsewhere in the NHL. the (13, 12,25) who has scored 23 per- Phoenix, Los Angeles, Anaheim, live, and defensemen Daryl Sydor Canadians and Flyers. Last floundering Chicago Bl;ckhawks cent of the team's goals, ana the and Dallas for the divisional cham- and Sergei Zubov have not been season's performance can be attrib- fired GM Bob Murphy after a defense has been atrocious, as seen picnship of a historically weak di- involved in the offense. uted to the fact that he was playing much-maligned term at the helm. by the statistics of Bryan McCabe, vision. Goaltenders Ed Belfour and with a severe case of pneumonia for Murphy was responsible for trad- who has a negative 20 plus/minus The Pacific is far from weak this Manny Hernandez have been the entire season. This season he i"!.=:;==~Ch::n::'·S';Ch:::e;':lio:::S"':~L ,!"", __ ,,, season. steady but have not been able to has recovered, which can be seen r The problem for the Sharks lies offset an anemic offense. in his srats. within their competition. Luc Don't count Dallas out yet, Meanwhile, goaltender John Robitaillie just returned 10 Los though. Vanbiesbrouck (10-7-4) has been Angeles' lineup on Tuesday after They have too much talent and exceptional in the past few weeks, being injured for five weeks with a just need Modano or Hull to hit a going 3-1-2 in the pat six games broken left foot. hot streak which should ignite the alone. The veteran should give Los entire team. Recently, Vanbiesbrouck be- Angeles a boost, as he already Meanwhile, in the Eastern Con- came the eighth goaltender, and scored six goals and ten assists be- ference, there is a' playoff race first American goaltender, to play fore the injury. brewing between the Philadelphia 800 games. This. in addition 10 the fact that Flyers and New Jersey Devils. There is a chance, however, that the Kings possess a potent offense Several weeks ago, the Devils controversy could strike the Flyers with the accurate passing of Ziggy prepared for an intense Atlantic locker room soon. Palfy (12, 15,27) and the Norris Conference battle by re-obraining Rod Brind'Amour is expected Trophy winning defenseman Rob Claude Lemieux, the sparkplug for back from a foot injury suffered Blake (10, 10,20), make Los An- their 1994 Stanley Cup Champion during the preseason, and Keith " geles a force to be reckoned with. team. Jones just returned from knee sur- Meanwhile, Phoenix recently However, the Devils' locker gery. acquired goaltender Sean Burke room has been mired in contro- As a result, the Flyers must from the Panthers, who is 2-0 since versy over the past few weeks. This make some room on the roster to becoming a Coyote. seems to be a result of waning sup- allow them playing time. They are riding a hot streak led port for Head Coach Bobby Ftorek Rookie Simon Gagne (6, 3, 9) by perennial all-star Jeremy as several players have been com- has filled in for both players, man- Roenick (IS, 20, 35), who is cur- plaining and asking for trades, in- ning the third line center position