2B
SPORTS/The Charlotte Post
Thursday, August 14, 1997
Robinson has star potential
Continued from 1B
academic programs and the
prospect of playing near home
enough to sign with former coach
Daryl McNeill.
“I wanted to stay close so my
mother could see me play,”
Robinson said. “Being around a
small school, you can get help in
the classroom and use the facili
ties mound here.”
Robinson wasn’t the primary
target in Smith’s ball-control
offense last year, but he showed
flashes of brilliance. Although he
didn’t score, Robinson gave the
Bulls a physical pass-catcher in
addition to a physical blocker.
There’s no doubting which he
prefers.
I think Fm a better receiver,”
Robinson says.
Having a tight end like
Robinson opens
more possibili
ties for Smith.
His blocking
will help the
running game,
espeically in
short-yardage
and ball-control
situations in
addition to giv
ing Smith
big target to
Davis
quarterbacks
throw to.
“Really and truly, he’s the first
tight end Fve been around in
quite a few years,” Davis said. “At
Savaimah State, we didn’t have a
tight end, so we used four wide-
outs, three wideouts and not oper
ate vrith a tight end because we
didn’t have that tight end posti-
tion-type person. With Rod, we’ve
got that person and I’m hoping we
can take advantage of it and use
his .skills wisely.”
As a senior, Robinson has taken
on more of a leadership role for
the BuUs, who lost 10 starters
from last season to graduation. As
a junior, he depended on the vet
erans to help him become accli
mated with a new coach and
schemes. Now iFs his turn to men
tor as Smith tries to improve on
last year’s 7-3 record.
“Fm learning, but Fm also
teaching the young guys the little
things they need to learn,” he
said. “Being a leader, you can’t
have pressure. Hiere’s going to be
pressure, but you can’t let people
see it. That’s going to be my role -
not to let them see that it’s pres
sure, just show them that eveiy-
thing’s going normal.”
Barrow moves to inside linebacker
Continued from 1B
the Panthers are giving up on Saleh and Finkes.
“They’re making good progress,” Capers said. “But we’ve got to
think about getting ready for the regular season in a few weeks, so
we want to look at a number of different possibilities.”
Barrow wasn’t sure what to think when he arrived at work
Monday morning and was told to go to Capers’ office.
“Fm thinking, “What, do they want their money back?’ Barrow
said.
HELP SET THE WNBA
AHENDANCE RECORD
SATURDAY, AUG. 16 •
Sting face Monarchs and Comets
Continued from 1B
the ball to the hoop and score.”
Charlotte can’t afford to slip
against 8-14 Sacramento and
Houston, which is 4-0, including
exhibitions, against the Sting.
Mapp noticed in pregame
warmups Monday that Charlotte
wasn’t focused, something it
needs to be successful.
“I could tell that we werep’t aU
there and it kind of carried over to
the game,” she said. “We’ve got to
come out with that intensity,
we’ve got to be emotional, we’ve
got to get the crowd into it, we’ve
got to play up to ovu expectations.
We’ve got to play up to our capa
bilities.”
Stinson, Charlotte’s leading
scorer and a candidate for most
valuable player, said the best
teams down the stretch will make
Tiger
ready for
PGA
By Ron Sirak
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MAMARONECK, N.Y. -
Tiger Woods hit his tee shot on
the first hole at Winged Golf
Club down the middle, played
his approach to the green then
wandered off into the rough
grown extra long for this
week’s PGA Championship.
He took a
ball from his
pocket, tossed
it into the tan
gled grass and
watched it dis
appear from
sight. He
tossed another
ball and it too
vanished.
“I could hit it
if I was going
that way,” Woods with a laugh,
taking a stance that aimed
back down the fairway toward
the tee, which was the way the
grain of the grass was growing.
Never more than a stride
away from Woods at any time
during the nine-hole practice
round Monday was Butch
Harmon, his coach and the
famed teacher whose father
was the professional at Winged
Foot for 33 years.
Harmon watched with
amusement as Woods tossed
the balls into the rough and
saw them disappear. Then he
leaned over and offered Woods
wise advice from his years
aroimd Winged Foot.
“Better keep it in the fair
way,” Harmon said.
Both men roared with laugh
ter, but there were no wiser
words for this week’s PGA.
The rough is up at Winged
Foot - the PGA says to 4 1/2
inches but it was more like a
half-foot in many places - and
the fairways have been nar
rowed. As always, the fairways
and greens are guarded by tow
ering trees and massive
bunkers.
The greens are narrow tar
gets with extremely fast and
severely sloped contours. Big
greens, course architect A.W
Tillinghast believed, lead to
“slovenly golf”
It will take extremely lean
and mean golf to get under par
See WOODS on page 3B
Woods
the playoffs. In a season that saw
expected powers New York and
Los Angeles stumble in spots,
anything could happen.
“(Houston) can lose any game
down the road, Cleveland could
lose, New York could continue to
lose,” she said. “It’s not any pres
sure (to win every game).”
“We’ve got to go out 'Thursday
and beat Sacramento,” Mapp
said. “We’re not going to think
about Houston. We’re just going
to think abour Sacramento. We’ve
got to use this as a stepping stone.
Whatever mistakes we made
against Houston, we need to cor
rect it against Sacramento, then
play Houston Saturday.”
What:
Charlotte
Sting vs.
Houston
Comets.
When:
Saturday, 2
p.m.
Where:
Charlotte
Coliseum.
Tickets: $8
and up.
Come watch the Sting swarm the Comets and help set a single-game
WNBA attendance record. Because the Sting play in the league's largest
arena, it's a record that can't be broken by any other team!
Plus, each fan in attendance will receive a free collectible
poster featuring the inaugural Charlotte Sting.
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT ALL TICKETMASTER OUTLETS - (704) 522-6500