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m http://www.thecharlottepost.com 1C tKIje Cljarlottg SPORTS C^HLI^SDA^DECEMBER 11,2003 Blagte^oil^^^/4C PHOTO/USA TRACK AND FIELD Former St. Augustine’s star and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Jerome Young. USOC pressures USA Track over lax doping details By John Marshall THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DENVER — The U.S. Olympic Committee kept up its pressure on U.S. Track & Field in the Jerome Young doping case Monday in a report criticizing the organization for not providing details in the matter. A USOC panel praised USATF for proposals to eliminate doping in the sport and curtail athlete conduct issues, but chided the organization for not cooperating with the International Olympic Committee in the Young case. The comments were sent to the USOC’s execu tive committee, along with a 23-page report from USATF that outlines how it intends to address recent issues that have plagued the organization. The executive committee will review the mater ial and likely determine a course of action within the next week or so. That could range from con tinued public pressure to preventing USATF from selecting the U.S. team for the 2004 Athens Games. “I believe the consensus of our group is that in both of those areas (doping and athlete conduct) they proposed some constructive and positive solutions that are worth considering,” said Jim McCarthy, chair of the USOC advisoiy panel for track and field. “But the area that we’re disap pointed in was the manner in which they’ve addressed the Jerome Young situation.” Young tested positive for steroids in 1999, but was cleared on appeal and went to win a relay gold at the 2000 Sydney Games. The IOC has asked USATF to explain why Young was cleared. Please see USOC/2C Woods takes player of year award again By Doug Ferguson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS „ THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Tiger Woods’ least ;j»-oductive season since 1998 was still enough for dim to be voted PGA Tbur player of the year. He ^didn’t win a major. He didn’t even win the PGA /Tour money title. But when the votes from more than 200 of his .peers were tallied, Woods had just enough to edge Vijay Singh and win the award for the fifth straight time, and the sixth time in his seven fuU seasons on tour. “There’s a tremendous amount of satisfaction because it just shows that guys on the tour respect that I was consistent, that I’ve won numerous times,” Woods said. “I think that’s what. the award reflects.” If wasn’t the slump that some made it out to be, despite failing to win a major for the first time since 1998. Woods stin led the PGA Tbur with five victories, including two World Golf Championships. His 68.41 adjusted scoring aver age was the second-lowest in history, earning him a fifth straight Vardon Trophy. The PGA Tbur does not release final votes, but it was believed to be one of the closest races since the award began in"1990. Ben Curtis was voted rookie of the year for win ning the British Open in his first appearance at a major. Peter Jacobsen was voted comeback player of the year for winning the Greater Hartford Open at age 49, his first tour victory in eight years. Woods became the first player since Greg Norman in 1995 to win the award without cap turing a major championship. Please see WOODS/3C Woods Panthers in dire need ef ansMiers PHOTO/WADE NASH Panthers cornerback Ricky Manning strips the ball from Atlanta running back T.J. Duckett dur ing the Falcons’ 20-14 overtime win last week. Carolina has lost three games in a row. Losing streak comes at worst time C. Jemal Horton No, after a 5-0 start and an impressive stint as darlings of the National Football League, the Carolina Panthers are not choking right now. But they are having a whole lot of trouble chewing. It’s time to abandon the niceties. As much as this team should be applauded for rebounding from a 1-15 season two years ago, as much as it deserves credit for overcoming an ungodly amount of off-the-field issues in recent years, it would be doing the Panthers a disser vice to ignore the painful truth. With three games remain ing in the regular season, the Carolina Panthers (8-5) are limping into the playoffs. Big time. They have lost three con secutive games and five of their last eight. They strug gle in the red zone — and any another zone on the field, for that matter - when the/re on offense. They struggle throw ing the ball. They struggle catching the football. They struggle on special teams. And, for the first time in ,a long while, they even strug gle on defense. Not to men tion the fact linebacker Dan Morgan still has trouble avoiding concussions. And star defensive end Mike Rucker has a sprained knee. And cornerback Terry Cousin has an injured calf that could keep him out of Sunday’s game at Arizona. Something is wrong here, and there’s no use denying it. Perhaps it’s one part poor performance and one part just plain, poor luck. But it is not good. And, in the end, that's all that matters in the NFL. “Right now, after three loss es (in a row), you’re not rid ing high with confidence,” Carolina coach John Fox admitted to reporters during his weekly press conference. “But we lost eight in a row last year and then won four out of five. “It’s (a matter of) what you are willing to do to commit to get the job done. This week will be another test. Unfortunately, we’ve had Please see PANTHERS/2C Muhammad deals with Atlanta gaffe, diffieulties of reduced opportunities By Jenna Fryer THE ASSOCIATED PRESS If there’s just one play that haunts Carolina receiver Muhsin Muhammad this year, it prob ably will be when he inexplicably stopped run ning on his route Jn overtime against Atlanta last week. His gaffe allowed Kevin Mathis to intercept Jake Delhomme on the third play of overtime and return it for the game-winning 32-yard touchdown in Atlanta’s 20-14 victory. It also led to Carolina’s third consecutive loss and cost the Panthers (8-5) a shot at clinching the NFC South. “Chalk it up to. he made a mistake,” coach John Fox said Monday “I don’t think he real ized that Jake was going to be under duress like that, which he very weU should have real ized. He needed to keep running and didn’t.” Asked why Muhammad stopped short on the third-and-3 route. Fox didn’t have an answer. “I haven’t asked him,” he replied. Perhaps sensing he would be made the scapegoat of Carolina’s loss, Muhammad did his best after the game Sunday night to ward it off. “Anytime you lose three straight you are going to have some finger-pointing going on,” he said. ‘Tou are going to have some people who are going to say the reason why we are losing is this or that. Coaches may start to blame players and play ers may start to blame coaches or other play- Please see MUHAMMAD/2C Muhammad PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON Vance High coach Gary Richmond (left) has one of the area’s best girls’ teams. Patience pays of for Vance coach By James Hamlin SPECIAL TO THE POST Gary Richmond’s road to success as . girls’ basketball coach at Vance High has been a long one. Richmond has been at the school since it opened 7 years ago and you can say that his current success is well earned. This year Richmond returns all but two players from a team that went 28-3 and finished second in the state play-offs last year. But he still remembers those first couple years at the school. “The early part was n’t a lot of fim. We went 2-20 the first year the school was open (and) took some beat ings.” Richmond only had one junior on his first team. The rest were freshmen and sophomores. But the talent eventually came, as did the wins. After year three Richmond was coaching a program that was either finishing first or sec ond in the conference every season. That success he attributes to the players. “I’m not going to out-coach a whole lot of people in bas ketball,” Richmond admits. “What I try to do is put the talent in position and get out the way.” He has had some talent Keri Metzker anchored the middle for the Lady Cougars dming their run through the state play-offs last year, averaging a double-double 15 points and 11 rebounds. Metzker now plays at Wofford, while guard Shantia Washington, who scored 11 a game, is at Davidson. Having two play ers earning Division I schol arships helps his players buy into Richmond’s team-first system. ‘We want to play pressure defense and fast-break offen sively and if it’s not there then we’re going to take threes,” he said. That style usually leads to more balanced scoring, and requires unselfishness. But Richmond has Had plenty of success selling it. “I try to show them that when college coaches come in to ask about recruits they rarely ask, if ever, how many points somebody averages a game,” he said. “They ask can they play defense, can they rebound, are they imselfish?” This year it looks fike his players have bought into that philosophy. Vance is 5-0 and Richmond sees good things in the Cougars’ future if they keep it up. “As long as we play unselfish the only teams that can beat us is those that have more talent,” he said. “But if we play unselfishly and hustle then there are not going to be a lot of teams that can beat us.” -i 'OI
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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