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http://www.thecharlottepost.com
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JOHNSON C. SMITH UNIVERSITY
iRTH CAROLINA 28216
THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2004
SPORTS
Black College Sports/4C
AV 2 ' ■
So let me get this straight:
American athletes are sup
posed to train 12 hours a day,
compete for a spot on the
United State Olympic team,
make the umpteen-hour
flight over to Greece ... and
then bridle their patriotism,
should they be fortunate
enough to win a medal?
This is the message the
United States Olympic
Committee has given
American team members
about how they must con
duct themselves this sum
mer? No tiny flag-waving?
No running around the sta
dium with the Stars and
Stripes wrapped around
your shoulders?
You have got to be kidding
me.
If security concerns for
Americans at the Olympics
have gotten this bad — and
the USOC says that they
have - then the Games are
just not worth it.
Tfeam USA needs to stay
right here in the States.
America should forget about
the Games this time, boycott
them - again.
Why should Americans go
over to Athens if^ they can’t
be themselves? Why go over
there if you can’t show pride
the way you wish?
Why?!!!
“American athletes find
themselves in extraordinary
circumstances in Athens in
relation to the world as we
know it right now,” Mike
Moran, a former spokesman
for the USOC, said at a New
York news conference two
weeks ago. Moran has been
retained as a consultant to
advise athletes about the
correct way to behave in
Athens.
“Regardless of whether
there is anti-American senti
ment in Athens or not,^ the
world watches Americans a
lot now, in terms of how they
behave and our culture,”
Moran said. “What I am try
ing to do with the athletes
and coaches is to suggest to
them that they consider how
the normal things they do at
an event, including the
Olympics, might be viewed
as confrontational or insult
ing or cause embarrass
ment.”
For the United States to
even consider such a stipula
tion for its athletes is ridicu
lous. Granted, things are
more than a little tense for
Americans now, considering
the fighting in Iraq and
recent evidence that U.S.
military forces have been
torturing detainees at the
Abu Ghraib prison.
But if those things have
made Americans such a
major target, especially for
something as pedestrian as
showing country pride at a
sporting event, that’s all the
more reason for the U.S.
Olympic team not to go to
Athens.
I hate to sound like Oliver
Stone. But you can best
believe that, if someone like
Moran took time to warn
about how American ath
letes should conduct them
selves in Athens for fear of
retaliation, there’s a really
good chance that things are
ten times worse than we
know.
Please see AMERICAN /3C
e#OE
Blending talents creates
learning curve for Sting
By Herbert L. White
herb, while @ thecharlollepost. com
The Charlotte Sting doesn’t
have the luxury of time to fig
ure out how to play well
together.
Charlotte is integrating sev
eral new players into a veteran
starting lineup -with mixed
results through two games.
The Sting v^dll try to get above
.500 when it takes on Indiana
Friday at the Charlotte
Coliseum.
“It’s not about the coaching,”
Sting coach Trudi Lacey said.
“I’m not out there playing, so
it’s really about them playing
together it’s going to take them
some time to get some games
\mder their belt but they really
have a feel for each other.”
Charlotte stumbled out of the
gate in losing to Houston in the
home opener, then rebounded
in a win at Washington. The
Sting collapsed in the second
half against Houston, especial
ly on,defense.
“Offensively we were very
tentative, but again, the thing
I was most disappointed in
was we didn’t make the hustle
plays,” Lacey said.
‘Tleally, there was no excuse
for the way we played.
Basically, their stars (Cheryl
Swoopes with 29 points and
Tina Thompson vrith 19) came
to play and ours didn’t.”
Help arrived in the
Washington win with the
return of forward Allison
Feaster, who missed the open
er because of commitments to
her European team. Feaster
came off the bench to score 15
points on 4-of-€ shooting
against the Mystics, including
the go-ahead basket with 1
minute, 8 seconds left.
Still, Lacey said, the Sting is
a work in progress as everyone
learns their roles.
“I said all along it’s going to
take us a while to blend this
team together,” she said. “It’s
on the job training now, so
we’ve got to get it done.”
FIT TO RACE
PHOTOAIVAOE NASH
Al Shuford has trained his share of championship athletes from Major League baseball to col
lege football powerhouse Miami (Fla.). He’s a fitness consultant to Joe Gibbs Racing and
Team Rensi in NASCAR, where he’s responsible for teams in the Nextel and Busch series. A
former client, Chip Ganassi Racing, used his expertise to win the Indy Racing League’s
IndyCar championship in 2003.
Trainer keeps NASCAR
crews, racers raring to go
By Herbert L. White
herb. while@lhecharlotte{>ost. com
Driving a race car for three hours requires
phy.sical and mental skill.
It’s Al Shuford job to make sure drivers and
their crews are at the top of both.
Shuford, a Shelby native, is owner of All-In-
One Health & Safety Consultants, which con
tracts with some of NASCAR’s top teams. His
clients include Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nextel
Cup Series and Rensi Motorsports in the
Busch Series. Shuford, a former trainer with
the NFL’s Carolina Panthers from 1994-2000,
is at the forefront of sports medicine in
NASCAR as more teams employ trainers to
keep drivers and crewmembers in top physi
cal shape.
“All of a sudden, they reahze the/ve got to
have more in order to take care of these guys
and keep them going so they don’t have to
worry about continuity,” Shuford said.
Shuford’s resume is full of championships -
five to be exact. He was on the Kansas City
Royals in 1985 when they won the World
Series and at the Miami (Fla.) when the
Hurricanes won three national football titles
from 1988-94. He also put together the train
ing program for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2003,
which earned an Indy Racing League cham
pionship with Scott Dixon. The sports may be
different, but goals aren’t.
“I have the same demands from those guys
as I do with football players or baseball guys -
strength, power, endurance on the physical
side,” Shuford said, “But on those same three
qualities also translate over to the mental
aspect”
Shuford, 44, didn’t grow up a race fan,
although NASCAR stars would race at the
Cleveland County Fairgrounds when he was
a kid. His father, however was a big fan
despite the imspoken admonition that blacks
weren’t allowed to feel comfortable at tracks
in the 1960s.
“I was bom apd raised in Shelby near the
end of segregation era,” Shuford said. “We
were not allowed to go to the fairgrounds. My
dad tells these stories all the time about guys
Please see TRAINER/2C
Diversity effort seeks Magic touch
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CONCORD - Basketball
Hall of Famer Magic
Johnson
will serve as
co-chairman
of a new
NASCAR
committee
on diversity.
Since his
retirement,
Johnson has
been a suc
cessful busi
nessman, using his own
company to stimulate eco
nomic growth and develop-
Johnson
ment in urban areas around
the country. That includes
the 70 Starbucks Coffee loca
tions and five movie theaters
he’owns.
Part of Johnson’s duties
will include helping
NASCAR in creating a pro
gram to identify and develop
black, Hispanic and women
drivers and crew members.
He also will advise NASCAR
chief operating officer
George Pyne on diversity
issues.
“When you think about the
NASCAR brand, it resonates
everywhere,” Johnson said
Thursday. “They have the
No. 1 sports brand. I have
the No. 1 urban brand. So
bringing these two brands
together, we hope that we
can reach out to minorities
across this country and
introduce a wonderful sport
that is already doing veiy,
very, very well.”
NASCAR also announced
the successful beginning of a
minority program that has
five drivers and six crewmen
competing in its Dodge
Weekly Series and
Craftsman Truck Series.
They were selected after a
competition combine held in
January.
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Point guard Dawn. Staley drives for a layup in the
Sting’s WNBA season-opener against Houston.
Charlotte plays Indiana Friday at the Coliseum.
Cobras build
up as season
winds down
PHOTO/WAYNE JERNIGAN
Carolina quarterback Rickey Foggie is tackled
during the Cobras’ 36-31 win over Grand Rapids.
Carolina is 6-9 this season after going winless in
2003.
By Herbert L, White
herb.white@ihecharlottep6si.rom
The Carolina Cobras can lay claim to a success
ful rebuilding season.
Saturday’s 36-31 win over Grand Rapids at the
Charlotte CoHseum was the Cobras’ third home
victory of the season after opening with 11
straight losses in the building. It also improved
Carolina’s record to 6-9, six wins better than last
year’s 0-16.
“Looking where we were a few weeks back ...I
think we took some steps,” Carolina coach Ron
Selesky said. “It was a game we could’ve easily
lost but we found a way to win.”
The 1-14 Rampage never led but missed a
chance to win when Anthony Buich’s fourth-down
pass to Carlos Johnson was broken up by
Carolina’s Fred Vinson with four seconds left.
Last season, that play would’ve gone against the
Cobras, who made a habit of losing games late.
“It was the type of game that you know it’s a
team you should beat and would beat... but you
know in the back of your mind that there’s a veiy
good chance that it could be a game like that,”
Selesky said. “Tve got to give them a lot of credit.
They slowed the game down to a grinding halt.
They dictated the flow of the game.”
The Rampage was in position to win because it
controlled the clock and momentum, never allow
ing Carolina to build on its early momentum.
Grand Rapids held the ball for 47 minutes, 7 sec
onds compared to Carolina’s 27:53. The Cobras,
who’ve won two straight for the second time this
season, did just enough to stay in front, with quar
terback Rickey Foggie hitting 21-of-33 passes for
275 yards and three scores. His most important
connection was a 45-yard strike to Bernard
Holmes that led to Rob Bironas’ 23-yard insur
ance field goal with 48 seconds left.