http:/A/vww.thechar1ottepost.com
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Section
Cfiarlotte ^oiEit
SPORTS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2005
Business 8C
Bill Lester
has
recorded
his first
top-five fin
ish and
broke the
S1 millioj
earn!
mark i
NASCAl
Craftsm
Truck
Series.
C. Jemal
Horton
Keep on truckin’:
Lester makes strides
By Herbert L. White
herb.whiie& thechorhaepostrom
Bill Lester is having his best
NASCAR season, but he’s not sat
isfied.
Lester, who drives in the
NASCAR Craftsman TVuck Series,
is the only Afiican American in a
top-level racing series. Although
2005 has been his best campaign,
he doesn’t have what he wants
most - a win.
‘Tm pretty hard on myself,” he
said. ‘1 strive to get everything we
deserve. I guess I shouldn’t look at
things as half empty instead of half
full.”
Althou^ the number of promi
nent black drivers in motorsports
is miniscule, a few pioneers have
blazed trails.
In stock car racing Wendell Scott
was the first and only Afiican
American to win a race in
NASCAR’s top division, in 1963 in
Jacksonville, Fla. Among open
wheel series, ^\illy T. Ribbs was
the first black to race at the
See LESTER/2C
NASCAR PHOTO
Second
banana
*
in hoops
country
Around these parts, the big
question isn’t “What should
we expect when the Charlotte
Bobcats open training camp
in Wilmington next week?”
The real* question on most
Charlotteans’ minds is this:
‘When the heck will Jake
Delhomme stop making so
many bad plays so the
Carolina
Panthers can
get on track?”
Sorry, Bob,
Bemie and the
Bobcats — the
Queen City has
b^n morphed
into a bona-
fide football
town. It’s
become the
kind of town that helps pla(«s
of worship clear out a little bit
faster during autumn
Sundays.
Football’s a bigger deal
here.
Kelly TVipucka and J.R.
Reid must be spinning in
their... mansions.
So the real task the Bobcats
face heading into their second
season as an NBA fi*anchise
isn’t making a playoff run or
beating the Miami Heat
when Shaq comes to town
during the regular season -
Jan. 27 and March 6, for die
millions of you who care.
The biggest challenge the
Bobcats face is turning
Charlotte back into a basket
ball town.
It can be done. Especially
with the Panthers’ defense
playing so pitifully nearly a
quarter of die way into a sea
son many felt would end with
a Super Bowl appearance.
The tools for the Bobcats to
make Charlotte return to its
basketball roots already have
fallen into place.
For starters, there is the
brand-new, fancy-schmancy
Charlotte Bobcats Arena.
Uptown’s newest structure
is supposed to be one of the
NBA’s best. Consequently,
there will be a large segment
of people fiom all over the
region who buy a ticket at
least one time, just so they
can see what the place looks
like. While they’re there, it’s
the Bobcats’job to make them
want to come back to watch
some hoops.
And I’m not necessarily
talking about winning
games.
Sure, at some point, per
haps five years down the line,
people in this town will have
reason to expect the Bobcats
to win a certain number of
games, if not compete for a
spot in the Eastern
Conference playoffs. But
most everyone knows that
time is not during the fi*an-
chise’s second season.
The things that will be
expected are effort, a strong
Rease see BOBCATS/3C
Bill Lester is a rarity in big-league motorsports as a driver in one
of NASCAR’s top divisions.
WR Smith
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Johnson C. Smith receiver Velton Bennett counts down the seconds during the Golden Bulls’
26-11 loss to Benedict earlier this month. Smith is 0-5 and last in the CIAA West
Oh to the no
Winless Bulls, Bears play to escape basement
By Herbert L. White
h€rb.whUe& tliechaTlottepost£m
The good news about black college football’s
oldest rivalry is that somebody’s going to get
their first win of the season.
The bad news: The loser’s chances of break
ing through will be very slim for the rest of
2005.
^\^ess Johnson C. Smith and Livingstone,
whose rivalry dates back to 1892,will play for
the 71st time Saturday at Belk Complex at 6
p,m. The Golden Bulls lead the series 37-29-4,
but Livingstone won last year in Salisbury 16-
10. Smith’s last win - against anyone - was a
21-19 homecoming victory over the Blue Bears
in 2003,18 games ago.
“The bottom line is just executing our plays
and doing things we (have) to do,” Bulls coadi
Daiyd McNeill said. “We’ve just
got to be able to grow up and do
the ri^t thing and mentally be
able to take some things fiom
the practice field to the game.”
Neither team has done enough
of that. Smith lost to St. Paul’s
(2-3,1-1CTAA) 27-7 last week at
home to drop the Bulls to 0-9 all-
time at Belk The Bulls’ defense
forced turnovers that put the
ball deep in St. Paul’s territory, but the offeise
continues to struggle.
See JCSU/2C
McNeill
steps up
Ms game
By David D. Dawson
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Carolina Panthers receive has two games with
over 100 receiving yards, with 138 yards against New
(Drleans and 170 yards and three touchdowns to set a
career high against Miami Smith has shown that he
has matured as a player and is having fun on the
field.
‘Tve always had fun. My direction of
how I would channel that was my
biggest problem. I understand that I
can’t get all rallied up. I just have to go
out there and have fun and play” said
Smith.
Smith moved into third place on the
Panthers all-time receiving list with
181 receptions and 14 touchdown
catches, surpassing wide receiver Mark
Carrier, who recorded 176 receptions
and 13 touchdown catches fiom 1995-1998. Smith
needs 10 yards receiving to better Carrier’s career
mark of 2,547 yards rec^ving for third place.
Head coach John Fox sees Smith as one of the lead
ers on the team that leads by example.
“During my tenure, Steve has always been a big
play guy He’s made some very big plays for us ... this
season,” Fox said. “I think guys look to that and they
respect that about him. I think he does lead by exam
ple in that way He shows up ready to play and give
severything he has.”
Statistically Smith is also exemplifying that he is
See SMITH/2C
Smith
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Carolina Panthers receiver Steve Smith has gone
over 100 yards receiving twice in three games.
He’s within 10 yards of ^ird place on Carolina’s
career receiving yards list
76ers’ Iverson still craves an NBA championship
Iverson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SHANGHAI, C!Tiina - Even after the scor
ing titles, the Olympics, Most Valuable
Player awards and rookie of the year honors,
Allen Iverson still craves the “big one.”
“I have the same goal every year. And that’s
just to win a championship,” the Philadelphia
76ers point star told reporters during a visit
to Shanghai
‘Tve accomplished a lot of individual goals
in my career ... But I haven’t accomplished
the main goal, which is to win a champi
onship and that’s all I focus on every season,”
said Iverson, now set to enter his tenth sea
son in the NBA
Visiting China’s laigest city on a promo
tional tour, Iverson was asked whether his
chances of acccmplishing that goal would be
boosted by a partnership with Shanghai’s
hometown hero Yao Nfing of the Houston
Rockets. The answer No question.
“I think if Yao JVfing was on my team, we’d
probably have a 100 p^cent chance of win
ning an NBA championship,” Iverson said
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