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THURSDAY OCTOBER 20, 2006
SPORTS
Business 8C
Section
-i-t
Class
warfare
over pro
status •
Before the young homies in
the suburbs accuse me of
hatin’, let me make things
abundantly clear: I don’t have
a problem with golfer
Michelle Wie getting paid
South Carolina lottery type
money before she had her
16th birthday paity
Really I don’t.
The way I see it, if you pos
sess a talent for which people
are willii^ to pay you mil
lions of dollars, then you
should be able to receive a W-
2 and do i]^ for howev^ long
as you wish - almost irrespec
tive of age. All that matters to
me is that it’s a
legal occupa
tion.
Here’s what
bothers me
about the \\Te
situation,
though: Our
nation’s ever-
passionate,
always-critical
sports fans
C. Jemal
Horton
essentially shrugged their
shoulders recently'as Wie
became one of the richest
llth-graders in the whole
wide world.
Why does that annoy me?
Well, because many of those
same Ameiican sp)orts fans
were ready to march in
protest a few years ago, when
Maurice Clarett wanted to go
the NFL as a 20-year-old who
hadn’t been in college three
years.
It was mere coincidence
that Wie announced she had
become a multi-endorsement-
beaiing professional sports
star around the same time
NBA camps opened with the
last collection of players
allowed to enter the league
before turning 19, thanks to a
new and unfair collective bar
gaining agi'eement.
Still, the contrasts in public
reaction make things look
bad.
People felt leagues such as
the NBA were in dire need of
an age I’equirement since all
those Ul-prepared high school
Idds were risking and miss
ing so much in the profession
al ranks, but a golf prodigy
just a few weeks removed
fix)m Sponge Bob Square
Pants movies is somehow
more equipped.
Please.
And, no. I’m not hinting at
racial bias. After all, as a
Hawaiian with Korean-bom
parents, Wie isn’t white or
black
This is all about socioeco
nomics - and how being poor
still usually defers your
sports dreams, no matter
how industrious and talented
you might be.
It’s malarkey
Kids who grow up partici
pating in sports traditionally
played by the wealthy and
Rease see CLASS/3C
Something to build on
JCSU shows signs of ojfensive life in loss
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Johnson C. Smith receiver Marquis Belton (North
Mecklenburg High) hit his stride last week against
Fayetteville State.
By Herbert L. White
herb.whited thecharlotleposteoni
Johnson C. Smith’s Golden Bulls lost anoth
er football game, but found some offense.
Smith dropped its ei^th game of the sea
son and 21st in a row 34-23 to Fayetteville
State Saturday, but had its best day moving
the ball. The Bulls piled up 352 ya^ds total
offense and held the ball loi^r than FSU, a
first this season. Smith led 23-20 going into
the fourth quarter before Fayetteville rallied
to salvage homecoming.
‘T thought the guys played really hard,”
JCSU head coach Darjd McNeill said. “This
was the best offensive produc
tion we have had all season.
They are going to continue to
play hard for the rest of the sea-
Smith scored multiple offen
sive touchdowns in a game for
the first time this season and
topped its previous best for McNeill
points in a game. Freshman
quarterback Carlton Richardson had his
See JCSU/2C
CIAA homecoming
Lady Bulls
young, but
excited
By Cheris F. Hodges
cherishodges^thecharloaeposteom
Taylor
FILE PHOTO/WADE NASH
CIAA rookie of the year Maurice Hooper returns at point guard for Johnson C. Smith, which was picked to fin
ish first in the Western Division by league coaches.
Charlotte tournament offers convenience, exposure
By Herbert L. White
herb.white^ thecharlotlepostrom
The CIAA preseason basketball
luncheon was homecoming for Dave
Robbins and James Stinson, while
Steve Joyner got to stay home.
Last week’s gathering of coaches
and - media at the Charlotte
Convention Center offered a pre
view of the season and the postsea
son tournament that Charlotte will
host for the first time. Joyner,
Johnson C. Smith’s head coach.
already likes the convenience.
‘Tt only took me 30 minutes to an
hour to get up, get
dressed and get to
uptown Charlotte
where in the past, I
wasted maybe a day
and a half getting to
this particular meet-
ii^,” he said. ‘It’s a
times aver for me,
personally”
For Robbins, who won his third
Joyner
Division II national title with
\Trginia Union last season,
Charlotte is literally minutes away
fix)m his native Gaston Coimty
“Personally it’s always good to
come home or near home,” he said.
“I grew up in Gastonia and we can
throw a rock from Gastonia to
Charlotte, so it’s not that far away
Tve always loved North Carolina, I
enjoyed the tournament being in
Raleigh and Winston-Salem and Tm
Johnson .C. Smith’s women’s bas
ketball is young and ready to play
The Golden Bulla lost seniors
Lauren Goss and Tfeni Eidwards,
who provided leada:ship and scor
ing last year, but head coach
Vanessa Tajior said this year’s
team, which has been
picked to finish
fourth in the CIAA
Western Division,
will do a lot of work
by committee.
“We will be led
offensively by Tlana
Pope and Brittany
Sumpter,” she said.
“We’re excited to
have Brittany back into the lineup.”
Sumpter went out late in the sea
son with a knee injury and the
Bulls only won two games in
February and lost in the second
round of the CIAA tournament to
Elizabeth City State.
“Brittany is the kind of person
who has stage presence, everybody
will feed off her eneigy” Tajdor
said. “She makes you play at anoth
er level. She brings a certain level
of confidence to the floor as she
plays.”
Ta>dor said when Sumpter joined
the team, they won 10 straight
games.
“She was the separation fixan
other teams (when she was on the
floor),” she said. ‘"We became depen
dent on her energy”
This year. Smith is young, with
only one senior on the team,
Judene Wrigjat, who started all 27
games last year and ranked fourth
in the conference in assist/tumover
ratio.
‘It’s kind of like a recipe,” Tajdor
said. “We have to shake it up and
see in terms of developing confi
dence, we want them to be confi
dent in what they’re doing. Having
a new team is like havii^ a new
car, you get in there and feel it out,
you don’t really know a lot of bad
things about it but it looks good
See CIAA/2C
See LADY2C
Panthers front four stiU fantastic
By David Dawson
VIE CHARIjOTTE post
PHOTO/ASSCX:iATED PRESS
Carolina defensive end Al Wallace drags down Detroit quar
terback Joey Harrington in the Panthers’ 21-20 win Sunday
in Detroit Carolina registered six sacks.
The Carolina Panthers’ defensive
line is still pretty good.
The fi*ont four of Julius Peppers,
Brentson Bi^kner, Jordan Carstens
and Mike Rucker are again a force to
be reckoned with. In a season of
inconsistency despite a 4-2 record,
the fix)nt four has shown improve
ment desjate losing AU-Pro defensive
tackle Kiis Jenkins.
Ranked second in the NFL against
the run, the Panthers have allowed
an avCTage of 3.1 yards per cany and
77.7 rushing yards per game. NFC
South rival Tampa Bay is first in run
Please see PANTHERS/2C
TRAILBLAZING
OFFICIAL
Richard Maple became one
of the first two African
Americans to referee high
school football games last
weekend in the Charlotte
area. Maple led the officiat
ing crew at a game at
Northside Baptist, while Joe
Suggs led a crew at First
Assembly in Concord. Both
men were assigned by the
Metrolina Officials
Association, which had
never appointed black refer
ees, according to WSOC-TV,
The Posfs television part
ner.
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
01