Newspapers / Winston-Salem State University Student … / March 1, 2003, edition 1 / Page 12
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The News Argus, March 2003 Women's Softball Schedule w.s.s.u. March 18 Shaw University Winston-Salem 1 p.m. March 21 Bowie State University Bowie, Md. 1 p.m. March 22 St. Paul’s College Petersburg, Va. TBA March 23 Elizabeth City State Petersburg, Va. TBA March 26 North Carolina — Pembroke Pembroke 1 p.m. March 29 St. Augustine’s College Raleigh 1 p.m. April 1 Peace College Raleigh 2:30 p.m. April 3 Fayetteville State University Fayetteville 4 p.m. April 8 Livingstone College Winston-Salem 2 p.m. April 10 Johnson C. Smith Winston-Salem 2 p.m. April 11 N.C. Central University Winston-Salem 2 p.m. April 17-19 CIAA Tournament TBA TBA Neither team fares well in Cl A A Tournament By George Croom ARGUS SPORTS EDITOR The CIAA Tournament is a weeklong festival that celebrates friendship, school pride and the beauty of good, old-fash ioned round ball. As for the teams of Winston-Salem State University, this year's tournament was a bitter taste at the end of a long season. The men upped the women this year by cal culating two wins to the women's single loss. The men were able to compile a 14-14 record throughout the season, which if analyzed after considering that they lost eight seniors from last year, was not that bad. They fought through a 54-49 win against Virginia State to make it to quarterfinals. There they met a Virginia Union team that they had beaten twice in the regular sea son, but proved to be too much come tournament time. The Lady Rams lost their quarterfinal game to an upstart St. Augustine's squad that rose from the High school athletics on bad course By George Croom ARGUS SPORTS EDITOR depths of sixth seed. The Lady Rams played the Lady Falcons twice dur ing the season, beating them by a combined mar gin of 37 points. The Lady Falcons were just too much for a Lady Rams team that had not played a game since Feb. 18. St. Augustine pulled off its second upset of the week winning 61-54. The tournament was filled with other surprises than the women's team from St. Augustine's. The first was the NCAA's decision to rein state 6-foot-2-inch post player Naomi Mobley of Shaw University after suspending her for infrac tions before the start of the season. The decision to rein state Mobley shocked many because the results of the infraction caused Shaw to drop all of its regular season wins, giv ing them an 0-25 record. As a result of the record change, Shaw moved to a lower seed, which gave them an easier path to the CIAA Tournament championship. The other surprise, if you choose to see it that way, came by the hands of CIAA Player of the Year Patrick Pope. Pope accumulated 41 points in the second half of his team's, the St. Augustine's Falcons, game against Virginia Union. In the first half Virginia Union held Pope to only 5 points off of 1-8 shooting. The buzz began in the middle of the sec ond half when Pope began to bring his team back into the game. At that point he was shoot ing ^12 from the field and showed no signs of stopping. Pope ended the game shooting 13-29 from the field, and 15-17 from the free throw. He was pro^^y givm ' player of the game hon ors after leading his team to a one-point loss after trailing at half time 39-21. Both teams from Winston-Salem State University found them selves looking toward next season at the close of the CIAA Tournament. Improvement is never a given, but the future looks very bright for WSSU basketball. Publicity Magnet Ignoring actions by college basketball player would be most effective treatment The world of high school athletics changed way before we ever heard the name James. As in LeBron James, high school basketball standout and eventual first pick in this year's NBA Draft. Everybody has chosen to look at LeBron and say that he is the reason for his increased media hype and breakdown of high school sports. But he isn't. The pre-LeBron era prepared for the present-LeBron and post- LeBron era to get out of hand. The destruc tion of high school athletics, or better yet OHSAA (The Oninion Ohio High School Athletics ' Association) and Akron-St. Vincent St. Mary (SVSM), started before LeBron James' mother nicknamed him "Bron-Bron" as a child. The explosion of prep-athletics progressed similar to the progression of hip-hop in what we call pop culture. The destruction started when the first college or pro coach set out to find that special player. It continued when recruiting analysts were given the permission to tag, number, and rank every player from fifth grade and up like a prized bull at the fair. Nobody chose to stop it then. They liked the idea of tracking a player from kindergarten to Madison Square Garden. It excited them to be able to claim, "I saw him back when." We have watched it grow at a more rapid pace in the past 10 years. Starting with "The Fab Five" of Michigan basketball and "The Magnificent Seven" of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team in 1996. Both groups of young adults were exploited to the point that one is an afterthought in the eyes of a university and the NCAA, and the other graced the cover of Wheaties before most of them could buy cigarettes. Those two groups led to the media push on other youngsters such as the Williams sisters. Tiger Woods, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and james. The media, sports fans and other curious outsiders created this situation for James. But this issue did not just pop up. It did not start with the Hummer that took the prin cipal's spot in the school parking lot and eventually backed in to an elderly woman's vehicle. It didn't even begin when SVSM basketball games were placed on pay-per-view, or when Sports Illustrated put a high school junior on the cover and called him "King James." The issue began when the normal high school "stu- dent-athlete" became what is now seen as an "athlete- marketable youngster's name." The only way to fix it is to place the foundation of high school athletics back on the solid rock that it was originally built. It has to be made whole again, and we have to see it as an amateur sport that prepares young minds to By Bob Sansevere KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS ST. PAUL (KRT) — What would you think if you were at a basketball game and one of the players turned away from the American flag during the national anthem? Would you care? Many people do. Perhaps you have heard about the young woman who plays basketball at Opinion would be booted off his team. Smith has gotten an earful during games. Before she played against the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, more than 300 midshipmen waved U.S. flags and chanted "USA" and "Leave our country." The Mount St. Mary student government Manhattanville College. Her name is Toni Smith, and all season she has refused to face the flag during the anthem. It's her way of protesting U.S. government policies and what she has called "the inequalities that are embedded into the American system." As the United States inches closer to war with Iraq, Smith has become a lightning rod for outrage. University of Minnesota women's basketball coach Pam Borton is one of the peo ple who has a problem with what Smith is doing. "It's complete disrespect for this country," Borton said. "You have the right and freedom to live in this country, but if you don't want to honor the flag, please go in the locker room until the anthem is over. Don't embarrass your teammates or yourself or everyone in the gym, especially after what this coun try has been through." Geno Auriemma, the coach of the top-ranked and unbeaten University of Connecticut women's basketball team, wouldn't be as tolerant. Auriemma told the Hartford Courant that any player who turned away from the U.S. flag during the national anthem It’s a fine thing to be patriotic, but Toni Smith has every right to snub the flag. That’s one of the beauties of America. You don’t have to face the flag, though you may have to face the music. handed out tiny flags for a recent game against Manhattan ville, and Smith was berated by more than 500 people crammed into the gym. After the game, the crowd sang "God Bless America." In another instance, a Vietnam veteran held an American flag in front of Smith after she turned away from the flag everyone else was facing. People are getting too whipped up. It's a fine thing to be patriotic, but Toni Smith has every right to snub the flag. That's one of the beauties of America. You don't have to face the flag, though you may have to face the music. I used to work with someone who refused to stand during the national anthem as long as a Republican was in the White House. This was during George Bush Sr.'s presidency, and this former co-worker didn't start standing during the anthem until Bill Clinton took office. I haven't seen what he does since George W. Bush took office, so I don't know if he's sitting again, but you know what? It doesn't matter. Stand, sit, turn away. In America, everyone has the inalienable right to behave like a jerk. Instead of jeering Toni Smith, people should ignore her. By reacting to what she does during the anthem, it only provides a forum for her views. ESPN and HBO, as well as five other television stations and five newspapers, covered a recent Manhattanville game against Kings Point. All those media outlets weren't there for the rivalry; they were there for Smith. After the game. Smith claimed the flag stands for "millions of indigent people who were slaughtered for it and people who were enslaved for it. Blindly facing the flag without knowing why hurts a lot of peo ple." If you're in a room with peo ple right now, take a poll. Ask them whether they blindly face the flag. Chances are, they'll say they face the flag out of respect for their country and the people who have given their lives serv ing their country. "I oppose a war in Iraq as much as anyone. It's not the flag that makes us go to war," said Janel McCarville, the center on Borton's team. "The flag is something that represents America, like the 'M' represents Minnesota." Smith is a 21-year-oId sociolo gy major at Manhattanville, a small Division III liberal arts school located 25 miles north of New York City. You would think someone so close to Ground Zero would be more sensitive to why people face the flag. Toni Smith should know bet ter. "You know what, she's a kid," Borton said. "She's going to look back on that in five or 10 years, and she'll think, 'WTiat was I doing?' Kids don't always make good decisions. Kids do kid things." '
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