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Great Expectations Often Fizzle
"You expected much, but see, it turned
out to be little."
—from Haggai 1:9
The above passage is preceded by
"give careful thought to your ways" in
verse seven. But that is so often what
we don't do and our expectations for
ourselves and others aren't met as a
result. Consider these examples:
When Archie Griffin's athletic ca
reer began, his focus was short term. He
played sports simply for the fun of it —
what a concept—not looking down the
road or dreaming about being the next
Jim Brown.
But his career as a running back at
Ohio State was soon to become legen
dary. In four seasons he rushed for
5,496 yards, the most in both Ohio State
and Big Ten history. His 6.13 yards per
carry is the top NCAA mark for runners
with more than 785 carries. He also ran
for over 100 yards in 31 straight games,
another national record. With these
accomplishments came a lot of public
ity—and Griffin became the only player
awarded the Heisman Trophy twice.
After college, Griffin was drafted in
the first round by the Cincinnati Ben
gals. Everybody and his brother ex
pected big things from Griffin in the
Waddell
>- continued from page 10
east), Duke or St. John' s (Midwest), UNLV
(West).
• Has anyone checked out WFMY's
sportscasts recendy? Their information
which is reported nightly is one-dimen
sional and at least one obvious mistake is
usually in the script.
For example, just last week, the follow
ing careless mistakes were detected: ac
cording to Channel 2, The Big East has 8
teams, Richard Petty is #34, The Global
Basketball League will be comparable to
the CBA in its talent pool, and the UNCG
baseball team is the second best college
team in town next to N.C. A&T.
Wake up, guys, the Guilford baseball
team is far better than UNCG, and will slug
it out with A&T as well before the end of
the season. We'll see who's the best in
Greensboro then.
• Guilford College announced last week
that former Athletic Director Herb Appen
zeller of the Sports Studies Department
will be the 1991 Commencement speaker.
Dr. Appenzeller is nationally renowned
for his work in the field of sports law.
THE GUILFORDIAN March 25. 1991
12
pros. Archie's goal was to gain 1,000
yards and help the team as best he could.
That might have been passing grades for
the critics, but the yards didn't come for
him. Even though his career average of 4.1
yards per carry is a good one, he just didn't
get the chance to rack up some serious
yards.
People look at Griffin's career and say
that it wasn't what it should have been, but
he was happy with what he did with the
amount of opportunity he was given. Sure
Griffin had expectations, but they were
tempered with a personal credo that at all
times one should do his best and leave the
results up to God.
• •
Splashed across the cover of a 1978
spring training issue of Sports Illustrated
was a smiling Clint Hurdle, rookie out
fielder for the Kansas City Royals. "This
Year's Phenom," screamed the headline.
Although he had spent only two and a
half seasons in the minors, Hurdle ws
projected to do some amazing things in the
big leagues. And America's most prestig
ious sports magazine was letting a whole
nation in on the great expectations the
Royals had for this 20-year-old. Suddenly
Clint Hurdle was riding the rushing river
of ink that flowed from the pens of sports
writers.
Men's Lax
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squad.
"We reached a level [of play] in the
second half that I didn't think we would
reach all year," said Goldsmith. "It was the
best half of lacrosse that I have ever seen at
Guilford. The defense was great and the
offense moved the ball downfield. It was
amazing."
With two overtime games, the Quakers
are now earning a reputation for playing
dramatic finishes.
"We are learning that the game is not
over until the final buzzer," said Gold
smith. "We scored the game-tying goal
with one second left in regulation against
Wooster. These guys are the cardiac kids.
They are going to give me a heart attack
before this season's over."
With the continued effort by the Quak
ers, who now stand at 3-2, they will im
prove as they gain more experience.
"One key for us are guys who come off
the bench are now starting to learn the
game," said Goldsmith. "We are only
going to get better and when we get more
experience, watch out"
But his first full year in the American
League wasn' tas impressive as some were
hoping. Hurdle hit .264 in 133 games for
the Royals, with seven home runs and 56
runs batted in. And it never got much
better statistically than that.
When Hurdle's 10-year major league
career ended with the New York Mets after
the 1987 season, he had not compiled the
Superman stats many had predicted for
him. A .259 career average on 360 hits
with 32 home runs. Hurdle had achieved
his dream of playing professional base
ball, but along the way he discovered that
the success he had achieved had not been
as fulfilling as he thought it would be. The
false hype surrounding him gave him a
false hope for what goals were realistically
attainable.
• • •
Now Bo Jackson, one of the most rec
ognizable athletes in the world, will proba
bly not fulfill everyone's expectations of
him. In fact, he may be an athlete no more.
He was released by the Kansas City
Royals Monday after the team determined
his football-related hip injury would not
allow him to play baseball this year. In
jured in an NFL game between his Los
Angeles Raiders and the Cincinnati Ben
gals on January 13, Jackson has been on
crutches ever since.
Rugby Rough on Opposition
Butch Maier
Sports Editor
The Guilford Rugby Club, outscoring
its opponents by a whopping 107-9 points,
has amassed a 4-0 record this spring and
prepares to play two matches this week
end.
Following wins over Clemson, Notre
Dame, Wake Forest and UNCC, Guilford
is set to do battle with Appalachian State at
noon and Davidson at 3:30 p.m. on Satur
day.
"We're really excited with our record,"
sophomore Doug West said. "But our
main goal is the state tournament in April."
"We're a dark horse for that," Alex
Maier added.
Notre Dame's Fighting Irish would dis
agree. Guilford decidedly beat them 16-3
last week with solid tackling.
"For the state tournament, we need high
intensity—no mistackling," Maier said.
The Guilfordian is looking for writers for it's
April Fool's edition. Call Peter Smith (282-
2955) or Jacob Stohler (547-9510) this week.
Butch Maier
That hip injury may not allow him to
do much of anything. It was revealed
that the cartilage has sort of wasted
away and "in reality, he has an old man's
arthritic hip," said one source.
Quite a quick fall from being the only
current professional two-sport athlete
(Neon Deion is in Richmond), isn't it?
We saw him cross-train all over our tele
vision sets and at times, it seemed like he
could do everything. Now, we see him
on crutches and, as of press time, no
baseball team would pay even one dol
lar for the rights to him.
What Archie, Clint and Bo discov
ered was that great expectations beget
great disappointments in some situations.
Each of us has certain abilities given to
us—some of which are athletic—and,
though they may be graded differently
by onlookers, we have no control over
that What we can do is utilize our
abilities productively. If they fall short
of community measuring sticks, so what?
If your best isn'tgood enough, then their
best for you is just too good.
"I consider my life worth nothing to me,
if only I may finish the race and com
plete the task the Lord Jesus has given
me."
—from Acts 20:24
Wfm. aHj
Wing Alex Maier
Walker, the for
wards prop the front men. Rowe and Max
Applebee lead the push in the pack.
"Anybody that knows these two guys
knows that they have a lot of push," Maier
said.
Overall, this season, the forwards have
made the most positive impact for Guilford.
"They've been the team," Maier said.
"They create more chances to get the ball
to the back line and that's why we are
winning."
"Against Noire
Dame, that's
what won it for
us."
That and a
strong group of
forwards. Led by
multi-sport tal
ents Charles
Rowe, Dean
Houpe and Riley
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