Photo* by Anthony Hill
Hot Boyx star guard fi
Danny Gathings prepares I u
to take off while his yj
teammates look on.
j Bailers battle for citywide bragging rights
Late night hoopers finishing great season
> BY ANTHONY HILL
1 THE CHRONICLE
i
Well, the regular season is
v over at Nth Street and Martin
I Luther King Recreational
? Centers. The hoopers in both
i leagues finished the playoffs
1 and championship game last
| night. But, they say that the
i most exciting games are the
i ones that lead up to the cham
5 pionship game.
< And, it's hard to beat the
i performance the guys at both
J centers put on this week, espe
j cially at Nth Street. The final
s four had Somethin' New
| against a hungry Strictly Da
: Realist squad. The final game
of the night was between City
? View and Hot Boyz on Mon
day. Both of those games were
' as good as advertised.
Minor
"We were just try in' to
show everyone that we were
better than them." said SDR
guard Julius Minor. "We were
pretty upset after we read that
story in the paper last week.
Josh (Pittman) was doing all
that talking. We wanted to see
if he could back it up."
SDR's star forward John
Adams added: "Yeah, we did
n't have to take it to Carl Rus
sell. We found out who was
the best tonight. I'm the lead
ing scorer, not Josh. I'm the
best player. Not him. And.
we're the best team. We
proved that tonight."
Strictly Da Realist did
more than prove they were a
better team. They proved they
could win a big game while
being the underdog. No one
really gave them a shot
against one of the city's best
teams, Somethin' New.
"We knew we could win
this," Adams said. "They
weren't ready for us. They
weren't ready for me. I felt
like I just had my way with
these boys tonight. This is the
way we roll. baby. And. we're
going to keep on rolling."
Strictly Da Realist rolled
to a 52-50 victory on Monday.
Adams led the team in scoring
with 23 points. He poured in
13 points in the first half
alone. Minor also had a good
game for SDR. Somethin'
New was led by Jamil Pope.
He finished with 19 points in a
losing effort.
The Hot Boyz stole one
from City View to advance to
the championship game. Sure,
they had their normal, awe
some play from Danny Gath
ings and Travis Holcomb
See Late night on B8
Hill
-. from page BI
. straight Tour de France victory. I
began to think to myself. "Hey,
! we (blacks) could take over that
? sport next.
s Why not? For the most part.
\ we've taken over baseball, bas
ketball. football and track and
i field. And recently, we've taken
" over men's golf and women's
; tennis. We're also making strides
[ in hockey. Hockey might take a
i while to take over, though. But.
! what about biking? Why could
j n't blacks begin to excel in that
t sport? I mean, it's not like 90
| percent of us didn't spend count
J less hours, pedaling hundreds of
t miles each week when we were
? younger. I remember me and
I about three or four of my boys.
J riding bikes all day long. I don't
> remember ever complaining
, about the distance or speed at
J which we were traveling. But. I I
do remember all the fun we had
. and all the time we spent training
i for a sport (biking) that we
[ somehow forgot about after we
t were old enough to drive. Why
? didn't we take biking serious? >
t Why didn't we ever boast to
* other neighborhood kids by say
i ing. "I'm going to be the first
{ black cyclist to win the Tour de
: .France." Instead, we had dreams
and hopes of being football stars
"or basketball and baseball stand
"outs. Some of us even chose
^wrestling and other sports to
llshine. Most of us never even
^thought about being a profes
sional cyclist. ?
If you stopped and thought I
| about the difficulty of most of
? the sports and other extra curric- f
r
ular activities we chose to par
take in. and then, thought about
how much easier pedaling a bike
was ? most of us would've
thought we wasted a lot of years.
Don't get me wrong. Lance
Armstrong and even the other
cyclist are great athletes, who
accomplish so much every time
they hit the road are marvelous
athletes. But, biking isn't the
most challenging sport in the
world. You basically have to
have a lot of lungs, heart, desire
and equipment to be a successful
rider. Oh yeah, and we have to
deal with the fact that no one
cares about how good we are
until the Tour de France comes
around. And. that alone, might
o be enough for most black, ego
driven athletes to stay away front
the bikes without motors. You
know, we like to shine. And, we
like for everyone to know how
good we are at our sports. After
all. what good is being a great
athlete if you don't have any
fans? Maybe cycling won't be
the next sport we take over. I
don't know. I know it won't be
swimming or diving that we
chose to try our luck in. Most of
us are either scared of heights or
simply, can't swim. We might be
able to do something with
NASCAR or gymnastics. Well,
if we can't take over another
sport or make a significant dif
ference: 1 hope we can keep, or
at least maintain control of the
sports we do have an advantage
playing.
Anthony Hill is the sports
editor for The Chronicle. He can
he reached at 722-8626 (ext.
Ill) or e-mail him at
ahill@wschronide.com.
jylAA
pom page BI
[very dominating Ram defen
sive front into the 2003 cam
paign. He is joined on the
"defensive team by another
[Ram All-Rookie selection in
? 2002, punter Chad Oakley.
^Oakley pinned opponents
[inside their own 20-yard line
?eleven times last season and
leveraged over 35 yards per
llpunt with a long of 61 yards.
"He will prove invaluable
?again this season.
" The Rams are selected to
;finish in the second slot in the
Western Division this season.
Ilbehind only Fayetteville State
[who was able to squeak out a
"four-overtime win versus the
iRams last season. This sea
son may prove to be a very
[ different story for the Rams as
they have netted one of the
!best recruiting classes in the
[CIAA and have once-again
?bolstered their coaching staff
las they prepare for another
[date with the CIAA Football
[Championship game.
? "Hopefully, with the addi
Ition of what we think is a
| strong recruiting class, and the
I
aaaiuon or iwo new sian
members, coupled with the
experience that our young
players got last season, we
will be mucf) improved over
last year's disappointing 4-6
finish." Blount concluded.
"However, we are well aware
of the parity in the CIAA con
ference and we can only hope
to perform to the best of our
abilities, catch a few breaks,
and remain successful.
The Rams will open up the
2003 season versus national
powernouse Carson-Newman
College on August 30, at
Bowman-Gray Stadium at
6:00 pm. Tickets are avail
able by calling the University
Ticket Office at (336) 750
3220.
Making the All-CIAA Pre
Season team on offense are
the following Rams:
OL - Marcus McNair -
Senior - 6' 3" - 285 lbs. - Ply
mouth. NC
RC - Brandon Free - Junior
- 6' 1" - 180 lbs. - Greensboro,
m
PK - Aston Oakley -
Senior - 5'10" - 170 lbs -
Haw River. NC
Making the Pre-Season
All-Conference Team on
defense for the Rams are the
following:
DL - Rodney Norman -
Senior - 6'2" - 285 lbs. - Ply
mouth. NC
P - Chad Oakley - Sopho
more-6'1"- 215 lbs. - Haw
River, NC
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Tiny Vikings host football
and cheerleading sign-ups
CHRONICLE STAEE REPORT
The W-S Tiny Vikings are
having football and cheer
leading sign-ups tomorrow
(Aug. 1). The team will host
two other registration dates as
well: Aug. 4 and Aug. X. Reg
istration will take place from
6 to X p.m. at Mineral Springs
Middle School on those dates.
Children who want to play
need to have a certified birth
certificate, current physical
(dated no later than April,
2003) and a final report card
from last year. The fee is $125
per child (Cash or money
order). The team will also
have a light, practice for the
kids who have registered and
been cleared to play. Partici
pants must have a current
physical in order to start prac
tice. A doctor will be on site
during the sign-up days if
your child does not have a
current physical. The fee is
$10. For more info please
contact Helene Evans at 705
5921.
Panthers
from page Bi
mer New Orleans Saint had no
problem asking his competi
tors for advice on the first day
of camp.
"I talked to pretty much
every one of them." said Del
homme. "Whichever one is
around me at the time. I'll ask
them a question about a cer
tain play if I need to know."
While that may seem to be
a bad idea, taking advice from
someone who wants to beat
you out of a job. it's all part of
life in the NFL. Every move
and every play is recorded,
analyzed and used against you
in the court of public opinion.
Speaking of which, a
recent poll on Panthers.com
asked the fans who they
thought would be the starter
on opening day versus Jack
sonville. The pecking order,
according to the poll, was
Peete. Delhomme, Weinke.
Fasani.
"Sometimes I like to be
the underdog." said Weinke.
"People are going to talk
about this quarterback battle,
and that's just the way it is.
This League is set up so that
the quarterback is talked
about the most. With this
competition at hand, I'm
going to continue to go about
my business."
While the other guys are
trying to take your job, the
important thing to realize is
that you can only control your
own performance. Peete has
been through this sort of thing
many times before, beginning
with his rookie season in
Detroit.
get bet
ter. It's going to be good for
all of us. Not only good for
individuals but for the team.
If one person goes down, you
have guys behind him who
worked hard to earn the job.
"You're always compet
ing. You have to go out there
and compete even if you've
been a starter and have been
to 10 or.12 Pro Bowls. You're
always going to have to go out
and compete against that next
guy coming in. That never
changes."
Weinke
"It's
always
good lo
have
compe
tition,"
he said.
"It push
es you
to work
harder
and to
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