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SPO
THURSDAY, JULY 27. 2006
INSIDE
Dermatologist opts
for more one-on-
one treatment .6C
Season ol
Expectations are high for Panthers as training camp gets underway
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Herbert L. White
herb.wh/te@fhecharfo/teposl.com
Every July when pro foot
ball training camp opens, the
questions inevitably turn to
how good the Carolina
Panthers will be. It’s as pre
dictable as hot days in
Spartanburg, but tougher to
handle.
Expectations will be higher
this year than in 2004 when
the Panthers were trying for a
second strai^t Super Bowl
trip. The cast has changed,
but the mission hasn’t. With
that as a backdrop, let’s get
those pesky inquiries out of
the way
Is this really a Super Bowl-
caliber team?
Is 19 next to 20? Is grits gro
ceries? Does Michael Jackson
at least act a little strange?
Carolina’s primed to get to
Miami if the key people stay
healthy and hungry The lat
ter shouldn’t be a problem
after laying an egg in Seattle
in the NFC championship
game; .the former is up to fate
and medical science.
Is the hype good or bad?
ESPN OUTDOORS
Ishama “Ish” Monroe Is the first African American to win on the BASS Elite Series, the top fishing league in the country.
Angling for the big one
Californian Ish Monroe makes his mark on America’s premier fishing circuit
By Herbert L. White
herb.wh(te@fhecharfo ttepost.com
Ishama “Ish” Monroe has always
been attracted to water.
As a boy growing up in Cahfomia,
Monroe learned the sport from his
father and grandfather. Soon, it
became his life’s calling.
“My first job was at Hyde’s Tackle •
Box in San Francisco,” he said. “Then
I was a deckhand on a boat, but that
doesn’t give you much opportunity to
fish.”
Monroe has plenty of time to fish
now, One of the country's top anglers,,
he’ll compete in the Bassmaster
American at Lake Wjdie today 111.0
final round will be broadcast Sunday
at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
A professional for 14 years, Monroe
is the only Afiican Amaican in the
Bassmaster Elite Series, the major
league of fishing. He made angling
history in March when he won the
Battle on the Border on Lake
Amistad, 'Itexas. Aside finm the
$100,000 winner’s purse, the victory
put Monroe in rare company He has
earned more than $334,879 with 10
career top 10 finishes and 17 top 20s.
“Winning that tournament changed
my life,” he said. “Once you win a tour
nament, it changes everything, from a
career perspective, a sponsorship per
spective.”
Monroe, who lives in Hughson,
Calif, hopes to parlay this season’s
success into a title at Lake Wyhe,
which pays $250,000 to the winner as
one of three maj or tournaments on the
tour. Monroe has been successful on
Charlotte-area lakes before, with a
sixth-place finish last year in the
Carolina Bassmaster Tbur Pro tour
nament at Lake Norman. He’s not
lacking for confidence.
‘When you win once, you can win
again,” he said.
Anglers are competitive, but not nec
essarily against each other, Monroe
said. Fish offer the bigg^ challenge,
and anglers must study the water con
ditions to maximize their catch, which
is weighed and returned to the water
ahve.
‘Everybody is very competitive, but
we’re all fiiends,” Monroe said. ‘We
help each other. Overall, the competi
tion is between the fisherman and the
See ANGLING/2C
Fish with Ish
Ish Monroe, who will compete in
tlie Bassmaster American today at
Lake Wylie, is one of the top anglers
in the US. The Californian is the
only African American to win a
Bass Elite championship, the top
level in professional fishing. Since
turning pro at 18, Monroe has done
pretty well for himself.
Career earnings $334,979
Top 10 finishes 10
MEAC votes Winston-Salem State in as 12th member
By Herbert L. White
herb.white'a fhechariofteposf.com
The MEAC stands at a dozen.
Winston-Salem State was voted in as the 12th
member last wedc in a vote of conference presi
dents and chancellors.
‘We are elated to welcome Winston-Salem into
the MEAC family” league Commissioner Dennis
Thomas said. “Obviously we think that WSSU is an
outstanding academic institution with an efceUent
athletics program.”
WSSU is in the second year of transition to
NCAA Division I status. The Rams will participate
in MEAC-sanctioned sports beginning in 2007, and
will be ehgible for championships in 2011,
“As we prepared for the years ahead and the
move to Division I, one of the keys to the puzzle was
membership in the Mid-Eastern Athletic
Sting tries to regain balance
Two-game losing skid dents faint playoff hopes
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Now the Charlotte Sting
have to aspect to win.
A two-game losing streak
damped Charlotte’s playoff
chances, but the Sting isn’t
dead. After Phoeoiix pulled
out a 78-74 v«n Saturday to
stop Charlotte’s four-game
win streak, the Sting contin
ued to improve. They took a
step back in a 70-62 loss to
Minnesota Thesday
‘We were right there,” said
Guai-d Kelly Mazzante, who
scored 13 points against
Phoenix. ‘We had a lot of
energy on the defensive end,
but we made a couple of irds-
takes and they got a couple
of shots off. We were right
there. We fought back.”
The Phoenix loss was “one
of those games that can real
ly boil you,” said Sting coach
Muggsy Bogues. ‘We made
adjustments at half-time,
but we gave too many second
opportunities to keep them
down.”
What truly stands out in
the stats is that three of the
Sting's five starters had less
than five points combined. In
the last four wins, each of
the starters scored at least
three points each.
See STING/2C
Conference,” WSSU Athletics Director Percy
Caldwell said. ‘We felt that the opportunity to be a
member of the MEAC woidd afford us a way of
rekindhng several of our longstanding rivalries and
establishing others.”
Addir^ VTiiston-Salem is the first MEAC eqsan-
sion since 1997 when Norfolk State was broioght
into the mix. The Rams become the third Carohnas
Please see MEAC/3C
Making his
pitch
Charlotte Knights
pitcher Stephen
Randolph fires a
pitch in the
Knights’ 6-3 win
over Scranton-
Wilkes Barre
Monday in an
International
League game.
Charlotte is 63-39,
14.5 games ahead
of Durham in the
South Division
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
For a less focused team, the
expectations could be a trap,
but Panthers head coach
John Fox has historically
been the master of under
statement. Publicly, no one
keeps more imder his hat, but
players confide the man keeps
everybody on task.
Can Steve Smith and
See PANTHERS/2C
Give
media
some
love
Ladies and gentlemen, we
interrupt your regularly
scheduled reading to brir^
you this late-breaking news.
Gathered outside the CIAA
office in Hampton, Va., is a
crowd of picketing members
of the media. Standing
behind me are photogra
phers, broad-
casters and
reporters
demanding to
have their con-
c e r n s
addressed. i
Let’s move in |
closer to listen.
Reporter:
What do we
want?!
Crowd: R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
Reporter: And when do we
want it?
Crowd: NOW!
Annoimc^: So teU us, what
is this about?
Reporter: It’s about respect.
Annoimcer: Well, that’s
pretty obvious but respect for
what?
Reporter; Every year
aroimd this time, pieseason
conference teams and polls
start popping up all over the
country And do you know by
whom?
Announce: Who?
Reporter: Coaches, sports
information directors and the
media that’s who. But in the
CIAA, we - the media that is -
have no say Nobody asks us
nuthin’ about nuthin’. Do we
look stupid to you?
Annoimcer: Well nb
Reporter: OK, forget that
reporter over there in the
plaid shirt and zebra pants,
he IS stupid. But the rest of
us aren’t, dagnabit.
Announcer: Well...uh..,
Reporter; Nobody Mkes us -
until they want something
fiDmus.
Announce; Such as?
Reporter; like tryir^ to get
us to km a story, or asking us
to dish out some dirt on
another coach so they can
turn him in to the NCAA, or
usir^ us for a bogus job inter
view “scoop” so they can
blackmail their athletic direc
tor for a raise - you name it.
WeU, no more. We want a
vote on every preseason, post
season and any other kind of
season team and poU. And we
want it now!
Announcer: There are those
who say..
Reporter: Yeah, yeah, we’ve
heard the argument that
some of us don’t see every
team so we can’t be adequate
judges, but neither do all the
coaches, especially in football.
We’ve also heard that aigu-
ment that we may be biased.
PUH-leasel
Rod Broadway led North
Carolina Central to a 9-1 reg
ular season record and the
conference championship.
Did he deserve coach of the
Please see MEDIA./2C
Ol