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Section
Cl^arlotte $0)Eit
SPORTS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2006
Sting play
out string
with eye
to 2007
With playojfs out of
reach, attention turns
to developing talent
By Herbert L. White
herb.whife@fhechar/otleposf.com
It’s pride and job security time for
the Sting.
That much was assured over the
weekend with consecutive losses to
New York and Washington, which
left Charlotte' out of the WNBA play
off mix.
New York guard Erin Thom tossed
in a career-best 25 points and five
rebotmds to lead the Liberty past
Charlotte 85-80 at Bobcats Arena.
The Sting (8-20), which lost at
Washington Sunday to fall out of con
tention, is reduced to playing for next
year.
‘We just got to keep building. This
is not just for this year, it’s for next
year as weU,” Sting coach Muggsy
Charlotte started slowly and never
became a serious playoff threat
despite a four-game win streak that
pulled the Sting within five games of
Washington with 10 games left. A 2-3
homestand late in July all but sealed
the Sting’s early offseason,
‘You’ve got to have that sense of
urgency, especially at home,” Bogues
said. “We knew we had another game
(against Washington) that would pos
sibly get us closer to Washington, but
you can’t keep putting yourself imder
the 8-baIl like that. I was real disap
pointed at the three home games we
Please see STING/2C
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Sheri Sam drives to the basket in
Charlotte’s 85-80 loss to New York.
GOLF
Watts wins
Black Jacket
championship
FROM SIAFF REPORTS
Darryal Watts won the Black
Jacket tournament at Bull Creek
Golf Course in Louisburg, N.C., July
22.
Watts won Jacket A with a round of
74, one shot ahead of Matt Kilgo and
Robert Hinton. Jonathan Patterson
finished first in Jacket B with 73, a
shot ahead of Tbny Banks and three
in fixirit of Kirby Pennix.
• Larry Dean won the tWnston-
Salem Charlotte/QC Rams
Scholarship tournament at Charles
T Myers Golf Course July 22.
Dean fired a two-roimd total of 72
and topped Robert Bethea in a play
off Alton Caldwell was third at 75
and Jarred Piel^ also shot 75.
• Steve Nixon won the Neal ^^Tlson
^WnstonLake Golf Classic July 15-16
at ^^Tnston Lake Golf Course in
Wmston-Salem.
Nixon’s two-round total. of 140
tdpped Craig Galbrith in
Championship A play by a stroke and
James Mitchell by three. Johnny
Allen topped the Championship B
with a total of 146, with Melvin
Thompson finishing second.
©©os
FILE PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
J.C. Smith quarterback Carlton Richardson has to emerge as one of the Golden Bulls’ best
offensive players In order for JCSU to break its 24-game losing streak.
Nothing loveable
about losing streak
JCSU’s most pressing question: Will slide end in ‘06?
By Herbert L. White
herb.wh/te@thechafotfepost.com
The Streak is stUl there,
hovering over Johnson C.
Smith football like a cloud.
The Golden Bulls, who
haven’t won a game since a
20-18 victory over
Livingstone on Oct 11, 2003,
- 24 games - have endured
jokes fixim alumni and total
strangers alike. But second-
year head coach Daryl
McNeill believes turning the
program aroimd is a win
away
“Despite last year’s record,
I am very excited about the
upcoming sea
son,” he said.
We felt that
we were very
competitive
witii our oppo
nents and we
are looking
forward to
winning a few
this
McNeill
year.
There are other questions,
too, but they inevitably lead
back to The Streak. Starting
Saturday with the first pre
season drills, there’ll be
answers.
Can the Golden Bulls actu
ally win a game'?
Anything’s possible, but
the best bets, going by last
year’s records, are Edward
Waters (Aug. 26), Virginia
Union (S^t. 23) Livingstone
(Oct. 7*) and Savannah State
(Oct. 28).
What, if anything, is differ-
See GOLDEN/2C .
i
Mitchell
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Former N.C. A&T standout Qasim Mitchell
(left) is trying to land a roster spot with the
Carolina Panthers.
Panthers
bring
MitcheU
home
Former N.C. A&T star
now playing guard after
stint in NFL Europe
By Chens F. Hodges
cherishodges@thechortotfeposf.com
SPARTANBURG-Qasim MiteheU is
happy to be back in America.
After spending three months in NFL
Europe, the former N.C. A&T standout is
vying for a roster spot with
the Carolina Panthers.
‘Tt feels good to be back to
what you’re used to,” he said.
‘Europe is a whole diffk^nt
world.”
While playing for the
Frankfurt Galaxy Mitchell, a
former starter at left tackle
with Chicago, was moved to
guard, where he’ll try to earn a job with
Carolina.
‘T was sent there by my former team for
reasons that everybody didn’t agree with,”
MiteheU said. ‘T feel like I’m fine back in the
states and ready to show what I can do,” he
said.
Though MitcheU said the NFL Europe
experience leaves much to be desired, he
learned fiom his time there.
‘T learned to work harder and work in dif
ferent situations and different conditions,”
the JacksonvUle, N.C., native said.
Learning a new position isn’t a walk in
the park. There’s the adjustment to block
ing schemes and techniques in addition to
learning new teammates.
‘T’m taking it day by day and trying to get
the plays and get situated at guard,”
MitcheU said. ‘It’s a day by day process.”
At A&T, MitcheU was an Associated Press
and Sheridan Broadcasting AU-America,
Please see A&T3C
Queens tackle
home football
opener Saturday
Ready for womai’s footbaU?
The Carolina Queens wUl play their home
opener Saturday against the FayettevUle
Thunder at Olympic High. Carolina is 0-2
after losing to Fayetteville and Tbledo.
Carolina is a member of the Women’s
Professional FootbaU League, whichis inits
eighth season. The WPFL is made up of 16
fi'anchises fix)m 13 states and rules are con-
sistentwith those men play by
The Queens wUl play nine games this sea
son, including five at Olympic. Tickets are
$6 in advance and $8 at the gate. Season
tickets are $30 and children Tinder 12 are
admitted fiee. Kick-off is 7:05 p.m. For
infonnation, caU Ebony Kimbrou^ at (704)
449-5471 or Cynthia Smith at (704) 258-
2539.
Herbert L. White
Hall of Fame induction worth the wait for Carson, Wright
By Herbert L. White
herb.wriife@thectiariotfepost.com
The road to pro footbaU
immortality has been long and
winding for Harry Carson and
Rayfidd Wright.
Carson, a South Carolina
State standout who played
linebacker for the New York
Giants in the 1980s, and
Wright, a Fort VaUey State
star who was a dominant tack
le with the DaUas Cowboys in
the 1970s, wUl be enshrined in
the Pro FootbaU HaU of Fame
Saturday in Canton Ohio.
Carson, who was firustrated by
years of snubs by haU voters,
had asked to be taken off the
baUot before his selection in
February He’d like to see the
process charged to include hall
of famers added to the media
panel that does the voting.
‘Tt wasn’t so much about me
not wanting to be in the HaU of
Fame; it was about just draw
ing attention to the process in
which players are selected and
elected to the HaU of Fame,” he
said. “Those members of that
committee shouldn’t have any
biases. You should go with
what they do on the footbaU
field.”
Wri^t, who was named to
the NFL’s All-Decade team of
the 1970s, had a longer wait. A
six-time AU-NFL pick, he
endured several near-misses
before getting a nod.
‘T didn’t reaUy think about
the HaU of Fame based on my
See LONG/3C