Friday, April 20, 2007
Cheruiyot wins Boston Marathon
By Jessica Carlson
contributing writer
Despite the rain, the starting gun for the Boston
Marathon still went off for the 111th time on
Monday. Inspired by
the 1896 Olympic
Marathon in Athens,
the Boston Athletic
Association (BAA)
brought the marathon
to the states on April
19, 1897. The first
race had 18 registered,
15 runners and 10 fin
ishers. This year the
race had 23,903 run-
ners registered but
only 21,454 picked up
their numbers, most
likely due to Cheruiyot crosses the finish line to win his third overall
inclement weather
caused by a recent nor'easter.
Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot, who is the record
holder for the fastest time, took the championship
for the third year in a row. Upon crossing the fin
ish line last year in the Chicago Marathon,
Cheruiyot slipped on the wet surface, hitting his
head on the ground. His torso managed to bounce
across the line, granting him first place. However,
as a result of hitting his head he suffered a concus
sion and experienced dizziness eating and difficul
ty for a solid year, right up until to this year's
marathon.
As for the women, Lidiya Grigoryeva of Russia
came in first place with a time of 2:29:18. For the
United States, Peter M. Gilmore finished in eighth
place overall for the men, and Deena Kastor placed
sth for the women.
Originally, women were not allowed to run in
the race. However, in 1966 one woman took a
stand and made her mark in history by literally
sneaking her way into the race. Roberta "Bobbi"
Gibb became the first female Boston Marathon
ATTENTION STUDENTS:
The Junker Center will close at 5:00 p.m.
on Saturday, April 21 due to the Lewis
Black Concert. This includes the closing
of the weight room, pool and gymnasi
um. The Junker Center will re-open on
Sunday, April 22 at noon.
Excitement of NHL playoffs goes unseen
By Andrew McLachlan
contributing writer
Tour de France. ESPN let one of the most famil
iar professional sports go, due to the increased
popularity of poker and bowling.
After being dropped by ESPN, the NHL saw its
popularity decrease and television coverage on
ESPN almost vanish. Even during the excite
ment of NHL playoff hockey, ESPN focused on
MLB baseball, the NFL Draft and the NBA play
offs. The sport has suffered dearly due to this
and will have a hard time competing with other
professional sports with the lack of coverage.
Brett Hull, former NHL great and now com
mtator for NHL on NBC,
made it clear that he is
;et about the lack of cover
. on television. "People
't even know that we're on.
lat's a huge problem. We're
the mercy of Versus, NBC,
PN, CBS. Unless two of
:m want to show hockey, the
1 is screwed." Hull is also
;et about the coverage that
currently on his station,
AC. "You need to have
Ime sort of pregame or
itgame show so we can sit
, wn and talk about trade
idlines and other issues."
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Fans are having a hard
Crosby scores the winning goal in Game 2of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. time with the lack of coverage
too. Long time hockey fan and Behrend junior
Dan Thiessen has had a hard time seeing any
coverage. "Hockey is the greatest sport in the
world, so why is it losing coverage over non
sports like poker? It just doesn't make any
sense."
With the NHL playoffs finally getting started,
hockey fans are finding themselves frustrated
with the lack of coverage on television, in partic
ular ESPN. Since the split between ESPN and
the NHL, coverage of hockey on ESPN has
decreased, to the point of not even being men
tioned during the show Sports Center. Now, with
the NHL being shown on the channel Versus,
how do hockey fans get the coverage that they
crave?
In the summer of 2005, the NHL lockout final
ly ended after losing a full season due to contract
disagreements between the owners and the play
ers association. After the agreement was settled
between both sides, it was announced that the
NHL was to be dropped by ESPN. The NHL then
agreed to a televisions contract with the
unknown OLN (Outdoor Living Network),
which was known for showing coverage of the
Get involved on campus! Write for the Behrend Beacon!
The Beacon is currently looking for sports editors and sports
writers for the Fall 2007 semester.
For more information email cslsoos@psu.edu
runner when she waited in the bushes near the start
until the race began; she finished 126th in the race.
A year later, Katherine Switzer became the first
woman registered to run. She registered as "K.V.
Switzer" in order to hide the fact that she was a
female. The BAA tried, but was unsuccessful in
removing her from the race, making her the first
registered female to complete the marathon. The
Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) decided in the fall
of 1971 to formally allow women to register and
compete in marathons. In the following spring of
1972, eight women registered and finished the
race.
Along with permitting women to race, the
Boston Marathon is also the first organization to
include a Wheelchair Division when it recognized
Bob Hall as a participant in 1975. He was prom
ised a Finisher Certificate if he completed the race
in less than three hours. He finished with a time
of two hours and 58 minutes.
In terms of media coverage, the Boston
Marathon is the second largest single day sporting
event, just behind the Super Bowl. The race is a
total length of 26.2 miles and record times are
2:07:14 for the men and 2:20:43 for the women.
For more information on the Boston Marathon,
visit the BAA website at www.bostonmarathon.org
To see playoff highlights or playoff coverage,
you can look for games that are being played on
the channel Versus, formerly OLN, or NBC on
the weekends.
. r .
, r ri
011 i
L).' l " --
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Boston Marathon.
INTRAMURAL UPDATE
DEADLINES:
Badminton extended to Friday, April 20
RECENT NEWS:
Volleyball ended last week and team winners include:
Men's Volleyball. Gold - Chick Magnets (picture below)
Men's Volleyball Silver - Denbow's Mom
Coed Volleyball Gold - Spikers
Coed Volleyball Silver - Zucchinis
Team Chick Magnets pose after capturing the Men's volleyball intramural gold bracket
Marijuana marrs NFL draft
By Christopher LaFuria
Three of the top 10 NFL draft picks for the 2007
draft have admitted to using marijuana in their
collegiate careers. Georgia Tech wide receiver
Calvin Johnson, Clemson defensive end Gaines
Adams, and Louisville defensive tackle Amohi
Okoye, admitted to using the drug. However.
none tested positive for the drug in any NFL-relat
ed tests.
These admissions came as a result of an inter
view session at the Indianapolis scouting com
bine. According to The Sports Xchange, video
tapes of these interviews were sent to each of the
NFL teams in the league. There is no report as to
whether these admissions hurt each player in the
draft. Johnson is still ranked No. I in the draft
according to NFLDraftScout.com, Adams is
ranked No. 7, and Okoye is currently No. 10.
These events have the league continuing to
question the amount of players in the NFL who
use marijuana for performance and leisure pur-
r-1
,)
editor in chief
The Behrend Beacon I 9
poses. In 2005, Randy Moss went on HBO and
admitted that he uses marijuana and has through
out his entire career. When asked if he currently
uses the drug, Moss said, "I might. I might have
fun. And, you know, hopefully ... I won't get into
any trouble by the NFL by saving that, you know.
I have had fun throughout my years and, You
know, predominantly in the offseason."
In 2006, Ricky Williams was suspended for an
entire season for marijuana use. He tested posi
tive for the drug, leading to his suspension. Like
Moss, Williams had no regret and was not apolo
getic for his marijuana use.
While some NFL teams may view this as a sign
of a troubled player or a detriment to the team,
others view this as a sign of the player being hon
est. During the interview process, players are
asked to be as honest as possible and to hide noth
ing.
Draft experts say that the teams are still in pur
suit of their top picks and will not allow these
admissions to affect their decisions.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO