Scott Soltis and Zoe Rose, sports editors behrcolls@aol.com 5 Reasons Wh The NHL drops the puck on the 2002-03 season, and no one seems to care 1. Major League Baseball Okay, I know that a month ago I said baseball should have just gone on strike. I still think it should have, but it has actually gotten interesting, or at least better than the NHL. The Yankees are out, leaving the Twins and Angels in the American League. Granted these are not big name teams, it is still interesting. Especially since the Twins were supposed to be contracted before the season started In the National League we have the Giants and the Cardinals. These are both great stories. Even though I can't stand Barry Bonds for leaving Pittsburgh so many years ago, the people still love him. Since this might be his last season if they win it all, I'll watch. The Cardinals are also a good story coming off of the tragic death of pitcher Darryl Kile. So, baseball is drawing a crowd and hockey will be overshadowed by the playoffs. 2. National Football League The league is more exciting and surprising than it has been in years and it is drawing great numbers of fans. With no one knowing who will win from week to week the league has strayed from the old powerhouse-dominated NFL we were all used to. Strangely, the league's newfound excitement might actually help the NHL. At least in Pittsburgh. The Steelers suck and Lemieux is still playing so fans will be drawn to Mario and away from Kordell. There is another reason that the NFL might not draw too much attention from the NHL. This reason in a word is Canada THE BEACON SCOREBOARD Men's Soccer School C.R. Overall Pitt Greensburg 4-0 11-1 Behrend 3-1 4-7-3 PS Altoona 2-1 8-1-2 Frostburg 2-1 5-5-2 La Roche 2-3 7-7-1 Lake Erie 0-3 1-12 Pitt-Bradford 0-4 4-9 NASCAR 2002 Winston Cup Standings: Thru Race 30 of 36 Next Race: UAW GM Quality 500 October 13, 2002 P 93,, Driver Points Behind 1 Tony Stewart Leader Mark Martin Jimmie Johnson Ryan Newman Rusty Wallace Matt Kenseth Jeff Gordon Bill Elliott Ricky Rudd Sterling Marlin Kurt Busch Dale Jarrett -364 Dale Eamhardt Jr. -477 14 Jeff Burton -541 15 Michael Waltrip -596 1 . 6 Mail , Craved -666 17 Jeff Green 18 Bobby Labonte 19 Robby Gordon 20 Dave Blaney Canadians don't really care about the NFL. They love hockey, so the NFL won't really affect their hockey viewing. But, here in America, by and large, the NHL will be hurt by all of the enthusiasm surrounding pro football this year. 3. The Americans and the rest of the world Now, don't get me „ . wrong, this is NOT an article bashing Canadians. But, the fact of the matter is that ~,..p Canadian players made all of their money in the US, then went back to Canada to win the Gold Medal in the last Olympics. Hopefully, I.J.S. sports fans won't forget this anytime soon and there will be a backlash. Scott Soltis •;,poric Jit Another nation-based problem for the NHL is its stars. Consider where the following stars were born. Major League Baseball has Barry Bonds (California), the NFL has Emmitt Smith (Florida), and the NBA has Kobe Bryant (Pennsylvania). Who does the NHL have? Jerome Iginla (Canada), Markus Naslund (Sweden), and Patrick Roy (Canadian). Fans can realte to the stars from the other major sports much more easily than in the NHL This is another serious issue that the league must address. 4. The Erie Otters The Otters are the most popular team in the city of Erie. This sounds obvious since they are the only semi-pro team to be playing around this time, but it is more than that. If Erie was to get an Arena League Football team, I would guess , that the Brown, Bills, and Steelers would still dominate the Erie area. The same cannot be said for hockey. Otters hockey is exciting and steals some of the thunder of the NI-IL starting. THE PENN STATE SPORTS SCENE School C.R. Overall La Roche 5-1 10-2-1 Pitt-Greensburg 3-1 8-3 Behrend 3-1 6-8 Frostburg 2-1 5-5-4 PS Altoona 1-3 6-6-1 Lake Erie 0-3 0-14 Pitt-Bradford 0-4 3-7 Professional Golf Association Money Leaders (money in millions) Rank Player Earnings 1. Tiger Woods 6.496 2. Phil Mickelson 3.870 3. Ernie Els 3.180 4. Vijay Singh 2.846 5. Rich Beem 2.822 6. Jerry Kelly 2.698 7. Justin Leonard 2.612 8. David Toms 2.597 9. Reteif Goosen 2.472 10. Sergio Garcia 2.319 11. Fred Funk 2.270 12. Shegeki Maruyama 2.103 13. Nick Price 2.079 14. Len Mattiace 2.079 15. Jim Furyk 2.004 16. Chris DiMarco 1.961 17. K.J. Choi 1.939 18. Charles Howell 11l 1.928 19. JoseMariaOlazabal 1.910 20. Rocco Mediate 1.897 21. Robert Allenby 1.860 22. Chris Riley 1.838 23. Loren Roberts 1.829 22. Bob Estes 1.803 25. Davis Love 11l 1.768 -72 -82 -137 -147 -201 -734 -847 -869 -933 Women's Soccer THE NATIONAL SPORTS ARENA SPORTS Friday, October 11, 2002 Erie hockey fans await the start of the Otters' season, and don't seem very interested in the Penguins or Sabres. The Otters may lack the nationally recognizable players like Mario Lemieux, but they still have dedicated fans. This is the case in Erie, and I don't know that it is the case anywhere else, but it illustrates the local lack of NHL interest If many other cities the size of Erie begin to get exciting teams like the Otters, the NHL might have a big problem on its hands. 5. Hockey on TV is boring Hockey will never be as successful as the NFL, NBA, or MLB because it is not very exciting to watch until the playoffs. Hockey is incredible live, as I have witnessed at Penguins games. You hear all of the hits and it doesn't seem so long between goals. Unfortunately, on television the time drags. Baseball has home runs and diving catches, basketball has slam dunks and three-pointers, and football has touchdowns and sacks. These happen constantly throughout the games of those sports, where as checks and goals are not nearly as frequent. The NHL's popularity will rise as the season goes on, but as long as it has so much competition, it will never be able to compete with the big three. Adding to the NHL's woes are NASCAR and NCAA football. When these sports end college basketball will be in full swing, but the NHL playoff races will be in full swing and should counteract some of this. Unless the NI-IL gets more stars won fans can somewhat relate to, a later time for the season opening, and can eliminate regional competition, it will be in serious trouble. Especially when Mario retires again. Women's Volleyball School C.R. Overall Frostburg 6-0 16-3 PS Altoona 4-2 9-8 Pitt-Bradford 4-2 7-5 Behrend 3-3 10-12 La Roche 3-4 6-9 Pitt-Greensburg 1-4 3-17 Lake Erie 0-6 1-10 OFFENSIVE Player Team TDS YDS 1 D Bledsoe BUF 12 1762 2 T Brady NE 13 1566 3 B Favre GB 11 1470 4 K Collins NYG 4 1358 5 R Gannon OAK 10 1355 Player T e am TDS Ma 1 P Holmes KC 8 590 2 R Williams MIA 4 565 3 L Tomlinson SD 5 554 4 D McAllister NO 5 461 5 A Green GB 0 416 Player Team LDS. Yl, - 3) 1 M Booker CHI 3 566 2 E Moulds BUF 3 525 3 P Price BUF 4 493 4 T Holt STL 0 462 5 A Toomer NYG 1 456 National Football League League Leaders Passing Rushing Receiving Volleyball struggling to stay above .500 stormed back against Lake Erie a week later At home a week ago the women's volleyball team lost three straight games to drop its overall record to 10-12. Luckily this was a non-conference game and served as a wake up call for the team. Going into Thursday's game against Lake Erie the Lions were a meek 3-3 in the AMCC conference. The Lions were able to outplay Lake Erie in the Junker Center to improve their record to 4-3. This may be just what the Lions need to gain some momentum as they have a tough road ahead. Within the next seven days the Lions will face AMCC rival Pitt-Greensburg, which is building off its first win and looking for another upset in confernce play. Also in this span Behrend will be facing Frostburg who has yet to be defeated by an AMCC team this season. The Beacon will not be published next week due to fall break, and by the time it comes back it may be looking at a whole new team. Aside from the two big confernce matches the team will face Fredonia and Buffalo State on Oct. 16. The following week, the team will face some more stiff AMCC competition at Pitt-Bradford on Oct. 22nd. All told, by the next publication date of Oct. 25, the team will have played three conference games and two non-conference games. The team can con ceivably move into first place in the AMCC it can win these tough conference matches. The team will need Danielle Bemis, Trisha Adams, and Rose Boni to keep up the work they have been doing. Bemis is second on the team in both kills and digs. Adams is first on the team Wittil36 kills and third in digs with 232. Boni is leading the team with 349 digs. This trio has also started all 83 games that the team has played thus far this season. With this core of talent and corning off of a big home conference win. the Lions hope to come out of the next few weeks a revitalized team. These next several games could easily make or break the Lion's chances. Women's Tennis School C.R. Overall P. S. Altoona 3-0 8-3 Behrend 3-2 7-9 Frostburg 0-3 0-6 La Roche 0-1 0-1 DEFENSIVE Tackles(TKL) Player Team POS TKL 1 B Urlecher CHI MLB 42 2 K Bullock TEN OLB 37 2 R Lewis BAL ILB 36 4 T Spikes CIN OLB 35 5 R Williams DAL FS 33 Sacks Player Team POS Sack 1 R Colvin CHI OLB 7 2 M Rucker CAR DE 6 2 G Ellis DAL DE 5.5 4 A Schobel BUF DE 4.5 5 10 Players Tied At 4 Sacks Interceptions(lNT) Player Team POS INT 1 G Wesley KC SS 4 1 D Brooks TB OLB 4 3 J Porter PIT OLB 3 3 D O'Neal DEN CB 3 3 R WoodsonOAK FS 3 The Behrend Beacon by Scott Soltis sports editor Big Ten Football School C.R. Overall Ohio State 2-0 6-0 lowa 2-0 5-1 Michigan 1-0 4-1 Michigan State 1-0 3-2 Minnesota 1-1 5-1 Penn State 1-1 4-1 Purdue 1-1 3-3 Wisconsin 0-1 5-1 ESPN/USA Today Football Coaches Poll Rank Team Record PTS 1524 1423 1405 1346 1260 1220 1147 1116 974 891 828 816 763 727 655 542 54'1 349 328 317 305 285 267 154 129 Miami 5-0 Texas 5-0 Oklahoma 5-0 Virginia Tech 5-0 Ohio State 6-0 Georgia 5-0 Oregon 5-0 Notre Dame 5-0 Tennessee 4-1 Michigan 4-1 NC State 6-0 Florida State 5-1 Washington St.s-1 lowa State 5-1 LSU 4-1 Florida 4-2 Penn State 4-1 Washington 3-2 Air Force 5-0 lowa 5-1 Auburn 4-1 Wisconsin 5-1 Kansas State 4-1 USC 3-2 UCLA 4-1 Page 3B
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers