The Behrend beacon. (Erie, Pa.) 1998-current, January 17, 2003, Image 12

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Scott Soltis, Sports Editor
The Behrend Beacon
WE ARE
PENN
STATE
Behrend
Athletic
Events
Friday, Jan. 17
Men’s & Women’s
Swimming & Diving
vs. Mt Union, 6 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 18
Men’s & Women’s
Swimming &Diving
vs. Edinboro, 1 p.m.
Women’s Basketball
@Frostburg, 2 p.m.
Men’s Basketball
@Frostburg, 4 p.m
Men’s & Women’s
Indoor Track & Field
@SUNY Fredonia
Invitational
TBA
Tuesday, Jan. 21
Men’s Basketball
vs. Fredonia, 7:30 p.m
Intmmumls
Schedule
Ping Pong
Men’s, Women’s, & COED
Entries Due Tuesday,
Jan. 31
Schedules Posted By
Feb. 2
Play will begin Feb. 3
Arena Football
Men’s & Women’s
Entries Due Friday,
Feb. 7
Games Begin Feb. 11
Swimming
Men’s, Women’s, & COED
Entries Due Friday,
Feb. 21
Meet Date TBA
PM STATE
BF.HRF.ND
LIONS
5 Reasons Why...
Winter can only get better for this sports fa
1. Carson Palmer - USC's quarterback won the
Heisman over the great Penn State running hack Larry
Johnson. Now, this will be the last time you will hear
me complain about the Heisman.
I wrote several articles before break about why
Johnson should have won the award. I still feel that
LJ deserved this prestigious award, but at least it
wasn’t Dorsey or McGahee out of Miami.
Still, this was a very tough way to begin winter.
Johnson had arguably the best season of any running
back in Penn State football’s illustrious history. He
had the most outstanding season in college football
this year. I had never watched a Heisman award show
until that fateful night in Decemher. It was easily the
most disappointing awards show 1 have ever seen. A
one-hour build up to find out that LJ took third in the
voting.
Oh well, Dorsey is graduating and
McGahee is going to the NFL early, so the
two people I didn’t want to win it never
will.
lowa QB Brad Banks, who took
second in the voting will have a hard time
staying a QB in the NFL, where mobile
quarterbacks whose last name is not Vick
are not given much of a chance, a la
Heisman winner Eric Crouch.
Finally, it looks like Carson Palmer
will be drafted by the mighty Cincinnati
Bengals. So suddenly a dim situation
looks much brighter as Johnson’s
future seems more promising than
most of the others, and I can take
solace in that.
2. The Capital One Bowl - Penn State lost to Auburn.
It wasn’t even a good game. Penn State played in a
New Year’s Bowl, which is a pretty big deal. Granted
it wasn’t the Citrus or Orange or Rose, but it was still
a New Years Bowl. Penn State didn’t really get an
offense going all game.
They didn’t give the ball to Johnson enough and
they should have kept Robinson in for an ineffective
Mills. But, should haves and could haves are very
easy to say. Legendary Joe Paterno did what he
thought was best at the time, and he will have many
opportunities to win more football games (hopefully,
some of them being bowl games).
Another disappointing thing about the loss was that
this was a great year with some incredible talent that
could have been in the national championship game
if it were not for a few bad calls and a couple of sad
quarters of football. It would have been very nice to
end the season (and many of the player’s collegiate
BEHREND SPORTS BRIEFS
BEHREND SPORTS SCENE
Men’s Basketball
Lions are ranked atop the The Lady Lions are currently
AMCC Standings at a perfect third in the AMCC behind Pitt
-3-0 in conference play. Greensburg and Lake Erie.
James Curren ranks fourth in the Behrend s top scorer is Amber
AMCC in points per game with Krumpe who is averaging 13.5
an average of 17.0. points per game which is sev
enth in the AMCC.
Curren also leads the team in
rebounds per game with 6.36
which is good for sixth in
conference.
DOMINO’S PIZZA IS LOCATED ONLY MINUTES AWAY AT 3303 BUFFALO RD.
CALL FOR LUNCH, DINNER OR A LATE NIGHT SNACK WE OPEN AT 11AM DAILY
ANDS CLOSE AT 1 AM SUN-THURS AND 2 AM FRI AND SAT.
*1 r k
Friday, January 17, 2003
Scott Soltis
Women’s Basketball
Krumpe is statistically the most
accurate shooter in the AMCC
with a feild goal percentage of
51.2%.
ENN STATE BEHREND STUDENT SPECIALS
FROM DOMINO’S PIZZA
ON CAMPUS DELIVERY OR CARRYOUT WITH ST 1
EARLY WEEK SPECIAL*
1 LARGE PIZZA W/CHEESE and
1 TOPPING FOR ONLYSS.99
* VALID MON, TUES AND WEDS ONLYI LIMIT 2 PER CUSTOMER! NO COUPON REQUIRED!
careers) on a winning note.
The core of Penn State’s impressive defense is
graduating and they are losing more than 2,000 yards
in rushing with the graduation of Johnson. This may
have been a big opportunity lost for Penn State, but
there will be others.
It doesn’t look like another chance like this year
will come anytime soon, but you never know with
Patemo at the helm.
3. Rich Gannon - Rich Gannon was the winner of
the Most Valuable Player Award in the NFL this year.
There was a big debate going into the voting about
if it is the most outstanding statistically, or most
valuable to their team.
Few would argue that Rich Gannon did not have
the most outstanding statistical year in
football. In fact he had one of the best
stat years ever. But he was by no means
the most valuable player to a team in the
league
He has Tyrone Wheatly to pound
the ball, Charlie Gamer to run and more
importantly catch the ball, and a
receiving core composed of two future
Hall of Famers and one quickly rising
star. With talent like that, numbers are
sure to come.
The Most Valuable Player to his
team (that was successful) was and
is quarterback Steve McNair.
McNair does not have a stellar
stable of pass catcher Kevin Dyson is good, but was
hurt and so was Frank Wycheck. McNair used what
he had and made up for another sub-par season by
Eddie George.
McNair played hurt, and played well, very well.
Whether it was turf toe, a bad back or bad wheels,
McNair did not hesitate to do whatever his team
needed to win the game. This is why he got hurt so
much. Me tried very hard and was rewarded with
much success. He was truly the definition of a “Most
Valuable Player.”
4. The Lakers - The Los Angeles Lakers are my
favorite team in the NBA. 1 don’t like Kobe, but
there aren’t many cocky people that 1 do like. Shaq
is my man. The Big Aristotle, Shaq Daddy, Shaq
Diesel, Shazaam, whatever you choose to call him,
he is the most dominating force on one of the most
dominating teams in NBA history.
That was until this year. Shaq was hurt for most
of the beginning of the season, and when he came
CALL 898-8400
NATIONAL SPORTS NEWS
NFL
The Cincinatti Bengals have
given Marvin Lewis a lon
overdue head coaching job.
Lewis is only the third African
American coach currently in the
league.
The San Francisco 49ers have
fired head coach Steve Mariuchi
after six succesful seasons at the
back they did not do a whole lot better. The team is
struggling to reach .S(H), which is embarrassing for
a three-time defending world champ. The team
needs to trade Byrant and get a Steve Nash or a
Mike Bibby. players who can make the big play
and are not selfish.
Bryant is an incredible player, but he and Shaq
have had trouble co-existing for the past few years
and it looks like it may be falling apart this year.
Fortunately, the Lakers are coached by Phil Jackson,
one of the best in history, and he might be able to
lead them back to their former glory. Until then,
this will be a dismal winter in L.A.
5. National Championship Game - The two teams
that I despise the most on this earth, be it football,
basketball, baseball, college or pro are the Miami
Hurricanes and the Ohio State Buckeyes football
teams.
As a Penn State fan I automatically dislike Ohio
State, our Big Ten rival. Kven during a brief stint
when I lived in Ohio, 1 still stayed loyal to
Pennsylvania. I don't like any former Buckeye
players now in the NFL (except Fddie George and
that’s just because of the team he plays for now).
Ohio State was lucky to get to the national
championship game. One errant pass by Zack Mills
sent Ohio State past Penn State this year, and a
prayer into the end /one put Ohio State over Purdue.
Now, the reason I detest Miami is because the
first Penn State game I went to was the season
opener last year. The game started with Adam
Taliaferro leading the team onto the field after
suffering an injury that some thought he would
never walk again from. Miami then proceeded to
suck all of the joy out of the stadium by routing the
Lions and mocking their fans. 1 do not like cocky
people, and this was a team featuring Clinton Portis
and Jeremy Shockey. This one game has totally
turned me against the Hurricanes.
These two teams played in the national
championship games this year in what I was told
was a great game. I did not watch anything but the
overtime. 1 turned on the game to see who won
and the overtime began so I watched it. I had no
players to root for and definitely no team.
It was like seeing Jason fighting Freddy, who do
you hope wins? In the end I was glad to see Miami’s
win streak end but I did not want to see McGahee
(or anyone for that matter) suffer the terrible injury
that I saw on highlights. This may go down as one
of the best championship games ever played, but it
gave me, a huge football fan, no enjoyment.
NCAA Basketball
The Duke Blue Devils are the
last unbeaten team in Division
1 basketball. Duke is the top
team in the country according
to the Associated Press and a
USA Today/ESPN poll.
The Tennessee Volunteers
Women’s Basketball coach Pat
Summitt became the only the
third college basketball coach
to reach 800 wins this week.
'DENT ID.
Page 1