Football at a glance By Christian Torres Staff Reporter cgtlll @psu.edu HARRISBURG, Pa. - Our beloved Nittany lion football team has a losing record and appears it will struggle all year. Sound familiar? Well Penn State fans, its happening again. It has been a frustrating year when looking at the Penn State football team. Their defense and special teams have played well, but the offense continues to sputter along causing the Lions to have a losing record once again this year. Bottom line on the offense is this. They have no legitimate offensive threat besides Michael Robinson, who is doing a fairly good college imitation of NFL quarterback Kordell Stewart, and quarterback Zack Mills has been fairly inconsistent throw ing eight interceptions in five games. The Lions have a tough road ahead to say the least. In their last six games they will face lowa in their homecoming game, an up-and-coming Northwestern team, and Ohio State. The good news is that four out of the last six are at home. Penn Stateis chances for a bowl game, unless they produce a miracle in these last six games, are probably slim to none. There is some good news. The defense has played well so far. They have gotten impres sive play from junior defensive end Matt Rice and outside line backer Dan Connor. The cor ners have played decent and the defensive line has played well too. So what is the future of this team for the rest of this sea son? They will struggle indeed, but they can build on the posi tives. The defense will probably continue to play well and the offense is only going to get bet ter. Perhaps JoPa will consider starting Michael Robinson at quarterback to see what he can do running the entire offense. Robinson has not looked great in the chances that he has got ten as a starter but at this point, Penn State has nothing to lose. This might not make many fans happy, but the recruiting for the next couple of years does not look good. Many solid players from high schools are being lured away from “Happy Valley” and it is no secret that other schools are just offering more than Penn State can offer. For many players, the prospect of playing for a univer sity that is located in a tropical climate pnd that has a coach that is a little younger is a huge factor. Whether bad or good howev er, Nittany lion fans have con tinued to stay loyal to their team. Drive around many towns and cities across the mid-state and there is still loyal ty to Nittany lion football. It is unfortunate that fans will continue to be heartbroken this season, but there is hope for next year. The sad thing is that many fans find themselves thinking that way more and more. Wait till next year. Playoff regulars make another appearance By Herb Smith Staff Reporter hjsl3s@psu.edu It’s time once again for October baseball. After a grueling, marathon 162 game season, the World Champions of baseball will be decided by a month long sprint through October. Unlike hockey and basketball, whose post seasons seem to last nearly as long as the regular season, baseball playoffs offer a quick whirl of excitement and then it’s a long winter wait until spring train- John Smoltz is the only player from the 1991 Braves to still be in uniform for the team this year. Intramural Sports take off running By Christian Torres Staff Reporter cgtlll@psu.edu With the fall semester now in full swing around campus, stu dents are fastening their seat belts for what looks to be a busy semester. One way for students to forget about the stress of homework and reading is by drinkd playing sports, intramural sports. This semester, the fall intramu ral schedule was stacked with different sporting activities for students to get involved in. They included softball, touch football and raquetball. While most of those sports have already begun their season, there is still an opportunity for students to get involved in a league this fall. If you are a big fan of table tennis, or what some Snort s Baseball fans have come to expect a few things every October. The main thing is that, like it or not, the Yankees and the Braves will still be playing, while your favorite team is probably working on their golf game. Every year, pretenders make some noise early in the season, but by late September, they are 20 games back while the Yanks and Braves are readying them selves for the playoffs. Most fans, basically every fan except those in the Bronx and Atlanta, Photo courtesy of www.premierspeakers.com would call ping-pong, leagues are starting to form now. In fact, students have until Nov. Bth to enter and league play begins Nov. 9th . So wipe off the dust from your table tennis balls because it’s time to play. For those students who have unfortunately missed out on this semester’s offerings, the spring semester will have four intramu ral leagues opening up. Mark your calendar for January because two leagues will begin to form. The entry day for intra mural basketball is Jan. 12th with play beginning Jan. 17th and vol leyball registration will begin on Jan. 13th with the league begin ning play on Jan. 18th. In March, after everyone has dug out from another snowy win ter, gloves and bats will be the theme as softball returns once again. Registration for spring don’t like the fact that these teams make it every year. The Braves have been playing in October every year since 1991, while the Yanks have made the post season every year since 1995. What makes these feats even more impressive is that the Braves have won their division every year since 1991, and the Yanks have won their division eight out of the past ten seasons. So these teams aren’t just mak ing it in by the skin of their teeth. They have dominated their divi sions for the past decade. In any other sport, teams win ning this often would be consid ered dynasties. But the differ ence between these two teams and those dynasty teams of the past is that these teams are doing it with entirely different ros ters. John Smoltz is the only player from the 1991 Braves to still be in uniform for the team this season. That team had. names like David Justice and Deion Sanders while current center fielder Andruw Jones was 14 when that team made the postseason. As for the Yanks, five players remain from that 1995 Wild Card team. Don Mattingly was still in pinstripes when the Yankees’ streak start ed, and shortstop Derek Jeter was a 21 year-old rookie who played 15 games for the Bronx Bombers that year. So yes, these teams have had impressive streaks, but it’s not the same players doing it every year. Opposing fans argue that the Yankees buy their champi onships with huge payrolls and high salaries, stealing players away from other teams. Well, yes, the Yankees have the high est payroll in baseball. But noth ing they have done breaks the rules set up by Major League Baseball. Baseball has no salary cap, so teams are free to spend how ever much they wish. A few years ago, a rule was passed that if teams’ payrolls went over a certain amount of money, they would pay a tax. The money from that tax would go to the teams with smaller payrolls in hopes that the extra money given to them could be spent on star play ers to improve their teams. However, owners of the teams softball will take place on Mar. 23rd with league play beginning on Mar. 28th. Finally in April, it is the return of more table tennis. For those who can’t get enough of table tennis in the fall, it will return for an encore with registration taking place on Apr. 6th and league play beginning Apr. 11th. All students and staff on the campus are eligible to play intra mural sports so don’t miss out. Alumni are also eligible to play as long as they are current mem bers of the Penn State Alumni Association. For more information on intra mural sports, please contact Bud Smitley at 948-6267 or by e-mail at aerobics @psu.edu. Information can also be obtained at the recreation page on Penn State Harrisburg’s Web site. with the small payrolls, choose to pocket the extra money rather than put it into their teams. Say what you want about George Steinbrenner, but he is an owner who wants to win and is willing to spend whatever it takes. When Steinbrenner took over the Yankees in the 19705, they were a pathetic franchise with poor fan attendance. He spent the money needed to turn the Yanks around, to put a decent team on “Baseball fans have come to expect a few things every October. The main thing is that, like it or not, the Yankees and the Braves will still be playing, while your favorite team is probably work ing on their golf game.” the field that drew fans, created more revenue, and gave him more money to spend on the team. It’s a cycle. You must spend money to make money. The other owners seem to be happy putting a mediocre team on the field and taking their rev enue and going home. Careless owners are what has killed base ball, not Steinbrenner and his ‘evil empire’. Enormous payrolls also don’t ensure a winning team. The teams with the top three payrolls in baseball, the Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Anaheim Angels, all made the playoffs in 2004. The next three highest payrolls, all missed the playoffs, and those three teams all had pay rolls over $9O million. In addition to that, Minnesota made the playoffs with a payroll of over $l2O million less than the Yankees. Last year, the Florida Marlins, who won the title, had a Students relax after a PSH intramural soccer game. PSH offers intramural sports such as softball, football and raquetball. payroll of $49 million. In 2002, the Anaheim Angels were World Champions with a payroll half of what the Yankees’ salary was. To add insult to injury, the Yankees were knocked out of the playoffs by the Angels in the first round of that season. While the Braves have one of the ten highest payrolls in base ball, they can credit their long run to manager Bobby Cox and an excellent minor league system. Every year is supposed to be the year the Braves are finally slain by an N.L. East foe. This year, it was supposed to be the Phillies’ turn to overtake the Braves. But the Phillies, and their $93 million payroll, finished ten games back of the Braves this season. While the Braves and Yankees have had these incredible streaks of post season births, this doesn’t mean they have hoisted the trophy after the World Series every year. The Yankees are 0-2 in their last two World Series appearances and the Braves haven’t made it to the Series since 1999. In fact, in the Braves 13 straight playoff appearances, they have only won the title once and that was nearly a decade ago. The Yankees of the past few years are living off the long ball. Every year they just try to outhit every other team. This eventually catches up with you as the Yanks have learned. When they won four titles in five years, they did it playing “small” ball, bunting, stealing bases, and having great pitching. Their pitching isn’t what it used to be and their current lineup just seems to be aiming for the fences. These teams, no matter how many home runs they hit, will not be the champi ons unless they can pitch and play small ball. If you look back on the past few champions, they all played small ball and had good pitching. That is the equa tion for success; not huge salaries spent on home run hit ters. Eventually the cream rises to the top. Just because the Braves and Yankees are in the post season again doesn’t mean either one of them will be spray ing the champagne in the locker room later this month. Photo courtesy of www.hbg.psu.edu
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