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Lockout?
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by John Musser
Collegian Sports Editor
There was plenty of good
news for the Penn State athletic
department last week.
The Atlantic 10 conference
announced that they would
allow State to play for one more
year while the university awaits
its entrance into the Big Ten.
This assures sports teams other
than the football squad, such as
the improving men's basketball
program, that they will have a
schedule to play next year.
Since the decision to move
to the Big Ten was made and the
A-10 wasn't sure if they wanted
Penn State around, these "other"
programs have been in limbo.
Because the Big Ten's schedule
for next year was already set.
" Lockout? What lockout?" After
looking at the attendance figures for
opening day, it was obvious that
baseball fans have a short memory. Or,
they really like those 20 dollar, 12-
ounce cups of beer.
State would have been left in a
very difficult position.
Then there was the
announcement by Joe Patemo
that he will hang around to
coach the football team until he
is 70, which would mean he
would hang up his clipboard
after the 1996 season. Of
course, if you believe
everything JoePa says, you
probably believed him ten years
ago when he started his spring
ritual of announcing that he
would retire in four or five
years.
"Lockout? What lockout?”
After looking at the
attendance figures for opening
day, it was obvious that
baseball fans have a short
memory. Or, they really like
those 20 dollar, 12-ounce cups
of beer.
A quick glance at last
Monday's slate of games showed
that of the games that were
played, at least 38,000 fans
attended each game. This after
all of the hootin' and hollerin’
done by some fans about the
money made by players and
owners, and how they were
going to boycott baseball after
the ridiculous lockout by the
owners.
Say, according to baseball
experts, wasn't the pitching
supposed to be weeks behind the
hitting? Sure, there were quite a
few high scores last week,
which most attributed to the
lack of preparation time for the
Fans still
to games
pitcher.
Well, Mark Langston and
Mike Witt must have done
some extra workouts (or they've
been eating their Wheaties)
during the lockout by the
owners. The two California
Angels' hurlers weaved some
mound magic last Wednesday
when they combined to no-hit
the Seattle Mariners, the first in
30 years for the Angels.
Langston handled the pitching
chores for the first seven
innings, then Witt came on to
close the final two frames.
The closest Langston has
ever come to a no-hitter by
himself was against Texas in
1988 when he tossed a one
hitter while with Seattle. Witt
has pitched a perfect game,
against Texas in 1984.
The Angels were also
stagnant on offense, unable to
score until the seventh inning,
on one of baseball's more
thrilling plays, the bases-loaded
walk.
A recent graphic in USA
Today (and if you missed it, it
was a beauty) displayed some
statistics of the NBA's Detroit
Pistons with and without guard
Joe Dumars* who has been
sidelined with a broken hand.
Without Joltin' Joe, the
Pistons haven't won half of
their games (40 percent to be
precise), while winning almost
77 percent with him. With
Dumars, Detroit manages to
break 100 points per game.
However, with Dumars missing
from the lineup, the Pistons
average is less than triple digits.
The story is the same on
defense, with the Pistons
allowing almost 100 points per
game without, but yielding only
97 with Dumars.
These numbers aren't
surprising. Everyone knows that
Dumars is Mr. Defense for the
Pistons, as he usually guards
the opposing team's leading
scorer. Dumars has also proven
himself at the other end of the
floor. Normally overshadowed
by teammates Isiah Thomas and
Bill Laimbeer, Dumars made a
name for himself offensively in
last year's NBA finals when he
ripped apart the defense of the
Los Angeles Lakers.
The Collegian
Save a Lion
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES
TO WORK ON THE RADIO t
wpse
am 1450
Needs Reliable Students to be DJs,
Newspeople and Board-Operators
Work Study and Internships
Fred Anzivino at 898-6495 or
Ken Bunting at 898-6318
Swing batter
ort Behrend s
are available
To find out more, contact:
Wednesday, April 18, 1990
Sports
Bits
5K run this Friday
A 5K cross-country run
will be held this Friday at
5:30 pm. Registration for the
event will be behind Erie
Hall near the campus tennis
courts. Age group awards
will be presented. Behrend
Army ROTC is sponsoring
the event, with the proceeds
benefiting Diehl Elementar
School's playground project
Applications for the run are
available at the Intramural
office or the ROTC office.
Do you have some sports
news that everyone at
Behrend should know
about? Then just drop off the
information at The Collegian
office with your name and
phone number. Or just call
us at 898-6488 between 9
am and 5 pm. Deadline is
Monday at noon the week of
the publication that the
information should be
printed in.
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