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Show 6 Tuesday July 16, 2013 SPORTS UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS www.dailyutahchronicle.corn FOOTBALL FRIDAY, AUG. 23: Soccer Utah @ Western Kentucky 1 p.m. Bowling Green, Ky. FRIDAY, AUG. 30: Soccer Utah @ Cal State Fullerton 6 p.m. Fullerton, Calif Volleyball Utah vs. Utah State 12:00 p.m. Huntsman Center SATURDAY, AUG. 1: Volleyball Utah vs. Fairfield 7 p.m. Huntsman Center Volleyball Utah vs. Northern Iowa 7 p.m. Huntsman Center UTAH FOOTBALL JOHN MACKEY AWARD WATCH LIST Utah junior tight end Jake Murphy has been named to the John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List. The Mackey Award is presented annually FILE PHOTO CHAD ZAVALA/The Daily Utah Chronicle Graduated cornerback Ryan Lacy returns an interception against BYU during last year's rivalry game. tight end. Holy War will continue in 2017 Murphy, who was an honorable Ryan McDonald to the most outstanding collegiate mention all-Pac-12 selection last SPORTS EDITOR season, led Utah with four touch- Almost a year to the day since Utah athletic director Chris Hill announced that the Holy War would not be played in 2014 and 2015, he announced via YouTube on July 9 that the rivalry game will take place in 2017 and 2018. As has been the case since 2011 after the Utes moved to the Pac12, the 2017 contest will be played in early September. To better ac- down catches. He was second on the team in receptions (33) and third in receiving yards (349). The John Mackey Award recipient will be announced on Dec. 12, 2013. commodate the Pac-12 schedule, the 2018 game will take place in November on the last week of the regular season, which had been the annual tradition from 1968 though 2010. "It seems that wherever I go during the summer, our fans and the BYU fans are interested in when we're gonna play BYU in the future and how [the rivalry game] is gonna unfold," Hill said in the 74-second video. "I can assure you that [BYU athletic director] Tom Holmoe and I have had many discussions and we're very close to signing a contract." When the announcement was made a year ago that the rivalry would be put on hold for the first time since World War II, Hill said it would resume in 2016. That game is scheduled to be played on Sept. '0 of that year and will take place at Rice-Eccles Stadium. It was unclear until the video announcement what the future of the rivalry would be beyond 2016. "We value the BYU-Utah rivalry," Hill said. "We know it's important to our student athletes, to our universities [and] to our fans." Hill said a more formal announcement regarding the 2017 and 2018 games should come in early August once the Pac-12 approves the contract. This year's game will take place on Sept. 21 at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo. Kickoff time has yet to be determined. r.mcdonald@chronicle.utah.edu 1- THE GREAT DEBATE Should steroids be allowed in MLB? Juicing provides more adrenaline s a nine year-old in the summer of 1998, my mind and time were both quite consumed with the idea that Roger Maris' 37-year-old record of 61 home runs in a season was going to be broken. I watched with great attention as Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals inched closer to history with every clinger. I still remember sitting in my parents' bedroom glued to the TV as No. 62 landed in the stands. Not only would McGwire go on to shatter Maris' long-standing mark by hitting 70 baseballs out of the park that year, but Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs eclipsed Mans as well by hitting 66. Over the next three years, Maris' mark would be topped four more times. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit 73 homers in 2001, which still stands as the number to beat. It was a fun time to be a baseball fan. The big elephant in the room during this time, however, was that everyone assumed that the players who were hitting so many long balls were being aided by performanceenhancing drugs (PEDs). There was no way, the thought was, that these athletes could be doing this without the help of PEDs. The notion proved to be true, as McGwire, Alex Rodriguez and others either admitted to using PEDs or were found to be doing so. In 2005, Major League Baseball put strict penalties in place for players who were found to be "juicing." Over the past eight years, home run totals have been dwindling as the use of PEDs has presumably declined (though the ability to mask the use of steroids has improved). Since 2007, only Jose Bautista has reached the 50-homer mark in the 2010 season. In my view, this has led to baseball becoming both less entertaining and more difficult to market. Allowing players to use performance-enhancing drugs without penalty would make the sport much better in both regards. Baseball purists will point to the idea that baseball provides a different kind of excite- A Ban is a normal phase in the game ccording to some, the sky is falling on baseball. "Ah!" they exclaim. "There are so RYAN many strikeouts and so few home runs that MCDONALD the game is getting boring and people are going to stop watching. What ever shall we do?" True, strikeout rates are at a record high Sports Editor in the big leagues. Even though baseball has ment than basketball or football. They'll survived other strikeout panics in the past, say it requires much more mental capacity VS • people are desperate to find what is causand that each at-bat, each pitch even, is a ing the record setting number of Ks. One chess match. Maybe I'm just not enough such theory is that the rise in strikeouts of a purist, but the mental games just and the drop in home runs was caused by don't get my blood pumping like a watching Major League Baseball cracking down on a sweet dunk in the NBA or a bone-jarring the use of performance-enhancing drugs. hit in the NFL. Home runs do, though. It was PEDs should be banned in baseball, but an absolute blast as a kid to watch McGwire not to preserve the purity of the game. consistently crush balls into the stratosphere. Baseball lost its innocence a long time ago. If using PEDs was allowed, awe-inspiring PEDs should continue to be banned because bombs would return, as would a higher level they are not always safe or healthy and their of adrenaline in the sport. benefit has not been proven. Their effect While the qualities of what makes a sport does not guarantee a more interesting game great will differ in the minds of fans, one clear either. problem Major League Baseball seems to be The only possible justification for legalhaving is a lack of marketable stars. Last year, izing PEDs is because they may lead to many expected the rookie trio of Mike Trout, more home runs. I say "may" because there Yu Darvish and Bryce Harper to take the reins is no proven correlation between PEDs and as the next marketable players, but that hasn't home runs. Just because MLB cracked down really happened. This year's rookie sensation, on PEDs, then the number of home runs Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers, might went down and strikeouts went up does not become the next household name, but that reprove a causal relationship between the two. mains to be seen. Beyond those players, there It only proves they happened at the same isn't really anyone for young fans to get excited time. about. Back in the late 1990s, there were a lot There are other possible reasons for the of players to become fans of, and most of them increase in strikeouts. We are in an era of were the guys hitting all the home runs. Basegreat pitching. Even mediocre fifth startball needs players who can crank 'em out. ers can pitch at 90 mph. Relief pitchers Allowing performance-enhancing drugs often only pitch for an inning or less, which in Major League Baseball is probably not the allows them to use all their best stuff. Somemost ethical decision commissioner Bud Selig times specific pitchers are brought in only could ever make, but it's certainly one that to face specific batters and then they are would make his league much more exciting. taken out of the game. Teams have unprecIn that regard, Major League Baseball needs edented access to video of batters, which to bring the PEDs back. allows them to plan for individual batters. r.mcdonald@chronicle.utah.edu A Vote on who won this week www.dailyutahchronicle.com TOPHER WEBB News Editor With this kind of specialization is it any wonder that Ks are up? Strikeouts are also losing their stigma. While striking out was once an embarrassment, players and managers are starting to see it as only another out. Whiffing is better than hitting into a double play. Players are more willing to swing at more pitches, which leads to more strikes, which leads to more strikeouts. Even if PEDs led to more home runs, baseball would not necessarily be more interesting. If every game turned into a home run derby, baseball would be pretty boring. It would be like a football game in which every kickoff was returned for a touchdown. There would be no drama. Solo shot home runs in the early and middle innings of a game are not super exciting. However, a home run in the last three innings that ties or changes the lead of a game is really exciting. So is a line drive in the same situation. A double play that ends a rally is also exciting and so is a reliever striking out the last batter of a close game with the tying or winning run on base. It is like free throws in basketball that are more interesting in close games with under three minutes left. It is all about the situation. Now, let's all take a step back and breathe. Baseball is going through a normal phase and I like it. Watch Yu Darvish pitch a game and tell me this is not a great time for baseball. t.webb@chronicle.utah.edu |