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Show Your Sports PAGE B8 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2005 Clearing up a couple things Zachary Fraser Sports Writer Pease isn t so When 1 first discovered Major League Baseball, I immediately was drawn to niy hometown Oakland A's and of course star outfielder Jose Canseco. At the time, Canseco was the most feared slugger in the game. And it was exciting to watch a,s he either hit it out of the park (sometimes literally) or struck out with such force that even while watching it on television you could almost feel it. In 1988, Canseco became the first player in history to hit 40 homeruns and to steal 40 bases in the same year (a feat that only Barry Bonds "Speaks" cont1 on page B7 A few weeks ago, I penned an article entitled "The BestKept Secret in the Game," highlighting the breakout season of Ronnie Price. A couple of things happened because of that article. First and foremost, I learned that I have readers besides my wife and grandfather in Rochester, New York. That is a pleasant thing for a writer to learn. Another pleasantry was learning that at least one writer reads closely enough to get passionate enough to write a criticism. Again, it makes a writer feel good that they have a passionate audience. One thing was quite disheartening for me, and certainly would be for almost anyone who writes professionally: my journalistic objectivity and ethics of the trade were brought into question. I was accused of writing in a biased manner while reporting on Ronnie Price and his accomplishments. While the editorial staff for the sports page was kind enough to defend the accurate (at the time of publication) statistics that I used, please let me take this moment to make this point clear: while I will always be, to some extent, subjective in my coverage of Utah Valley sports (I am a Wolverines fan, I admit it), I will never lie or make up statistics or facts to support a story that I am writing, nor will I shamelessly play an angle simply to be politically correct. The bottom line is that at UVSC, we have good people who are doing great things at a level that no other Wolverine athletes have ever reached. Here are some recent per-game statistics to indicate . , ._... iVKI c. Steve Lundquist/NetXNews the impact on the court that Price and Whatever you say about the action on court for Utah Valley State athletics, you cannot argue about Katie Wilson the last t ' i e e n e r 8 e t ' c performances of senior guard Ronnie Price who always leaves the crowd wanting more. two "In the Huddle" opponent, certainly middle the Big Sky en route to the are harder to measure, but features, have had: of the pack, but playing in NCAA^Dance. ask teammates and coaches arguably the best basketball alike and they will attest to Ronnie Price, Guard, conference in the country; Katie Wilson, Center, the leadership that Wilson is men's basketball: 26.8 UMKC is a serious contender women's basketball: has led providing in this rebuilding PPG his last four games for the automatic bid given the team in scoring three out year. (35 against the UMKC, 28 to the Mid-Continent of the last five games; she is Wrestling is consistently against Johnson & Wales, 26 Conference; Oral Roberts still managing to pull down improving against some of against Nebraska, 18 against was picked by ESPN the over seven rebounds a game, the better wrestling programs Idaho State), not to mention Magazine as a sleeper team in despite trying to hold down in the country. Coach Sam a 29 PPG average versus the tourney, and Weber State the middle against players Atoa had a resilient volleyball Weber State. Just for the was a national darling two that are many times bigger "Few things" cont' on page B6 record, Nebraska is a Big XII years ago as they dominated and stronger. Intangibles mer i Dinner tertainment $16.00 $20.00 Two: Tickets: friend stumble • a foul Priceless! em UVSC nity: us ty fa are offering season tickets to anyone with a current UVSC W. to U^C^SiB&0iihstudent down prikampmai Wormskn Student new name, new stadium, hew; J.MM or visit us on the : .M $ 7,45 is the per-game cost ($55/38 games) hampionshipieam |