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Show 6 Thursday, June 7, 2007 SPORTS www.dailyutahchronicle.com CODY BRUNNER Home run record Bond-age I t's inevitable. Sometime this year, Barry Bonds will break Hank Aaron's home run record. It's sad, but true. He will break the most coveted record in sports and show children everywhere that the only real way to succeed in sports is through performance-enhancing drugs. God is out. Pharmaceuticals are in. And there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. We can whine and complain to the MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, calling for stars, asterisks and possibly an expulsion from baseball. But in the end, the commish is just going to tuck his balls between his legs and celebrate it as a historic milestone. would suggest infiltrating his secret lair and poisoning the water or oxygen system, but he doesn't function on those elements so it would do no good. The U Softball team celebrates a victory against UNLV on May 10. The team recently hired former player Amy Hogue as its new coach. TES AT A GLANCE Feigt and Shapard hurdle their way to nationals After enduring six months of the track and field season, including both indoor and outdoor competitions, two Utah track standouts will participate in the NCAA Outdoor Championships this week. Amanda Feigt and Chelsea Shapard will represent the Utes at the NCAA Championships, which begin today. Feigt, a senior, will compete in the 400-meter hurdles and heptathlon events, while Shapaxd will contend solely in the 400-meter hurdles. "This is the pinnacle of our season," said head coach Kyle Kepler. "We feel grateful to have two solid athletes competing at this meet against some of the best in the country." This marks Feigt's second straight appearance at the NCAA Championships. "I learned from my experience last year," Feigt said. "I've got to give it everything I got. I have set some goals for myself and I'm going to go after them. We both have a good chance of doing well. It will be fun having Chelsea there with me." Feigt qualified for the. heptathlon at the Mountain West Conference championships in May. Her 5,328-point effort won her the conference crown, but also set a new school record. She qualified for the 400-meter hurdles by earning an automatic bid with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA West Regional in Eugene, Ore. This will register as Shapard's first appearance at the championships. In her last outing, the sophomore finished seventh in the final heat of the 400-meter hurdles at the West Regional. However, the Park City native set a school record in the same event at the MWC Championships, winning her the league title, which garnered her an at-large bid into the NCAAs. "This is Chelsea's first goaround at the NCAAs. For her to qualify for the second round in the 400-meter hurdles will be a major accomplishment, considering she was the last athlete to receive an at-large bid to the event," Ke*pler said. Both Feigt and Shapard earned all-conference nods and are in contention for Ail-American honor's. The NCAA Outdoor Championships will take place on the Sacramento State campus from June 6 to June 9. Matt Andreason Mandeep Gill U tennis team hopes to have a coaching ace in Iandolo After a month-and-a-half-long search, the Utes announced the hiring of a new women's tennis coach Thursday. Mat Iandolo—a Weber State graduate—was selected after a lengthy search and brings a winning pedigree to the U. Iandolo announced his resignation from Purdue on May 3. "I'm ready for a new coaching LENNIE MhHLZRfHitDailf Uta Jennifer Cutrer competes in the women's 100-meter hurdles in the Utah Spring Twilight event at East High School on April 21. Cutrer won the event by two hundredths of a second. challenge," he said. played tennis there, I always looked He comes to the U with an ex- up to the University of Utah. Ever tensive list of achievements as the since I first saw Utah play, it stood Boilermaker's coach since 1991. out in my mind as a place I wanted Iandolo enjoyed success in one to be," Iandolo said. of the nation's strongest conferIandolo replaces former coach ences—the Big Ten—taking a pro- Megan Dorney, who had spent five gram which hadn't finished higher years at the helm before resigning than sixth in the conference since from her position April 10. He is 1983 and turning it into a national the fifth women's head coach'in contender. program history. While coaching the BoilermakMatthew Andreason ers, Iandolo's teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament in five of Softball welcomes former their last 12 seasons. He has also player as new coach coached two singles qualifiers and three doubles teams that went on Recently hired U softball coach to advance to the national tourna- Amy Hogue won't need a tour ment. around campus when she arrives Although Iandolo graduated to take over the softball squad. from Weber State, he's always had Hogue undoubtedly knows her his eye on the Ute program. "Having gone to Weber State and See BRIEFS Page 8 RSL still has time to prevent disaster Jon Gilbert STAFF WRITER The Kansas City Royals. The Cleveland Browns. The Atlanta Hawks. Real Salt Lake? RSL is flirting with perennial disappointment that other such teams in American professional sports leagues have suffered. One third of the season has all but trickled down the drain and Salt Lake City's embattled soccer team is oblivious to how victory feels. But something begs to differ with the notion that this team will continue to look up to the rest of the league. RSL weathered a rough start to the season in 2006 and still just missed the playoffs. Even though this year's commencement has been even less friendly, coach Jason Kreis' squad has tangible hope. Freddy Adu fights for the ball earlier this season against FC Dallas at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Real Salt "First and foremost was that we Lake takes on the Chinese National Team tonight in an international friendly, which is also Its first played against a New England team game at home in more than a month. that seems to be able to score goals at will," Kreis said after Saturday's powerhouse that RSL goalkeeper tie is a plus for Salt Lake, for sure," match in Foxborough, Mass. "So to Nick Romando denied time after Rimando said, pick up another shutout on the road time, tying a franchise record with RSL will enjoy the'confines of is big-time for my team." 13 saves on Saturday. Rice-Eccles Stadium for the first New England is an offensive "We keep getting better, so the time in more than a month Thurs- day in a friendly with the China National Team. This gives the team a chance to forget about the MLS and just play soccer. The match serves as a priceless opportunity to experiment new strategies against a skilled opponent. All practice will be welcomed before RSL invites FC Dallas to Salt Lake City on June 14. FC Dallas took care of RSL 2-1 in Dallas on May 20 and will look to repeat the result. But Real Salt Lake has some new faces since the teams' last meeting. A win is not just about getting points to climb in the MLS standings this season. A win removes the proverbial monkey from RSL's back. Before you know it, they could be relinquishing their guard post of the MLS's bottom rung. Such a feat would bode well for a club flirting with disaster—the type of disaster that could haunt Utah soccer fans for years to come. The international match kicks off at 7 p.m. tonight at Rice-Eccles Sta^dium. j.gilbert@ chronicle.utah.edu And for some reason, I have a creeping suspicion that Bonds' breaking the record will ultimately lead to the deterioration of our society as a whole. Rewarding cheaters with trophies and statues doesn't seem like it sets a very good example for the kids (I love using that). I can just see it now. Adidas will come out with a new slogan in 2010. It will change from "Impossible is Nothing" to "Cheating is Everything." This will likely be followed by a slew of Little Leaguer violence cases where kids on 'roid rages take off their hockey skates and try to stab people with them. In hoops, the kids will be punching each other in the gonads. Anything it takes to get that W. Parents will be shooting their kids up with the latest anabolic before they're out of diapers. Eventually, doctors will figure out a way to make babies lift weights in the womb. By then, professional athletes will basically be machines and Selig and his compadres will have no choice but to discard their steroid policy. I'm depressing myself. There has got to be a way to stop Bonds from breaking the record. God struck him down with a bum knee, but somehow the steroids proved to be a bit stronger. What can mere men do to stop a chemically made cyborg from ruining the Earth? I would suggest infiltrating his secret lair and poisoning the water or oxygen system, but he doesn't function on those elements so it would do no good. I really wish we could just put him on a giant guilt trip, telling him that he's ruining America's game and sending society into a downward spiral. That wouldn't work, though, because as I said before, soulless and godless folks like Bonds feel no remorse. They don't feel at all. They just ruin. I think the best possible solution to our problem would be to find the man or woman responsible for providing Bonds with the juice and simply cut off the supply. With no steroids, Bonds would shrink back to the skeleton he was in the late '80s, when he averaged a lukewarm 20 homers per year. If that doesn't work, we could just try stalling the home run chase as long as we can and hope he gets diagnosed with testicular cancer (you know it's going to happen eventually) and therefore has to retire. Realistically, though, there is no way to stop Bonds from capturing that record short of murder and it's driving me crazy. Hank Aaron and the rest of the league will probably do the classy thing and congratulate Bonds, but I really wish they wouldn't. I wish they would let the moment come and go as if nothing had happened. Maybe then our society would still stand a chance. c.brunner@ chronicle.utah.edu I |