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Show WWW.NETXNEWS.NET MONDAY • SEPTEMBER 11 • 2006 Cards and all RSL ill in fifth place Ben Webster and Whitney Woodward Webster's Wisdom Ben Webster Gaining strength Life is full of challenges, obstacles, obstructions, and hardships and it seems at times that there is always someone or something trying to knock you off your path along the road of life. It doesn't matter if we are a popular college football player, a small town high school pitcher or a student studying Astronomy we all have problems. I was recently reading about the challenges of Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith in Sports Illustrated. Smith's single mother raised him until he was nine when his little league football coach took him in. Smith went through problem after problem while growing up and continued to have issues in college. In 2004 Smith was suspended for Ohio State's season opener for taking $500 from a booster. That seems like a minor challenge but Smith overcame a troubled childhood, coaches wanting him to play another position and his short fuse to become, going into this season, the top dual-threat quarterback in the country on the number one team in the country. The story of Smith is a familiar one, not only in the sporting world but in real life as well. Problems happen to all of us and they make great stories. Obstacles are a massive part of each of us becoming who we are and how we deal with them molds us into a masterpiece or a piece of something else. The challenges that we face may come at the starting line in life or they may come when we are driving in cruise control on the final stretch. The reason we have problems is rarely important. What makes us who we are is how we deal with whatever mud life throws in our face. Sports is often said to be a reflection of life. Most athletes must find a way to overcome some issue in their life to be able to perform on the playing field and successful people must be up to task when setbacks arise. It takes qualities like determination, persistence and hard work to stay committed to playing sports and to staying on course in life. There is a quartet of quarterbacks trying to overcome serious injuries in the NFL right now. Carson Palmer, Daunte Culpepper, Drew Brees, and Ben Roethlisberger are all being carefully watched to see how they do after sustaining serious injuries over the last year. Thus far they all seem to be ahead of where they were expected to be. It says a lot about a person who does the unexpected. Setbacks will happen but what we do with them can be life changing. Our sports society is one that demands results. It's either overcome or get out of the game. Life can be the same. Are we going to step up and go beyond expectations or are we going to shoot for what everyone expects? There is no question that some folks have to endure lifelong struggles due to conditions beyond their control. Those struggles are the oneswe should look at for inspiration. No matter what Charles Barkley said though athletes have become heroes. SEE STRENGTH-B7 Whitney Woodward/NetXNews The six-game winless streak Real Salt Lake endured during the beginning of the season and again in June put Real Salt Lake into the bottom of the standings but they had life during a recent five-game unbeaten streak and recently played two of the franchise's most important games against L.A. and Colorado, both teams in the playoff hunt along with RSL. With the top four teams getting playoff spots Real needed wins in both games to stay in the top four but lost to Colorado 1-0 after beating L.A. 1-0 during a big week for the club. Heading into the match against the Galaxy, Real was tied for the fifth spot in the west with 29 points and both L.A. and RSL trailed Colorado by three points for the final playoff spot. "We had to look at L.A. first and take care of business and then worry about Colorado," Coach John Ellinger said. In the first of two crucial home games Real bounced back from a 6-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls to down the Galaxy on Jeff Cunningham's 15 goal of the season. "It was an ugly loss against New York, but I still believe in the guys," Coach Ellinger said. "We've made a lot of strong gains this year, like coming together as a team and finishing our chances." In the 60th minute Cunningham took a pass from Chris Klein in the left side of the box and whipped around a L.A. defender towards the backline. Cunningham fired a low line drive shot to the goal. Galaxy goal keeper Kevin Hartman had been stellar all game until he let Cunningham's shot go right through his legs and into goal. "Hartman made some great saves on some good shots from us but you have to shoot and good things will happen," Ellinger said. Hartman stopped several other shots on goal by Real including a penalty kick in extra time by mid-fielder Andy Williams. Williams had four of the five shots on goal for RSL in the game. "He (Williams) is oneof several guys who raised their level over the last six weeks. It is why we have a chance to make the playoffs," Ellinger said. RSL captain Jason Kreis missed the Colorado game because he went down after L.A. forward Alan Gordon fouled him. Kreis clutched his left knee and lay on the ground for a few minutes but continued to play. "Jason does a lot for us as our captain on the field. So no question when we don't have him on the field, it hurts," said coach Ellinger. 1 pulled him because I didn't want to take a chance." After the win against the Galaxy, RSL was tied with Colorado for the final playoff spot with 32 points setting up a very important game between the two clubs. However, for the second time in just as many years. Real Salt Lake let the Colorado Rapids walk off the pitch at Rice-Eccles stadium with the Rocky Mountain Cup, in a crushing 1-0 loss. The turning point in the game came in the 48th minute when Colorado defender Dan Gargan sent a perfectly timed pass into the box which Rapids leading scorer, Nicolas Hernandez, headed past RSL goalkeeper Scott Garlick for the games only score. RSL's Mehdi Ballouchy was on the ground, and the RSL defense hesitated waiting for Colorado to follow the unwritten by kicking the ball out of play. "I think some of our players did stop, thinking Colorado would just knock the ball out of bounds. All I can say is that we were naive to think that's what was going to happen. We still have to play," Coach Ellinger said. Seven yellow cards and a quarter dozen shoving matches made this a very exciting contest, but in the end Colorado moved into third place in the western standings with 35 points, while RSL dropped and is now tied with L.A. with 32 points. The first half of play Colorado had five great shots, and got even more good looks on goal, but didn't convert any of the opportunities into a goal. RSL Never really looked to have things under control in the first half of play, only managing to come up with one shot on goal. Things heated up between the two rival teams as the second half began to trickle away, along with the hopes that RSL might get another scoring chance. Several small skirmishes broke out between the two teams, which involved pushing and shoving, throughout the second half. RSL's Garlick started the second half yellow card frenzy at the 50th minute for a game dispute. RSL captain Eddie Pope was shown another yellow card in the 70th minute, while Colorado players accountedfortheotherfive cards in the half. In the 76th minute it looked as though RSL had the game notched at 1-1 with a goal by Pope on a cross from Chris Klein. Head referee Abbey Okulaja waved the potentially game tying goal off ruling that Klein had stepped out of bounds before making the pass. The 17,434 fans on hand let the referee know exactly what they thought of his call as the entire stadium erupted with boos. Head Referee Okulaja awarded 7 minutes of stoppage time play, but it didn't help RSL as Colorado continued to play very tight. Coach Ellinger summed up the game saying, "I don't think we deserved to win, but on the other hand I don't think we deserved to lose." Though RSL lost this game, the playoffs are not completely out of reach for a team who when playing their best are hard to beat. The new network for Mountain West Conf rence sports has some problems Jason Adkins Sports Writer Mountain West Conference football fans with DirecTV or Dish Network will have a tough time catching their favorite teams in action if a deal is not reached with the new network the mtn. The mtn. will show seven BYU football games and seven Utah games this season, with CSTV airing two Cougar games and the Utes having three games aired. The Mountain West Conference decided to sign with the up-start network CSTV for an $82 million, seven-year deal that began this fall. Part of the agreement was to launch a sister network to solely air Mountain West Conference sports, the mtn., to televise at least 25 football games and 75 basketball games, in addition to the games shown on CSTV. There are some benefits to the new deal that will be the first station committed to airing sports of just one conference. One of which is the potential of increased exposure for a conference that is not considered to be in the same league as the likes of the BCS conferences such as the Pac10, Big Ten, and the SEC. Former television deals with ESPN have forced teams from the Mountain West to play games on days of the week other than Saturday and have early or late kickoffs. A positive with the new network is that football games will kickoff at more traditional times of the day, meaning more Saturday afternoon kickoffs. One drawback is that The mtn. has only officially reached a distribution agreement with Comcast and several small providers in Utah County. This is mainly due to Comcast acquiring 50 percent ownership in the new network. Comcast will also operate the channel as well. "Discussions with DirecTV and Dish Network are ongoing," according to Javon HedIund, Mountain West Conference Deputy Commissioner for Communications. Comcast viewers will have no problem tuning into the games, as The mtn. will be available on expanded basic cable. This means if you get ESPN, you will have The mtn. also. To receive CSTV on Comcast, you will have to shell out some more cash to upgrade to the digital cable package. Smaller cable providers in Utah County that have signed distribution agreements for the mtn. include MSTAR, Spanish Fork Community Network, and Veracity. Fans that get their TV through these companies should check with them to see what package they SeeMWC.B7 |