Show -- 1 S11- ZbtattakeZribunt 1:' APRIL 17 2001 t D I t - ( 1) ) ti- '" ttY It Prep Sports : Weather D7 r) 2004 West's Pete Babas D9 Business el goir: ) 5 ---- 4:' 1 10 It D4-D- Pre w -s- I wwwsttribconi REST MOVES INTO FIRST PLACE — 1 VI ki144'k r "- -- I Fratil trial I D9 41 ---- - HAS E BMA STICS ClIAMPIONSIII S NCAA GYM Wakefield atones for foul fall I If ' 1 0 if 't sae( eels GORDON MONSON Jazz likely unwilling to DA FORMER OWEST EXECS ACQUITTED I ' Baseball t Payback: Pitcher who yielded AL homer baffles and company this time CS-winni- ng - r A-R- pay pricey Tag BY - not even the man ' for sure where Greg will be playing basketball next season and that makes every- Nobody thing you're about to read speculation as far as you know but chances are it won't be with the Jazz Believe me unofficially he's a goner unless he's not With 'Tag what seems to be a sure thing sometimes isn't And there's no good explanation for what went haywire He's never been able to clearly justify himself in that regard in any regard If you had five bucks for every time over the past nine seasons you thought Ostertag had turned the corner as a player and then he suddenly slammed it into reverse headed full speed into aggressive regression you might have been able to pay him his $8E5 million salary this year and had plenty to spare The Jazz locked themselves into an r deal with infamously lucrative center on po'Tag paying the tential and what they got instead was an enigma They got a boy in a big man's body Not even Ostertag could ever figure himself out Ask him pointblank questions about why and how he had enough talent to score 12 points haul 14 boards and block four shots one night and the next lay goose eggs straight across his line in the box score and his solitary response consisted of a befuddled incredulous shrug "I wish I knew" he once told me "I really wish I knew" We all psychoanalyzed him And got a headache in return The process darn near blew a gasket in Jerry Sloan's brain The coach a good reader of people to begin with consulted sports psychologists on how to motivate the big man and all he received for the effort was undulating play and exasperation Dizzy Dean once said of himself: "The doctors my head and found nothing" Dizzy had a soul mate in Ostertag Not that Greg is dumb He's just dumbfounded I once asked him what he would do if he had a day off His response didn't surprise me He said he would sit at the foot of a tall tree out in the country and watch the leaves spin down to the ground and the white puffy clouds blow 04 'T"IIt tc game-endin- It 4 4 0 '' 7 o N A - 'k 6-- - t t r I ( ' f ‘ '- -' Nt e 444 1 11 It "N '''' 1 1 How many centers in the NBA would come up with that kind of response? That's only an indirect reason Oster-ta- g will not be back with the Jazz Or will he? The direct reason is the warble in his play On account of that he's packing his 4 ? (1(1 I 1 ‘ i ' t l r i r 4 f 4 I: 1 :0 so 1 4 '' $ ' 'I a:''''u0Nixt' Rodriguez the AL home run champion went against Wakefield lined out in eighth against Scott Williamson and (I idn't hit the ball out of the infield r NI See RED SOX 1)6 ISON11w&th I g ! Utes stumble in championship rotation VVit L 1 0 BY DICK ROSETTA Speeid to the Tribune LOS ANGELES — Utah had to wait until the final competitor Thursday night to learn it had advanced to the NCAA Super Six nationals There were no such time constraints Friday night The Ute gymnasts knew their fate after three individuals had gone on bars Two fell off Game set and elimination from the 2004 title chase During the same stretch the wheels came off for the Utes UCLA put up a spectacular 49525 score on floor The Bruins went on to win their second straight national title and fifth in the last eight years And they'll remember this one at Pau ley for a long time The Bruins' winning total Of 198125 set an record for the NCCA meet eclipsing Alabama's 198025 winning score at Tuscaloosa in 1996 There was no joy for Utah except if you count senior Melissa Viturs philosophical assessment: "Finishing sixth is better than finishing 5Gth" This meet was almost a carbon copy of the 2003 national meet when the Utes had to count a fall on the uneven bars at Lincoln en route to a sixth-placfinish Even on Thursday n ight they had to make a magnificent rally from an early bars beginning to even advance another round "We blew it on bars" said a disconsolate the coach Greg Marsden I "It's hard to rekindle that fire when you're out of it like we were so soon We just never got it rolling" Road - A 1 1 1 t e A de t " t I CI A RITA KM: PAMit einmirland Prrin New York's Alex Rodriguez walks fpre-meet- to the dugout after striking out against Boston's Tim Wakefield Rodriguez went In his Boston debut with the Yankees See WES 1)3 WRESTLING Offense not evoking any confidence to Athens: Justin Ruiz needs to beat one more foe to reach the Olympics BY JANET RAE BROOKS Me Soh Lake Tribunt game: Defenders dominate the team's fimd spring practice session Blue-Whi- A n decrease his market value driving his price down for a new contract as of July 1 Now he's looking for greener pastures — perhaps in Dallas where Oster-taowns a ranch and where Shawn Bradley has been a bigger bust than 'Tag in Utah Maybe that's good news Maybe it's bad But it's definitely some kind of news when the only remaining playing link to the Finals years is on the verge of becoming short of a drastic reversal officially part of LJazz history Trshmu 041 Grappling with success lion Next thing Ostertag and Sloan started as the coach liked to say "getting sideways" with one another and the center was relegated more and more to the bench garnering less and less playing time Ostertag saw that move as a ploy by Sloan and Jazz management to sire Utah's Veronique Leclerc falls coming off the bars as the Utes struggled through the finals 4 erally upbeat about his performance from the latter part of the year before With John Stockton and Karl Malone gone he thought he would be given a role as a leader that he would be allowed to play through the swoons in his game and prove his worth then with the Jazz for four years at $20 mil- who would have Manny Ramirez It REN start of the 2003-0- season Ostertag planned on returning to the Jazz when his contract expired He was gen- i there" tion a direction that heads straight out Stockton-to-Malon- t out-ove- bags All indicators point in that direcof town At the -- t I 1 six-yea- by IOSTON This time Tim Wakefield walked off a winner against the New York Yankees Six months alter he gave up Aaron Boone's homer that thrilled RED SOX 6 Yankee Stadium fans Z YANKEES $md gave New York a will in Game 7 of the AL championship series he pitchNI seven strong innings as Boston won Friday night The Red Sox knuckleballer shut down the star who took Boone's place at third base Alex Rodriguez who went Ofor-- in the stadium that nearly was his home "It really meant a lot" to hear the fans cheer Wakefield said "They've really opened their arms and embraced me like a second son" Ile got a loud ovation before the home opener and is content that his reputation will not be tarnished by one bad pitch in r an ALCS in which he made two starts standing it he "It hasn't been hard" to get said "Baseball's my life but it isn't the end of' I ife" Rodriguez was the one who was disappointed after the latest meeting between the fierce rivals "It was a bit of a letdown" said Hod-- I riguez who nearly was traded to Boston in December "It was very intense out tt440' 0 I lOWARD ULMAN litekaorillityl Prra Wrestler Justin Ruiz has TAYLORSVILLE defeat before he makes the but his parents have bought their plane tickets to Athens anyway "The pressure is on" said Ruiz with a laugh sitting in the living room of his family's Taylorsville home where most of the display space is crammed with trophies and awards won by Ruiz and his two athletic brothers Last weekend Ruiz 24 took a major step toward booking his own trip to Athens by winning his weight class at the US National Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas beating Olympic bronze medalist Garrett Lowney in the final That victory earned Ruiz a bye into the final of the US Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis next month While his Greco-Romachallengers in the class fight it out in a for the right to take him on Ruiz will be resting and watching The winner of the final a series gets a ticket to Athens Ruiz Is spending time with family and friends in — Sec RUIZ 1)7 te BY KURT noe KRAGTHORIT hike Tninnit LOGAN — Questions about the Utah State offense's ability to put points on the scoreboard were answered Friday night It's just a lot of those points were scored by the other guys The Blue squad - con- sisting mainly of first-teaplayers — posted a 34-- vic- tory over the White in the fi- - Defense rules Three of the Blue nal session of spring football touchdowns at Romney Stadium Of those squad's six touchdowns three came came off interceptions The defenses were via interception returns s credited with a "We don't Just throw we throw 'em for bined II sacks touchdowns" observed coach NI ick Dennehy Starting quarterback Travis Cox delivered one See AGGIES 1)2 ' 1 1 - 10 e- ItAM () k101A1 IllinteStth lisk 1 Ilininf Justin Ruiz bottom gives a lesson to Northridge High wrestlers during his break from training with the help of Ryan Kirk Ruiz could earn a trip to the Olympics next month 1 A EINEM A0e0SOk I --- 4Adifk4004W00000LaIMA-Aa20101dkidmaftdmumaL1madia0- - - I |