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Show WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER SPORTS 29. 2004 lineman Rebels defensive Jain ig - Ah-You- 's touch-iow- n 68-ya- off a fumble recovery asn't just highlight reel-orthIt probably saved he game. also preserved a per-5c- t record for Dixie State Eollege, as the Rebels (2-Western States Football a?ague, 0 overall) staved iff Scottsdale, Ariz., at Hansen Stadium on It 0 ie In- - as 4-- 27-1- 0 Saturday. The Artichokes had the on DSC's d line, attempting to mount a comeback. nd Fhey could have bridged the gap if they had sand-nichea touchdown and held goal with a recovered u in side kick, but bund himself in the right tct ilace at the right time. sail ourth-quart- d Ah-Yo- d Pono Havea sacked scottsdale quarterback' jexter Hill and sent the ball n e scooped it up Ah-Yo- u oiling. darted to paydirt with than one minute emaining in the game to ce the win for the No. ind ess Rebels. it The Rebels came out rolling early on, with Danny Southwick making good on myriad short passes and -- J.T. Diedrichs romping for two touchdowns en route to a rushing exhibition. Diedrichs scored from the line to cap a drive before reaching the end zone from 10 yards out early in the second quarter. The Artichokes' offense found a few seams in DSC's defense, but the Rebels stiffened several times in the red zone. Hill turned a near rollout sack into a romp before handing off to Mario Crumble for a d score. g A potentially play turned out OK for DSC in the fourth quarter, as a Scottsdale penalty nullified a safety that would have made it 2 DSC and given the Artichokes the ball. Rebels tight end Walter Nickle led DSC's receiving corps with four catches for nearly 50 yards, including two particularly acrobatic 96-yar-d d d tide-turnin- 20-1- grabs. DSC edged Scottsdale with 275 total yards to the Artichokes' 224. TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE - He once leaped rims in a single bound. He stole minds, games and hearts with such regularity that "NBA parity" became an oxymoron. Six league championships. Virtually unparalleled status as the greatest to have ever played hoops. And still, the world just can't seem to get enough of Michael Jordan. Sadly, it's easy to see why. We don't know whether champions are created or developed. All we know is that, whenever they arrive, we hope they won't leave us until someone else arrives in their place. It's 2004, and we re still waiting. So that should explain all the hoopla concerning the latest supposed return of His Airness. Contrary to what many desire, Michael Jordan is not returning to the NBA, something that was known long before he told ESPN on Thursday. He isn't coming back to play for Pat Riley, the Miami Heat or anyone else in the sport he dominated for a decade. "I'm not going near another workout," Jordan told Michael Wilbon, just minutes before Wilbon and I cohosted Pardon the Interruption" weeks ago. "Every time I go near a court, somebody throws out that rumor. I don't get it. I'm done. I'm staying on the golf course." Jordan may be telling the truth. After all, he's about to head off to an island vacation, which is something he never did right before training camp during his illustrious career. But, evidently, he doesn't have a clue about what is going on or the reasons for the public's fascination with him these days. The NBA, despite its adroit marketing skills, can only do so much. Especially when it has so little to work with. Kobe Bryant has three championships. So does Shaquille O'Neal. LeBron James has superstar written all over him, and Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan are nothing to sneeze at, either. The fact is, though, despite their stellar resumes and individual greatness, none of them possesses the package Jordan presented for years. Bryant is obviously the closest, but his once-pris-tin- e image was definitely hurt by the sexual assault charges he faced, even though the charges were dropped. The tumultuous to the relationship that ledfoot-1, departure of the 7 O'Neal will always be a part of his legacy, despite his efforts to the 350-poun- d contrary. Garnett doesn't have a title yet. Neither does Jason Kidd. James might not capture one for another decade in Cleveland he elects to stay assuming there - and Duncan, as great as he is, is just too boring and lacking in charisma for anyone out-- side of San Antonio to care. Boring - when has that stigma ever been attached to Jordan? Before he was winning titles, he was winning slam-duncontests and leading the league in scoring Right around the time he was en route to capturing his first championship, he was garattention for making nering NBA defensive first the all team. Somehow, you get the feeling he would not have alienated O'Neal and coach Phil Jackson or quietly orchestrated their departure so he could have Hollywood to himself Still wondering why we can't stop wishing for his return? Shame on you who choose to wonder at all. m pus le is All the rest... Weekly Notebook Either the hits are getting harder or the play era are getting more fragile In any case, a slew of big names have gone down with iniuries m the first three weeks of Ni l. action: Priest I lolnies, Rich Gannon, Stephen Davis and Hex Grossman, just to name a few The biggest injury 1o a Rebel in Saturdays game vs. Scottsdale was coach C reg a i 34 tdt a- oe Croshaws. Early in the first half, a host of players went barrelling out of bounds in pursuit of a ball carrier-an- d right into Cro's leg. Speculation suggests an ACL tear. Whatever it was. it pul the 23rd year coach on crutches. Box score from action: Saturdays Scottsdale Dixie Slate 0 7 3 0-7 10 3 7 sr he linf k. qu a es- y - 27 DS 4 Dh-- i lenchs (C'a rn obeli SCC 10 kick) Crumble 3 run run Santa Cruz kick) DS Campbell 27 EG SCC DS Santa Cruz WSFL football returns to Hansen Stadium this week as DSC hosts Arizona Western College. 10 run Diederichs (Campbell kick) DS 25 FG Campbell 20 68 fumble return (Campbell kick) r G 9 MJ not planning to come back comes up big for DSC vs. Scottsdale CC D-line- man BY BRAD PLOTHOW Dixie Sun Sports Editor DIXIE SUN October 2004 Going for 200: 23rd-yea- r DSC football coach Greg Croshaw goes for his 200th career win vs Arizona WesLern at Hansen Stadium on Saturday. He'll have at least two things on his side: home field and history The Rebels blanked AZW 34-- on the road last season. In their first home game of the season, the Rebels volleyball team will take on College of Eastern Utah at 3 p.m. at the Old Gym on Saturday DSC downed the di no lanon the ders from Price road last season. 3-- The dynamo that is Rebels soccer travels to take on Lewis & Clark on Friday before moving on to Monroe. If the trend persists, the No. l ranked Rebels will return 11-- To paraphrase ESPN: Anyone noticing that (he Utes are averaging 40 points per game'Utah inailuined its 14th rank nationaly by run ning up 35 straight points vs. a scrappy Air Force squad last weekend BYU keeps finding ways to lose, falling to Boise Slate after a missed FG by Malt Payne. Payne missed a kick? Hes the Gongs most consistent offensive weapon. - Brad Plot how |