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Show C Thursday, March 1,2007 DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 10 There's no crying in basketball In fact, it's high time to get rid of it across the board s per custom, the numbskulls controlling the music at Saturday's basketball game against New Mexico insisted on playing "Welcome to the Jungle" to start the second half. A more appropriate number, however, would have been Big Joe Turner's "Flip, Flop and Fly." In addition to being a catchy tune, Turner's signature song would have made a perfect soundtrack for a game that saw more dives than a country club swim meet. Indeed, the Lobos must have come out of the locker room determined to fall on the ground as many times as humanly possible. Every time one of the Utes gave so much as a disapproving look, the victimized New Mexican went flying to the floor, his body limp and his face twisted in what appeared to be pure agony. As ridiculous as the flippers, floppers and fliers A looked, their ploy worked about as often as it didn't. The QUINN r e fe r e e s , who after all are only human, sent the Lobos to the line for about 50 percent of the phantom fouls, much to the dismay of the three or four fans who showed up to watch the game. In my professional opinion, with the possible exceptions of taking steroids and/or playing for the Carolina Panthers, taking a dive is the most despicable thing an athlete can do. When a player flops in a game situation, he or she is essentially telling the world that the referee ought to decide the outcome of the contest. Diving isn't quite as bad as using Stick 'Em or incapacitating an opponent a la Tonya Harding, but it is cheating nonetheless. The aspect of flopping that makes it more irksome than other forms of cheating is its undeniable ubiquity. Like Mormons at a bimonthly wedding expo, diving is everywhere. The world's best (or worst) divers are soccer players. Anyone who watched more than a few minutes of last summer's World Cup would definitely agree that the players spent more time on the ground than most English spectators spent in bars. Thanks to the soccer community's unshakable commitment to faking fouls, "dive" has joined "choke" and "f*** you" as the only terms that have their very own universal symbols. While most dives on the soccer field are harmless, some can seriously affect a team's fortunes. Most Real Salt Lake fans, for example, still haven't forgotten the time when Eddie Pope received a red card for a phantom foul on Eddie Johnson. Although Johnson later admitted the tackle was clean, Pope still had to sit out the rest of that game and all of the next. Recently, diving even worked its way into the most contact-oriented of all sports: football. While kickers and punters have been faking inju*ries for years, the sport hit a new low last October when the Panthers' Keyshawn Johnson drew a 15-yard penalty by throwing himself out of bounds and crying like a little girl. Has the entire world gone mad? Back in the day, sportsmen (and women) were supposed to push through the pain, to get going when the going got tough. These days, athletes are more concerned with faking pain so they don't have to get going at all. t.quinn@ chronicle.utah.edu BYU SQUEAKS PAST UTE WOMEN IN PROVO Wbipple said: Nothing was falling the Utes way. "You gotta make plays at the end," Elliott said. Aside from the pair of devastating offensive dry spells, Utah lost the game on the offensive boards. BYU pulled down 14 offensive rebounds while Utah grabbed just five, which led to the Cougars outscor- ing the Utes 19-2 on second chance points. While Utah held Cougar Mallary Gillespie to four points in the teams' first meeting, the Utes couldn't contain the three-time MWC Player of the Week, as she led all scorers with 15Utah's Morgan Warburton was held to 12 points and Marie Warner added continued from Page 9 It's not that the Utes weren't getting good looks at the basket. It*s just, as 10. Utah will challenge Wyoming at home on Saturday before heading to Las Vegas for the MWC tournament next week. Saturday will be Senior Night for Carlsen and Shauna Murphy. n.dicou@ chronicle.utah.edu Check out The Chronicle online! www.doilyutahchronlcle.com C & P 6 6 P li meed Have a bone to pick? RIZZO FINDS UNIQUE ROLE WITH RED ROCKS continued from Page 9 through my four years of college getting better. There's no better place than here." Coming to Utah gave Rizzo the chance to compete side-by-side with gymnasts she had grown up trying to emulate. "It's these people that I dreamed (of) being as good as," Rizzo said. "Coming in with people like Ashley (Postell), my coach back home told me to work beam like Ashley. I looked up to her. Nina Kim's name was in all the gymnastics magazines when I was, like, 12 years old." Being around such talented gymnasts did not benefit Rizzo at first. In fact, it probably hurt her at first. "Last year, it was really hard for her—it seems more than this year," Jessica Duke said. "It seemed like she put herself below everyone." Injuries also had a lot to do with Rizzo's confidence problems. She came to the team with shoulder problems, and it seemed like every time she was in a position to put her troubles behind her, a new challenge would emerge. "I struggled a lot. Injury was rough," Rizzo said. "I got stress fractures in my leg, and it was just one battle after another." In Rizzo's freshman year, her confidence and the validation of her place on the team came during nationals, and it wasn't because she finally got the chance to participate. "At nationals, when we got our trophy, our student coach (Annabeth Eberle) came up to me, pulled me aside and told me that that trophy was just as much mine as it was everyone else's," Rizzo said. "The fact that I came in every day and put heart into my practices and kept working hard kind of pushed everyone else, and she said, 'You deserve it just as much as everyone else."' This year, things have been going better for the redshirt freshman. She has been basically injury-free, and she even got the chance Send letters to the editor! GILLESPIE STEPS UP FOR COUGARS continued frqtn Page 9 WE OFFER GREAT PAY & BENEFITS Technical Customer Service Representatives to compete for the first time on floor in the Utes' quadmeet against Arkansas, BYU and Southern Utah on Feb. 2, where she scored a 9.675 in her debut. Since then, she has gone on to compete on floor in every meet, turning in a very respectable 9.8 last week against Michigan and a career-high 9.875 against Utah State earlier in the year. "I'm the kind of person that believes you struggle for a reason, and whether it was part of my gymnastics or not, it made me a stronger person," Rizzo said. Besides establishing her role as leadoff gymnast on floor, Rizzo has made a name for herself outside of the gym as well, especially with her teammates Kim, Duke and Kristina Baskett—who double as Rizzo's roommates. "I love making Italian food. I cook for them all the time. I absolutely love it," Rizzo said. "All the time, I'll be in the shower and hear, 'Beth, when you get out, will you make me this?' Nina's like, 'I would not eat normal food if you did not cook for me."' The only problem with cooking—especially Italian food—is that it's not always the best thing for a gymnast to be eating. That's why she likes to go to her friends' house to cook. The "compliments to the chef" don't exactly hurt her self-confidence, either. "I make them fettuccini alfredo and chicken parmigian and all these really fatty foods," Rizzo said. "I love to get the people that eat it (to be) like, 'Oh that's so good. Yours is better than Olive Garden's.'" Besides perfecting her culinary skills, Rizzo seems to have perfected her understanding of her important role on the team. She might not be helping her team win meets in the all-around, but she has definitely found her place. "I'm here so people like Annie (DiLuzio) can get her upgrades in and Queenie (Nicolle Ford) can try putting her double layout in, because we can risk having a lower score because (Marsden) has my score to fall back on," Rizzo said. "If that's what my role is, it's an important one, and I'm OK with that." t.pizza@ chronicle.utah.edu GelinAbacL Comer&s, the global leader in customer care, human resources and billing services, is seeking dynamic Customer Service Support Technicians to assist with incoming calls for a Leading Computer Networking company. In this position, you'd enjoy answering a variety of technical questions and assist customers with network designs. The ideal candidate must effectively meet the customer's needs and concerns using conceptual thinking sksHs, provide first contact resolution and educate the customer as needed. verge of doing some serious damage until Gillespie— with Carlsen's hand in her face—hit a shot that would have been a three-pointer by NBA standards. "She's been scoring a lot more against everyone over the last month or so," Elliot said. "I think it was her play, more than our defense, that made the difference in tonight's game versus our game a month ago." On the bright side, the Utes' combination of Jessica Perry and Joh-Teena Filipe did a much better job containing BYU's Dani Wright than they did the last time the two teams met. Wright, who burned the Utes for. 21 points in January, was held to n in 30 minutes of play. Unfortunately for the Utah faithful, Gillespie more than made up for the Utes' outstanding defense in the paint. Should the two teams meet again in next week's MWC Tournament, the Utes may have to try a different strategy. t.quinn@ chronicle.utah.edu Requirements • Basic Network Understanding Needed; Network Design a Plus (Training Provided) • Good Listening and Responding Skills; Solid Problem Solving Skills Benefits • • • • $12.00 Per Hour or More (Depending on Call Center Experience) Bilingual English/Spanish Differential Available Immediate Tuition Reimbursement Program Assistance with CCNA Certifications & Test Materials (CCNA Lab On-Stte) • Medeal/Dental/Vision Insurance L Brooks WaMns Welcome! Cafl or apply onfine today! 7 1 5 - 8 0 0 0 , exL' GSM43FB7 Media Code: GSM Job Code: GFB7 CONVERGYS ••••• Outthinking Outdoing JEWELERS FASHION PLAZA 152 East Winchester, Murray (801)2664747 THE GATEWAY 157 S. Rio Grande, Salt Lake City (801)4564747 TYLER COBB/ The Daily Utah Chronicle M£MKK AMEOCAH GEM SOCIETY Brette Ulsaker goes up for a shot in last night's 59-55 loss to BYU in Provo. |