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Show WWW.NEtXNEWS.NET MONDAY • AUGUST 21 • 2006 Bll fa M i l i ! ti i I I I Tough competition Willis Forko tries to defend Madrid's Cicinho during the recent Xango Cup at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Webster's Wisdom Ben Webster Football's back right when baseball gets exciting |^ , . j : .; ;; : •• : •• [ : . :• • j •; rj '{ ; t ::: I 3 'i i ,-j ^ i ^ ^ •5 ] This time of the year is one of the £ ; best times of the year and it definitely . ^ isn't because students are back in ;: .• class for the fall semester, it is b e - g| cause the football and baseball sea- £ • sons collide. '£. Football has overtaken baseball as •:} America's favorite sport but for the .•;> next two months or so, sports fans, we ££ can enjoy the best of both worlds. ;•;> The beginning of the N F L and y college football season is anticipat- ^ ed by sports fans as much as Santa ;:;; Claus is anticipated by little munch- t'-l kins. What's good for sports fans is that football season lasts five months. Could you" imagine five months of Christmas? We wouldn't want it to come back. We had the World Cup to display the beautiful game but football is America's beautiful game and ;> we aren't going to get sick of it. ;*:. We love football so much that :.;' the N F L has their own network with 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ;(.j 365 days a year of N F L analysis, •;• highlights, classic games, and more. : American sports fans salivate over just preseason N F L action. Even if the preseason is two or more games too long we watch. Not only do we get football but the best of baseball is here as well. Right ; when football is starting MLB pennant and wild card races are heating up. ^ With 162 games a year the dog 'ydays of summer coincide with the dog • days of baseball. Even though every '. game counts the season is long and : it's summer time. We don't spend as ; : much time on our sofa and we don't \$. care as much during the first half of '$ the MLB season. \$ We start seeing and hearing about ^ how close the races are right after the >/i all-star break. The teams still have 80 £;j or more games to play. It is still any- $ bodies race to win. Even in August \.:\ the Detroit Tigers can be up by 10 J ' • ! games on the Chicago White Sox and yj lose the A L Central. Detroit was up K] 10 two weeks ago and now are only \\ 5.5 up. • : T h e Yankees and Red Sox are fun : • to watch anytime of the year but it is y-.} even more exciting when it is in late !;..• September and both are chasing the |;i Wild Card or the division. $ Detroit came out of nowhere to fej lead their division now is the time we ' : i see if they can hang on. ; ; Baseball gets exciting this time of f;j year even for fans on the fence. Real match brings world class competition and stadium deal Ben Webster tion Ruud Van Nistelrooy got the world-famous team on board first with a penhen Real Salt Lake owner alty kick in the last minute of the first David Checketts announced half. Madrid forward Cassano took a August 12 as the deadline to pass in the R S L box but before he could have a stadium deal done he knew his do anything with it R S L defender Wilteam would be facing Real Madrid but lis Forko slid in and was called for a he hoped R S L would do better than a 2questionable foul that allowed the goal. 0 loss and he hoped the deal for a stadiVan Nistelrooy put the penalty um in Salt Lake County would be done. kick left, easily past R S L goalie Scott One out of two isn't so bad conGarlick w h o dove right on the shot. sidering that Madrid is one the "I thought the first half we played best soccer clubs on the planet. fantastic even with whatever it was Checketts got the stadium deal and had that allowed Ruud to get his goal," a ceremonial ground breaking with interR S L manager John Ellinger said. national superstar David Beckham hours Garlick said, "It was too bad. I before the two teams played in front of a thought I did well. It was unforturecord crowd for a soccer match in Utah. nate to g o in at halftime down a goal." On the field Madrid's new acquisiChances were there for the home side Sports Editor W but they were unable to take advantage. Chris Klein fired a shot that bounced of Madrid goalie Iker Casillas and Jason Kreis was there for the rebound. Kreis shot while Casillas was out of position but a Madrid defender was in the right place at the right time to d e flect the shot and keep R S L scoreless. For most of the second half RSL played a man down. In the 59th minute substitute Atiba Harris went in for a hard tackle on Sergio Ramos and was quickly shown a red card by the ref. "The red card kinda put a damper on the whole evening, it being an exhibition. A yellow card and tell me to take him out I could have lived with that. I think it kinda pulled the plug," Ellinger said. " T h e fans and our guys weren't the same after that." Madrid took advantage and in the 65th minute Van Nistelrooy was able to connect with young Brazilian forward Robinho for Madrid's second goal minutes after M L S leading goal scorer Jeff Cunningham dribbled past Robinho and just missed a shot on the far post. Robinho took a near perfect pass on the right from Van Nistelrooy and managed to get away from defender Eddie Pope just enough to put a shot from the See REAL • B13 Owlz rally fourth straight time against Chukars Ben Webster Sports Editor The Orem Owlz clutch hitting helped them come from behind on manager Tom Kotchman's birthday for the fourth straight game against the Idaho Falls Chukars to get an 8-6 win and sweep the Chukars for the second straight series. The Owlz trailed 6-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning but rallied for four runs in the sixth and four more in the eighth to get the victory. "Every thing has gone right it starts with pitching but we didn't have that tonight," Kotchman said. "We did it with our hitting and you have to give them credit. They have worked hard with our pitching coach." With two Owlz runners on base and one out in the eighth Abel Nieves hit a routine ground ball to Chukars third baseman Marc Maddox. Maddox dropped the grounder that he easily could have turned into a double play and allowed the Owlz to load the bases. Owlz right fielder Luis Rivera knocked two runs in on a line drive double to the gap between center and right field tying the game at 6-6. "You can't keep getting those key hits. Guys might be strugglingbutwhenyougetahit at the right time you feel good about that," Kotchman said. The Chukars then intentionally walked RJ. Phillips only to see second baseman Tadd Brewer double to bring in the final two runs of the game. Orem Owlz starting pitcher Jeremy Haynes lasted just two and a third innings giving up three hits and three runs all in the first. "Even though our pitching wasn' t good early we still made some good defensive plays that kept us in it," Kotchman said. The Chukars looked to end an eight game losing streak to the Owlz by jumping See OWLZ-B12 Sports Briefs Softball Try-outs U V S C softball coach Todd Fairbourne has announced that he will hold tryout on August 24-25 at 2 p.m. on the U V S C softball field. Those interested should contact coach Fairboume at 801-319-4357 n o later than August 23. UVSC Women's Soccer The Women's Soccer team opened exhibition play against the University of Utah with a 3-1 loss. All the goals came in the first half with Utah getting a 2-0 lead in less than 15 minutes of action. Mallory Schott scored the lone goal for the Wolverines in the 21st minute. UVSC Wrestling Upgrades to the wrestling facility began August 18. T h e facility will have a video room, cardio room, sauna, office and reception area and locker room added. T h e facility is on 8th south and 12th west in Orem. UVSC Softball Former U V S C softball player Rachel Hartgrove was added as an assistant to the softball coaching staff for the upcoming year. Hartgrove just finished her senior year at U V S C . She was named t o the First Team All-Independent team three str?:ght years and named Independent player of the year as a junior. \ |