Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 8

Fan's Planner TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2004 2B RENO Looking Ahead TV Subject to chtngt without notict; 'Hvt Would that make her his trophy wife? MORNING 498ft mmm mf i rrt'llifl i idti ntW Editor note: Times and events may vary depending on your service provider. TODAY BASKETBALL Women: LSU-Minnesota(ESPN2) 4 p.m. 6 p.m. FOOTBALL N.Texas-S. Mississippi(ESPN) 4:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY BASKETBALL Pistons-Knicks(ESPN) 5 p.m. DePaul-Northwestern(ESPN2) 6 p.m. Jazz-Suns'(ESPN) 7:30 p.m. Baylor-Washington'(FSBA) 8 p.m. Prep Schedule Raiders WOLr PACK woLr rjtcK Worm Dm.

18 vs. Washington 2 p.m. Dec. 26 vs. Buffalo 1 :05 p.m.

Jan. 2 at New England 10 a.m. www.sf49ers.com Dec. 19 vs. Tennessee 1:15 p.m.

Dec. 25 at Kansas City 2 p.m. Jan. 2 vs. Jacksonville 1:15 p.m.

www.raiders.com Doc. 17 vs. Florida Atlantic 7:05 p.m. Dec. 18 vs.

Eastern Illinois or Idaho St. TBA Dec. 22 at UC Davis 7:05 p.m. Home games at Lawlor Events Center Dac. 16 vs.

Texas ASM Corpus Christ! 7 p.m. Dec. 18 at Sacramento State 2 p.m. Dec. 22 atUNLV 5 p.m.

Home games at Lawlor Events Center Today at Milwaukee 5 p.m. Dec. 16 vs. Los Angeles Lasers 7:30 p.m. Dec.

19 vs. New Orleans 6 p.m. 916-649-TIXS Today at Dallas 5:30 p.m. Dec. 15 at New Orleans 5 p.m.

Dec. 17 at Houston 5:30 p.m. 1-800-4-NBA-TIXS LOS ANGELES TIMES David Pollack, a three-time All-American defensive end from Georgia, has been busy on the postseason awards tour. Last week he accepted the Lombardi Award in Houston and the Chuck Bednarik Award in Orlando, Fla. Sunday night at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach, he was named the winner of the first Lott Trophy.

Pollack said that while he was in Houston, he got engaged to longtime girlfriend Lindsey Hopkins. "I gave her two dozen roses, took a knee and popped the question," he said. "It was my way of saying thanks for going to all these banquets." Good thinking: Since the Lott Trophy is named after Ronnie Lott, a former Trojan, and was created by ardent USC booster John Hamilton and former Trojan defensive back Mike Salmon, it was mostly a USC crowd at Sunday night's black-tie dinner at the Pacific Club. The two other Lott finalists on hand were Texas linebacker Derrick Johnson and Wisconsin safety Jim Leonhard. Master of ceremonies Pat Haden Ouch: A line making the rounds Sunday night was that Mater Dei High has produced more Heisman winners than UCLA.

Besides Matt Leinart, 1964 winner John Huarte of Notre Dame is from Mater Dei. UCLA's only Heisman winner is Gary Beban, who won in 1967. Unpleasant memory: John Robinson, who coached Lott at USC, and Bill Walsh, who coached Lott with the 49ers, were on hand Sunday night. Walsh said that when he was at Stanford, he coached against Robinson and USC for the first time at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1 977, when the Trojans won, 49-0. "After the game," Walsh sdid, "John comes over and says, 'Anybody hurt? Have a safe ride Robinson leaned over to a table companion and said, "He got even when he was with the 49ers and I was with the Rams." Trivia answer: Herschel Walker.

And finally: Haden, in introducing Lott, said he was an All-Pro as an NFL rookie in 1981. "He had seven interceptions that season, which I find hard to believe," Haden said. "I think he had nine off me." Georgia's last three-time All-American won the Heisman in 1 982. Who is he? asked Johnson who he liked in the Orange Bowl, adding, "Now keep in mind who your audience is." Said Johnson, "I'll be rooting for USC." IQ test: Leonhard, a former walk-on, is an Academic All-American. Haden, a Rhodes Scholar, asked Leonhard, "What is pi times the speed of light?" When Leonard hesitated, Haden said, "Must be an English major." Actually, he's a kinesiology major.

A vast minority: There were at least two UCLA Bruins at the Pacific Club affair former San Francisco 49er cornerback Kermit Alexander and Leslie Ann Robinson, a UCLA senior who was with her father, Greg Robinson, Texas' co-defensive coordinator. Haden, introducing Alexander: "One of UCLA's all-time greats, if that's not an oxymoron." Kings Warriors TODAY Girls' basketball: Douglas at Bishop Manogue, 7 p.m.; North Valleys at McQueen, 7 p.m., Spanish Springs at South Tahoe, 7 p.m., Spring Creek at Carlin, 6 p.m., Round Mountain at Hawthorne, 6 p.m., Coleville at Silver Stage, 6 p.m., Pahranagat at White Pine, 5 p.m. Boys' basketball: South Tahoe at Spanish Springs, 7 p.m., Spring Creek at Carlin, 7:30 p.m., Round Mountain at Hawthorne, 7:30 p.m., Coleville at Silver Stage, 7:30 p.m., Pahranagat at White Pine, 6:30 p.m., Rail City Classic at Reed, TBA. WEDNESDAY Girls' basketball: South Tahoe at Bishop Manogue, 7 p.m., Truckee at North Tahoe, 6 p.m., Spring Creek at Lowry, 6 p.m., Yerington at Fernley, 6 p.m., Elko at Carlin, 6 p.m., Boys' basketball: Bishop Manogue at South Tahoe, 7 p.m., Rail City Classic at Reed, TBA, Truckee at North Tahoe, 7:30 p.m., Spring Creek at Lowry, 7:30 p.m., Yerington at Fern-ley, 7:30 p.m., Independence at Jackpot, 7:30 p.m., Elko at Carlin, 7:30 p.m. Wrestling: Galena at Fallon, 5:30 p.m., McQueen at Reno, 5:30 p.m., Damonte Ranch at Bishop Manogue, 5:30 p.m., Hug at Wooster, 5:30 p.m., South Tahoe at Douglas, 5:30 p.m., Reed at Spanish Springs, 5:30 p.m.

THURSDAY Girls' basketball: Douglas at McQueen, 7 p.m., Galena at North Valleys, 7 p.m. Boys' basketball: Rail City Classical Reed, TBA. Today in History Reno Line CHIEFS nl Broncos RAIDERS nl Titans COLTS 7.5 Ravens Monday Patriots 9 DOLPHINS 1 920: Jack Dempsey knocks out Bill Brennan in the 1 2th round at Madison Square Garden to retain his world heavyweight title. 1965: Rookie Rick Barry of the San Francisco Warriors scores 57 points in a 1 41 -1 37 loss to the New York Knicks. 1 982: Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings scores his 500th goal in a 7-2 loss to the Washington Capitals.

1985: UCLA beats American 1-0 in the eighth overtime the longest soccer game in the United States to capture the NCAA; soccer title. 1 986: Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins sets an NFL record with the seventh 400-yard game of his career as he passes for 403 yards and five touchdowns in a 37-31 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Marino hits Mark Duper with a 20-yard touchdown pass in overtime to win the game. Dec. 28 Miami (Ohio) 3 Iowa St Insight Bowl Dec.

28 Oregon St 3.5 Notre Dame Houston Bowl Dec. 29 Colorado 3 Utep Alamo Bowl Dec. 29 Oklahoma St 1.5 Ohio St NBA Today BOBCATS 4 Hornets Nuggets 1 76ERS HAWKS 1.5 Pacers Knicks 1 NETS T'WOLVES 8.5 Blazers Kings nl BUCKS MAVS 10.5 Warriors JAZZ 4 Clippers SONICS 5.5 Lakers COLLEGE BASKETBALL Today S.CARO 16 S.FIa V'NOVA 19 Fordham S.ILLINOIS 13 Wright St DUKE 21 Ill-Chicago S.CLARA 12 Cal-lrvine St.Mary's 2 5 S.DGOST Odds provided by Htmh i Heno Ria ind Sports Book. FOOTBALL NFL Saturday Steelers 10 GIANTS Redskins 4 49ERS FALCONS 3.5 Panthers Sunday JETS 6 Seahawks EAGLES 12.5 Cowboys Vikings 3 LIONS Chargers 10 BROWNS Sills 3 BENGALS PACKERS 3.5 Jaguars BEARS 1 Texans BUCS 7.5 Saints Rams nl Las Vegas Bowl Dec. 22 Ucla 12.5 Wyoming Fort Worth Bowl Dec.

23 Cincinnati nl Marshall Hawaii Bowl Dec. 24 Hawaii 3.5...AI-Brmnghm MPC Computers Bowl Dec. 27 Virginia 5.5 Fresno St Motor City Bowl Dec. 27 Toledo nl Uconn Independence Bowl College Football New Orleans Bowl Today Southern Miss ...5 North Texas Tangerine Bowl Dec. 21 Ga.Tech 5 Syracuse GMAC Bowl Dec.

22 Bowling Grn 4.5 Memphis College Basketball Commentary Fox: No football players on the basketball team WOLF PACK NOTEBOOK A vote for Bonds as athlete of the year "I don't know if it has been an advantage for those (four) teams that played extra games, but it is something you can do once every four years." LAWLOR SCOREBOARD WORKS: The Lawlor Events Center scoreboard that malfunctioned before Saturday's game against Pacific and couldn't be used is up and running again. A small portable scoreboard had to be used forthe game. The six-year-old scoreboard is working, but is still getting intensive scrutiny from a Bay area technician from Trans Lux, which has the service contract with Lawlor. "He will put in new program chips in case there was a. problem in the software," said Joe Kerr, Lawlor's director.

The Pack and the scoreboard, hopefully, will be in action when Nevada plays Florida Atlantic in the first round of the Dodge Holiday Classic Friday night. "We will have him (the technician) here for the tournament, just in case it crops up again, which I don't think it will," Kerr said. "It's unfortunate that it happened. I'm glad it's up and running. It seems fairly robust.

"We'll eliminate the gremlin wherever it is." MORE PLAY FOR ELUS: Seven-foot freshman David Ellis, who has played in fiveofthe Pack's first sevengames, didn't see action in the Pacific game, but Fox promised Monday that Elliswill play in the Dodge Holiday Classic games and against UC Davis Dec. 22. "I think David will get tired in the next three games," Fox said. "To be honest with you, there's some guys I'm probably not pleased with right now. David's earned his chance.

He'll get some more time." Ellis, from Sacramento, is averaging three points in nine minutes per game. "I told David coming over here he is a better player than Kevinn Pinkney as a freshman," Fox said. "And I told him he will be a better player than Kevinn as a senior. David's chance will come. He will be a very good player for us." OKES0N BACK TO BENCH: Todd Okeson, who helped lead the Pack last season, is returning to Nevadaas an undergraduate assistant.

He left the job to play professional basketball with Sweden's Solna Vikings. He suffered a pulled muscle in the lower leg and returned to Reno. Okeson can't play for at least eight weeks. Fox said Okeson will be a full-time student in the second semester and is just waiting for clearance to begin coaching. By Steve Sneddon RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL The Nevada basketball team has only 10 players, including one walk-on.

One booster wondered out loud at the Time Out Luncheon at the Silver Legacy on Monday if Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox would consider adding football players to the squad for depth. The short answer is he won't consider it, but the long answer is considerably more interesting. "Did you watch the football team play Fox joked in front of 100 boosters. "This is not Coach (Chris) Ault's fault. He's not the guy who robbed the bank and couldn't outrun a cop.

That's no knock on the football team. Every guy who wears a helmet thinks he can play basketball, including (former Nevada star wide receiver) Nate Burleson. The difference be tween football and basketball and it's no knock on our football team in basketball, we need every player to be a quarterback. They've got to be able to pass it, catch it and hand it off. You have to have hands at every position in our game." BOUND FOR ITALY: The Pack has played fourteams that prepared forthis season with international exhibition games.

Kansas, Georgia, UNLVand Pa-cificalltoured British ColumbiainCana-da. Fox said Monday the Pack plans to tour Italy in late May. Teams playing international exhibition games can practice 10 additional days and play five games. Fox said the tour will give both Lyn-dale Burleson and Marcellus Kemp extra preparation as they get ready for the season. The freshman Burleson is a partial qualifier who was unable to play this season, butpractices with the team.

Kemp, who was a redshirt freshman last season, is coming back from a season-ending knee injury. SessionsKansas game was a turning point After the game, he showed the kind of humility that has characterized his first seven games. "My teammates just gave me the ball. We were going through the offense and I was just talcing the shots that were there," Sessions said. "My teammates are pushing me to play hard every night.

I feel good out there because of my teammates." Fox said the first priority for Sessions was to learn to run the team and everything else would fall into place. "He'll start scoring more and more because he has nat From 1B Fox asked the same question after the 85-52 loss at Kansas and Sessions gave himself an and the coach agreed. But the Kansas game was a turning point, capped by a career-high 17 points, and eight assists in Nevada's 72-69 home loss to Pacific last Saturday. "He's come back (from the Kansas game) and played extremely well," Fox said. "He'll continue to do so." Against Pacific, Sessions had his best shooting night of the season, hitting 8-of-12 shots from the field.

Editor' note: A portion of this column was inadvertantly ommitted in Monday's Reno Gazette-Journal. By Steve Wilstein AP SPORTS COLUMNIST Barry Bonds is the perfect choice for Athlete of the Year. Who else so exquisitely captured the essence of sports in 2004? He got the most ink in newspapers, the most time on TV, his name linked to Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and the weasel at BALCO, Victor Conte. Bonds is baseball's Mr. Muscles, Mr.

Congeniality, Mr. Flaxseed Oil. Ron Artest is a good candidate for the year's top athlete, too. He gave everything he had on the court, in the stands and in the recording studio. When you think sports in 2004, who better represents the commitment it takes to be a standout jerk? Then again, there's plenty of competition.

We have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, who showed such class as they sniped at each other. Bryant barely escaped a trial in the rape case in Colorado, though the civil lawsuit filed by his alleged victim continues, but none of that slowed down his shooting. Have to admire a player who goes from courthouse to court so effortlessly. At the Olympics, the U.S. men's basketball team showed all the arrogance and selfishness so prized by the new generation of athletes.

In Athens, too, a couple of Greek sprinters put themselves in the running for top athletes by virtue of their creativity: faking a motorcycle accident to avoid drug testers. And what about Marion Jones? Shouldn't she be considered for either top female athlete or best actress? The votes for the Associated Press Athlete of the Year are still coming in and the results will be announced on Dec. 29. In alphabetical order, Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong heads the men's list. Maybe he'll win it again, but he'll have to do it without anything more than an unsubstantiated report that he has cheated with banned performance enhancers.

Armstrong doesn't have any grand jury testimony going for him, like Bonds, Jones and Jason Giambi. More boring choices include Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Vtjay Singh, Kurt Busch, Roger Federer and Michael Phelps on the men's side; Annika Sorenstam, Maria Sharapova, Diana Taurasi and Lisa Fernandez among the women. All they did was win, sans scandals, with routinely dazzling or ural instincts to score," Fox said. Once he masters how to run our team, he'll be a more relaxed, more efficient offensive player. He's a much better 3-point shooter than he's shot so far.

"We've talked to Ramon about hitting singles more than home runs. He's done a better job of that recently." The Pack guard corps has been almost entirely rebuilt from last season. Kyle Shiloh, who only saw limited action last season, has started at shooting guard for the first seven games. Shiloh has been backed up by Mo Charlo, a Diablo Valley (Calif.) College transfer, who is averaging eight points. "I think Mo Charlo is playing like an inexperienced player," Fox said.

"He has flashes where he shows sign of being an excellent player. He has flashes where he looks like he's playing where he was last year (in junior college). "Ramon has made the jump offensively much faster than I anticipated he would. He looks like he fits in. Mo is still mak-ingthat jump.

It's inexperience. He's progressing fine, OK. The important thing is he keeps going forward, getting better." courageous performances. In the age of the athlete as iconoclast, the antihero of sports, do they truly deserve recognition as athletes of the year? Bonds is a 40-year-old wonder the wonder is, what's he been on still cranking out homers, leading the league in batting and collecting MVPs. Steroids? He told a federal grand jury he never knowingly took them and he's sticking by his story.

Why shouldn't everyone believe him? Here's a guy who watches every calorie and carb he eats, can expound on the nutritional benefits of antioxidants and flavonoids. He balances his broccoli and his baked potatoes, chews sunflower seeds instead of tobacco. He packs his own snacks and doesn't deign to eat clubhouse chow. His body is his temple. Why wouldn't he gobble up anything his trusted trainer, Greg Anderson, gave him, and not ask any questions? Does anyone doubt that Bonds would be able to distinguish between the nutty taste of flaxseed oil, the soothing balm of arthritis cream and the muscle-popping effects of designer steroids? Bonds is no dummy.

He's a smart fellow, a college man with three years at Arizona State. But maybe he was fooled by Anderson and just didn't notice the changes ifi his body the last five years when his arms, chest and neck started bulging and his jerseys didn't fit anymore. And maybe the dozens of people who paid $7,500 to worship him Friday night with Alex Rodriguez in a New York hotel don't much care whether either or both of those players have pumped themselves up on chemicals. The worshippers at this so-called "Ultimate Event" thought the money was well spent: five minutes each of chats and snapshots with the players, autographs, a gift bag of goodies, cocktails and dinner. Nobody broke the ground rules to stay off the subject of steroids.

Bonds, by all accounts, was engaging and cheerful. Which makes it ludicrous to imagine that he will heed the call by some ink-stained wretches to retire. Why should Bonds feel a need to worry about the integrity of baseball and the career home run record? What makes anyone think Bonds believes he did anything different than any of his fellow sluggers, who had their own versions of flaxseed oil and liniment? Bonds is the epitome of the athlete of our age and there is no better choice for the athlete of the year. Steve Wilstein is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at swilsteinQ ap.org Wake Forest takes a tight one over Temple TOP 25 ROUNDUP ASSOCIATED PRESS PHILADELPHIA With two starters on the bench, Wake Forest had a different look at the start of its game against Temple.

The postgame celebration wasn't quite the same, either. Reserve Trent Strickland scored all nine of his points over the final 9 minutes to lead the sixth-ranked Demon Deacons to a 67-64 victory over Temple on Monday night. It's usually Chris Paul, the leading vote-getter on the AP's preseason All-America team, or Eric Williams, who along with Paul was benched for the opening 4 minutes for being 2 minutes late for the bus on the way to the game, or All-Atlantic Coast Conference second half and Wake Forest seemed to take control behind Strickland, a reserve junior forward who came in averaging 6.3 points. NO. 20 MISSISSIPPI ST.

74, NEW ORLEANS 59 NEW ORLEANS Once Mississippi State started rolling, New Orleans was no match for the 20th-ranked Bulldogs. Shane Power scored 17 points and Mississippi Stateextended its road winning streak to 1 3 games with a victory over New Orleans. "Mississippi State is a good team, make no mistake about it," New Orleans coach Monte Towe said. "They are going to beat a lot of basketball teams this year. It was kind of pick their poison for them whether they were going to beat us inside or outside." After a sluggish start, Mississippi State finally built an eight-point half-time lead before taking control in the second half.

the Demon Deacons, while Gray added 15. Paul finished with nine points and eight assists for Wake Forest, which was coming off a 9-day break for exams. Mardy Collins had a season-high 25 points for Temple (3-5), which had a chance at tying the game but Dustin Sal-isbery's 3-pointer hit the rim with 1 second to play. The game was played at Temple's pace as Wake Forest cameinaveraging83.1 points, almost 21 more than the Owls. "They did a terrific job keeping us off balance," Prosser said.

"We were never able to get into a rhythm." There were six lead changes and two ties in the opening 10 minutes of the guard Justin Gray who draws the attention. Not this game. It was Strickland's turn to hear the praise. "I don't think we win the game without Trent Strickland," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. Paul couldn't stop talking about his teammate.

"Trent Strickland is a winner. He stepped up big for us on both ends of the court. We have to give him a game ball," Paul said. "He gets the emotion going for us." Wake Forest clinched the win by going 5-for-6 from the free throw line over the final 2 minutes. Williams had 17 points for Reno GazetteJqurwl crt, Wt WAJfl 15 rfM TX Gazette-Journal.

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