The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page C001

CCYYMK Il lP avlovic sspark is missed by Cavs eam loses two straight as ailing chief substitute for LeBr nrecovers By George M. Thomas eaconJ ournalsportswriter VELAND: hree months ago, fans would have been hard- pressed to remember that Sasha avlovic occupied a spot on the avaliers hingshave changed, and that might be an understatement ince the resumption of the regular season after the Al l-St a break the Cavs have gone1-2 the two losses coming during avlovic sabsence from the team because of flulike symptoms heguard forward saw the team doctor Monday and shot a little bit, but his health statusis considered questionable fort o- night game with the Ne wOr- leans ornets coach Mike rownsaid Th doubt of the status Pavlovic holds on the team. moved upi nBrown bench rotation, often providing a much needed spark for the Ca v- aliers recent losses to the Ch i- cago Bulls and Miami eat avshave totaled a meager 159 points Ye 15 points that avlov ic averaged on 50 percentshoot ing over the course of seven games from Ja n.3 0t oFe b.11 would look very good abou now and his teammates know it. miss asha (center ydrunasI lgauskas was out.D amon )J ones was out. Key guys wereo Larry ughessaid definitely miss what Sasha brings to the oone benefits more from avlovic presence thanLeBr ames avlovic is usuallythe first person off the bench to re- leasesee avaliers hree players to battle for uckeyes QB job resseldoesn indicate if any candidate stands out By Marla Ridenour eaconJ ournalsportswriter ANTON: hioS tatefootball coach Ji mTressel is bracing himself for the question that will come up every day until the ept 1 season opener.

He already seems to be agonizing about the time hem i ght need toanswer quarterback ithH eismanT rophywin ner Troy Smith taking his 25-3 record as a starter to the NFL, the Buckeyes will let three candidates battle in spring ball and fall camp before OSU hits the field against Youngstown tate unior to beT oddB oeck man (a 6-f pound product ofSt. He Ro bSchoenhoft (6-6, 240 from Cincinnati St. Xavier )and redshirt freshmanA ntonio enton(6-2, 210 from Fort Va l- ley will get their chances. onday in his annual ap- pearance at the Hall of Fame uncheonC lub at theF our indsrestaurant resselgave no hint as to who might have the upper hand. egot three guys who I think are Tressel said.

ething you try to talk to them about, it timportant quarterback. Wh a important is when are we going to have a quarterback or two or whatever capable of doing what we need done? yneed to focus in on leasesee ressel WKNR improves its lineup ortheastO hio sports fans finally have a viable sports talk station back with the recently announced changes at WKNR (8 5 0-A M). or the most part, with a major quibble, I like the moves made by new owner Craig Ka r- mazin or those who theard armazinreturned ike in the Morning featuring local boy Mike Golic and his partner Mike reenberg oa wide audience here beginning nMonday WJW hannel8 )sports anchor Tony Rizzo joined the station slineup afternoon drive- time host Kenny Roda kept his slot and Greg Brinda moved to evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. iven the fact that this area is home to three major sports teams in the rowns avaliers and I ndians the market e- serves a show in during the morning drive. hen there are two minor- league baseball teams, college sports teams at the University fAkron and Kent State and hockey in the form of the A mericanH ockeyL eague akeE rieM onsters will return in the fall.

here no shortage of topics to talk about at a given time. I can appreciate Golic and reenberg schtick they re likable knowledgeable and have chemistry but I would much rather listen to someone who can talk about sports from a local perspective first thing in the morning. hat I can appreciate is armazin has added another local voice which extends the lineup to 9 p.m. while games are still happening, giving fans the opportunity to talk or screech in real time hat is still troubling, however is a lack of a minority voice at the station. Can Karmazin be blamed for that? Not really when talented minority broadcasters such as Chris ill er flee the market.

Yes, Ronnie uncan might have been an option but his style grates after a while yfirst choice would have been former staffer Ke n- dall ewis but staking his inestimable talents to Fox portsnetO hio and their show levelandR ants A nd before anyone thinks this is a complaint, it It is, however an honest observation inorities invest serious amounts of time and, more important cash into sporting teams asketballwars eing a hoops fan in the area proved difficult Sunday afternoon because the avaliers iamiH eat game was telecast nationally on ABC (WEWS hannel5), while the Ohio tate isconsin game was on CBS (WOIO Channel 19). heB uckeyes game was the highest rated college basketball game of the season so far on CBS ight now mthanking the electronics gods for picture- in picturetechnology I sat watching one great game (the uckeyes and another avs that had me pulling what little hair I had out all while switching the audio. ach provided plenty of drama and compelling commentary rom the OSU game: like what the Buckeyes are doing here hey re showing some balance by trying to go to (Gr g)O den on the inside Verne Lundquist said about time someone pointed out the fact that the uckeyes rely far too much on their outside game more specifically from behind the 3 point arc ost in the euphoria of a rather successful basketball season thus far is the fact that OSU died in last sNCAA our nament because that outside game went colder than a corpse. rom the Cavs game: icheleT afoya reported about yndrunasI lgauskasreturning to the team after he and his wife lost their twins, a girl and a boy. he handled it tastefully and respectfully a story the leve land media probably had but withheld out of respect.

What is troubling is the attitude of numerous fans I ve encountered at uickenL oansA rena and at my favorite watering hole who have grumbled about sab- sence ust a thought: Despite the millions in salary and special treatment athletes are merely human hen it comes to matters such as the loss of a child or children re entitled to the same level of privacy that we all take for granted. eorgeM. Thomas can be reached at sports writerabj sbcglobal net ead his blog at http www ohiomm com blogs sportsblitz ammons stays positive in game of life ESPN baseball analyst appreciates job more after brain aneurysm WINTER HAVEN, We stood just beyond third base in the stands a tChain of Lakes ark eterG ammons was talking about his days covering the ostonRe dSo he stayed in Room 421 at the Winter Haven olidayIn nduring spring training for 10 consecutive years. It was a little bigger than most of the rooms in what was then the town lone motel even medium in size. I was telling Gammons how he helped nurse me through the 1979 baseball season.Iw a sa2 4- year old rookie reporter with the altimoreE veningSu to cover the rioles At 34, Gammons already was a legend among baseball writers.

No one had more front office contacts or more respect from players and managers. Yet, ammons had time for me and many other young baseball writers of that era. You needed a phone number, Gammons had it. Yo uneeded to track down a rumor on your team ammons helped even though he was the Re dSox beat reporter for the ostonG lobe needed some encouragement ammons was one of most positive people you ever would meet in any profession. always loved my ammonssaid tI appreciate it now more than ammons then talked about une2 7,2006 was in the parking lot of his health club on apeCo d.Th ehall of fame sportswriter and ESPN baseball analyst was in his car and had a sudden urge to take a nap.

remember calling my wife to say I had a he said. ext thing he knew, he was in a hospital. rainaneurysm much from the month after I called my i ammonssaid just leasesee luto A ggressiveZ ipsdefeat ukes in tune-u pgame ravis scores 26 points, Dials adds 23 as UA ties school record for blocked shots By Tom Gaffney eaconJ ournalsportswriter PITTSBUR I tdid notqualify a samonumental victory, but it was not a meaningless one either. I talso tan artistic one, but it tan ugly one either, given the circumstances. heU niversityo fAkron (2 26), behind Romeo Travis and ickD ials needed all of its resources Monday night to defeat decided underdog Duquesne 8774 in a nonconferencegame before an announced crowd of 2 150 at the Palumbo enter heZ ips almost gave awaya big lead and were in serious foul trouble but made a series ofbig plays down the stretch against a ukes team that has now lost six in a row, but earlier in the season had beaten Boston ollege avi ayton and emple ipscoach Keith Dambrot saw the game as a perfecttune up for roadgames at the niver sity at Buffalo on Thursday and a tKent State on Sunday and the ensuing id A mericanC onfer ence ournament i swas a big win, a toughening up win win on the road against an athletic team that never Dambrot said.

were great at times and terrible at other times. Being experienced and being tough saved our behinds ravis had his secondconsec utive double doublewith a game- high 26 points and 11 rebounds. ials hit 9-o f-1 4shots from the floor and finished with a career- leasesee ips Blake TERRY PLUTO Airing ItOut GEORGE M. THOMAS Sports www.ohio.com/sports 2007 INDIANS SPRING TRAINING MIKE DUNCAN A ssociatedP ress ashaP avlovic dunks against the Lakers Fe b.1 1.P avlovic lately averaging 15 points a game has been sidelined with flulike symptoms. MATT FREED ittsburghP ost azette NOW AND LATER FOR TRIBE Casey Blake is a great athlete and he will get a chance to prove it again this season in multiple roles with the I ndians Fausto Carmona is likely to start the season at riple A uffalo but expect the right- hander to make an impact with the Tribe some time this season.

ageC5. hioS tate coach Jim resselsays quarterback candidates need to focus on becoming good at job. Ak omeo ravis shoots a ball over uquesne ieronA chara in the second half Monday night in ittsburgh ravisfinished the 87-7 4 victory with his second consecutive double double He had a game- high 26 points and 11 rebounds A charaled uquesnewith 18 points. A kron8 uquesne74 Ne niversityo fAkron at Buffalo Wh 7 p.m. Thursday adio WARF 1350 AM SEC heB eaconJ ournal uesday ebruary2 7,2007 uckeyes on top hioS tate ranks No.

1 in AP basketball poll for first time since 1962 after beating isconsin C3 akeadvances ricC oblentz scores 33 points to lead Lake to a 6 8-5 3D ivision I sectional victory over reen C5 ornetsa tCavaliers Wh 7 tonight FSN PHIL MASTURZO A kronB eaconJ ournal all of fame sportswriter and ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons left talks with Indians manager Eric Wedge during spring training Sunday at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter aven a. Story 2-27 c1 System AKRE by SFAGERST Time 23:12:45 Date Color layer: Black 14X Pg. Date 2-27 c1Topic: 2-27 spt Keyword 2-27 c1Page 1 C1, Black, EDITION 4X, DAY 27.