Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 27

SCOREBOARD 2 BASEBALL 3 FOOTBALL 4 TO SHARE TIPS, IDEAS: Contact: Mike Knobler, sports editor Jackson area: 961-7293 Toll free: 1-877-850-5338 Fax: 961-7224 E-mail: mknoblerjackson.gannett.com SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1999 THE CLARION-LEDGER JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI 12th game to help schools generate money But don't look for Advisory panel shows us the wide variety of readers Ole Miss, MSU to seek No surprises as Bulldog, Gold-game With USM or JSU en Eagle freshmen report, 4D By Sekou Smith Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer get national exposure." However, fans feel like the intrastate games would be the most appealing. "I think football fans in this state would love to see any one of those games," said JSU fan Calvin Ousley, 33, a Flora native. "If the 12th game was this season or next, I'd feel better about it. But it's too far down the road. "I just don't understand it, though.

How could it hurt any team to play one of your in-state rivals?" See TWELFTH, 4D game, like the Oklahoma State game. And hopefully, it would be of the caliber that television would be interested in." Templeton said he's trying to negotiate something with a team from the Big East and a team from the Big Twelve. Like Templeton, Ole Miss AD John Shafer was tight-lipped about who might pop up on the Rebels' 2002 schedule. "We do have some things in the works but I don't son State or any of the state's Division I-AA teams either. The Rebels and Bulldogs are in search of a big name opponent that will attract a television deal.

"We're not going to be playing Southern Mississippi," State athletic director Larry Templeton said. "We've got two things in the works but I wouldn't want to say. I think this 12th game will allow us to play another home game or another intersectional want to divulge it," Shafer said. "Obviously, we'd like to schedule a prominent opponent. But I think it's safe to say, that opponent won't be Southern Mississippi or Jackson State." Southern Mississippi AD Richard Giannini said he hasn't spoken with Templeton, Shafer, or anyone else for that matter, about the 12th game, yet.

"We're gonna look at all our options," he said. "We've got to maximize our revenue potential and our ability to Rodney Pearson isn't your typical Clarion-Ledger veaAer. Pearson once ran the Mississippi Marathon in a record time of 2 hours, 23 minutes and 44 seconds. The rest of our readers including Anyone hoping that either Ole Miss or Mississippi State would use the 12th game to play Southern Mississippi can forget about it. Athletic department officials from both schools say it won't happen.

The state's two Southeastern Conference schools won't be scheduling Jack Christmas comes a little early for die-hard college football fans in the 2002 season, with the advent of the NCAA's rotating 12th regular season game. But Mississippi football fans need to be warned before tearing offthat wrapping paper. Sports Editor Mm n( 1 Dt3 UrQD Taylor tops class of 1999 Dickerson also among today's Hall of Fame inductees By Rusty Miller The Associated Press CANTON, Ohio Lawrence Taylor always approached his job as if he were one of the best in the business. The Pro Football Hall of Fame will second that opinion today. Padres slugger roars past mark with 4 hits "i 2 t- Ks 7 By Sean Farrell The Associated Press fT- TUB The former New York Giants linebacker will be joined by offensive guards Tom Mack and Billy Shaw, Box score, 2D Architect ponders what to do with McGwire's 500th, 3D Gens fall 5-4 to Drillers, 3D Dan Smith, a rookie making his 11th career start.

"If somebody's going to get a hit off me like that, he's the best guy to do it," Smith said. "I grew up rooting for him and I tip my hat to him." Gwynn's teammates raced from the dugout to congratulate him, and first base umpire Kerwin Dan-ley Gwynn's college teammate at San Diego State gave him a hug. The ball and the first base bag were taken out of play, with one or both likely to end up in the Hall of Fame. See GWYNN, 3D I 1 I 1 i I MONTREAL Tony Gwynn didn't stop after reaching his milestone. Just like Mark McGwire the night before, making history wasn't simply enough.

Gwynn went 4-for-5, singling in his first at-bat to become the 22nd major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits, as the San Diego Padres beat the Montreal Expos 12-10 Friday night. "I'd have loved to do it last night in St. Louis but now that things have happened the way they've happened, this is great for me," Gwynn said. "Mark had his day. Today is my day." Gwynn made it his day in the first inning.

He reached down and golfed a soft line drive past second base on a 1-2 pitch from Taylor Al Behrman The Associated Press San Diego's Tony Gwynn singles in the first inning Friday night for career hit No. 3,000. our sports editor are somewhat slower, and many of them including our sports editor would collapse at the mere thought of running 26 miles and 385 yards. Victor Hall Sr. isn't your typical Clarion-Ledger reader, either.

Not many of our readers have a son who played football for Jackson State. Even fewer are former Ole Miss student trainers, as Eddy Edwards is, or have a wife who played pro basketball, as Johnny Williams does, or became a sports fan at age 29, as Lucy Hansford did. The more I learned about those and other members of our sports reader advisory panel, the less typical they seemed. And then I figured it out. We have no typical reader.

Each of you is different, with your own likes and dislikes, your own favorite teams and sports and players, your own reasons for reading this section. I'm sorry I can't bring every one of you to our offices at 201 South Congress Street and ask you what you'd like to see when you pick up your paper each day. There are way too many of you for that. But whatever your view, there's a good chance someone on our reader advisory panel shared it with me Friday afternoon. Thanks for volunteering Two months ago I asked for your help.

I sought volunteers to meet with me and tell me their thoughts about our sports section. Letters and e-mails poured in from throughout the state. Nancy Riley, 83, wrote from Prentiss to say she couldn't make it to Jackson but loved to read the sports section every day. More than 40 of her fellow readers generously offered to serve on our panel. We wound up with 12 panelists, ranging in age from 28 to 75 and in hometown from Liberty in the south to Cleveland and West Point in the north.

They pull for Ole Miss and Jackson State, Delta State and Copiah-Lincoln, the Colorado Avalanche and the Jackson Generals, Southern Mississippi softball and Mississippi State football and a varied assortment of high school teams. More would be better Everyone agreed that The Clarion-Ledger ought to be first and foremost a Mississippi newspaper with Mississippi news. Everyone enjoyed our stories about unsung heros like Ole Miss scholar-athlete Calvin Thigpen and the late Delta State tennis player John Weems. And everyone wanted more. More what? That's where they differed.

Most, like Roger Williams, want more coverage of local teams and the other teams that play in the Southeastern Conference, Conference USA and the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Most, like Lora Cox, want more coverage of the major sports football, basketball, baseball. But Bernell McGehee says we should find more room for fast-pitch softball. And Pearson would rather read about athletes he admires in other sports, such as triathlete Joseph Curro of Vicks-burg and runner Brian Pope of Oxford. Nathan Dunaway spoke for our readers who aren't from Mississippi and want news of the teams they left behind.

Johnny Williams spoke for those whose interest in non-Mississippi news is satisfied by television and USA Today. Hugh Walker asked about what we could do for fans of small colleges. Dick Acker reminded us that any mistake we make is one mistake too many. Philip Thomas and Hall suggested ways to improve our listings of golf scores. The Clarion-Ledger does a lot of things right, our panelists said.

Our challenge is to do better. Thanks to all of you who helped point the way. Contact Mike Knobler at 961-7293 or mknoblerjackson.gannett.com Tomorrow: Mike Knobler Boggs quiet in D-Rays' win 3,003 2,997 2,968 0 rr running back Eric Dickerson and tight end Ozzie Newsome when the class of 1999 is enshrined at the hall. Taylor, who became the fearsome prototype of an attacking linebacker during his 13 seasons, prepared for opponents and never lacked in confidence. "Giants Stadium was my office.

When I came to work, I knew everything about my job," he said. "There was nothing you could throw at me that I didn't know because I knew everything about my job and I enjoyed doing it. That was a deadly combination." Taylor's motivation was never to just do the job. "When I came to work, I came to work planning on being the best," he said. Taylor retired with two Super Bowl rings and a stack of glittering statistics.

He totaled 142 sacks in his career and all but revolutionized his position with his athleticism and his mental approach. "He was nasty. He's the nastiest kid I've ever been around," said Denny Marcin, the Giants' defensive line coach who also Tampa Bay lead. Dave Martinez followed with an RBI single to give the Devil Rays a two-run cushion. Yan, 3-2, pitched VA scoreless innings for the win, and Roberto Hernandez pitched the ninth to earn his 29th save in 32 opportunities.

Arrojo allowed two runs, six hits, walked two and struck out two in 5innings. Burba also went 5 innings, yielding four runs on five hits with four walks and five A crowd of 34,623 well above Tampa Bay's season average of 20,479, but about 9,000 shy of a sellout watched Boggs fly to left in the first, hit a comebacker to the mound in the third and ground to first in the sixth against Indians starter Dave Burba. Fans booed when reliever Steve Karsay walked Boggs in the seventh. Aaron Ledesma drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single off Burba, 8-7, in the sixth for a 3-2 Tampa Bay hitter can't dent Burba, but will take 4-2 victory The Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.

On a night that-Tony Gwynn got his hit, Wade Boggs stayed put in his pursuit of the milestone. Boggs remained three hits shy of the plateau Friday night, going 0-for-3 with a walk in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' 4-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians. i CAL RIPKEN JR. Friday night: WADE BOGGS Friday night: TONY GWYNN Friday night: 4 for 5 against 0-for-3 against On disabled list Hits needed: 32 Expos Indians Hits needed: 3 Today's game: vs. Indians, 5:35 p.m.

Wallace seeks Brickyard 400 glory Starting line- up, 2D 111 I 1 111 'JWir inn in i 1 since," Wallace said. "Can you imagine how cool that would be to get the 50th victory at Indy? It would be a hell of a way to go down into the history books, I can tell you that." It would put Wallace, the 1989 Winston Cup champion and one of the sport's most popular drivers, on an elite list. The winners of the first five Brickyard races are three-time series champion Jeff Gordon (1994, 1998), seven-time series champion Dale Earnhardt (1995), current series leader Dale Jarrett (1996) and longtime favorite Ricky Rudd (1997). "This is the third and final super big race of the year," Wallace said, "and you can't begin to know how much we want to win it." Jeff Gordon will start from the pole, alongside last year's runner-up, Mark Martin, and just ahead of David Green and Jarrett. Wallace qualified 17th.

Win No. 50 at Indy would be perfect script for driver The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS Winning big races is what guys like Rusty Wallace live for. There aren't too many bigger than today's Brickyard 400. The race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway carries a $6.1 million purse, second only in stock car racing to the Daytona 500. And in only its sixth year the event has become one of the most prestigious on the Winston Cup circuit.

"We got our 49th career win back at Bristol in April and have been trying hard to get that 50th win ever Associated Press File Photo Rusty Wallace knows what a victory today would mean. coached Taylor at North Carolina. "If you were lying on the ground and he was going back to the huddle, he might kick you in the head." Former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann said, "If there ever was a Superman in the 56 for the Giants." Since retiring in 1993, Taylor has encountered legal, substance-abuse and financial problems. He referred to those who didn't vote for his induction as "old phonies" who had no business judging him. Now he's ready to mend fences.

"I'm 40 years old and I've mellowed a lot since I was playing," he said. His induction fits neatly into his personal checklist. "We do things in packages as far as life goes: high school ball, college ball, you want to get in the pros, make All-Pro and finally you want to be in the Hall of Fame. That' has finally happened. I have a complete package." Taylor will be introduced by his 17-year-old son, T.J.

Chargers trample Knights 9-1 in semis Texa League Tulsa 5 Jackson 4 Jackson advances to meet New York in conference title game The Clarion-Ledger 1 -0 nil nr -man The Saints, Chiefs postpone today's scrimmage after too much fighting. 4D "It's like maybe telling a tennis player with a really good serve, 'We're going to give you a soft ball so you can't serve as enjoyed a 9-1 margin in corner kicks. Defensively, Shortt led the Chargers with three saves, while Oyuga had two. Alex Dixon scored the Knights' only goal in the 62nd minute. In the other semifinal, Mawssa Sy scored a pair of goals as New York overcame a 1-0 deficit to beat Cocoa.

Each team attempted eight shots, and Cocoa led 4-3 in corner kicks. DeBay had a save among the two shots he faced. Paul Oyuga got Jackson on the scoreboard first at the 10-minute mark, scoring off an assist from Shortt. Maruti's unassisted goal two minutes later was all the scoring the Chargers would need. Maruti led the PDL in goals (27) and points (63) a year ago.

Ousmark Coulibaly and Jon Marcus Duncan added goals for Jackson, which at the Sports Club. The Chargers, 15-2, meet the New York Freedoms, 3-1 winners over the Cocoa (Fla.) Expos, today at 7:30 p.m. for the championship. Jeremy Shortt added a pair of goals for the Chargers, who enjoyed one of their best offensive showings of the season. But defense played a major role in the hosts' victory.

The Knights attempted only six shots, and start-ing goalkeeperlJeremy Anderson Forward Boniventure Maruti scored four goals Friday night to power the Jackson Chargers past the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Knights 9-1 in the semifinals of the United Soccer League Premier Development League Conference tournament Meet prospects to become QBs of future at USM, State and Ole Miss. Vikings kicker Gary Anderson, on the NFL's decision to mandate harder footballs to discourage long field goals. Story, 4D.