The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 41

CThe (Charlotte Sunday February 7 1993 SECTION At midseason Hornets better than average By RICK BONNELL Staff Writer For their first four seasons the Charlotte Hornets had to learn to play without a center This first half of their fifth season has been about the Hornets learning to play with one Having crossed the midseason point last week the Hornets are 23-20 and on a four-game winning streak been better than any previous Hornets team but have also occasionally disappointed themselves by blowing fourth-quarter leads with shaky poise Star forward Larry Johnson who this week was named to start in the NBA All-Star Game put it well when he said his team is in a good spot not a great to earn its first playoff berth Kendall Gill rates his performance a B-plus if we make the Gill added "An A-plus if we win it where this team stands: Chemistry: This is not a team in turmoil But it is going through growing pains Gill for instance very popular among his teammates these days after USA Today columnist Peter Vecsey quoted a source close to Gill as saying Muggsy Bogues try hard enough to get him good shots Gill said again Friday he know where Vecsey got his information Gill apologized to his teammates dissociating himself from speculation Still the hurt feelings will take time to mend a professional got to deal with Gill said take it like a Friction of one sort or another is to be expected A lot of talent has been added over the past three seasons and adjustments have to be made Center Kenny Gattison who gave up his starting spot to Mourning without a gripe described the situation well recently got young guys Larry Zo Kendall who have star Gattison said we have veterans They might not be marquee guys in the league but we know what to Sometimes there just enough shots for three budding stars much less the veterans backing them up Alonzo Mourning has been far more of a scorer than the Hornets anticipated But Please see Hornetspage 4D Petty wheels to Daytona pole Jarrett starts on outside By LIZ CLARKE Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH Fla They grew up sharing swing sets and see-saws in the infield of Daytona International Speedway as their fathers whipped around the track that formed their playground's boundary Next Sunday Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett third and second-generation stock car drivers will start the Daytona 500 from the front row Petty whose grandfather and father each have won the race drove his Pontiac to his first Daytona pole Saturday with a qualifying lap of Petty 189 426 mph Jarrett in a Chevrolet was just four-hundredths of a second slower hitting 189 274 mph for the outside pole It was a sweet reward for the drivers who slammed into each other during last year's 125-mile qualifying race for same event That crash mangled their best cars and sent them to the back of the field with Petty starting 33rd Jarrett 35th Starting positions three through 30 will be set Thursday in the GatoradeTwin 125-mile qualifying races The final 10 positions will be awarded based on qualifying laps No one was pleased with speeds which were well off those set in the preseason and even previous testing run was the slowest to take the Daytona 500 pole since 1978 Restrictor plates used at Daytona since 1988 have sharply curbed speeds NASCAR officials slowed cars even more this year by raising the angle of the rear spoiler which adds down-force to the rear end and causes drag Speeds crept up to 191 mph Friday as drivers practiced in packs But once cars set out to qualify alone with no draft to cut the air ahead of them those practice speeds proved deceptive think a lot of people get fooled in practice as to how fast be able to go" Jarrett said The thick damp Daytona air and swirling winds slowed cars even more So drivers hung low on the track hugging the white line that Please see 500page 6D Heels heal Bigger not really better for sports One of the 10 best players in basketball weighs 300 pounds What are they feeding kids nowadays fertilizer? Moms used to tell their young to eat their carrots and grow up to be big and strong And they did fine broths 6 feet tall 180 pounds Players that size used to get the letter sweaters and the girls Nowadays coaches worry that one that small might not be big enough to play point guard In football the waterboy or the statistician Unless very fast in which case a defensive back stuck out there where he can tippytoe and doesn't have to rassle with the big boys Athletes are getting bigger and stronger every year Hulks who play basketball today used to be the football players and those who play football today used to be the circus strongmen At the risk of having my tongue tied to a Stairmaster by some weight coach put me on record as saying basketball and football are suffering from all that bntch-es-busting growth It altered college football as much as it has the pro game but eventually it will College players are already huge Schools like Notre Dame and Oklahoma might have an offensive line averaging close to 300 pounds Defenses are like mountain ranges too but because the skill level is lower colleges can still have a running game Pros There are some exceptions in the NFL of course but for the most part defenses are just too big andquick for a running game to click consistently Backs jitterbug around looking for a hole then splat against a hairy wall of humanity and everybody boos the coach for such a stupid call You want 3 yards and a cloud of plastic of course but the game is best when balanced Size means injuries Close to 500 players missed at least one game with injuries in 1993 More than two dozen of those were quarterbacks Golden arms like John Elway Joe Montana Berme Kosar Warren Moon and Phil Simms were among the players lost to a game that thrives on glamor Quarterbacks are vulnerable and when hit by 240-pound linebackers or 280-pound linemen moving at top speed something akin to falling down an elevator shaft Bad things can happen basketball The Hornets played the Milwaukee Bucks here Friday night Charlotte's Mike Gminski 6-11 257 pounds even play because Alonzo Mourning 6-1 0 240 and Kenny Gattison 6-8 255 played ahead of him Dan 6-11 235 even play because Dan Schayes 6-1 1 276 and Frank Brickowski 6-9 248 played Basketball is supposed to be a game of finesse but as the players have grown bigger and wider play around the hoop in the NBA has turned into legal assault and battery Shaquille is a baby in the NBA a rookie but already a major force and an all-star Because not only is he talented 7-2 300 pounds Any time he wants a rebound he can just reach down and fetch one Muscle is becoming fashionable in college hoops too After the Duke-North Carolina game last week a pro scout said "It looked like the Big East had sneaked in The Big East is a league noted for low scores and a high rate of muggings The ACC is getting there fast Sit near a basket and listen It sounds like football when all mose big bodies collide and people are grunting and cursing and growling Not what James Nais-mith had in mind in 1891 when he hung the peach baskets and put nine men on each side You put nine of these Schwarzeneggers on each team now and be safer in a dock fight So what lies ahead7 What happens to the games when the players are 8 feet tall weigh 400 pounds and run like deer? probably have to drop football and basketball and invent new games like Toss The Anvil or Uproot The Tree or Crush The Truck MARK SLUDERStaff Turkey talk: NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt away from the racing with his wife Teresa during the offseason Earnhardt is a scene enjoys spending time on his 300-acre Mooresville farm five-time Winston Cup champion READY TO FLY Back in the saddle Earnhardt hoping for more horsepower in By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer CODDLE CREEK One of Dale favorite ways to relax during offseason has been to mount his horse LeeRoy and ride about the 300-acre farm he owns in the rolling wooded hills of Iredell County amazes me" said Earnhardt can walk a foot log OF LeeRoy gets me where I want to Earnhardt who probably would have been a gun fighting lawman in the Old West a century ago is a striking figure on a horse But what Earnhardt fans want to know is how history for the previous champion "I feel good 1 think we're going to come back really Earnhardt 41 said as he showed visitors the new 5000-square foot log and stone Ponderosa-like house he and his wife Teresa hope to occupy on the farm by March looks like got the engine problems solved that hurt us so bad last year tested really well the past couple months know that a lot of people wonder what went wrong in Our engines broke We were working to get more horsepower out of the Please see Earnhardtpage 6D tall in the saddle will he sit when the 30-race Winston Cup seasons begins next Sunday with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida And will his Chevrolets fielded by the Richard Childress-owned team based in Welcome get him where he wants to go back in contention for a championship worth a minimum $1 5 million7 The Earnhardt-Childress tandem widely favored to take a third straight title in 1992 instead faded to 12th place in the standings 504 points behind winner Alan Kulwicki the biggest jioints drop in NASCAR Wolfpack helps Tar By LEONARD LAYE Sports Editor CHAPEL HILL They were getting a reputation as the gang that shoot straight Not nearly as straight as usual anyway Forced to reach for other weapons North Tar Heels dug in defensively Saturday and wound up regaining their touch in the process in a 104-58 ACC basketball victory over State "It certainly helps our confidence to see some of our guys hitting some threes playing good defense and everyone enjoying themselves" Tar Heels guard Henrik Rodl said The Tar Heels (18-3 7 used the win as a springboard to go a half game up in the ACC ahead of Wake Forest and Florida State (each 6-2) More importantly they used it as a recovery game after back-to-back losses to the Deacons and Duke Smothering defense long a priority for coach Dean teams became even more critical as subpar shooting began to dull North attack in the past six games The Tar Heels went into that stretch leading the nation in field goal percentage but dipjred under 50 in each of those games That didn't figure to be a major problem in the Please see UNCpage 9D.