Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 42

ZL) wwwslar-telegramcom Star-Telegram I Tuesday Junuary 28 2003 CHAT ROOM SPORTS FIGURES SOUND OFF ON VARIOUS TOPICS Today's talk Today's tube tip Texas (10-5 2-2 Big 12) visits Oklahoma (13-3 4-1) in a Big 12 basketball game at 6 tonight on ESPN2 The Aggies are led by senior Bernard King who needs 10 points to become all-time leading scorer Today's sure thing Super Bowl blowout by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and defensive end Warren Sapp right was one for the ages According to Orlando Sen tmel writer David Whitley "The Bucs dismembered one of the best offenses in NFL history If they hadn't allowed two long touchdown passes after taking a 34-3 lead be comparing the Bucs to things like the Great Wall of China or the polio vac cine Now those were great defenses" KRTSH0UN A HILL said that all streaks come to an end Dion Rich a 73-year-old travel and real estate agent from San Diego had snuck into every Super Bowl game except 1969 when he went skiing -without a ticket That changed Sunday Police visited Rich at his home early in the week They photographed him and told him he would have to buy a ticket to get into the game On Sunday police met him at his house escorted him to the game and walked with him through the turnstiles to verify that his ticket was ripped Rich had gotten past security at times by posing as a coach official and stadium worker He was the subject of a Sports Illustrated column after he slipped past post-Sept 11 security at last year's Super Bowl allow teams to dream too The Fort Worth Rampage a new United Professional Football League team will have tryouts Saturday at Bartlett Park in Burleson More information can be obtained by sending e-mail to ftworthrampageoneboxcom calling (866) 204-2018 (ext 1011) The Fort Worth Texans of the North American Football League are holding open tryouts every Saturday 3 pm and Thursday at 7 pm at the Lake Worth Youth Field which is located at the corner of NW Loop 820 and Azle Avenue in Lake Worth For more information call (817) 798-8558 Of course every needs are different and some clubs are easier to make than the next But in any case a shot for wannabe stars who think they have what it takes and want to prove it always find a player in tryouts but you never who you might Scott said main thing we want to do is give a guy an honest professional opinion and in return we hope they can learn something from what we New park new name The future home of the Frisco RoughRiders is no longer simply known the new ballpark Frisco has tabbed its new stadium Pepper7up Ballpark in a deal with Plano-based Dr Pepper7up Inc and Irving-based Dr Pepper Bottling Co of Texas The deal is good for 10 years with an A I i I I PLAYING A RUNDOWN OF TV option for five more Still fading The frustration continues to mount for the Dallas Sidekicks who are on the verge of the worst season in team history For the second time in as many home games against the Milwaukee Wave the Sidekicks (6-18) lost in overtime falling 8-6 Saturday after blowing a 6-4 fourth-period lead The Sidekicks have either been tied -or within a goal of an opponent in the final minute of 11 losses the crucial moments of the game uncertain We lack Sidekicks playercoach Tatu said The Sidekicks need to gain some confidence quickly Dallas is 3 games behind San Diego for the final playoff spot and will face the Sockers at home Saturday The Sidekicks missed the playoffs since 1991 Don't blame Flicker The Brahmas (8-29-4) continued their woeful ways with a pair of losses in Indianapolis over the weekend but the play of goal tender Jason Fricker is worth noting Fricker came on in relief of Erasmo -Saltarelli on Friday and stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 5-2 loss I le turned aside 42 of 46 shots Saturday hi a 4-1 loss Damien Pierce writes about the minor leagues every Tuesday Correspondent Rick Mauch contributed to this report Damien Pierce (817) 548-5442 dpiercePstarteleqramcom ON THE AIR AND RADIO HICI ILIGHTS Tryouts After years of finding little at tryouts Fort Worth Cats president Marty Scott still holds out hope He believes one day find an undiscovered baseball star and ink him to a deal The kid will then land in an farm system and eventually reach the big leagues It happened yet but no reason to think it happen all looking for that guy that went to an obscure college and just get a Scott said found him yet but going to be a guy that comes along like that We just want to be the team that finds So does every other team Whether the sport is baseball football soccer or basketball every minor-league team has the same aspiration when it comes to tryouts: Find athletes who have gone previously unnoticed Expansion teams such as the Fort Worth Rampage of the United Professional Football League look for players to fill out a roster while teams like the Cats are simply looking for that one player who might elevate them in a pennant race Every team typically receives phone calls or tapes about such prospects and they usually prove to be dead ends But minor-league teams continually look often through tryouts take them very Dallas Sidekicks director of public relations Herman Hudson said typically get interest from all over the world and we POSTCARD FROM THE ROAD Greetings from Lawrence Kan You know I live north of the Red River Maybe north of Denton come to think of it is about as far toward the Pole as I could exist We landed at Kansas City International on Sunday afternoon at about 430 You know about the time the temperature peaks each afternoon According to our pilot it was a balmy 18 degrees Personally I think his information was old judging from the blast of arctic air that hit me in the face when I emerged from the terminal seeking the first little green bus I could find But the tipoff that it was really cold was the line of unwashed rental cars at the Emerald Isle Lines frozen No water THE LIST IN will at for Minor League Insider BY DAMIEN PIERCE Nearly every minor-league franchise uses tryouts as a tool to find players and it's a practice that dissappear anytime soon give as many guys as we can a shot We have them go through agility drills and then we see how they do against our own players If they do well a good chance they will make the The Sidekicks holding tryouts again for several months but several area organizations already have mapped some out: The Central Baseball League which includes the Fort Worth Cats hold tryouts March 6-7 at St University in San Antonio Registration is 730 am to 8 am March 6 and more information can be received by contacting Nick Belmonte nmbelmonteworldnetattnet The Texas Rim Rockers Fort new United States Basketball League team has workouts scheduled Feb 15 at the Fonde Recreation Center in Houston Contact the Rim Rockers at (888) 316-9679 The big pond outside the Marriott you could have walked across Though I Deeply frozen and topped with what looked to be a few inches of powdered sugar I mean even the Kansas and Missouri rivers had huge chunks of ice floating in them Monday as I crossed them on the drive here A sheet on the birdbath at home is notable get me wrong I enjoy the small forages into the northernmost parts of the old Big Eight But be looking forward to getting back to Texas I hear its going to be close to 70 degrees down there Maybe flip some burgers on the grill Pass the sun screen Mike Jones THE BLEACHERS or at as Dr Brandon Slay Olympic wrestling champion Brandon Slay is the most accomplished amateur wrestler to come out of Texas Slay was a state champion for Amarillo Tascosa High School and a two-time NCAA finalist He went on to win the 2000 US freestyle title at 1675 pounds and a spot on the US Olympic team In the gold-medal match of the 2000 Olympic Games he lost a controversial 4-0 decision to Alexander Leipold Two weeks later the International Olympic Committee announced that Leipold had tested positive for steroids and the gold medal was awarded to Slay Slay 27 took time off from wrestling after the Olympics but in August returned to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado In December he returned to Amarillo and is now quite retired Through his Amarillo business Greater Gold he does motivational speaking and runs wrestling camps His Web site is wwwbran-donslaycom Why did you return to the Olympic Training Center? I felt a little tingle inside of me that I might want to wrestle again I figured 26 not married I have any kids and I still feel good I needed to go out there and try If I have put those four months in I would have always wondered What made you decide to come home? I as hungry as I used to be I like wrestling I like going to practice I like lifting weights But not what wins You have to be borderline possessed where all-encompassing in your life I get more passion now from speaking to a group of 500 kids and seeing them really listen Did the fact that you already are an Olympic champion make it harder to continue wrestling? a lot harder because your not the same When you get second at NCAAs twice not there yet really hungry and willing to do anything to get there Now been there So you are officially retired Right now inside I feel like that but the competitor part of me finds it real hard to say It makes me sad and I think why hard for me to say retired been doing this since I was 6 Knowing the never going to blow the whistle again hard to swallow' What do you think of the reduction in the number of weight classes in the Olympics? (The IOC added wrestling with four weight classes for 2004 while dropping one weight class The men also lost weight classes between 19 and 2000)0bviously it upsets me In high school you have 15 weight classes then you go to college and it drops to 10 Now in the Olympics you only have seven classes Your opportunity decreases When kids get older not a place for a lot of them to continue because the opportunity there We only take seven freestyle wrestlers now Just that one weight-class difference has ended a lpt of careers 1 Heidi Pederson WEEKLY GAME PLAN EVERYTHING FANS NEED TO SCHEDULE TI IEIR SPORTING WEEK JUST WINCE BABY A look at some of the headlines nationally after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers overpowering Super Bowl victory against Al Oakland Raiders: Trophy Bucs Times Leader Wilkes Barre Pa Bucs Steal the Treasure The New York Times Easy Pickings Orange Count Register Black Eye San Jose Mercury-News Yesl The Tampa Tribune Mega Bucs The Washington Post Champ-A-Bay Times of Northwest Indiana A Chuckler For Chucky The Tuscaloosa News Championsl St Petersburg Times Black and Blue San Francisco Examiner A Nation Mourns San Francisco Chronicle SPORTS STAFF HOWlOKEAt II US Senior Deputy Editor Cody Bailey (817) 390-7383 cbaileystar-telegram com Sports Editor Celeste Williams (817) 390-7697 cxwilliamsdistar telegramcom Managing Editor Ellen Alfano (817) 390 7093 ealfanostar telegram com David Humphrey (817) 390-7162 telegramcom Deputy Sports Editors Tom Johannmgmeier (817) 685 3860 tjohanningmeiefstar telegramconj' oh and look! This is completely spontaneous! The doctor has pulled a Sharpie out of his sock and is signing an David Wellham (817) 390-7817 dwellhamstar-telegfamcom E3 tm.