Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 15

1 Sports A's roll along Ddri't look now, but the A's have won four straight games, Page B3 'f Saturday, August 22, 1998 Scoreboard, B4 Business, B5 Section Editor Dan Fitch 429-2446 jAt jonn uanzano Tragedy soars with we meat Deaths of high school football players leave parents with nothing but questions Mathew Whittredge, 15, far left, collapsed during practice on Monday and died Tuesday. Robert Alexander left, also died Tuesday in Kansas. Heat stroke was ruled as the official cause of death of both football players. fey By ROXANA HEGEMAN The Associated Press WICHITA, Kan. Matthew Whittredge was no quitter.

The 15-year-old sophomore showed up at the first day of football practice Monday at Circle High School in Towanda, determined to give it his best shot again. Matthew didn't quit the football team last year after the seniors ordered him and the other freshmen to roll in the mud. He didn't leave the track team when he couldn't win. And he stayed on the basketball team even though he wasn't very good at that, either. About 30 miles away, Robert "Alex" Barrett member of the band.

The temperatures were up over 100, however, and before the afternoon was over, the two teen-agers were fighting for their lives in the hospital. On Tuesday, they died, just hours apart. The boys' deaths from heat stroke have left their families looking for answers and wondering whether the safety guidelines for hot-weather practices need to be rethought. Dorothy Whittredge said she hopes some good can come out of her son's death. She said that schools put too much emphasis on sports and that something is wrong with the safety Please see DEATHS Page B2 also showed up for his first day of football year-old senior longed to make the team after practice at Southeast High in Wichita.

The 17- three years of watching from the sideline as a Sosa sends SF into despair 7S V'. -J-f. tt'" Or, VI The Associated Press Sammy Sosa follows flight of his 49th home run of the year, a drive that proved a Giant-killer. By JIM VAN VUET Sacramento Bee CHICAGO The company line says there's still a lot of ball to play. But as the despondent Giants limped out of that economy-sized steam room called Wrigley Field Friday, you could almost hear "Taps" playing in the background.

Under an agonizing barrage of broken-bat bloopers, the Giants watched in abject misery as the Cubs scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to pull out a 6-5 victory. It was the Giants' third loss in four games on this muggy road trip and sent them spinning four games behind in the National League wildcard race. Nobody was prepared to wave a white flag. But there were plenty of long faces to go around as the Giants prepared to board a plane for Miami. "This is one of the toughest losses in a while," manager Dusty Baker said.

"Nothing but bloops and broken bats." And broken hearts. On a day when you could have poached perch in the on-deck circle, the Giants used Charlie Hayes' clutch two-run, eighth-inning double to take a 5-4 lead to the, bottom of the ninth. With stopper Robb Nen eyeing his 32nd save, the Giants were primed to earn a split of the quick two-game series. But like Baker said, "It seems like Please see GIANTS Page B3 NL Wildcard race Team I Pet GB Chicago 71 57 .555 NY Mets 71 57 .555 Giants 67 61 .523 4 Los Angeles, 64 64 .500 7 FRIDAY'S RESULT CUBS 6, GIANTS 5: Giants' closer Robb Nen is tagged for two ninth-in-ning runs. TODAY'S GAME Pardon me while I wag IF President Clinton was simply trying to 'wag the dog' by bombing a perennial World Cup loser, it backfired.

Ordinarily we wouldn't let politics, every newspaper's red-light district, ooze onto the sports pages. Ordinarily we reserve this space for sportsfans who want to escape from whatever scandal Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Jerry Springer happen to be kicking around. We resist the temptation to join in the Lewinsky-Clinton Starr wars because there are more interesting (and honest) things happening on diamonds, courts, fields and courseseven with the President interrupting our Monday Night Football fix. And we have better scandals and 'wag the dog' scenarios barking across the daily sports wire services and local little league board meetings. What good is Lewinsky when you've got Harding and Schott? Why would you need Starr when you've got Selig? And Clinton is a liar, but he'll never be Sprewell or a little league mom.

And if its bad soccer you're after, don't talk about Sudan, we've got plenty of that right here in the United States. You may not have seen Chicago's Glenallen Hill smile after he helped beat the Gi- ants 7-3 with his pinch-hit grand 'Why slam on Thursday, but that's nothing would you new. Hill, who team-need Stai mates insist is light-hearted and when good for clubhouse atmosphere, told you've got me in a recent in- terview that he Selig? hangs his stone- cold game face next to his uniform in the locker room. "That's a game-time thing," said Hill, who now has five career grand slams. "I'm all business out there.

People who really know me see a different side." Following his big hit Hill received a Sammy Sosa-like standing ovation from the Wrigley Field crowd and had to be coaxed out of the dugout by teammates before waving to the 37,803 fans. Hill, a Santa Cruz High graduate, also told me that he thinks he could have played professional football if he hadn't chosen to sign with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1983. "There's no doubt in my mind that I would be in the NFL right now," said Hill, who gave up a two-sport scholarship to Arizona State to sign. "No doubt." an Las Vegas oddsmakers have installed the San Francisco 49ers overunder on regular season. victories at 11.

With eight NFC West gimmes, take the over. The same oddsmakers have the Raiders at overunder Vk regular season wins. Considering Jon Gru-den (San Francisco, Green Bay, Philadelphia) has never coached for a loser, take the over, but barely. on With four ex-49ers on its broadcast team, CBS is starting to look more and more like the Kansas City Chiefs or Denver Broncos. After thinking more about the passing of legendary sports columnist Jim Murray inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987 and known to be a man of truth I'm not so sure Pete Hose belongs in such company.

With non-conference college football games against Louisiana Tech, Alabama-Birmingham and Cal, I'm picking Nebraska to go undefeated. That is, unless they trip over Big 12 foes Missouri, Kansas and Texas and end up playing New Mexico in Nashville's Music City Bowl. Stanford (too young) and Cal (no defense) will filter down and settle in the bottom half of the Pae-10 fishbowl. And San Jose State has Big West talent. Sadly, they find themselves playing in the WAC.

in As for politics seeping into the sports pages, maybe as punishment for being a liar Congress should force President Clinton to coach the Warriors or umpire a Little League All-Star tournament next season. On second thought, I think there's a law against cruel punishment. John Canzano is a Sentinel staff writer. He can be reached by email: Or by fax at 429-9620. Giants (Darwin 7-10) at Marlins (Sanchez 6-7), 4:05 p.m.

TV: 2 So far Raiders, Gruden just fine ItaaiKMiiitkimrfri i s.rJ 1 ifcniniiiiTifiMl a ht4'ifiifi-i'' Yin The Associated Press Mark McGwire uses a medicine ball as part of his pregame warmup routine. pS3 7 I Jon Gruden began his coaching career in the NFL with the 49ers and Green Bay. By MILO F. BRYANT Fresno Bee NAPA It's no secret the Oakland Raiders had a problem last season. They didn't know what winning felt like.

They didn't know how to win. And obviously they were not taught how to win in a 4-12 season under former coach Joe Bugel. The problem started here a year ago. It was comical watching Bugel hobble around training camp, pat a guy on the butt and tell him how good he is and how good he will be. The only time Bugel really did any coaching was with the offensive line.

It isn't a surprise that Bugel is out of Oakland and coaching somebody else's offensive line. But it was a shock to see Al Davis actually follow through on a year-long threat and hire Jon Gruden, who started his pro coaching education across the Bay at the dreaded University of the 49ers and got his degree from Packers State. Davis is anything but stupid. He went to school on Gruden and found that every pro team that employed him San Francisco, Green Bay and Philadelphia revered his work ethic and approach to teaching details. Please see RAIDERS Page B2 mm any other testosterone booster.

Nor does Boston slugger Mo Vaughn. "Anything illegal is definitely wrong," Vaughn said. "But if you get something over the counter and legal, guys in that power-hitter position are going to use them. Strength is the key to maintaining and gaining endurance for 162 games. The pitchers keep getting bigger and stronger." Andres Galarraga, Atlanta's top home run hitter, said he would be "scared" to take a drug like Androstenedione.

"I do my weight (lifting) and take my vitamins. That's it," he said. "You have to be careful what you take. It could cause secondary problems with your body." Shot putter Randy Barnes, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist By STEVE WILSTEIN The Associated Press SITTING on the top shelf of Mark McGwire's locker, next to a can of Popeye spinach and packs of sugarless gum, is a brown bottle labeled An-drostenedione. For more than a year, McGwire says, he has been using the testosterone-producing pill, which is perfectly legal in baseball but banned in the NFL, Olympics and the NCAA.

No one suggests that McGwire wouldn't be closing in on Roger Maris' home run record without the over-the-counter drug. After all, he hit 49 homers without it as a rookie in 1987, and more than 50 each of the past two seasons. But the drug's ability to raise levels of the male hormone, which builds lean muscle mass Muscle-building drugs like 'andro' are illegal for Olympians, but all the rage in Major League baseball Hogge IV gathers yet another victory and world record-holder, recently drew a lifetime ban for using Androstenedione. Barnes claimed he wasn't told about the ban until after his out-of-competition drug test on April 1. Barnes is appealing the decision.

Baseball bans only illegal drugs as does the NBA, and the reason in both cases has nothing to do with competitive fairness or health. The players associations and management in both sports simply haven't agreed on ways of dealing with the issue. "Obviously, if there's more research and it's shown that it's harmful, we'll make people aware," baseball spokesman Rich Levin said of Androstenedione. Numerous studies suggest there are dangers asso- Please see MUSCLE MEN Page B2 and promotes recovery after injury, is seen outside baseball as cheating and potentially dangerous. "Everything I've done is natural.

Everybody that I know in the game of baseball uses the same stuff I use," said McGwire, who also takes the popular muscle-builder Creatine, an amino acid powder. However, many other players insist they do not take Androstenedione (pronounced Andro-steen1-clie-own), although the use of other supplements is common. Sammy Sosa, close to McGwire in the homer chase, uses Creatine after games to keep up his weight and strength. For energy before games he takes the Chinese herb ginseng. But Sosa said he doesn't use Androstenedione or By RON O'DELL Sentinel correspondent WATSONVILLE An error in judgment cost Jim Pettit II a victory Friday night at the Watsonville Speedway, as he gave the better line to his nemesis, Prunedale's Bobby Hogge IV, on a restart in the Grand-American Modified feature division race.

Hogge took advantage and scored his sixth win of the season, eking out four more points over Pettit for the track championship. He now leads by 27 points. Even if Hogge hadn't taken the lead and had finished second, he would have maintained his point margin because he earned two more points than Pettit in the preliminaries. "We kind of misread the track tonight," Pettit said, thinking that the edition of the visiting Northern Stars Tour Minisprints series would have left the track in a slicker condition, mcaing the inside groove would have been the ideal lane for restarts. But the outside stayed good, and Hogge was able to hang on and get Please see SPEEDWAY Page B2.