L O S
M EDAN OS
C OL L E G E
Sports
Quotable
E X P E R I E N C E
FRIDAY,
JAN.
24,
2014
5
“Sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to inspire.”
— Nelson Mandela
Stangs’ season: hot ’n’ cold
Photo by Cathie Lawrence
Mustang forward Marcus Walton takes off for a lay-up in an 82-70 victory over Bay Valley conference rivals Contra Costa College Comets last week.
Men back on track after tough string of losses In the team’s string of close defeats, it was without important role player forward Ramiro It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Contreras due to injury. “He means hustle, which is the Los Medanos College men’s basketball. most important skill in any sport The team heated up early and began “The you play,” LMC coach Derek Dothe 2013-14 season with a 10-2 record, menichelli said. “He competes at a and at one point were ranked tenth in league is high level of intensity every single the state and fifth in Northern Cali- getting His intensity wins fornia in the California Community better.. Los possession… us games, and then it makes the College Athletic Association polls. other players play hard because But after entering conference play Medanos he’s playing so hard… It makes against Bay Valley opponents, the is much our coaches even coach harder Mustangs lost four of five games and better [from] watching him play… He is fell off the CCCAA rankings. an extremely, extremely valuable Two of those four losses were by a now.” — Doug Cornelius player to our team.” difference of one point, and another In LMC’s victory to Napa Valley, was by only three. Now things are looking up for the Mustangs, Contreras scored 16 points off the bench. “I’m feelin’ good, I’m just playin’ my game as they have won back-to-back; most recently and getting wins with my team, “ Contreras a 73-66 win against Napa Valley at home. By LUKE JOHNSON
Ljohnson@lmcexperience.com
said. “It’s a team win, not just ‘cause of me.” Suffering from an injured achilles tendon, guard Zack Corby has missed the past four games. Corby is second in points (14.3) and rebounds (7.8) per game, and third in assists (3.2) per game in statistically recorded contests for the Mustangs. Corby is one of the team’s deep threats. Along side guard Drew Cones and forward “Make It” Wayne Engelstad, the Mustangs oppose other its Bay Valley competitors as the best three point shooting team. All three players are averaging more than three 3-pointers in games that have been statistically recorded. “We’re a good shooting team. We get hot… You can’t rely on the three, but we definitely need it,” LMC forward Marquis Aaron said, who is averaging 5.3 points. The team is now halfway through conference play and sit in third in the BVC with a 4-4 record
(13-6 overall). The toughest team they will have to face is Yuba, who is 8-0 (14-4 overall). “This league is just getting better… Los Medanos is much better now,” Yuba coach Doug Cornelius “We knew it was going to be tough [playing LMC]… Thank God we got past them.
Photo by Cathie Lawrence
Drew Cones takes on a Yuba opponent
Baseball HOF controversy Steven Luke
Dakotah Zabroski
QUIETLY THINKING
BROSKI’S CORNER
BBWA writers No PED’s in need to own up the Hall of Fame Photo by Cathie Lawrence
Head coach Richard Villegas gives a game speech to motivate his team.
LMC looks to finish on high note By DAKOTAH ZABROSKI
dzabroski@lmcexperience.com
After recently losing ten of eleven games, the Mustangs women’s basketball team won a back-and-forth game in commanding fashion over the Napa Valley Storm and has now won two out of three. For most of the game, LMC went back and forth for the lead. The game was either tied or the lead changed every minute. The Mustangs started off
shooting well but cooled down as the game progressed. The team got hot at the right time and resumed their hot shooting as the game was coming to an end. At about five minutes left in the game, LMC put their foot on the gas and put away the game. At one point, LMC was down 51-54 with the second half coming to an end and LMC played their A-game as the final score was 73-64. “The last five minutes we were determined to win, we
didn’t want to lose again, so we came together,” said Forward Ashawnti Bloodsaw. LMC tweaked their game plan toward the end of the game and it paid off for them. “I knew they would be pressing so we wanted to attack their press. Once we got past them, we were able to get a lot of lay-ups at the end,” said head coach Richard Villegas. LMC fired on all cylinders and made their coaches happy See BALL, page 6
The Hall of Fame (HOF) of Major League Baseball (MLB) in Cooperstown, New York has a big issue, some of the greatest statistical players in the history of the game are up for enshrinement. This should be a no-brainer, but the cloud of steroid suspicion that surrounds them has turned the Baseball Writers of America (BBWA), who vote for who is enshrined into the HOF, into moral gatekeepers. My issue with the HOF has little to do with the BBWA and who they choose to enshrine or not, but has everything to do with the inability of MLB to make a decision on whether or not players who are suspected of using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Why should the weight of the world fall only on the shoulders of the BBWA? Why doesn’t the MLB make a decision on who should or shouldn’t be allowed into their HOF? The writers who make up the votes in the See BBWA, page 6
Anyone who has been linked to steroids should not be inducted to the hall of fame, plain and simple. If anyone in the Hall of Fame comes out and admits to using ‘roids or has gotten in trouble for ‘roids then they should be taken out of the hall of fame. Yes, one may say, “well, everyone in the league is doing it, so what’s the big deal?” The Big deal is that it is ruining the game in many aspects. I know this cliché is lame and overused but, if one person jumped off a bridge, would you? Just because everyone is doing something doesn’t make it okay. First of all, it ruins the integrity of the game; it isn’t fair to clean players such as new inductee Frank Thomas and future hall of famer Ken Griffey Jr. To me, if you can overcome an unfair game and still succeed, then that is a true hall of famer. It is also bad for the youth who look up to players on performance enhancing drugs. See PED, page 6