State College Area High School, State College, PA 2004 路 2005 Patriots clip Eagles in Super BowlBy Jeff Szk/inski
路 A celebration was LD store for the New England Patriots following their 24-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on February 6. The team from Massachusetts won its third Super Bowl in four years, a feat that was deemed near impossible in the CULTent era of football. Nearing the end of the
game and trailing 24-2 1, the Eagles were driving but had problems managing the clock to preserve time to get down the field for a score. Because of this, Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb received criticism following the game. With the Patriot victory, it marked only the second time that a team had won
three super bowls in a span of four years, the other being the Dallas Cowboys in the mid 90's. Offensive and defensive coordinators Romeo Croonel and Charlie Weiss left the team following the Super Bowl. Croonel headed to the Cleveland Browns and Weiss left to take over the head coaching job at Notre Dame.
19-year-old Phelps inked an advertising deal with Speedo and visited State College in October as pm1 of Disney's Swim with the Stars tour. American eyes were also focused on gymnastics. Conflict racked the men's individual event as a scoring eLTor threatened to revoke American Paul Hamm's all-around medal in favor of South Korean athlete Yang Tae-young. The Court of Arbitration for Sport fi nally settled the dispute in Octobe r, upholding the
judges' miginal decision. Sixteen-year-oldgymnast Carly Patterson enjoyed the celebrity without the controversy as she became the second American to win gold in the women's all around event. She also helped her peers to take home tbe silver medal in the women's team event. Television ratings were up 15% from the 2 Games in Sydney, while ticket sales have topped figures from the Seoul and Barcelona Ol ympics.
aids rock Major League Baseball ~Bran igan
ear baseball came :utiny for the use .s by its athletes to their performance. [ajor League player :anseco publicly .t he and others had ~oid s at some point eir career. Canseco Jook about steroid >aseball and cited cGwire as having y taken steroids .. He also said that
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it was not uncommon to see major leaguer's taking the enhancing drugs. Soon after allegations arose regarding other athletes. Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis led discussions of a house panel in Washington DC investigating steroid use in Major League Baseball. One player, New York Yankee slugger Jason G iambi, adm itted to taking steroids during his career.
McGwire and Sammy Sosa, along with commissioner other Bud Selig and baseball executives attended the hearings on March 18 to discuss the steroid use in baseball and how new testing for steroids could be used. Devil Rays short stop Alex Sanchez was the first major league baseball player to receive a suspension for testing positive in a steroid screening.
By Erica Ha viland
Despite initial concerns over the preparations for the 2004 Olympics, viewers and organizers alike commended the smooth organization of the Games, which attracted a record 11 ,099 athletes to Athens, Greece. As usual, the United States Jed the 202 participating countries with I 03 total medals. Michael Phelps was the undoubted star of the American swi mming team, garnering six gold medals and two bronze. Enjoyi ng his Olympic celebrity status,