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September 22, 2011
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Boys of summer hitting the field A new chapter was started in last year’s conference tournament when the Eastern baseball program knocked out a team that wasn’t Colorado Northwestern. After a wild victory over the Coyotes of College of Southern Nevada, USU Eastern tied a school baseball record by going four games deep in a conference tournament. With that success they rode into the summer with high expectations. The Eastern baseball program returns the majority of their pitching staff. The returning pitching staff accounted for 81 percent of last years wins. Even with losing the conference player of the year in Craig Brinkerhoff, the coaching staff addressed those recruiting needs in the off-season. Coach Scott Madsen stated, “ we didn’t lose a step in this off-season, we just re-loaded.” The team’s fall season began with the Sophomore allstar showcase, in which five Eastern players were selected to play in front of professional and university scouts. Eastern baseball was represented in the
showcase by Colter Moore, Tory Ullibarri, Kody Christoffersen, Kort Christoffersen and Nuho Kraja. All players played well, even with the pressure of playing in front of scouts. Kort Christof-
fersen added, “ it was exciting and a little nerve-racking to play in that setting, but all players from our team played well.” This past weekend, Eastern traveled to battle Salt Lake Community College, in a doubleheader, and a Chicago Cubs scout team. In the first game, Eastern jumped out to
an early 2-0 lead. Eastern starting pitcher, Tory Ullibarri, received offensive help from Nuho Kraja and Chance Abrath who both had two hits in the game. Although Eastern pounded out nine hits and showed patience at the plate (six walks), it wasn’t enough as Eastern fell 9-6 to the Bruins.
The second game was played in an absolute downpour; both teams not only battled each other but also the wetness of the playing surface, and cold temperatures. Salt Lake handled the
photos by Jessa Love Adams/The Eagle
sweather better as the Golden Eagle defense committed numerous errors and lost 10-1. In the final game of the weekend Eastern faced a Chicago Cubs scout team, coached by Gary Van Tol, who also coaches for Gonzaga, and in the Chicago Cubs minor league system. The Golden Eagles were without Head Coach Scott Madsen who had to attend to family matters. The Cubs took an early 1-0 lead, but the offense answered with a four run second inning. The Golden Eagles received strong pitching performances from Andrew Mahalik and Mason Moore. Both kept the Cubs off-balance, while showing command of all their pitches. The Golden Eagles tacked on a few more runs, and ended up winning 8-2. The pitching was benefited from the offense of Freshmen Chance Abrath, and Tait Slesk who both had three hits. In response to the game Assistant Coach KC Smurthwaite commented, “ We kept up our intensity the whole game, and that made a huge difference in how we played.” Fans can see the USU Eastern baseball team play this weekend in Price, when they host Utah State University. The Aggies will be here for a doubleheader; games start at noon Saturday, Sept. 24 and admission is free.
Mason Moore (left), Dakota Longman (center) and Ben Kraja (right), all work hard in practice to prepare for games.
Smurf Turf: Let the (retirement) party begin! KC Smurthwaite editor and chief kc.smurthwaite@eagle.ceu.edu Retirement: every working woman or working man’s dream. Sleep in. Kick back. Toss away the calendar and never look at your watch again. Time for the grandchildren and time to enjoy those AARP discounts at Burger King. It’s the prime slice of life, those golden years between punching the clock and when you’ve lost your marbles and are led away to the rest home of your children’s choice. The average American retires at the ripe age of 67. But what’s the retirement age of an athlete? Whenever they want, if they’re really good; whenever the coach and GM want if their skills are faltering and the word “cut” takes on a new and sinister meaning. But lately, we’ve seen a few unusual retirements. It’s time to pull out a few of your favorite fizzy drinks and join in the retirement party review. Leading off is disgruntled Chicago pitcher Carlos Zambrano (age 30) who called it a career after he gave up eight earned runs in 4+ innings of “work,” and got himself tossed out of the game, too. Zambrano, who has always had the calming presence in the clubhouse of say, the audience at a Justin Bieber concert, stormed
off the field, immediately cleaned out his locker and left. He announced his retirement via Twitter as he bolted the stadium. Of course, a few days later, he announced he was only kidding and wanted to come back and play some more ball. Maybe he was starting to feel the pinch of not collecting his annual salary of roughly $18.8 million a year. Hint from the Smurf: Never quit a job that pays $18.8 million a year. Never. Meanwhile, former all-star baseballer Manny Ramirez (age 39) took a more subtle approach to his retirement. In 2009, Manny served a 50-game suspension for a positive test for “performance enhancing drugs,” or in layperson’s lingo, steroids. In 2011, our buddy Manny made the bonehead mistake of taking drugs again. Instead of serving the 100-game suspension imposed by Major League Baseball for his second steroid offense, Manny announced his retirement and flew to Spain with his Pops to begin his new life. Of course, just because he isn’t a big-league ballplayer anymore doesn’t mean he isn’t hitting anymore. A couple of weeks ago, he was arrested for battery, the kind that comes when you’re punching your wife, which he allegedly did. Class act, that Manny. Drugs and a wife-beater, rolled into one lovable package. Maybe he should join ex-NBA star Shawn Kemp, another early retiree, as the only professional athletes to get their numbers retired in a drug rehab home. Not all of the retirements are caused by bad behavior or declining skills. Yao Ming (age 31) hung up his huge sneakers after two losing seasons at the doctor’s office. The 7’6” Yao was an NBA star for his first five seasons, but his last four were filled with pine time while he nursed a host of minor and major injuries. Yao, by all accounts one of the good guys in the league,
Player Highlight
Name: Whitney Fieldsted
averaged 19 points a game and nine rebounds during his career, and helped spread the name and fame of the NBA to the Far East. So for Mr. Ming, the wish is simple: Good luck in retirement and we hope you heal completely. The pro football lockout dominated headlines this summer, but when the league came back to play, it did so without quarterback Brett Farve, who retired and then changed his mind more often than a teenaged girl looks at herself in the mirror on Prom Night. Where the teenager’s behavior could be considered cute, Favre’s was not. It got old. Like Brett himself. A couple of teams are already looking for quarterbacks this season as injuries take their toll. Let’s hope none of them have Brett on speed dial and we’ll be spared the 4,987th Heartwarming Brett Favre Comeback Story. Channing Crowder was an okay, maybe okay-plus linebacker for the Miami Dolphins. He retired at the age of 27, after getting cut by the Fins, but certainly he could have hooked it up with another team. Along with his football skills, NFL beat writers will miss Crowder’s running motor of a mouth. The man was a quote factory. His retirement announcement: “I’m going to keep on playing in Miami, but not put on a football helmet.” He also once famously challenged New York Jets coach Rex Ryan and his father to a fight because the younger Ryan didn’t know who Crowder was. And then there was this classic, when ol’ Channing tried to describe the officials after his quarterback got repeatedly whacked during a game and no flags were dropped: “Stevie Wonder and Anne Frank. Who is that blind girl? Helen Keller, then. I don’t know who Anne Frank is. I’m mad right now. I’m not as swift as I usually am.” Indeed, Mr. Crowder, and we hope your swiftness
returns during your retirement golden years. Then we have the interesting retirements of Mike Vrabel (36) a star linebacker in the NFL and Shaquille O’Neal (39), the mountain of a man who played forever in the NBA. Both of them left for new jobs. Vrabel was about ready to embark on his fifteenth season in the NFL, but former college teammate and roommate Luke Fickell took over the zoo also known as the Ohio State football team and offered his old buddy a job as an assistant coach. Vrabel thought that holding a clipboard and shouting instructions was a better gig than getting blasted by 330 pound linemen, so he quickly said “yes.” Speaking of 330 pounds, O’Neal was out of work for about a month, after he decided that his NBA mojo was gone. Shaq mulled offers for several media outlets but ended up signing on as an NBA analyst along with Charles Barkley. Yes, Chuck and Shaq will be teeing it up this fall, assuming there is an NBA season. That should be interesting: Two huge men, two huge egos, two people who also happen to be very funny and insightful. (Remember, Barkley perfectly called the NBA championship series: Dallas in six.) Forget the game. Just tune in to listen to the post-game, when Chuck and Shaq undoubtedly will be more entertaining than the National Blah Association. So if you’re a professional athlete, you know your retirement day is coming fast, most likely before you’re much into your thirties. The time to plan is now. The party is on. You never know when the knee will give out, the coach goes with a younger and sleeker model, or your drug test catches up with you. As for the rest of us, I guess we’ll just keep plugging away, waiting for when the AARP application shows up in the mail. Hey, at least we’re swift enough to know who Anne Frank is. That counts for something.
Volleyball
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from University of Utah and other division one schools. Coach Warburton commented, “Some of the girls we played have previous played or still play at division one schools. A few were also All American from division one schools.” The Lady Eagles put up a good battle against the tough experienced All-Star team. The girls won the first and third game, but put a fight in the fourth and fifth game. “Our girls played great and didn’t back down. We were able to battle the whole match, and not let down,” Coach Warburton said. The team stats have the Eagles averaging 8.5 kills, 7.2 sets, and blocking 2.5. Eagles have strong girls, who fight hard on the court. There are many strong hitters and each girl contributes well to the team. This Saturday, September 24, the Lady Eagles take on Colorado Northwestern Community College at the USU-Eastern Campus. The team hopes you will support the Lady Eagles. Students with an ID card get in free. Tickets prices are $5 for general admission, children age 6-12 are $3, children five and under are free. Enjoy a bag of popcorn and cheer on your Lady Eagles.
Number: 15 Position: Outside Hometown: Altamont, UT Major: Criminal Justice Hero: Mom Something most people don’t know about you: Was my
Clothing
high school’s valedictorian
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Favorite thing about USU Eastern: Everyone is nice &
don’t look at the future before they do them. Take good care of your clothes. Avoid excessive washing. To keep my clothes looking new, I have decided to wash ones a month, so I do 12 laundries in a year. I was my underwear’s every week. Last of all, what you wear means nothing if you don’t have a good character to compliment that nice outfit. Have some confidence in yourself. Walk with your head high. Believe in yourself because if you don’t, no one would. And ask if you don’t know what to wear. There is nothing wrong in asking for help. Don’t use college as your reason to dress shabbily. Come to think of it, there won’t be a time to enjoy our self but now, when we leave college the struggle is not going to be any easier. Take advantage of your youth. Let your grandchildren look at your college pictures and say, “ wow grandma was a hottie” or grandpa had a style.
friendly Favorite thing about volleyball: Blocking Plans after USU Eastern: Continue school Favorite moment while
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playing volleyball: Blocked a girl from Northwest College & it hit her in the face.
photo by Jessa Love Adams/The Eagle
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