1. Ulat ne Or(L m IacL eEnDtl
his sport. Rafter, I am disheut-
ened to kncnv nw ttd Rose
had been lyurg all along when
he so fervently insisted upon his
irurocence.
I'11 freety admit that I was
one of those who, deep down,
really wanted to believe that
Rose was irmocent, and that
Major League Baseball had
been trying to railroad him
because current Commissioner
Bud Selig had a personal beef
with the guy.
Rose had pulled offthe moth-
er of all bluffs there. And he
had a kind of likeable poker
face to go along with it. I guess
he finally came to terms with
the fact that he held a losing
hand, and decided to fold.
Although it makes me mad as
heck, I'm glad he did.
Now we can get on with the
business of determining his
place in the game.
If the decision were left up to
we the fans, I'd probably vote to
deny Rose the pleasure, since
he showed how much resPect he
had for his fans by convincingly
lying to them.
But it is Major League
Baseball that will ultimately
decide Rose's fate. And person-
ally, I don't beljeve that organi-
zation is qualified to render
such a judgement.
Let me tell you why.
Baseball has waflled on at
least two previous cases deserv-
ing of a lifetime ban.
One is retired Major League
pitcher Steve Howe, who acfual-
ly received a lifetime ban, brief
as it was.
Howe, in fact, had been
slapped with seven separate
drug-related suspensions
throughout his Major League
career and was banished from
ball clubs l1 times for violating
league drug use and abuse poli-
cles.
But his exile lasted a mere
five months, from June to
November 1992, after then
MLB Commissioner Fay
Vincent apparently saw fit to
lift the ban and allow the drug
abuser back in the game.
Apparently, Howeb lawyer con-
vinced the league that the
cocaine he snorted helped the
guy deal with his diagrrosed
Attention Deficit Disorder
(ADD).
Maybe Vincent was just
another gullible bleeding heart
who believed in giving a guy
one more chance, say best of
nine out of 10? Either that or
mental health lobbyists paid the
league handsomely to recognize
ADD as a serious illness. My
personal favorite excuse is that
Vincent and the rest of Major
League Baseball did not want to
open a can of worms with the
knowledge that drug use was
Please see Roser Page A9
J
By Brett Fisher
Fernley outscored the host
Wolverines, 12-6, down the
stretch to post a 47-33 Northern
34' girls basketball win SaturdaY
at Truckee High School and com-
plete a two-game sweeP of the
league's lake teams this Past
weekend.
Lysana Davis paced the LadY
Vaqueros with 14 Points, includ-
ing 6-for-10 from the free-throu.
line. Walita Querta followed with
13 and Becky Murphy added 10
points in the victory.
As a unit, Fernley shot about 66
percent from the foul line, con-
verting 18-of-30. Querta shot 7-
for-10 on her freebies and MurPh.v
was 4-for-8 at the charity stripe'
The Lady Vaqueros held a slim,
one-point, 18-17, lead at halftime.
Then they produced a 16-Point
effort in the third quarter to net a
seven-point, 34-27, advantage
heading into the decisive final
period ofplay.
"We started offreal slow," FHS
head coach Ralph Dunn said. "In
Brett Fisher/Leader-Couriel
SHE'S GOT THE TOUCH
Fernley's Becky MurPhY, left
floats the ball toward the bas'
ket against North Thhoe las
Friday night at FernleY Higt
School.
Lady Nighthawks cutting turnovers
Lovelock jumped out to a 13-
lead at the end of the oPenin
period and outscored the Lad
Nighthawks, 40-6, after thre
quarters.
Silver Stage posted just fou
points at halftime and added onl
two points in the third quarter.
Yvonne Huttman accounted fc
more than half of the Lad
Nighthawks' total with six Point:
She scored all ofher points on tw
three-point field goals.
The Lady Nighthawks PlaYe
host to Battle Mountain lar
Please see Cutting, Page AS
Mustangs run away from Silver Stage
By Brett Fisher
In spite of a 16-Point effort bY
Siiver Stage in the fourth quarter,
host Pershing County handed the
Nighthawks a 68-47 Northern 2A
boys basketball defeat last Friday
night in Lovelock.
After being held to eight Points
in the second quarter, the
Nighthawks scored 26 points inthe
second half. But the host Mustangs
continued to build on their lead
By Brett Fisher
Gradual reductions in turnovers
has been at least one Positive for
the Silver Stage girls varsity bas-
ketball team to take awaY from
their last few contests, in sPite of
having yet won a game.
"They're hapPy that theY got
their turnovers down," SSHS head
coach Allison Budingame said.
"That's something we've been
working on."
With 34 turnovers against
Lovelock last Friday night and 30
versus Battle Mountain at home
Saturday, the Lady Nighthawks
every quarter. They outscored the
locals, 16-8, to iead by nine points,
3A-21, at halftime. Silver Stage
failed by just one point, 14-13, at
the end ofthe opening period.
Lovelock, though, would go on
to score 19 points in each of the
last two quarters for the win.
Wyly Sandidge paced Silver
Stage with 15 points, including
seven field goals. Teammate
Anthony Jefferis bucketed 13
have cut their turnovers down bY
about a quarter from two weeks
ago, Burlingame said.
Silver Stage had committed
about 45 turnovers in a game prior
to /hese last two, she said.
What has hurt more recentlY
have been two scoreless first quar-
ters, which led to a pair of
Northern 2A league losses this
past weekend.
Silver Stage was unable to get
on the scoreboard in the first quar-
ter against Pershing CountY,
which led to a 47-11 setback to
the host Mustangs last FridaY.
points. He nailed two of his teaml
triage of three-point baskets. Mikr
Shinn added the other and finisher
with five points for thr
Nighthawks.
Silver Stage shot better than 5(
percent from the foul line, convert
ing 6-of-11 freebies.
The Nighthawks were scheduler
to have played host to Virginia Cit
yesterday. On Friday, they travel ti
West Wendover.