Thursday, February 28, 2002

by Shavaugn Lewis
Gazette Sportswriter

1913:
Margaret Just Butcher is born is Washington, D.C. Her father,
E.E. Just,
was the famous cell biologist and she showed signs of wanting
to be
accomplished herself early on. Most know for her completion
of Alan Locke’s
(a Harlem Renaissance author) The Negro in American Culture,
she was also an
English professor at Howard University and a political activist.

1967:
Champion boxer Muhammad Ali refuses to enter the U.S. Army
upon being
drafted on religious grounds, and is stripped of his title
by the World
Boxing Association.

*****

* A burned body believed to be Danielle van Dam’s, the seven-year-old
kidnapped from a San Diego suburb, was discovered in an area
off the
highway about 30 miles east of the girl’s home. Volunteer
searchers found
the body, which could not immediately be identified because
of its burned
condition. Police, however, say there is a “high probability”
that it is
Danielle’s, though it will take between one and four days
to match dental
records to the body. The van Dam’s neighbor, David Westerfield,
has been
charged with Danielle’s kidnapping and murder, as well as
with possession
of child pornography. Westerfield pleaded not guilty to the
charges in
court on Tuesday.

* Rusty Yates, the husband of the Texan woman accused of
drowning her five
children in the bathtub, testified in court yesterday that
his wife Andrea
was a loving and devoted mother until depression set in. He
chronicled her
long history of mental illness, including two suicide attempts.
Mr. Yates
and his family are strongly opposed to the state’s decision
to charge his
wife with capital murder, saying that Mrs. Yates should receive
medical
treatment, not criminal punishment. The only standard for
determining
sanity in Texas, however, is the knowledge of wrongdoing.
Prosecutors claim
that despite her depression, Andrea Yates knew that killing
her children
was wrong. Rusty Yates will return to the stand today.

* Alicia Keys was the big winner in last night’s Grammy Awards,
taking home
five awards including Best New Artist and Song of the Year
for “Fallin’.”
She also won for Best Female Vocal, Song, and Album in the
R&B category. U2
had a fine night as well, claiming four awards including Record
of the Year
for “Walk On.” The biggest surprise of the night,
though, was the Album of
the Year award, which went to the country and bluegrass soundtrack
from the
film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” It beat out U2,
Bob Dylan, Outkast, and
India.Arie and became the first soundtrack to win the award
since “The
Bodyguard” in 1994. It is also the first country album
to win Album of the
Year since 1969.

*****

“The Acoustics of Lang Concert Hall Revealed”
by Christopher Brooks
Lang Concert Hall, 1:30 p.m.

“Poetics of Work in Ancient Greek Folk Songs and Lyric
Poetry”
by Andromache Karanika, Visiting Instructor, Classics Job
Candidate
Trotter 301, 4:15 p.m.

“Cultures of Islam” Series: “Islam and the
Iranian Film Industry”
by Steve Caton, Anthropology, Harvard University
Scheuer Room – Kohlberg, 4:30 p.m.

Gallery Talk with Robert Turner
LPAC Cinema, 4:30 p.m.

Hong Kong Movie Night
SCCS Lounge, 7:30 p.m.

Film: “Bamboozled”
Screening and Discussion with Radical African Dissent
Black Cultural Center, 9:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

by Pat Quinn
Gazette Sportswriter

In the first round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference
tournament,
played here last night, the women’s basketball team handily
defeated
Delaware Valley, 74-59.

Coming off a poor performance in Saturday’s Centennial Conference
championship, the double threat of Heather Kile ’02 and Katie
Robinson ’04
came back to life and devastated the Aggies. Robinson scored
a game high
25, while Kile’s 24 made her the Centennial Conference’s all-time
leading
scorer with 1945 career points.

Said Robinson on the achievement, “Heather played a
great game, she really
deserves this accolade. Her presence will be sorely missed
on and off the
court next season.”

Delaware Valley started off quickly, taking an early lead
with several quick
breaks. However, after falling behind, Swarthmore capitalized
on several
second chance opportunities to take the lead 18-17.

Though the Aggies were possibly Swat’s fastest-paced opponents
yet, the
Garnet matched tempo and never trailed again.

Delaware Valley’s Kristin Henry ’02 made several steal-to-layup
plays, but
they were easily matched by Katie Robinson’s stealing and
scoring.

At the half, Swarthmore led 37-32, and the second half displayed
a more
dominant Garnet offense and defense, with help from Ali Furman
’03, who
contributed nine points off three-pointers. As Swarthmore
developed 20
point leads, Delaware Valley just wore itself out.

With their team trailing significantly, certain Delaware
Valley players
became much more physical, sneaking in cheap shots to Swarthmore
players
when the officials were not looking. This second half-long
trend was
accentuated with a violent foul by the Aggies’ Henry on Furman
with less
than five seconds to go.

With this win, Swarthmore advances to the second round of
the ECAC
tournament, where the team will face DeSales College on Saturday
at Lebanon
Valley.

*****

* #4 Cincinnati, looking to secure a top seed in the NCAA
tournament, was
upset last night by unranked Louisville, 74-71. Reece Gaines
led the
Cardinals with 26 points, while Bearcats star Steve Logan
notched 18, but
missed a free-throw and a three-pointer and turned the ball
over, all in the
final minute of play. Elsewhere in men’s hoops, #6 Alabama
beat Auburn
73-68, to clinch the SEC crown, its first since 1987.

* Michael Jordan had surgery on his right knee yesterday,
and the Wizards’
team doctor discovered and repaired torn cartilage during
the the operation.
Recovery from such a procedure usually takes two to six weeks,
depending on
age, conditioning, and the extent of the damage, which means
that the
superstar is likely to return before the end of the NBA season.
Meanwhile,
the Wiz, playing without #23, fell to the Portland Trail Blazers,
105-101,
last night.

* Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. announced on Wednesday
that the
team had paid Enron $2.1 million to void a 1999 contract which
christened
the team’s new ballpark “Enron Field” and gave the
energy corporation the
right to advertise throughout the stadium. When the Astros
begin their
third season in the new ballpark on April 2, it will be called
“Astros
Field,” although McLane said that he hopes to find another
buyer for naming
rights within 60 days. Mentioning that at least seven companies
had already
approached the team to discuss naming rights, McLane said,
“We will be
very selective. We learned a lot from this experience.”
He added that
Enron’s name, which is currently featured repeatedly throughout
the stadium
in large blue letters or with its logo in the center of a
baseball diamond,
will be removed or covered with tarps. The costs of this removal
are
unknown.

*****

There are no events scheduled for today or tomorrow.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out
of your glass.”
–Martin Mull

*****
.
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Section Editors: Karla Gilbride
Pei Pei Liu
Jeremy Schifeling
Photo Editor: Casey Reed
News Reporters: Mary Harrison
Evelyn Khoo
Sanggee Kim
Natacha Pascal
Kent Qian
Alexis Reedy
Chiara Ricciardone
Sportswriters: Muhsin Abdur-Rahman
Shavaugn Lewis
Pat Quinn
World News: Pei Pei Liu
Campus and
World Sports: Karla Gilbride

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