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Sports Stuff
by
Mike Morrow
While Family
Home Evening is something all members of the Church know about,
little is known about the Extended Family Home Evening.
For those who
work nights, or have no Monday-through-Friday work schedule because
their shifts are irregular, a home evening, any home evening, is
looked upon as something special. A few days ago, members of our
night-time sports crew had an Extended Family Home Evening, where
we discussed a variety of things relating to the Winter Olympics,
to Utah and Salt Lake City, and to the Church.
Already, the
Olympic Games have created a mostly positive curiosity about the
Church and the questions are far-reaching. From the usual questions
(and we don't have to be specific) to the meaning of the Moroni
figure atop the temples to someone asking if I'd have to leave the
Church because my work schedule requires me to work at least two
Sundays a month.
A few days ago,
we were crowded around one of the televisions at the office to watch
the United States and Sweden meet in a women's curling event. Yes,
curling. Imagine the reaction of our in-the-field writing staff
when they heard we were switching between curling and the Westminster
Dog Show rather than a college basketball game or a classic sports
highlight.
There were about
seven of us crowded around the television, shouting encouragement
as the big stone (or is it called a rock?) was being swept up the
court (or is it called the ice?) toward a big circle. There was
good-natured shouting when the United States stone crashed into
the Swedish stone, causing it to glide out of the circle, giving
the Americans a point and, eventually, a 6-5 victory.
"This is really
kind of cool," said Jeremy Littau, who designs sports pages.
And it was.
It was one of
those special moments, though. Like many special moments in these
Winter Olympic Games.
The big prize
BYU got more than an All-American quarterback when it finally
got the signature of 6-foot-5 left-handed quarterback Ben Olson
on national signing day for college football. Olson-who is from
Thousand Oaks, Calif., and is regarded as the No. 1 catch in this
year's recruiting crop-"is one of the nicest people you'd ever want
to meet," according to Vincent Bongisnore, another colleague of
mine that covers high school sports for the paper. "He is the real
thing. He is smart, he is big and he is strong-he is a lot like
Daunte Culpepper (of the Minnesota Vikings). What's more important
is he is a good guy. A real good guy."
Off to Oregon
The loss of defensive lineman Haloti Ngata to Oregon was a shock
to fans of the BYU football team. Had the Cougars been able to recruit
Ngata-a 6-foot-4, 308-pounder from Salt Lake City Highland High-national
experts would have rated this year's BYU recruiting class as one
of the top five in the country. One service said the signing of
Olson, the top
offensive recruit, and Ngata, the top defensive recruit, would have
been the biggest coup in years. In actuality, the loss of Ngata
dropped BYU out of the top 20 in recruiting.
There were reports
that Ngata had verbally committed to BYU but later changed his mind.
Sports editor's
note
Thanks to Meridian readers, we have been able to identify several
LDS athletes that are competing in the Winter Games in Salt Lake.
Following is a list of those athletes that have been verifiably
identified as LDS (K.L.M.):
·
Rowena Bright, women's downhill skiing, Australia
·
Dinah Browne, women's luge, U.S. Virgin Islands
·
Chris Hoeger, men's luge, Venezuela
·
Werner Hoeger, men's luge, Venezuela
·
Joe Pack, men's freestyle skiing, United States
·
Sabine Ruckauer, women's ice hockey, Germany
·
Tamami Tanaka, women's biathlon, Japan
If you
are aware of an LDS athlete that deserves recognition in Meridian
Sports, please e-mail the sports writer at sports@meridianmagazine.com
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© 2001 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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