12A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 21, 2006
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Duquesne returns to
practice after shootings
Tiger blasts 'joke'
pictures of his wife
PITTSBURGH (AP) -
Duquesne University's basketball
team, depleted but not defeated
by the shootings of five players,
returned to the court intent on
returning to normalcy as soon as
possible.
They know it's impossible with
two teammates still lying in hos-
pital beds and two others only
beginning to heal from a terrify-
ing burst of gunfire after a school
dance. Still, Wednesday's hourlong
workout was so intense one player
got a floor burn diving for a loose
ball, and guard Gary Tucker got a
bloody lip.
When it was over, the Dukes
clutched hands tightly with coach
Ron Everhart at midcourt and
shouted "Dukes!" so loudly it rever-
berated through the practice gym.
"We do that after every work-
out," Everhart said.
Only perhaps not with the emo-
tion and passion that were evident
in the eyes of the players, including
Aaron Jackson - one of the five
players shot.
Jackson worked out with a white
bandage around his damaged left
wrist that was grazed by a bullet
that subsequently struck teammate
Kojo Mensah, who's not yet ready
to take the floor.
"We've got to keep on playing,"
said senior Kieron Achara, one of
two players from last season's 3-
24 team that Everhart rebuilt by
bringing in 10 new players _ four of
whom were shot. "There are times
we're going to be down, butI know
I've got teammates who've got my
back and will look out for me and
lift me back up again."
At nearly the same time the
workout was starting, police said
William Holmes, 18, of the Pitts-
burgh suburb of Penn Hills, turned
himself in to face charges in the
shootings that occurred early Sun-
day morning. Holmes later was
arraigned on charges of attempted
homicide, aggravated assault, crim-
inal conspiracy and weapons-relat-
ed offenses. On Tuesday, Brandon
Baynes, 18, also of Penn Hills, was
arrested and arraigned on similar
charges.
The players welcomed the news
of the latest arrest, but Achara
stressed their thoughts were with
hospitalized teammates Sam Asha-
olu and Stuard Baldonado.
Ashaolu, who has one bullet and
fragments of another in his head,
remained in critical condition but
had a restful night following two
difficult nights.
"He's fighting like hell," Ever-
hart said.
The Dukes were encouraged that
Ashaolu, a junior forward who was
the player most badly injured, was
taking what Everhart called the
first "baby steps" of his hoped-for
recovery.
Midway through the workout,
two of Ashaolu's three brothers,
Steve and John, made a surprise
visit, exchanging hugs and hand-
shakes with assistant coach Rich-
ard Pitino. John Ashaolu said his
23-year-old brother tried to sit up
in bed Wednesday and is squeez-
ing hands of teammates and family
members, a possible sign he recog-
nizes those who are with him.
John Ashaolu, who once played
at Xavier University in Louisiana,
wanted to join Sam in Pittsburgh as
a Dukes graduate assistant; now, he
will stay in town indefinitely to help
care for his younger brother.
Ashaolu was shot barely three
weeks after arriving on campus fol-
lowing a circuitous journey to an
NCAA Division I scholarship that
took the Toronto, Ontario, resident
through two high schools, a prep
school and two junior colleges,
including Lake Region State in
Devils Lake, N.D.
"The doctors say there's a long
road ahead and that's going to be
the biggest thing'" John Ashaolu
said. "It's a slow process. We're
just praying, praying, doing a lot of
praying."
So is an entire university campus.
As the players worked out behind
drawn curtains, several students
peeked inside nervously, glad to see
the team together - or, at least most
of it. The school's cheerleaders also
brought cards to the players.
"No one's heads were down, we
worked hard," Achara said. "The
few mistakes we made were sloppy
at times, but we worked hard and
showed passion for the game and
that's what we need."
Still, some players were receiv-
ing counseling, and several have
had trouble sleeping since the
shootings. Jackson's return to prac-
tice offered a lift, but Mensah needs
a little more time to recover from
arm and shoulder injuries.
Mensah, a junior guard who
went through an unfriendly depar-
ture from Siena before transferring
to Duquesne, was released from
UPMC Presbyterian on Tuesday
night. The 21-year-old was shot in
an arm and shoulder.
Shawn James, 23, the nation's
leading shot blocker for Everhart
at Northeastern last season, also
wasn't at Wednesday's workout. He
remains on crutches with a bullet
that is expected tobe removed from
a foot within the next two weeks.
Like Mensah, the 6-foot-10 James
isn't eligible to play this season
after transferring.
Baldonado, a junior forward shot
in the back and left arm, had a bul-
let removed from a patch of muscle
just below the skin in his back and
already has begun his rehabilita-
tion. He could be released from
Mercy Hospital within a couple of
days.
Baldonado, 21, was able to speak
by phone to his parents, who live
on a small island off the coast of
Colombia, and an aunt, Ana Lucia
Watson Lind, flew in from Germa-
ny with husband Norbert to sit bed-
side and briefly watch part of the
workout. Baldonado's teammates
said he was walking, laughing and
in much better spirits.
Duquesne President Charles J.
Dougherty said he hoped the sec-
ond arrest would put the university
on "the road back to normalcy and
back to the safety and security that
we have known for years on our
campus."
STRAFFAN, Ireland (AP) -
It's not always easy being Tiger
Woods. We found that out on a
miserable day when the wind was
howling, rain was blowing side-
ways, and it seemed like half the
Irish Sea hadbeen dumped on the
golf course.
Just the kind of day many in
Ireland like to spend comfortably
positioned in front of a cozy bar
with a pint of Guinness in hand.
Not Woods. The best player in
the world always has been more
of a water and Gatorade kind of
guy, anyway, and the idea of him
quaffing a few with the boys in a
pub is laughable.
So were the pictures the Dub-
liner magazine claimed to have
found of his wife, but Woods
apparently didn't get that joke.
Then again, it's hard to find
humor in a magazine when you
open it and find linksto what were
purported to be topless pictures of
the woman you love inside.
"Ryder Cup filth for Ireland,"
the headline crowed.
The pictures, of course, were
not oftElin Nordegren. The maga-
zine said as much later when it
admitted it was all just in fun, a
good way to have a laugh.
Some humor. Probably sound-
ed awfully funny when the maga-
zine's editor and his buddies were
planning it down at Blarney's
corner pub.
It didn't sound all that funny
to Woods, who was so upset he
made an early trip to the press
tent just to defend his wife.
"My wife, we're in it together.
We're a team and we do things as
a team and I care about her with
all my heart," Woods said.
It was a rare public showing of
sentiment by Woods, who guards
his private life so jealously it was
big news when he went out to din-
ner with the four American Ryder
Cup rookies last month.
He's not the kind of guy who
is going to inyite a camera crew
down to his Florida mansion for a
peek into the way he lives. The big
events ofhis life, fromhismarriage
to the funeral of his father, are usu-
ally held as far from the prying eye
of the press and public as possible.
Thepriceofcelebrity cansome-
times be high. Woods acknowl-
edged it earlier this year when he
talked about how it's hard not to
be able to go out in public.
Still, running links to what
purports to be nude photos of a
guy's wife crosses the line, even
in a culture obsessed with the
famous and beautiful.
"I don't think it shows too
much about your profession," Phil
Mickelson told a journalist.
Actually, that profession has
helped make Woods much of
what he is today, treating him for
the most part with respect and
even awe for what he has done
on the golf course over the last 10
years. For the most part, the press
has left Woods' private life alone,
even when things became juicy
when he took up with Nordegren,
then a Swedish nanny.
But the people at the Dubliner
apparently felt the biggest sports
event in Ireland's history was too
big to let go without making a
splash of their own. The magazine
didn't stop with Woods' wife, but
went on to make comments about
the physical attributes of the wives
of Chad Campbell, Jim Furyk and
David Toms in what it later said
was an attempted parody of the
saucy tabloids.
"Most American golfers are
married to women who cannot
keep their clothes on in public,"
the magazine wrote. "Is it too
much to ask that they leave them
at home for the Ryder Cup?"
On a day whenthe weather was
sobadplayersonbothteamsmade
only perfunctory appearances on
the course, it didn't take long for
the great wife expose to become
the talk of this Ryder Cup.
Woods himself brought it into
play, in an odd statement meant to
express his dismay with the Irish
magazine and express his delight
with the Irish people. He rambled
a bit, but the message seemedto be
this: Magazine bad, people good.
Of course, every other player
had to be asked about it, leading
to some interesting exchanges,
despite the best efforts of Euro-
pean Tour officials to steer the
discussion elsewhere.
The whole thing had to hor-
rify the Irish, whose prodigious
efforts to host the Ryder Cup
have so far been swamped by bad
weather and bad taste. Not only
is their golf course under water,
but fans logging onto the Internet
are searching for photos that have
nothing to do with guys in hats
swinging golf clubs.
Could it get any worse? Yes,
and it didn't take long.
Turns out Woods lovesthe Irish
but not their national drink, which
is so prevalent here it seems even
babies are weaned on it.
"I don't drink Guinness,"
Woods said.
At least he was honest about it.
Which, come to think of it, is
more than can be said about the
Dubliner.
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Urea! ans
Behave Orea
Noble sportsmanship is important on the field and in the stands
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