BRUINS HAVE A SPRING IN THEIR STEP UCLA BASKETBALL: SNEAKER-WEARING HOWLAND SEES TEAM SHOOT 59.6 PERCENT IN HIGH-FLYING VICTORY. UCLA 77, COLORADO 60 - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

Maybe it was just the shoes, but UCLA head coach Ben Howland suredid seem to have some extra pep in his step on Saturday afternoon.

Sporting sneakers to support the fight against cancer to go alongwith his suit, Howland was springier than a well-coiled Slinky;still wound just as tight, but ready to let loose.

His players had a little extra bounce, too.

Playing against one of the hottest teams in the conference, itwas UCLA that heated up, shooting 59.6 percent in a 77-60 win overColorado in front of 9,253 at the Sports Arena.

'(Former UCLA head coach and current St. John's head coach SteveLavin) went to the sneakers and stayed in them the rest of the waylast year,' Howland said with a smile. 'I like it, too. Feels betteron my feet.'

The Bruins were better off them.

Their feet, that is, as UCLA converted alley-oop after alley-oop, putting on a show for what was certainly the best home crowd ofthe year at the Sports Arena.

Already up seven but coming off a 3-pointer by Colorado's NateTomlinson with just less than 14 minutes remaining, the Bruins wenton a 13-3 run, capped off by a Jerime Anderson-to-Travis Wear alley-oop dunk, stretching the lead to 17 with 8 minutes, 44 seconds toplay.

'Defensive stops - whenever we're getting stops it definitely isa momentum booster,' sophomore guard Tyler Lamb said. 'It getseverybody up more and then you come down and score, it all startssnowballing. We were in the huddle and we were communicating intimeouts, coach Howland was asking us what we thought would work andour senior guards stepped up a lot.'

Senior guard Lazeric Jones had a team-high 17 points and nineassists, Anderson added eight points and eight assists and Lambadded 12 points and six assists as UCLA finished with 26 on theafternoon. The sharp passing helped the Bruins erase an earlydeficit that was plagued by sloppiness.

The Buffaloes (14-7, 6-3 Pac-12) got off to a nice start in theirfirst matchup with UCLA (12-9, 5-4) as a conference opponent,jumping ahead 12-4 as the Bruins committed four quick turnovers.UCLA climbed back, took the lead with 12:27 left and eventually wentinto halftime up by four, courtesy of a Norman Powell 3-pointer asthe first half expired.

What changed so drastically for the Bruins in the second half?They picked up their defensive intensity.

After letting Colorado shoot 56 percent in the first half on 15-of-27 shooting, UCLA held the Buffaloes, who came into the game withnine wins in their past 11, to 34.8 percent shooting in the secondhalf and ran away with it.

'Our intensity picked up a little in the second half,' said DavidWear, who finished with 13 points. 'There've been a couple timeswhere our intensity dipped off in the second half. It was good tocome up with that much intensity, really talking about our defense,not allowing any second shots.'

Howland credited Lamb with a standout effort as UCLA heldColorado's leading scorer Carlon Brown - who had been averaging 13.6points per game - to just six points in 31 minutes, with two assistsand three of the team's 14 turnovers.

'I really thought Tyler Lamb played great defense on Brown,'Howland said. 'He's a great player, and Tyler Lamb deserves a lot ofcredit for how he played. Thirteen points, six assists - I thoughtthis was one of his best games as a Bruin.'

Added Lamb: 'Carlon Brown, I've known him since I was in middleschool - I played on his AAU team a couple times. I've known what hewas capable of. He's a very good player. Coach stressed that I wouldhave to stop him and I tried my best.'

What had Howland really excited as his Bruins prepare for a toughtwo-game road set in Washington against the Huskies and Cougars wasthe team's passing, though.

'We were really, really making the extra pass,' Howland said.'It's fun to watch. That's how basketball is supposed to be played.I love that our players get joy out of making that play. The funnestthing on offense is to watch a pass that leads to a wide-open shot.I love that as much as anything.'

Maybe even as much as his new shoes.

Snowboarders, skiers fight to co-exist on slopes in culture clash. (Originated from Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph) - Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

Colorado ski areas are finding themselves playing an unexpected role: peace negotiators between snowboarders and skiers.

The new school vs. the old.

The young rebels against the establishment.

If skiers are ballroom dancers, snowboarders are grunge rockers.

``Snowboarding is high energy, fresh and fun. Skiing is a bunch of stiff one-piece suits,'' said Stephanie Prater, a snowboarder at Crested Butte, Colo.

Ever since Jake Burton set his snowboard down on Stratton Mountain, Vt., more than 15 years ago, skiers and snowboarders have seldom seen eye to eye.

In skiers' eyes, snowboarders use bad language, dress like crotchless hitmen and have manners like Beavis and Butthead. They ride their boards like the getaway car in a B movie. Out of control. Totally.

They collide with skiers and sit down on the busiest routes, forcing skiers to maneuver around them.

To skiers, snowboarders are bad dudes with bad attitudes. Occasionally the differences result in slope-side fistfights.

Yet ski areas are courting snowboarders the way Romeo pursued Juliet. Snowboarding is the only bright spot in a stagnant ski industry, with an annual growth rate of 17 percent. Today it represents 11 percent of lift tickets sold, according to The National Ski Areas Association.

And snowboarding is the fastest growing sport in the United States _ from 1.2 million boarders in 1993 to 1.8 million in 1994, an increase of 50 percent that outpaces in-line skating, according to a survey by the National Sporting Goods Association.

Ski areas can't live without snowboarders. Not only are they blowing them a kiss, they're planning the wedding.

``Snowboarding is part of the future of the sport,'' said Monarch ski area general manager Rich Moorehead. ``It's a business decision to pursue them.''

Keystone and Aspen are the only two Colorado ski resorts that don't allow snowboarding. But managers in every other Colorado ski area are turning mediation into an art form, intent on smoothing things over between skiers and boarders.

``It's more of an age difference than anything. The young kid against the old guy. That kind of conflict is everywhere, not just on the ski slopes,'' said Pete Bernard, a 25-year-old snowboarder hired by Monarch to act as an on-slope ambassador. ``Some skiers seem to be looking for snowboarders to do something wrong. A lot of the problems came about because it was a new sport and people just don't like change.''

Bernard is in charge of four ``Courtesy Riders'' making their debut at Monarch this season. They are the Miss Manners of snowboarding, setting a good example and striving to clean up their sport's bad-boy image.

``We try to discourage adverse behavior,'' said Bernard. ``We'll say, `Hey man, that's not cool, we'll lose our privileges.' We're trying to encourage boarders to police themselves.''

They also act as a liaison between skiers and boarders, trained to intervene in on-slope conflicts.

``A lot of times, snowboarders will listen better to someone who's their own kind, rather than a ski patrolman giving them a lecture,'' Moorehead said.

Rowdy snowboarders have recently taken delight in bouncing off emergency telephones and jumping over trash cans and logs they pull onto the slopes, often to the chagrin of skiers content to schuss down an obstacle-free course.

Monarch responded by opening a park this season devoted to and built by snowboarders, where shredders can jump, twist and spin in their own hazard-filled world. They fly over everything from skinned logs to an old car top, all safely away from skiers. Most Colorado ski areas have installed half-pipes _ open tubes of builtup snow that resemble skateboard ramps that shoot boarders into the air.

The Breckenridge ski area changes the obstacles weekly in its shredders garden and consequently is rated tops in the country by one snowboarding magazine.

The snowboard parks have effectively funneled daredevil shredders from the slopes where families frolic.

To take it a step further, Monarch is polling its boarders to see what kind of music they like with the idea of providing amplified tunes in the snowboard park.

Snowboard lessons at Monarch include skier etiquette and safety. ``One of the points of the lessons is what's proper and what's not as far as interacting with others on the mountain,'' Moorehead said. ``Snowboarders often come from surfing and skateboarding backgrounds and are not as likely to know ski etiquette.''

Snowboard shops in Crested Butte, which is hosting the first U.S. Extreme Snowboarding Championships this month, have gotten in on that act. They distribute cards with courtesy tips such as be aware of others on the slope and watch your language. Written in shredder language, they've been well-received by snowboarders, Prater said.

Ultimately, as more older skiers and families take up snowboarding, the cultural chasm is narrowing, industry analysts say.

While most snowboarders are between the ages of 16 and 24, nearly 15 percent are between the ages of 25 and 44, said the National Ski Areas Association.

``It's no longer a teen-age sport,'' said association spokeswoman Stacy Gardner. ``It's a maturing sport and families are starting to get into it.''

``The over-30 snowboarding set is clearly gaining speed,'' said Craig Altschul, publisher of The Insider's Ski Letter, a trade publication. ``The 40-year-old dad who's been taking the family skiing all these years decides to get into it when the kids do.''

``The other day I noticed a family of four on the slopes. Mom and daughter were on skis and dad and son were on snowboards and Dad was about 40 years old,'' said Ken Payne, a 35-year-old Breckenridge spokesman who recently took his first snowboard lesson.

``As a more diverse group enters the sport, snowboarding's reputation will change,'' Moorehead said.

``It was perceived for a long time that snowboarders were out of control and would run over you,'' Payne said. ``But snowboarders have gotten very good at what they do and the tension has decreased. I think skiers and snowboarders cohabit very nicely now.''

Shredders and skiers are not only living with each other, they're traveling together, said the National Ski Areas Association. More than half of the snowboarders surveyed during the 1993-94 season came to a ski area with an Alpine skier.

Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: April 11, 2008 - Colorado Springs Business Journal

A 26,500-square-foot Goodwill retail store has broken ground on4.3 acres west of Kohl's department store, near the intersection ofSouth Circle Drive and Janitell Road.

The retail center will replace Goodwill's downtown store at PikesPeak and Wahsatch avenues, which is scheduled to close later thisyear.

In addition to departments such as clothing, housewares,collectibles, sporting good and toys, the new store will include a1,000-square-foot teen department and a book nook with a coffee bar.

Janitell-Childs Design Group is the project architect and G.E.Johnson is the general contractor. The total cost of the project isabout $7 million, said spokeswoman Laura Marth.

Population and construction

Colorado is among a handful of Western and Southern states withfast-growing county populations.

Of Colorado counties with populations of more than 100,000,Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, Weld, Montrose and Larimer sawpopulation increases of more than 2 percent between 2006 and 2007.

El Paso County's population grew by 1.1 percent and Pueblo Countygrew by 1.6 percent.

Other growth areas identified by the Population Reference Bureauwere Florida, the interior of California, parts of Nevada, Arizonaand Utah as well 'as in the suburbs and exurbs of large metropolitanareas, such as Atlanta and Washington, D.C.' The biggest declineswere in the rural Midwest, the upper Great Plains and theMississippi Delta region, including New Orleans.

Ken Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractorsof America, sees a link between opportunity for the constructionindustry and population growth.

Perhaps as a result of the price of oil and energy, he alsoreported that based on Census data, several suburban counties thatare farthest from urban centers have seen a 'marked deceleration' inresidents moving in, while some urban areas and close-in suburbsthat had experienced steady population losses are seeing the trendreverse.

Residential updates

The residential real estate market is alive and holding its own,despite of headlines to the contrary.

Campbell Homes, for example, has opened a new sales office inMeridian Ranch. The builder also has a presence in PronghornMeadows, Feathergrass, Cordera, Falcon Hills and Indigo Ranch.

Nichols & Comito has sold three custom lots at Cedar Heightssince the beginning of the year, and a fourth is under contract,said Celeste Marren. The Village at Star Ranch also has seen newactivity, with two lots under contract in the Estates neighborhoodand the first residents moving in this month.

Steel prices won't hurt post

Oil and alternative energy sources are not the only commoditiesin high demand.

During the past six months, steel prices and the prices for someother construction materials have increased as much as 50 percentfrom last summer.

As a result, the cost of many industrial, commercial, energy andgovernment projects along the Front Range will probably go up.

Robert Giles, head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office atFort Carson, said post construction contractors anticipated theincreases.

'Some of our manufactured housing is actually built offsite --and they're using mostly wood,' he said. 'In addition, most of theon-post contractors we work with have switched to wood framing andtrusses because steel is just too expensive. Also, contractors onthe post's new maintenance buildings are using tilt-up concreteinstead of steel which is just too expensive.'

Giles admits that the lifespan of wood isn't that of steel, butstaying within budget requires being resourceful.

Ken Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractorsof America's, said he believes that reports from steel producerswill mean an 'unprecedented price spiral at a time of lacklusterdomestic demand, beckoning higher costs for everything fromrefrigerators to new office towers during a period of economicweakness.'

MEN'S SOCCER FALLS 2-0 TO COLORADO RAPIDS OF MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER - US Fed News Service, Including US State News

DENVER, April 15 -- The University of New Mexico issued the following news release:

The University of New Mexico men's soccer team gave up two goals in the first half and lost 2-0, to the Colorado Rapids at Dick Sporting Goods Park today. The Lobos shutdown the Rapid attack in the second half and didn't allow a goal. The exhibition wraps up the Lobos spring play who finished 3-0-2 against collegiate competition.

'This was a great experience,' said head coach Jeremy Fishbein. 'We went out tentative and got caught a little bit in the first half. We had a lot chances in the second half once we got our confidence back. Everyone got to play against top competition and we held our own. That's what the spring is for, so we can evaluate and prepare for the fall.'

Seattle's boom is over, but it remains a fine place to visit.(The Gazette (Colorado Springs)) - Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

SEATTLE _ Three decades ago, Seattle was known for its rain and the little airplane plant called Boeing. The city had an inferiority complex of sorts _ never a major city, always an also-ran.

But the city has improved its image.

Seattle's march into the spotlight began in 1962 with the World's Fair, which included construction of the Space Needle and a visit by Elvis Presley, where he filmed one of his lamest movies, 'It Happened At the World's Fair.' Nevertheless, it was Seattle's announcement to the world, 'Hey, we're over here.'

The soggy, moss-filled corner of the country began to be recognized. Sporting events helped. College basketball playoffs began regular trips to the county-owned concrete stadium called the Kingdome. The Seattle Mariners baseball team drafted burgeoning superstars Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez, and the Seattle-based University of Washington football team won the national championship.

Then, the city and the Northwest became the backdrop for such films as 'Sleepless in Seattle' and 'Singles' and television shows 'Northern Exposure' and 'Twin Peaks.'

Microsoft's campus was in a Seattle suburb. Seattle-based Starbucks entered the American lexicon for good coffee and market expansion. And Kurt Cobain and friends made muddy music that prompted the country to wear ragged flannel shirts _ a longtime staple of Northwest fashion. National magazines proclaimed Seattle the coolest in the land. In 1996, Newsweek's cover blared, 'Seattle Reigns' and said 'sooner or later everyone moves to Seattle.'

The 1990s may have been the city's coming-out party, but also marked the end of its innocence. Seattle now had big city problems: a wild protest over international economics, traffic jams and a much higher cost of living.

In recent months, Seattle has had its share of bad luck. Griffey and Rodriguez have left. Microsoft has been ordered to split up. Software companies are closing. And just a few weeks ago, Boeing announced it was moving its world headquarters.

In February, a 6.8 earthquake rocked the region. It caused millions of dollars in damage, but for the most part the city survived intact, according to the mayor's publicist, Dick Lilly.

'There is no significant impact to life in the city or tourism in particular,' Lilly said.

Seattle remains a great place to visit. Clear days in Seattle, which regularly occur June to September, bring out its beauty. The Cascade Mountains to the east and the Olympic Mountains to the west provide a perfect backdrop for a downtown that appears to be floating in the middle of an inland sea.

Ferries toot their horns as they cruise commuters to island homes. House boats bob on Lake Union. Seaplanes fly executives to their hideaways. And evergreen trees keep the landscape lush year-round.

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(c) 2001, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

Visit GT Online, the World Wide Web site of The Gazette, at http://www.gazette.com

Auditors demanding changes in Air Force's athletic program.(Originated from Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph) - Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. _ Federal auditors are demanding controversial changes in the Air Force Academy's athletic program after a sweeping review of the institution's sports-related spending.

The demands _ some of which are being hotly contested by academy athletic officials _ come after a seven-month Department of Defense audit raised numerous questions about the way academy athletic officials spent hundreds of thousands of dollars during the past three years.

At the heart of the issue: When it comes to college sports, should a unique institution like the Air Force Academy follow the spending policies of the military or the civilian schools it competes against?

Most of the disclosures in the audit are linked to the Air Force Academy's Athletic Association, a privately funded organization that supports the Falcons by generating about $6.5 million annually.

After the audit criticized the athletic association for several practices

_ such as buying goods and services without comparing prices or paying unjustified overtime _ academy athletic officials agreed to make several changes.

But academy officials are fighting auditors on other issues, saying their demands would make it too hard for them to compete with regular colleges. Among the disputed demands:

Stop the practice of coaches reaping personal gain when they endorse commercial sports products.

Auditors criticized a deal between football coach Fisher DeBerry and Reebok that promised DeBerry personal rewards if the academy purchased Reebok shoes.

Later, on DeBerry's recommendation, the academy bought 630 pairs of Reeboks for more than

$28,000 without seeking competing bids.

Academy athletic officials say such endorsement deals are common with coaches throughout the country and are among the incentives that attract them.

They also note that academy coaches' contracts have been rewritten to make it clear that they don't have the authority to decide which products the academy buys for its athletes. They say the academy will seek the best deal regardless of which product the coach is endorsing.

Stop housing football players in local hotels one or two nights before a home game.

Auditors said the practice was unnecessary and a waste of money. They also noted that the academy doesn't supply hometown lodging for its other sports teams.

Academy officials say the money comes from sporting events and related fund raising, not from tax dollars.

The practice is common for football teams at NCAA Division I colleges. Academy officials say it's important to keep players away from the distractions of the campus dorms and build ``esprit de corps'' before the game.

Place the athletic association under the rules of the Air Force and the Department of Defense. Auditors say it is associated with the military and should therefore follow military policies.

Academy officials say that would make fund raising more difficult. For example, they would no longer be able to open the sports gift shop to the public or mail gift-shop catalogs to sports fans.

Academy athletic director Col. Randy Spetman said nothing ``in violation of (NCAA) rules'' was disclosed by the audit, conducted at the request of a congressional subcommittee seeking cost savings at military academies.

But NCAA officials said the academy may have violated an NCAA rule forbidding extra benefits when its football players in recent seasons were given meal money.

The audit revealed that players were given $10 to $15 to buy game-day meals even though some of those meals were provided by the academy.

``Member institutions are bound by our financial regulations as to what they can and can't provide,'' Athena Yiamouyiannis, the NCAA's director of legislative services, said Monday from Overland Park, Kan. ``They're not supposed to double dip as far as providing the meal and then giving the meal money.''

The academy has already changed that practice.

``We're aware of the audit, and we're going to fix the problems that were found,'' said Spetman, a former academy football player who replaced Col. Ken Schweitzer on March 1. ``We're doing the right things here, and we'll continue to do the right things.''

Spetman said the academy is waiting for a response to items in the report that they have not agreed with.

It may take a long time for the remaining disputes to be resolved because both parties are standing firm in their arguments. The disputes could eventually reach the deputy secretary of defense for resolution although that's rare.

Most of the audit disputes boil down to a philosophical issue: What exactly is the Air Force Academy when intercollegiate sports are involved _ an elite college like Stanford, with high standards but subject to NCAA rules, or a military institution under the regulatory eye of the Department of Defense?

``The bottom line is: there's no other institution in the Air Force like the Air Force Academy,'' said Col. Joe Purka, the academy's top spokesman. ``It's just inappropriate to put the Air Force Academy athletics under the same guidelines as would be enforced at any other air base, considering the two are just not comparable.''

Auditors don't see how placing the athletic association under military rules would do anything to hurt its ability to compete. They say that the Army follows such policies and is able to compete.

Indeed, similar audits were performed at the Army and Naval academies, where far fewer questions were raised about athletic spending practices, said Harlan Geyer, audit program director for the Department of Defense's Office of Inspector General.

``This isn't a collegiate institution; it's a military operation,'' said Geyer, the audit supervisor. ``If they need to attract a top-rate coach, they should do it another way _ like a salary increase or bonus _ than a way that just doesn't look right.''

Quiz: Match the movie with the merchandise.(The Gazette (Colorado Springs)) - Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

The current blockbusters 'Cast Away' and 'What Women Want' are more than movies. They're also feature-length commercials.

Product placement, the practice of advertising stuff by getting it in movies, is hitting new heights as merchandise becomes almost as prominent in some films as the living actors. (Don't be surprised if you see a volleyball up for best supporting actor this year.)

Generally, product placements don't bother me. They can lend authenticity to a film. In some cases, they actually add a punchline, as in the jeans McFly (Michael J. Fox) wore in 'Back to the Future.'

But they cause problems when (as in 'Cast Away') a company with a key product placement (FedEx) gets script-approval rights and helps shape the story.

Then films become less about entertaining or enlightening and more about selling.

As a tribute to the selling of our film medium, I offer the following quiz. Match the products or companies with the movies that promoted them. Answers at the end of the column.

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THE QUIZ

1. Wilson Sporting Goods

2. Merrill Lynch investments

3. Apple Powerbook

4. Oakley Inc. sunglasses

5. Ray Ban sunglasses

6. Papa John's

7. Zoloft, an anti-depressant

8. Reese's Pieces

9. BMW Roadster

10. Nike

11. Wal-Mart

12. Pepsi

13. AOL

14. PanAm

15. Shell oil company

16. Phillips Electronics cell

phones

17. Starbucks

18. Huggies diapers

19. Skittles

20. Mercedes Benz sports-utility vehicles

21. Triumph motorcycles

22. Toro Snowblowers

23. Calvin Klein

24. Taco Bell

25. Armani

26. Jack Daniels

A. 'Twister'

B. 'Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'

C. '2001: A Space Odyssey'

D. 'The Ninth Gate'

E. 'What Women Want'

F. 'The Sixth Sense'

G. 'Where the Heart Is'

H. 'Analyze This'

I. 'Mission: Impossible 2'

J. 'GoldenEye'

K. 'Mildred Pierce'

L. 'E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'

M. 'Risky Business'

N. 'Raising Arizona'

O. 'Inspector Gadget'

P. 'American Gigolo'

Q. 'You've Got Mail'

R. 'Dr. T & the Women'

S. 'Nobody's Fool'

T. 'Enemy of the State'

U. 'Jurassic Park'

V. 'Cast Away'

W. 'Barb Wire'

X. 'Back to the Future'

Y. 'Mission: Impossible'

Z. 'Demolition Man'

Answers: 1. V; 2. H; 3. Y; 4. I; 5. M; 6. R; 7. F; 8. L; 9. J; 10. E; 11. G; 12. A; 13. Q; 14. C; 15. D; 16. T; 17. B; 18. N; 19. O; 20. U; 21. W; 22. S; 23. X; 24. Z; 25. P; 26. K.

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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

(c) 2001, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

Visit GT Online, the World Wide Web site of The Gazette, at http://www.gazette.com