European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 17, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 17 2007 stars and stripes Page 35 Sabathia few Blacks in majors is a crisis by Tom Withers the associated press Winter Haven acc Sabathia looks around Cleve lands clubhouse and sees some thing missing there Arent very Many Afri can american players and its not just in Here its everywhere Sabathia said wednesday be tween morning workouts its not just a problem its a crisis Sabathia the Only Black player on the indians 25man roster last season feels baseball could be doing More to promote its game to intercity kids who Are gravitating toward basketball and other sports i go Back Home to Vallejo Sabathia said of his of season time in California and the kids say whats baseball its not just an Issue for my Hometown its an Issue for the whole country i think major league baseball should do something about it i dont know exactly what they could be doing but i know its not enough according 19 a 2005 report by the University of Central Florida Institute for diversity and ethics in sport Only 85 percent of major leagues were african american the lowest percentage since the report was initiated in the mid1980s by contrast Whites comprised 595 percent of the majors player Pool latinos 287 per cent and asians 25 Sabathia appreciates some of the Steps baseball has taken to make itself More appealing to Young Blacks such As the Urban youth Academy which opened last year in Compton Calif also theres the rib reviving base Ball in inner cities program which has attracted More than 120000 kids worldwide still its not enough to Sabathia who along with Florida Dontrelle Willis Are the Only prominent Black starting pitchers in the majors that amazing that unbelievable he said i dont think people understand that there is a problem they see players like Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado and just assume that there Black Sabathia is trying to do his part to make a difference and raise baseballs profile he sponsors the North Vallejo Little league providing equipment and serving As a role Model for 175 kids from his Hometown he Hopes will see where baseball can take them one of the reasons for base balls decline among african americans May be that there Are so few Africa american major league stars kids dont identify with them they dont see us playing Sabathia said when i grew up i was a Pitcher and i liked the Oak land As i liked Dave Stewart i was a big left handed hitter so i liked Dave Parker you had Barry Bonds playing in san fran Cisco Guys like that there were a lot of Guys to look up to if he was a kid today would Sabathia be playing baseball no Way he said that the truth Eastern conference Buffalo new Jersey Atlanta Pittsburgh Ottawa Tampa Bay Nyi slanders Carolina w lot pts 4419 6 94 4220 8 37 24 10 39 21 10 4023 7 39 28 4 34 25 10 3528 8 of Cha 260205 186 170 219 218 240217 241 193 223 219 207 195 206 212 Toronto by rangers Montreal Boston Florida Washington Philadelphia 3427 9 3428 8 3530 6 3331 5 29 28 13 24 34 12 1940 11 77 219 227 76 200 193 76 208 223 71 198241 71 202 220 60 203 251 49 185 262 Western conference Detroit Anaheim Vancouver Nashville Dallas san Jose Minnesota Calgary w lot 45 17 9 42 17 12 41 23 6 4620 6 41 23 5 42 25 3 4024 37 23 10 pts of a 99 227 177 96 228 183 88 188 176 98 246 190 87 183 166 87 211 172 87 203 176 84227 192 Colorado St Louis Edmonton Columbus Chicago Phoenix los Angeles 35 29 6 76 228 218 29 29 11 69 183 212 30 34 6 66 177 210 28 35 7 63 174 216 26 34 9 61 173 217 28 38 3 59 186 235 23 34 13 59 197 242 two Points for a win one Point for Over time loss or shootout loss division Leader wednesdays games Detroit 4 Nashville 2 Pittsburgh 3 new Jersey 0 Colorado 3 Calgary 2 Columbus 5 Anaheim 4 so thursdays games Washington at Boston Atlanta at Philadelphia new Jersey at Carolina Buffalo at Florida by islanders at Ottawa Calgary at Dallas Minnesota at Edmonton san Jose at Phoenix St Louis at Vancouver Chicago at los Angeles fridays games Toronto at Washington by rangers at Atlanta Montreal at Pittsburgh Buffalo at Tampa Bay Chicago at Anaheim Columbus at san Jose wednesday red wings 4 predators 2 Nashville 1 1 02 Detroit 0 2 24 first period1 Nashville Radulov 14 second period2 Detroit Lidstrom 13 3 Nashville Arnott 25 Timonen Detroit Hudler 13 Calder third period5 Detroit Hudler 14 Lang Detroit Maltby 5 Draper shots on Goa Nashville 1112629 de troit 1281535 Power play  0 of 5 Detroit 0 of 1 goalie Nashville Mason 24112 34 shots31 Detroit hasek 3594 a20066 penguins 3 devils 2 Pittsburgh 0 1 23 new Jersey 0 0 00 second period1 Pittsburgh Ruitu 7 third period2 Pittsburgh Christensen 14 Ruitu 3 Pittsburgh Staal 28 Malkin shots on Goa Pittsburgh 115622 new Jersey 117624 Power play opportunities Pittsburgh 0 of l new Jersey 0 of 2 goalie Pittsburgh Thibault 672 24 shots24 new Jersey Brodeur 41197 a14862 Avalanche 3 flames 2 Calgary 2 0 02 Colorado 1 1 13 first period1 Colorado Sakic 28 Wolski second penod4 Colorado Hejduk 29 Brunette third period5 Colorado Stastny 23 50 shots on goal Calgary 95519 Colo Rado 11181342 Power play opportunities Calgary 2 of 3 Colorado 1 of 3 goalie Calgary Kip Rusoff 34209 42 shots39 Colorado Budaj 24155 1a17426 Blue jackets 5 ducks 4 so Columbus 12105 Anaheim 12104 Columbus won shootout 10 first period Anaheim Perry 16 snied Elmayer 2 Columbus Modin 17 Nash second period3 Anaheim Beauchemin 5 Penner Columbus Zherdev 9 5 Columbus Zherdev 10 Nash Anaheim Beauchemin 6 Pahlsson third period7 Columbus Nash 22 Modin Anaheim Kunitz 23 Velanne shootout Columbus 1 Hainsey no Chi Mera no Picard no Zherdev no Vyborny Anaheim 0 Getzlaff no Velanne no Mcdonald no Kunitz no Perry shots on Goa Columbus 999027 Ana Heim 891w38 Power play opportunities Columbus 1 of 7 Anaheim 0 of 5 goalie Columbus Norrena 19173 38 shots34 Anaheim Giguere 3388 a17174 Bill Pittsburgh Colby Armstrong right attempts a wraparound As he is checked by new jerseys Brian Rafalski during their game wednesday the penguins won for their third straight Victory penguins thinking about More than just return to playoffs nil Roundup the associated press East Rutherford no Sid the kid and the Pittsburgh penguins Are showing signs a re turn to the postseason might be special a season after losing 60 games and missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year Sidney Crosby and his Young teammates have to be considered a Stanley cup threat especially based on the past two Days backup goalie Jocelyn Thibault stopped 25 shots for his first shut out in More than three years and the penguins completed a tonight sweep of the Eastern conferences top two teams with a 30 Victory Over the new Jersey devils on wednesday night Twenty four hours earlier the penguins beat Buffalo 54 in a shootout in a game in which they out shot the sabres 3819 we need to Start to get into the playoff Mode penguins coach Michel Therrien said we have to Start thinking about ourselves and having the right attitude again we had the right attitude to approach that game those Young Guys they keep surprising a lot of people a couple of older ult and Jarkko Ruitu also contributed to the penguins third straight Victory and fifth in six games Thibault 32 withstood a slow Start by the penguins and some Early pressure by the devils Ruitu 31 got the winning goal on a deflection off a devils stick and then set up an insurance score by Erik Christensen in the third period its awesome the past two nights Thibault said after giving starter Marcandre Fleury a break i thought we played great last night against Buffalo even though it was 54 and to come Here to new Jersey and shut them out its tremendous we have a lot of work ahead of us but this is a Good Start Crosby who earned his no leading 104th Point on Ruu Tus goal late in the second period said the penguins Are starting to play a full 60 minutes of hockey every game every night is new Crosby said we cant sit on this and think weve accomplished every thing its still a big climb for us Martin Brodeur made 19 saves for new Jersey which had a two game winning Streak snapped and failed to tie Buffalo for first Overall in the East the sabres have a game in hand i think we missed a Bunch of Good opportunities Early in the game said devils Center John Madden who missed the net on a second period breakaway when the game was scoreless they came out Flat and we missed some Good opportunities they just kept Chipping away the Way they should have after their game last night they kept put Ting the puck deep and we kept turning it Over red wings 4 predators 2 Jiri Hudler scored twice and Detroit beat Nashville to move ahead of the predators atop the nil and also in the Central division Hudler scored the godhead goal Early in the third period after making it 22 with left in the second the red wings beat Nashville on Bac Toback nights giving them one More Point in the Divi Sion and a league High 99 Dominik hasek made 27 saves for Detroit 511 against the predators Avalanche 3 flames 2 at Den ver Paul Stastny extended his nil Rookie record Points Streak to 19 games with a third period goal and Colorado stayed in the playoff Hunt the Avalanche Are eight Points behind Calgary and the playoff cutoff in the Western conference with 12 games left Stastny has nine goals and 26 assists during the Streak Joe Sakic scored his 602nd goal to move past Jari Kerri into 16th place on the nil career list Blue jackets 5 ducks 4 Nikolai Zherdev scored twice and David Vyborny got the Only goal in a five round shootout to lift co Lumbus Over Host Anaheim it was Columbus second stun Ning Road Victory Over the ducks this season the Blue jackets twice rallied from on goal deficits to grab a 32 Lead Zherdev had two goals against Jea Sebastien Giguere during a 63second Span of the second period Matching his out put for his previous 38 games combined