Oregon State Players Stabbed

Two Oregon State football players were stabbed early Sunday outside a Waikiki fast-food restaurant, hours after playing in the Oahu Bowl game in Hawaii.

Charles O’Neal, a 288-pound defensive tackle, was stabbed in the lower back, and Paul Luoma, a 285-pound defensive tackle, was cut on the torso, according to police.

O’Neal was in stable condition at Queen’s Medical Center, and expected to remain hospitalized another day, according to Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart. The hospital declined to release any information.

The knife with a four-inch blade was still in O’Neal’s back when he arrived at the hospital, according to police, who opened an attempted murder investigation.

Luoma was treated and released and left Honolulu with his teammates Sunday.

The two players had been at the Deja Vu nightclub in Waikiki and were leaving the nearby Jack in the Box restaurant when they were attacked around 4:30 a.m., according to a police report.

Police were looking for two suspects, one who was armed with a knife and a stick, the police report said.

Oregon State lost to Hawaii, 23-17, in the Oahu Bowl on Christmas Day.

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With a nearly-70-year-old building hosting the game, Cotton Bowl officials at Dallas don’t have much to worry about when it comes to the Y2K bug. But they aren’t taking any chances.

To be extra certain, a dress rehearsal featuring practically everything but Texas and Arkansas players will take place shortly after midnight Friday, leaving little more than 10 hours to correct any oversights before the kickoff Saturday.

Built in 1930, the Cotton Bowl lacks many of the modern amenities that could fail when Dec. 31, 1999, turns into Jan. 1, 2000. And those it does have were checked long ago.

“For the Cotton Bowl, having less high-tech equipment makes it a Y2K-friendly facility,” said Marty MacInnis, vice president and director of operations for the game. “It helps us not to have a Diamond Vision screen or other computerized systems that could fail and cause huge problems.”

MacInnis said technicians for all major mechanical devices are always on hand for game day. This year, they’ll also be on call at 1 a.m. in case anything fails during the early test run.

Utility companies have checked the electricity, water and phone systems. The fire department has checked the computerized fire-prevention system. The elevators also have been tested.

A backup generator and other sources for power and water will be in place, but they have those every year. Fox, which is televising the game, will have an extra generator for its equipment, but that’s standard for the broadcast of any one-time event.

Computers that keep statistics in the press box are being rented, but they always have to rent them. This time, though, they did ask for ones that are Y2K compatible.