10A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 25, 2006
ALHELITICS CALENDAR
TODAY
> Mena's basketball at Texas
A&M, 7 p.m., College
Station, Texas
Women's basketball st Kansas State, 7 p.m. Manhattan
Player to watch:
Freshman forward
Marjia Zinic.
The bench hasn't been very deep,
with the front six
players logging 83 percent of the minutes. Zinic will be first non-starter to come into the game, and her effort will be important.
FRIDAY
Swimming vs. Drury, 5 p.m.
Lawrence
SATURDAY
Men's basketball at Iowa State 11 a.m. Ames, Iowa
**Men's basketball at Iowa**
State. 11 a.m., Ames, Iowa
**Women's basketball vs.**
- Women's basketball vs.
Women's basketball vs.
Beylor, 3 p.m., Waco, Texas
baylor, 3 p.m., Waco, texas
* Tennis vs. Drake, time TBA,
Lawrence
Track, Jayhawk Invitational,
all day, Lawrence
MONDAY
Men's basketball vs. Texas Tech, 8 p.m., Lawrence
St. Louis to hire Haslett
ST. LOUIS — The last of Jim Haslett's six seasons as New Orleans Saints coach was a disaster built upon the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Away from that turmoil and the 3-13 record it produced, he'll try to rebuild his career as the St. Louis Rams' defensive coordinator.
"He's a guy who has been through it all, and it won't be long before he has a head coach again," new Rams coach Scott Linhan said Tuesday. "I know that and I'm realistic about it."
NFL
"I really believe he's exactly what we're looking for."
But, as he said in his introductory news conference, choosing a defensive coordinator was his most important hire.
The Rams also named Greg Olson as offensive coordinator. He spent the past two seasons with Detroit, first as quarterbacks coach.
("If) he gets another head coaching job, that's a good thing, that means we've done well." Linehan said. "My job is to hire a good staff under Jim so that we can promote within.
"I wouldn't look at that as a risk, I'd look at it as a win-win situation."
NFL/MLB
Chiefs, Royals agree to stay
BY DAVID TWIDDY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs and the Royals on Tuesday signed agreements that would keep them at their Kansas City stadiums through 2031.
The new stadium leases, replacing ones that would have expired in 2015, are contingent on Jackson County voters approving a pair of tax issues that would help pay for millions of dollars in renovations to Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums, which are owned by the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority and leased to the Chiefs and Royals, respectively.
Moments after Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt and Royals president Dan Glass, son of owner David Glass, signed the leases, county legislators voted unanimously to put a 3/8-cent sales tax and a "compensating user tax" on the April 4 ballot in jackson County.
"I think we took a big step forward," said county legislator and former Chiefs player Fred Arbanas.
The focus now shifts to persuading voters to approve the taxes. Hunt and Glass said their organizations would contribute heavily to any campaign, as they did in an unsuccessful attempt last year to impose a stadium renovation tax in five counties in the two-state metropolitan area.
Jackson County officials said they have run out of money to pay for repairs at the stadiums and fear they would default on the leases next year, possibly allowing the teams to move elsewhere.
Free throws CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11A
at the stripe. Two of its best free throw shooters, Wayne Simien and Aaron Miles, got to the line for a majority of the attempts and were able to get in a rhythm. Simien, who shot 82 percent from the line, attempted 6.7 free throws a game.
This year, Kaun frequents the line most often for the Jayhawks. However, he is only attempting 3.6 free throws per game. Giles only averages 1.5 free throw attempts per game.
So how are the Jayhawks supposed to improve their free throw woes?
"Practice," said freshman guard Brandon Rush, who shoots 74 percent from the line. "That's all it takes is practice. We practice a lot on free throws but I just think they need to come in on their own time and practice on them."
Kaun estimated he shot 50 to 100 free throws per day in practice, but admitted practice free throws and game free throws were two totally different beasts.
"When you're shooting on your own, you're relaxed and by yourself, but when you're shooting them in a game, there's more pressure out there," Kaun said.
Kaun is one example that a player can improve his shooting with a little coaching. He
said that coaches suggested to him earlier in the season to get a wider base while at the line. Last season, Kaun shot 33 percent from the line and in the preseason opener against Fort Havs State, he was 5-for-10.
Moody appears to have undergone a similar transformation since the Missouri game. Before the Nebraska game, Moody paused twice during his shooting motion, once at his chin and then again at the top right before his release.
Against Nebraska, Moody had a noticeably more fluid motion with no pauses. The change resulted in a 2-for-3 performance from the line.
Mooody said he was ready to put the Missouri misses behind him, and Self still has faith in his senior forward. At his press conference last Thursday, Self said he would prefer to have Moody at the free throw line in a clutch situation than any other player on the team. Moody is ready to face the challenge again.
"I feel he has a lot of confidence in me." Moody said of Self. "He's really stressed that and emphasized that over the last few days and if I have the opportunity to be in that position again, I want to be there and have those shots to take again."
Edited by Matt Wilson
NHL
A heart-wrenching goodbye
BY ALAN ROBINSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PITTSBURGH — Unlike many aging superstars, Mario Lemieux's problem wasn't that his heart was no longer in the game. Rather, his heart no longer allowed him play the game the way he had always played it.
The Lemieux way — with greatness and grace, with dominating skills but also with a quiet dignity — may prove very difficult for future generations of hockey players to rival.
Lemieux, his Hall of Fame talen eroded by an ongoing heart problem, retired from the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second time Tuesday in a long, productive yet star-crossed career, but this time was different.
This was the last retirement, and the tears in his eyes and the quiver in his voice said so. So did the proud but sad looks on the faces of wife Nathalie, their four children and the Penguins players who gathered to say goodbye, even though it visibly pained all to do so.
"This is it." Lemieux said, "and it hurts."
Lemieu, the NHL's seventh-leading career scorer with 1,723 points, practiced the last several weeks with the intent of playing again. But after several repeat
The 40-year-old Penguins owner-player learned in early December he has atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that can cause his pulse to flutter wildly and must be controlled by medication. He returned Dec. 16 against Buffalo, but the problem flared up again in the third period and he has not played since.
episodes of an irregular pulse, he decided his health should be his primary consideration, especially with a raft of new stars turning the NHL into a faster, younger man's game.
"If I could play this game at a decent level, I'd come back and play," Lemieux said. "This is really a new NHL and it's built on speed and young guys."
Lemieux is also experiencing side effects with his medication, and he may undergo surgery to correct the problem. He spoke Tuesday to Toronto coach Pat Quinn, who told Lemieux he had the same operation and has felt much better since he did.
"I don't want to take pills the rest of my life," Lemieux said. "It's not something I want to go through."
Lemieux also was the first major pro sports star to buy the team for which he played, assembling a group that bought the team in federal bankruptcy court in 1999. He insisted the stress he is under as an owner — the franchise is for sale, and may relocate without a new arena — did not affect the decision to retire as a player.
"I don't feel great when I wake up. Even to this day I am not feeling 100 percent, and it's frustrating to me," he said.
Still, the 13-time All-Star returned so many times from injuries and operations, setbacks and layoffs, personal crises and even cancer, this decision came as a surprise. After all, this was a man who missed a month of the 1992-93 season with Hodgkin's disease, or cancer of the lymph nodes, yet easily won the scoring title.
The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Lemieux had seven goals and 15
Keith Srakocic/THE ACCOCIATED PRESS
Pittsburgh Penguins hockey great Mario Lemieux plays during an emotional moment at his news conference in Pittsburgh where he announced his retirement as a player on Tuesday. Lemieux finished his career with 690 goals and 1,033 assists for 1,723 points in 915 games over 17 seasons, all with the Penguins.
assists in 26 games this season, averaging more than a point a game until the heart problem worsened a few weeks into the season.
At least No. 66 has someone to pass the mantle to — 18-year-old Sidney Crosby, the Penguins'
rookie superstar in waiting who was briefly Lemieux's linemate and remains his housemate. The two were on the same line when Lemieux had three assists Nov. 3 against the Islanders, one of Lemieux's six multipoint games this season.
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