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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2007
SPORTS
3B
FOOTBALL
Student tickets available for bowl game
BY THOR NYSTROM
tnystrom@kansan.com
Kansas football fanatics might want to clear their New Year's schedules. The Athletics Department announced Wednesday that it will make 3,000 student tickets available for Kansas' upcoming bowl game.
Students who have purchased a 2007 All-sports Combo pack or a football-only season ticket will have the first opportunity to order a ticket. These students will order online on the KU Athletics Web site (www.
kwautheltics.com) beginning 9 a.m.
Monday. Dec. 3, while supplies last.
The Athletics Department decided to do an online only offering, so ticket windows will not be open for ordering tickets until Dec. 7.
"We are responding to faculty concerns that students would camp out and possibly miss important classes next week," Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony said.
Kansas has been pegged by many projections into one of three bowls: Jan. 1 in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl, Jan. 2 in Glendale, Ariz. for the
will-call window will also receive a voucher.
Fiesta Bowl, or Jan. 3 in Miami for the Orange Bowl. The Fiesta and Cotton Bowls have been mentioned the most, with the Fiesta Bowl having sent more representatives to KU games than any other bowl.
When ordering tickets at the Fieldhouse, students will only be able to order for themselves. Marchiony said this was because it wasn't a normal student pickup and money was exchanging hands.
A student who has not purchased a 2007 All-sports. Combo pack or a football-only student season ticket may order a ticket, while supplies last, in person at the Allen Fieldhouse ticket office on Friday, Dec. 7, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and during those same hours on Monday, Dec. 10, and Tuesday, Dec. 11.
"The students have been terrific in their support of the team," Marchiony said. "I think wherever we go, students and fans will follow this队."
The final BCS standings and bowl pairings will be announced at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2 on Fox.
wishing to sit together must also come with their group to the KU will-call window.
Students who order tickets online will print out a receipt and take it, with a valid KUID, to the KU will-call window at the bowl site, where they can claim their ticket. Those
Student tickets will cost $50 plus a $6 handle fee.
Only students with a current, valid KUID can order a ticket. Students who order a ticket at the
Edited by Rachel Bock
>> NFL
Even Bill Belichick is having a hard time ignoring the attention on his New England Patriots as they get ever closer to the NFLs first perfect season in 35 years.
Hype builds around unbeaten Patriots
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"I don't care what everybody else thinks," he snarled this week after first suggesting that no one cared except the reporters asking the questions.
"I can tell you what this team thinks. Right now, we're thinking about getting ready for Baltimore. That's how we approach the game. I can't tell you what anybody else thinks. I don't care what everybody else thinks. It doesn't make any difference."
It sure does, though, to the Miami Dolphins — for a couple of reasons.
New England is 11-0 on the way to 16-0 — or 19-0, the record if it wins out through the Super Bowl. That would make the Patriots the NFL's first unbeaten team since the 1972 Dolphins went 14-0 in the
regular season and 17-0 overall, beating Washington in the Super Bowl.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick walk off the field after beating the Indianapolis Colts in an NFL football in Indianapolis, Sunday. NFC commissioner Roger Goodell's discipline, to levy fines of $500,000 against Belichick, $250,000 against the team and take away New England's first-round draft pick, seems to have motivated what already was the NFL's best team to play even harder.
Now, that same Miami franchise is at the opposite end in this season of extremes, only the third time in the NFL's 88 seasons that there
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday night before the Steelers managed a field goal to win 3-0.
The Patriots then filled their biggest hole with three standout wide receivers, including Randy Moss, who was obtained for a fourthround pick from Oakland, where he was hurt and unhappy. His 16 touchdown catches are just six short of Jerry Rice's single-season record of 22.
The Patriots already are a minddynasty, winning Super Bowls after the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons and reaching the AFC championship game last year before blowing a 21-3 lead and losing 38-34 to Indianapolis.
Then there is Wes Welker, obtained from Miami. He is second in the league with 81 catches, including 13 last Sunday night in a 31-28 win over Philadelphia that was only the second game this season the Patriots won by less than 17 points.
Their presence has turned quarterback Tom Brady into a recordbreaker as well as a winner. The MVP in two of the three Super Bowl
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa pleaded guilty to driving under the influence Wednesday, eight months after police found him asleep inside his running sport utility vehicle at a stop light and smelling of alcohol.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CRIME
"I accept full responsibility for my conduct, and assure everyone that I have learned a very valuable lesson and that this will never occur again". La Russa said in a statement released by his attorney, David Roth. La Russa did not appear in court to plead guilty.
La Rusa said he had decided to plead guilty to the misdemeanor because it was in the best interest of all concerned.
So dominant have they been since that oddsmakers are having trouble setting lines to entice wagers against them. They are winning by scores like 52-7 and 56-10, and their average victory margin is 23 points a game. Belichick has left his regulars in the game well into the fourth quarter against outmanned opponents — proof that he doesn't need contraband information.
BILL BELICHICK New England Patriots coach
As part of his plea agreement, La Russa will serve at least six months' probation, pay a $678.50 fine, complete DUI school and any recommended treatment and complete 50 hours of community service, according to state prosecutors. The Cardinals said their concerns were addressed during the season.
La Russa pleads guilty to DUI will pay fine serve six months
"I can tell you what this team thinks. Right now, we're thinking about getting ready for Baltimore. That's how we approach the game."
By comparison, while the Patriots win big, the Dolphins lose small — six defeats by three points. They slogged through the Pittsburgh mud for 59 minutes and 43 seconds
They were caught in the first game of the season illegally taping the New York Jets' defensive signals. Belichick was fined $500,000, the team was fired $250,000, and the Patriots lost their first-round draft choice in 2008.
have been 11-0 and 0-11 teams at the same time.
"We addressed this matter with Tony last season and the nature of those discussions will remain private," chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said in a statement. "We have been satisfied with Tony's responsible approach to this issue and we respect his decision. With today's news, our ball club considers the matter closed."
The only other time it happened was 1942, when Chicago was 11-0 and Detroit 0-11.
Most of the focus this time is on the Patriots.
In 1984, Miami was 11-0 on the way to a 14-2 record and Super Bowl trip with Dan Marino setting passing records that wouldn't be broken for two decades. The 0-11 team was Buffalo, which finished 2-14, setting the stage for a housecleaning that brought in an administration led by Bill Polian and Marv Levy. All they would do is get the Bills to four straight Super Bowls from 1990-93.
victories, Brady already has 39 TD passes this season, just 10 short of Peyton Manning's record, and the win over Philadelphia was the first game this season in which he had fewer than
La Russa, 63; was arrested in March in Jupiter, where the Cardinals play spring training games.
When it was clear they were going nowhere this season, the Dolphins dealt their top receiver,
Letting Welker go is one of many questionable decisions by the Dolphins, who also have been hurt badly by injury.
three.
Chris Chambers, to San Diego at the trading deadline. Trent Green, the 37-year-old quarterback brought in by new coach Cam Cameron, is out for the season with a concussion. Top running back Ronnie Brown went out with a knee injury, and linebacker Zach Thomas is sidelined with a head injury.
"We're not winning any games right now, but I know what we're putting forward," says Jason Taylor, the 2006 defensive player of the year and one of the few solid veterans left. "I know what we're putting into it, and we'll get the results one day. You're never as bad as you think you are, and you're never as good, either."