Section: B The University Daily Kansan Sports It's the thought that counts With two outs in the ninth last night, a fan jumped out of the right-field stands and mooned John Rocker during the Dodgers- Braves game in Los Angeles. Inside: The Phoenix Suns' Rodney Rogers was named the NBA's best sixth man. SEE PAGE 2B TUESDAY, MAY 2, 2000 Inside: Detroit beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 last night, but it still trails in the series 2-1. SEE PAGE 6B WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS Teams vie for intramural title Players excited by new location By Ryan Malashock sports@kansan.com Kanson Sportswriter There may not have been too many Mark McGwire-type blasts, but for more than 700 University of Kansas students, the chance to compete for softball pride came last weekend at the Clinton Lake Sports Complex. Five champions were crowned from the 65 teams entered, but many teams involved in the tournament were there to have fun and enjoy the weather. Andy Parnell, supervisor for Recreation Services, said he spent about 15 to 20 hours at the tournament and enjoyed every minute of it. Parnell rated this year's tournament as a vast improvement over last year's. "It seemed that last year there were a lot of forfeits, and people just made excuses to not show up." Parnell said. "This year it looks like everyone is having fun. Softball is just a fun sport." Parnell noted that the location of the tournament had everything to do with its success. Regular season games are played at Shenk Complex on 23rd and Iowa streets. The fields at Clinton Lake are equipped with dirt infields, fences, real pitching rubbers and bases. Parnell said the players often made comments about the quality of the fields. "Having the tournament at Clinton Lake makes this tournament great," he said. "I can remember when the whole tournament was at the fields behind Watkins. It's so much better out here." Hopefully we'll have it here next year." The Big Hitter's Club, one of the many intramural squads, went undefeated throughout the regular season and was looking forward to playing on an actual field in the tournament. However, the team played worse under the better conditions and lost in its first game. "It was so much better playing out at Clinton Lake," said Brian Weiser, Highland Park, Ill., freshman and member of the Big Hitter's. "Honestly, the field we've played on is a dump. It was so much easier to field ground balls. Too bad we couldn't field them today." "We're going through some changes in our budget, but hopefully we'll be able to have the tournament out at Jason Krone, assistant director for Recreation Services, said he was happy with the overall participation in the tournament. Clinton again," Krone said. "Also, I'm real pleased at the attendance this year. We had about 20 less forfeits this year. Plus, the weather was great until late Sunday night." The championship games were played late Sunday night in steady rain, Krone said. "It was great to see the championship games play out last night," Krone said. "They were fighting to the end in the rain." Delta Chi was victorious in the men's greek division late Sunday night, and Parnell said the competition in the greek division this year was intense. "The greeks earn Hill points from the tournament results, so the action was pretty intense for their championship," Parnell said. The members of the five championship teams earned intramural T-Shirts for their efforts. Kansas junior outfielder Jesse Gremminger swings at a pitch against Creighton. take the field against the University of Texas at Arlington tonight at 7. They will try to recov Grumminger and junior John Nelson will return to their native Texas when the Jayhawks er from a four-game losing skid. KANSAN file photo 'Hawks look to pass Texas road test By Amanda Kaschube Kansan sportswriter The Lone Star State hasn't been kind to the Jayhawk baseball team in the past. No. 5 Baylor beat up Kansas last weekend, sweeping the 'Hawks in a conference series for the second time this season. And in early March, Kansas won only one game against then No. 4 Texas before losing the next two. That's just this year. Texas teams lead the all-time series 64-109. The Hawks haven't stacked up well against the Texans for one reason, coach Bobby Randall said. "Texas is really a baseball state — they breed baseball athletes down there," he said. The 'Hawks invade the state again at 7 p. m. tonight, when Kansas (22-26 and 8-19 in the Big 12 conference) squares off against UT-Arlington (21-29 and 9-18 in the Southland conference) in Arlington, Texas. The Mavericks will be the seventh straight Texas game for the 'Hawks. Last year, Kansas beat UT-Arlington twice, 10-3 and 9-4, in the opening three-game campaign. But the circumstances are different this year. Kansas is in the midst of a four-game losing streak — the longest this season and also is in the middle of a eight-game road stint. The 'Hawks haven't been spectacular on the road this year, sporting a 10-12 record. Randall is hoping his players won't have an emotional letdown from the Bears' sweep last weekend. Gremminger: is from the Lone Star state "This will be a good test for out team," he said. "We've been playing hard all year, and we want to finish the last seven games of the season strong." The Jayhawk batters must have on their game faces to counter Maverick pitcher Whoa Dill (5-8). Dill's 5.49 ERA is the lowest on the UT-Arlington team. Kansas has two Texans working in its favor — juniors John Nelson and Jesse Gremminger, who both are from the Lone Star State. Both struggled in Waco, Texas, last weekend, but Gremminger is sure that he'll bounce back. game," he said. "I started off slow this season, but I've been press now." "We just need to relax and play the Kansas will send junior Pete Smart, 6-9, to the mound tonight and will use sophomore Dan Olson in tomorrow's 1 p.m. game. Baseball Notes The 2000 Kansas squad has five more road wins than last year's team. The Jayhawks' eight-game road trek is the most since last year when Kansas opened the season with 10 straight away match-ups. Pitcher Rusty Philbrick broke the Kansas record for most career starts last weekend, but he also broke the number of innings pitched with 296 in his four-year career. Philbrick also is second on the strikeout list with 231, seven behind the leader. Royals fall to Oakland, 7-5 The Associated Press Long, recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on April 24, hit a bases-loaded triple in the second inning and an RBI single that capped a three-run eighth. The rookie is batting .290 (9-for-31), getting hits in six of seven games. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Terrence Long drove in four runs, and Omar Olivares won for the first time since April 5 as the Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals 7-5 last night for their fourth straight win. KANSAS CITY. Mo. Oakland trailed 5-4 in the eighth, then loaded the bases with one out against Dan Reichert (1-1) and tied the score on Eric Chavez's infield grounder. Pinchhitter Olmedo Saenz singled in the go-ahead run, and Long followed with another RBI single. Olivares (2-3), whose other win was against Detroit, allowed five runs and eight hits in seven innings. Doug Jones pitched a one-hit eighth, and Jason Irinaushaun got three straight outs for his fifth save in five chances. Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the first on Mike Sweeney's sacrifice fly and the first of two RBI singles by Carlos Beltran. After Long's triple in the second, Ramon Hernandez homeered in the third for a 4-2 lead. Beltran and Joe Randa hit RBI singles in the bottom of the third that tied the game. Kansas City starter Chad Durbin gave up four runs, four hits and four walks in 61-3 innings. Notes: The Royals are in the midst of their longest home stand of the year (11 games), while the A's are on their longest road trip (12 games). The A's are one of only two AL teams with a winning record on the road (8-3) and a losing mark Kansas City went ahead in the fifth on Quinn Maunin's RBI single. Dye was chosen AL player of the week after getting 11 hits in five games, including three homers, four doubles and 24 total bases. In the first inning, he dropped a high fly by Miguel Tejada with one out for an error. Durbin struck out Adam Piatt for the third out. Grieve, 5-for-16 in his five previous plate appearances with a grand slam and five RBI hit a ball to the warning track in his first at bat. Long's walk in the sixth was his first in 36 major league plate appearances. at home (5-10). SCORING Oakland 031 000 030 —7 Kansas City 202 010 030 E—Long (2), Sweeney (5), Dye (1), LOB- Oakland B, Kansas City B. 2B—Rhier曼德ze (3), RSanchez (7). 3B—Long (1), HR— Rhier曼德ze (3), SB—Febies (5). 5—Platt. SF—Sweeney. KC club offers adults athletic, social outlet By Scott Kirsch sports@kansan.com Kanson sportswriter People ages 21-34 who enjoy sports and want another social outlet need look no farther than the Kansas City Sport & Social Club, the local chapter of the organization located in 20 cities across America. Josh Rohr, assistant director of the club, graduated from Kansas State in 1998 and moved to Kansas City last summer. He did not know anyone upon his arrival, which is where the Sport and Social Club came in. Josh's brother Chris, a University of Kansas graduate, got him started in the club. After participating in the sand volleyball league, Josh was offered a part-time job running sand volleyball, which eventually led to his role as assistant director. He's been hooked on the club ever since. "It's a good way to meet a ton of people," Josh said, describing a club that includes 365,000 professional adults nationwide, a number that provides considerable networking opportunities. Sports Editor Commentary This social aspect was the biggest plus of the club for Amy Love, who became a member in January. Love, who graduated from Kansas in 1997, learned about the club from fellow members of the Kansas City Ski Club and joined with her college roommate, Pam Comstock. See KANSAS CITY on page 2B Mike Miller sports@kansan.com Semi-pro teams would benefit athletes,NBA high schoolers The idea of a semi-professional basketball league scares a lot of people. It's an idea that has been tossed around by the NBA, the CBA and a variety of other basketball leagues, all of which fancy themselves as a possible developmental league for the NBA. The proposal? A farm league that resembles Major League Baseball's, where high school basketball players can sign $50,000 to $100,000 contracts and then get called up to the NBA. Any player that comes in loses amateur status but gets rich without ever having to go to school — or having to be thrown into the lion's den that is the NBA. The idea is basketball fans. The idea spooks college basketball fans. What should we do? Will it work? No, not yet. What about my team? Will it be the same? It frightens college coaches, or, at least, the big-time coaches who recruit the big- time high school players. What about my recruits? How am I supposed to mold these youngsters into men? It terrifies the NCAA The fans? They'll always be able to cheer for their teams. Otherwise, are they really fans? But all of these reasons have selfish motivations behind them, because most of these people don't give a damn about the players. Now who will make us all the money we're accustomed to? The TV networks won't love us anymore! Forget about the NCAA. The suspensions levied against players like Erick Barkley, Kareem Rush and JaRon Rush made no sense. There was no continuity in the suspensions — all were for contact and possibly for taking money with agents — from an institution that was mad at players for trying to make money for their skills. The coaches are the ones that stand to lose the most. Some, like Roy Williams, do care about their players and want to ensure that they prosper, both on and off the basketball floor. But some coaches no doubt would be concerned about their large paychecks, which are provided by the performance of their players. Without athletes who are willing to trade a scholarship — less than minimum wage considering the amount of time put in by today's athletes — for playing time, none of the coaches would have a job. But that's the beauty of the proposed league. Everyone can win. Average and above-average basketball players, who normally wouldn't receive a scholarship, now can play in college — acting out the dreams of hundreds of high school students. But instead of the people who use college as a pit stop, student-athletes would be playing college basketball and going to classes. Graduation rates most likely would increase, which would reinforce the true meaning of college — to get a degree. College basketball will survive no matter what. It was great before TV, the madness still will happen every March and there will be players on teams who actually want to be in college. If a player wants to go to the NBA, why waste time in college working in an academic institution as a means to further an athletic career? Even the blue-chip players who do attend college no doubt would improve their skills and grow as individuals. Grant Hill always has said that his college experience made him the player he is today. As one of the top NBA players, that's a strong statement for any high schooler thinking about jumping to the NBA. Go get paid to play. Bottom line, the athletes benefit. True, the atmosphere in a semi-praleague won't be as coddling as college, but a near six-figure salary would ease those problems. Sleazy agents still would be around, but again, that's the trade-off for making the money. And, one would hope, some high school players who have NBA potential still would go to college. After all, college teams still play in front of thousands of fans. March Madness is still March Madness, and there's something to be said for experiencing college. Just ask Grant Hill Miller is a Cheyenne, Wyo., senior in journalism.