Friday, March 3, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 7
Intramural tournaments continue
Basketball playoffs reflect improvements in sportsmanship
By Ryan Malashock
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
This week marks the conclusion of the intramural basketball season, as well as the beginning of the intramural softball season.
Tournament play in seven different divisions of the intramural basketball league began Sunday at Robinson Center. The playoffs will continue through next week, and Jason Krone, assistant director of recreation services, is pleased with the results of the first few days.
"I think the playoffs are going great so far," Krone said. "We had really good participation all week. The first day we had a few more forfeits than we would have liked, but since then we've only had one."
In an intramural season that has been somewhat marred by suspensions and ejections, Krone said that the playoffs had been quite a turnaround from the regular season. He does find it tough to gauge sportsmanship overall, but supervisors have given him only positive reports, Krone said.
"It's definitely hard to see everything, but we've had no unacceptable ratings for teams so far in the playoffs," Krone said. "We've also only had a couple ejections, and those have been for dunking, so we're doing good."
Improvements in sportsmanship also can be attributed to the improvement of overall refereeing. Krone said.
"I think the referees are really
starting to become comfortable with the game flow and with each other, and being comfortable turns into confidence," Krone said.
The men's open and greek divisions have dominated action at Robinson this week. Co-rec divisions begin tomorrow, and women's divisions begin next Wednesday.
"We wanted to get the biggest divisions narrowed down before we started the other ones," Krone said. "There are 66 teams in the men's open and 60 in the men's grek, so there's a lot of games to play."
Krone is in the process of lining up a site for the championship games, and he said he hoped that they could be played at Allen Fieldhouse.
The first managers' meeting for the intramural softball season will be 7 p.m. Sunday at 156 Robinson. Immediately following, there will be a meeting for a new intramural sport
this season: three-on-three soccer.
Krone is eager for the intramural softball season and said there were some perks involved with playing.
Last year about 100 teams participated in intramural softball, and Krone said he expected more this year.
Ted Martin, Emporia sophomore, played high school baseball and said he was excited to relive his glory days through intramural softball.
"Softball has one of the most fun weekends for intramurals," Krone said. "We hold the end-of-the-year playoffs at the Clinton Lake Softball Complex, and it gives the teams a chance to play on regulation fields for a weekend. It was a great time last year."
"It'll be good to get back on the diamond again," Martin said. "Our team will have a lot of fun mashing the ball and spitting some seeds."
Intramural softball and three-on three soccer begin March 27.
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Hazing reports lead to arrests of prep wrestlers
The Associated Press
TRUMBULL, Conn. — High school wrestling is often about pain and endurance. The grueling practices and the struggle to meet a target body weight weed out the weak and the undisciplined.
But a group of Trumbull High School wrestlers are accused of taking things much too far.
A 15-year-old Trumbull wrestler reportedly was hogtied, pushed into a wall, stuffed inside a locker and held down while teammates forced the handle of a plastic knife into his rectum.
Eight members of the 15-member team have been arrested — three of them as adults on assault and conspiracy charges that could bring them more than five years in prison.
Hillary Bargar, one of the prosecutors who is handling the cases against the wrestlers charged as juveniles, said hazing was an inadequate description of the attacks.
"You should call it what it is, and that would be a pattern of assault and harassment," she said. "This is not cute. This is not 'boys will be boys.'"
The boy told police that after joining the team in December, he and two other new wrestlers repeatedly were hazed. The names of the victims had not been released.
Prosecutors would not say what they believed the motive was.
The 15-year-old boy's parents complained to school officials and police on Feb.2, a day after his right knee was severely injured when he was reportedly thrown against a wall by his teammates.
The two other boys also were hogtied with trainer's tape. One was thrown into the shower, while the other was covered in garbage, the 15-year-old told police.
The allegations shocked students and parents. Several students said they thought hazing was limited to childish locker room pranks.
Lawyers for the accused wrestlers say school officials had known about hazing for years. In the 1999 yearbook, the departing captains of the wrestling team urged their teammates to carry on the tradition of hotgging.
"What I find a little bit disturbing is that the school — through their lack of supervision — at the very least allowed this to happen, and when it does, they're very quick to scapegoat these kids," said Frederick Paoletti Jr., an attorney who represents one of the accused wrestlers.
Trumbull school officials insisted they were unaware of anything like the abuse described by the 15-year-old. The coach did not return calls for comment.
All eight of the accused wrestlers were suspended, and expulsion proceedings are under way for seven. Last month, the Newtown High School wrestling team was forced to forfeit four matches after several team members were caught trying to initiate a freshman by dunking his head into a toilet bowl.
And the University of Vermont canceled its hockey season this year after learning that freshmen were forced to wear women's underwear and march single file holding one another's genitals in a ritual called an elephant walk.
Rocker apologizes to Braves
The Associated Press
KISSMMEE, Fla. — A clearly humbled John Rocker arrived for spring training yesterday and took the first steps toward mending the strained relationship with his teammates.
At a closed clubhouse meeting, Rocker was described as near tears as he apologized and pleaded with his Atlanta Braves teammates. "Please, guys, let me play."
Rocker also read a brief apology to reporters before joining the rest of the team on the field for the first time since his divisive comments in a December issue of Sports Illustrated that disparaged gays, minorities and foreigners.
He played catch with fellow reliever Rudy Seanez and threw in the bullpen prior to the first exhibition game of the spring. Manager Bobby Cox said he expected to use Rocker in a game in 8-10 days.
His arrival came a day after baseball's independent arbitrator cut the reliever's suspension in half, ruling he should sit out the first 14 days of the regular season for his offensive remarks. In addition, Rocker's $20,000 fine was cut to $500.
While the decision by arbitrator Shyam Das brought finality to the disciplinary part of the process, Rocker now must win back respect in the Braves' clubhouse. Teammates have grumbled that his bombastic, self-centered persona was annoying even before the magazine interview.
"He's got a long road ahead of him," said outfielder Brian Jordan, one of Rocker's most vocal critics. "He's got to deal with this in every city, with every fan. The hard
part is just beginning for John Rocker."
part is just beginning for John Rocker.
But he seemed to have plenty of support in central Florida. Rocker was cheered after his workout and stopped to sign autographs for about 10 minutes along the first-base line.
"We still love you, John!" a woman yelled. "First Amendment!" another fan screamed.
First baseman Randall Simon, a native of Curacao who was referred to in the article as a "fat monkey," met privately with Rocker. Rocker asked for forgiveness and invited the first baseman and his wife to dinner this week.
"I looked at him in the face, and he showed me he really regrets what he said." Simon said. "I saw in his eyes that he was kind of sad."
Commissioner Bud Selig, who imposed the harsher penalty Jan. 31, said the ruling by Das completely ignored the sensibilities of those groups of people maligned by Rocker and disregarded his position as a role model for children.
Selig banned Rocker from all 45 days of spring training and the first 28 days of the season. Rocker and the players' association asked the arbitrator to overturn the decision, saying it was out of line with past sanctions.
St. John's treated fairly, NCAA says
Barkley was declared ineligible Tuesday because part of his tuition and fees were paid for the 1997-98 academic year at Maine Central Institute. It was the
"What held up the process is that the university did not provide information necessary to make an interpretation of NCAA legislation," he said. "The university has known there was concern about the eligibility of one of its student-athletes since Feb. 17."
Dempsey said in a statement that, in media accounts, St. John's had given the appearance that the NCAA was holding up the process, but he strongly disagreed.
second time this season he was declared ineligible for NCAA rules violations. He missed two games in early February for exchanging vehicles with a family friend.
St. John's released a statement during Tuesday night's 66-60 victory against Seton Hall, in which Barkley did not play, that said it concluded its investigation into the tuition matter and found no violations.
"The university's accusation of an NCAA 'guilt before innocence' stance is inaccurate." Dempsey said. "St. John's also has stated it does not believe violations have occurred. When a university disagrees with an interpretation of rules, it can take the issue to an interpretation committee for review. St. John's declined to utilize this process."
The NCAA disagreed and told the school to declare him ineligible immediately.
He also said St. John's failed to provide its final report to the NCAA until late Tuesday.
Dempsey's remarks about St. John's University came Wednesday after the school said it was treated unfairly during the investigation of sophomore guard Erick Barkley's eligibility.
The Associated Press
St. John's stood by the statement it issued Tuesday night.
INDIANAPOLIS — In a rare move, NCAA president Cedric Dempsey commented on a current eligibility investigation and rebuked the school involved.
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