Section B • Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, November 23, 1999
Giving thanks for family and football
By Jason Walker sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Thanksgiving Day is a day for millions of Americans to feast, rest and visit with family members. But some add another item to that list, one that is just as important to them as the traditional turkey — football.
This year there are two NFL games scheduled for Thanksgiving Day. The Dallas Cowboys meet the Miami Dolphins, and the Chicago Bears will visit the Detroit Lions. Dallas and Detroit are perennial Thanksgiving Day participants, to the delight of Cowboy and Lion fans
THANKSGIVING NFL GAMES
■ Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions
11:40 a.m., FOX
■ Miami Dolphins at Dallas Cowboys
3:15 p.m. CBS
across the country.
Tony Harris, Dayton, Ohio graduate student, said he was looking forward to spending the holiday in Cincinnati with his wife's family.
"We have the usual turkey and trimmings," he said. "And then we spend the day huddling around the TV watching Dallas and Detroit. It's something of a tradition."
Harris said he didn't necessarily
like either of the teams, but that wasn't true of all the members of his family.
"My wife is a Dallas fan, so of course I can't be," he said. "For me, Thanksgiving means family and the Lions."
Jordan Cullor, Fort Scott freshman, said not only did he watch football every Thanksgiving, but he played it as well.
Some holiday football traditions more than just television.
"I play sometimes with my friends or sometimes with my brothers," he said. "Football is my favorite sport, and it's a big part of my Thanksgiving break."
Cullor said that he usually saw his cousin Craig Domann, a former Kansas football player, at family Thanksgiving gatherings. He said that Domann always was rooting for the Jayhawks to make it to a bowl game.
He said he and his family always teased Domann when the 'Hawks did not make a bowl game.
Cullor said that he planned to study for finals during Thanksgiving break but that wouldn't keep him from catching a few football games.
"You have to keep time out for fun," he said.
—Edited by Matt James
Conference teams' fates not yet determined
By Michael Riaa
by Michael Rigg
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The stakes are high this weekend in the Big 12 Conference, as six conference teams will be in action on the regular season's final weekend
And a bowl game will be on the nine for Oklahoma State when the Cowboys play the Sooners Saturday in Norman, Okla.
A spot in the Big 12 championship game will be at stake Friday in Boulder, Colo., where first-place Nebraska will play Colorado.
In-state bragging rights will be up for grabs at the Texas-Texas A&M game Friday in College Station, Texas.
Texas at Texas A&M
It's a big Thanksgiving weekend in the Big 12, and a preview of these games follows.
This game is being played in the wake of a tragedy on the College Station campus that killed 12 Texas A&M students. Last week, coaches from both schools admitted the
tragedy made it difficult to concentrate on football.
"The importance of a football game pales in comparison to this tragedy," Aggies coach R.C. Slocum said. "Our only concern right now is for those students, their families and friends. All in our Aggie family are in a state of shock."
Texas coach Mack Brown echoed Slocum's sentiments.
"It makes you want to cry," Brown said. "I can promise you nobody here is thinking about football. Our thoughts and prayers are with those kids and their families and all of the people at Texas A&M."
There will be a moment of silence before the game in memory of the victims.
Nebraska at Colorado
Nebraska or Colorado
By virtue of Kansas State's 66-0
rout of Missouri last Saturday, the Wildcats eliminated Colorado from the North Division race and put additional pressure on Nebraska.
If the Buffalooes pull off an upset on Friday, Kansas State would head to San Antonio — site of the Big 12 Championship — while Nebraska would be left wondering what might have been.
Nebraska is No. 3 in the Bowl Championship Series standings and searching for a berth in the National Championship game at the Sugar Bowl, while the Buffaloes appear to be headed to one of the Big 12's lesser bowls such as the Insight.com Bowl or the Independence Bowl.
Colorado hasn't beaten the Cornhuskers since 1991, and Nebraska's game plan has not changed a lot. Nebraska still beats teams with the option attack, something that impresses Buffaloes defensive tackle Shane Cook.
"Every year, it's the same thing that we've watched on film," Cook told The Denver Post. "They're so
Texas at Texas A&M, 10 a.m. Friday,
ABC
Colorado at Nebraska, 1:30 p.m.
Friday, ABC
Oklahoma State at Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State at Oklahoma, 2
p.m. Saturday, FOX Sports Net
Oklahoma State at Oklahoma, 2
good, why change anything about it?"
This annual in-state rivalry has additional meaning this season, as both teams could be headed to bowl games for the first time since 1988, when the Sooners played in the Orange Bowl and the Cowboys played in the Holiday Bowl.
Oklahoma, which already has the required six wins, is looking to improve its standing with bowl representatives.
For Oklahoma State to qualify for a bowl game, the Cowboys must beat the Sooners, which would give the team its sixth win.
- Edited by Jamie Knodel
Club soccer team happy with play despite losing
By Jason Walker
Kansan sportswriter
The tournament was held in Statesboro, Ga., and the Jayhawks competed with nine other teams. They ended the tournament with a record of 0-2-1.
The University of Kansas women's club soccer team still has Georgia on their minds this week after competing in the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association collegiate club soccer tournament.
Vanessa Stucky, Newton junior and midfielder on the team, said she felt the team played well but just couldn't get the job done.
"We got off to a rough start because we played early in the morning and it was cold," she said. "But we still played with a lot of heart."
The tournament started on Thursday for the Jayhawks as they played two games. They played North Carolina State first, losing 1-0, then were edged by Georgia Southern, 2-1.
On Friday, the Jayhawks played Colorado State, the defending tournament champions. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, which meant that Kansas didn't qualify for the championship bracket.
Sucky said that although the team's record wasn't the best, she felt the trip overall was a success.
"We weren't overmatched," she said. "We could have beaten the teams that we played but things didn't work out. But the trip was a great bonding experience for the team."
Lauren Heyward, Leawood senior and club president, said she was pleased with the way the club performed against some tough competition
"This year was the first time in my four years on the team that we have come away with anything other than a loss," she said. "I'm really proud of them."
Heyward said the tough competition took its toll on the women's stamina.
"The last game everyone was so exhausted that they almost collapsed," she said. "But I think this gave us a big boost of confidence. It shows that we're making strides in the program."
This was the fourth year in a row the women's club soccer team has competed in the NIRSA tournament. Stucky said the team was planning to go to Austin, Texas for the tournament again next year.
Gretzky inducted into the Hall of Fame along with referees
- Edited by Jennifer Roush
Hockey legend accepted ultimate honor for career while remaining humble
The Associated Press
TORONTO — Wayne Gretzky handled the ultimate tribute to his unparalleled hockey career — induction in the Hall of Fame — with the same boy-next-door humility that characterized his playing days.
In typical Gretzky fashion, The Great One tried to share the limelight with his two fellow inductees — former referee Andy Van Hellemond and former referee in-chief Scotty Morrison — when they received their Hall of Fame blazers and rings at a ceremony jammed with journalists Monday.
Gretzky insisted that Morrison take the center seat at the interview table and called the honor of joining his conductors in the Hall "pretty special."
Such gestures have made Gretzky a
national hero in Canada, honored and loved as the greatest to ever play the game.
When asked what made him the most dominant player of all time, Gretzy credited his teammates and a passion that drove him to always want more from himself.
"I felt like I'd never done enough. If I had three goals, I wanted five goals. If I had seven points, I wanted to get the eighth point." he said. "I kept going every night, played 80 games every year as hard as I could, whether it was Oct. 1 or April 1.
"Maybe that's why I was able to have the records that I did eventually get," said the holder of 61 NHL records whose trademark No. 99 was retired after his final game.
mendously because it's a great game.
"Nothing can replace hockey," he said. "I wish I could still play and I miss it tre-
He longs for the camaraderie and competition left behind by retirement, but said his decision to stop playing is final.
The 38-year-old master left an extraordinary mark on the game, with four Stanley Cup championships, almost every conceivable scoring record and winning every major NHL award multiple times.
"But I said this before: I was going to retire one time, one time officially and I'm officially retired. I probably miss the game more than the game."
more than the game misses Wayne Gretzky."
His legacy is evident, on and off the ice. The NHL now features increasing numbers of swift-skating, highly skilled European players who prospered under the flowing, puck-control style played by Gretzky and his Edmonton Oiler teams of the 1980s that won four championships in five seasons.
Gretzky: Tried to share spotlight at induction ceremony
Eight NHL teams play in southern U.S. cities formerly considered unsuitable for a winter game such as hockey, due in part to Gretzky's seven-plus years in Los Angeles and the popularity he helped spread.
In conjunction with Gretzky's induction,
the Hall of Fame opened its largest single exhibit, a 2,300-square-foot collection of Gretzky memorabilia that includes the skates he wore in his final game on April 18, the net into which he scored his league-record 802nd goal and even his picture as a smiling youngster with idol Gidow Howe.
The Hall waived the normal three-year waiting period for the 10th time in honor of Gretzky and accredited 175 journalists for the ceremony.
Both Van Hellemond, who worked 19 straight Stanley Cup finals, and Morrison, credited with building the Hall of Fame into one of Canada's leading tourist attractions, joked they were now the answer to the trivia question of who was inducted with No. 99 in 1999.
Morrison acknowledged Gretzky's humble approach, telling how Gretzky rejected a plan to move the ceremony to a bigger venue because he wanted the same ceremony in the same place as those before him. That came as no surprise to one of the onlookers, Wayne's father, Walter.
"It's just nice to know that Wayne has turned out to be such a great individual," Walter Gretzky said. "His hockey achievements are one thing, but he's also a very fine person."
When asked if the NHL should name a trophy for him, Gretzky deferred to his elders.
"Before anything needs to be done about Wayne Gretzky, we need to address people like Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr," he said. "I'm wade down the totel mark on that one."
He called his first Stanley Cup win, with Edmonton in 1984, his greatest memory, and losing in the finals as a Los Angeles King to Montreal in 1993 as the greatest regret. Traded to St. Louis in 1996, he signed as a free-agent with the New York Rangers the next season, and his career ended on April 18 with a team that failed to make the playoffs.
Have a safe and happy holiday
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