SPORTS
2B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY. MARCH 30,2005
ATHLETICS CALENDAR
TODAY
Softball vs. Nebraska, 3 p.m., Arrocha Ballpark
TOMORROW
- Softball vs. Wichita State, 3 p.m., Wichita
* Softball vs. Wichita State, 5 p., Wichita
FRIDAY
FRIDAY
◆ Baseball vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m., College Station, Texas
SATURDAY
Tennis vs. Baylor, 1 p.m., Waco, Texas
♦ Softball vs. Texas A&M, 2 p.m., Arrocha Ballpark
- Baseball vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m., College Station, Texas
- Women's rowing vs. Drake, Tulsa, all day,
Lawrence
♦ Soccer vs. Minnesota, 11 a.m., Jayhawk
Soccer Complex
SUNDAY
- **Tennis vs. Texas Tech, 11 a.m., Lubbock, Texas**
- **Softball vs. Texas A&M, 1 p.m., Arrocha Ballpark**
- Baseball vs. Texas A&M, 1 p.m., College Station, Texas
SOCCER
Kansas soccer team warms up with spring exhibition games
The Kansas soccer team will start the trek toward its second Big 12 Conference regular season title this Saturday.
After winning a school-record 18 games last season, the Jayhawks will begin a five-game exhibition schedule as part of an offseason tune-up
Kansas is slated to face Minnesota on Saturday at home, before heading to Indiana for a game against Purdue April 23 in Indianapolis and Indiana April 24 in Bloomington, Ind.
All three schools are part of the Big ten Conference.
To wrap up the exhibition season, the Kansas women will face two boys club teams from the area. The Jayhawks will face the under-15 Blue Valley Stars on April 28 and under-15 KCFC on May 5. Both games will be held at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
Kansan staff report
GOLF
Golfers take second place after tournament rained out
It is difficult to play a round of golf in the pouring rain.
Santa Cruz, Calif., saw plenty of rain yesterday, leading to the cancelation of the final round of the 59th Western Intercollegiate. The Jayhawks finished the tournament in second place without the opportunity to make a run in the final round.
The team standings after the first two rounds of the tournament ended up being the final standings of the tournament, leaving no chance for any team to make a move on the first- and second-round leader.
"We were very disappointed that we were rained out today," coach Ross Randall said. "Second place is a very good finish here, but we would have liked to have the chance to take first in this event."
The Oregon Ducks took home the championship after shooting a two-round total of 582. Matt Ma led the way for Oregon with a total score of 141 and a tie for third in the tournament. The Jayhawks finished the tournament two strokes behind Oregon with a score of 584.
Senior Kevin Ward finished the tournament in a tie for third place with a two-round total of 141. Sophomore Gary Woodland finished in a tie for 16th with 146. Sophomore Tyler Docking shot a total score of 151, while junior Luke Trammell and junior Pete Krsnich both fired total scores of 152.
The men's golf team will next play on April 8, when the team travels to Holly Springs, N.C., to play in the Courtyard by Marriot Intercollegiate.
MLS works to copy world leagues
MLS
B JOSEPH WHITE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
There's a funky new look to the Major League Soccer standings this year, at least to the sport's uninitiated. FC Dallas? Chivas USA? Real Salt Lake? What's that all about? Is there a Fake Salt Lake somewhere?
Douglas C. Pirae/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
—Tim Hall
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber, right, and team owner Dave Checketts announce the creation of the MLS expansion team Real Salt Lake last year. MLS officials are hoping that changes made to help the American league resemble world leagues, such as having similar names, will help boost soccer fans' interest.
But, to soccer fans, it's a warm familiar look — another sign the adolescent league has stopped trying to Americanize the beautiful game and is more determined than ever to march in step with the rest of the world as it begins its 10th season Saturday.
"It's part of the strategy," commissioner Don Garber said. "These are soccer teams. And if they're trying to look like the type of club the soccer fan is used to seeing, then more than likely those teams aren't called 'the Clash.' That could be the name of a lacrosse team. That could be the name of a rock band — and was."
For that matter, 'Burn' was a baffling moniker to some. Now, the name Dallas Burn has been put to rest, replaced this season by FC Dallas, a timely change as team prepares to move into a new soccer-specific stadium in August.
FC stands for Football Club, a common prefix or suffix used by storied clubs such as FC Barcelona (Spain), FC Porto (Portugal) and seemingly half the teams in the Netherlands. Fulham FC of England will be the international opponent for the MLS All-Star game on July 30 at Columbus.
Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake are this year's expansion teams, welcome additions for a league that had to shut down franchises in Miami and Tampa Bay in 2002. MLS still operates very much in the red, but it is a 12-team league again.
Chivas USA will play at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., sharing the facility with the Los Angeles Galaxy and giving two MLS teams to
Chivas USA will help change the financial outlook by tapping further into the Mexican community in the United States. Chivas USA — full name Club Deportivo Chivas USA — is being launched as a sister club of CD Guadalajara, one of Mexico's most popular teams. Chivas, or Goats, is CD Guadalajara's nickname.
an area not represented in the NFL.
"Chivas USA is going to be from the start just like Chivas in Mexico," said Jorge Vergara, who owns both clubs, "a team of excellence and an open door for Spanish speakers."
That's the kind of talk Garber wants to hear. If Mexicans across the country flock to stadiums when Chivas USA is in town, the team's draw will be comparable to the impact made by 14-year-old Freddy Adu of D.C. United last season. United averaged 23,686 fans on the road last year, more than 6,000 better than any other team.
"There's a buzz happening in the Hispanic community about this team," Garber said, referring to Chivas. "They could be the Freddy Factor of 2005.
As for Real Salt Lake, the first word is pronounced RAY-al and means royal in Spanish, as any fan of
mega-popular Real Madrid would quickly attest.
The name has met with mixed results from fans who think it's a stretch for a startup team in Utah to associate itself with such a legendary club — and from others who mispronounce it without a clue as to its origin. Others see it as a classy name, although one that will be hard to live up to.
"We're trying to have these teams look, feel, taste, smell like a soccer team, just like the same soccer team that exists in a local market in other countries," Garber said. "Now that being said, you can't change the name and expect to have everything else work for you. You have to act that way, and we're working with our teams and had some success, though we need more success, in not just looking like a soccer team but behaving like one."
MLS has been evolving its game toward the world standard since 2000, when the league ditched the dreaded sudden-death shootout and the backward-running clock — two failed gimmicks that were supposed to attract the typical American sports fan and instead alienated soccer purists. MLS has since stopped trying to convert Joe NASCAR and concentrated more on nurturing its loyal supporters. Attendance has been steady in recent years; the average was 15,559 last season.
Meanwhile, the league continues to hinge its financial future on new, soccer-only stadiums that put teams in a position to break even — and perhaps turn a profit. It's worked in Columbus and Los Angeles, and Dallas this year will unveil the 20,000-seat Frisco Soccer and Entertainment Center, host of this year's MLS Cup.
NFL
Jury still unselected for Rams player's trial
CLAYTON, Mo. — The jury selection process will enter its third day today for St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little, who was accused of drunken driving and speeding last year.
Prospective jurors were questioned individually Monday and yesterday in St. Louis County Circuit Court. They were asked if they could be impartial in the trial of the 30-year-old sports figure.
Judge Emmett O'Brien, prosecutors and defense attorneys must whittle down the jury from a pool of 80 people.
Little was arrested April 24 on Interstate 64 in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue and charged with speeding and driving while intoxicated. Police said he failed three field sobriety tests. No one was injured. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Little was charged as a persistent offender because he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a 1998 drunken-driving accident in downtown St. Louis that killed
Susan Gutweiler of St. Louis County.
The Associated Press
Little served three months in jail, four years of probation and community service for the earlier crime. He was also suspended without pay for the first half of the 1994 season.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Mizzou player to undergo knee surgery
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri wide receiver William Franklin is scheduled to undergo surgery tomorrow to repair torn cartilage in his knee.
Franklin, a sophomore, is expected to miss a week of spring practice. He was injured March 17.
An MRI showed no structural damage to the knee, coach Gary Pinkel said yesterday.
Franklin, a likely starter at wide receiver this fall, is the second offensive starter to miss time because of a knee injury. Tailback Marcus Woods sprained a ligament in his left knee March 15 but did not require surgery.
174 yards and one touchdown last season. His 29 yards per catch average led the team.
The Associated Press
Franklin caught six passes for
NFL
Pro Bowl long-snapper signs one-year contract
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs yesterday signed tight end and long snapper Kendall Gammon to a one-year contract.
Terms of Gammon's contract were not released.
In 13 seasons, Gammon has become one of the league's best long-snappers and was selected to last year's Pro Bowl in that position. He has played in 208 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the league for non-kickers.
Gammon, 6-foot-4, 255 pounds, has spent five seasons with the Chiefs after spending four seasons with both Pittsburgh and New Orleans. The Steelers chose him in the 11th round in the 1992 draft, after he spent his collegiate career at Pittsburg State.
The Associated Press
MLB
Former Boston pitcher returns to team
ST.LOUIS The St. Louis Cardinals traded left-handed reliever Mike Myers to the Boston Red Sox yesterday.
The Cardinals and Red Sox were still discussing what St. Louis would get in return, Cardinals spokesman Brian Bartow said.
Myers, 35, was competing for a spot in the bullpen, along with fellow left-handers Bill Pulsipher and Randy Flores. Ray King is expected to be the team's setup left-handed reliever since Steve Kline was not re-signed. The Cardinals have not said whether they'll keep three left-handers in the bullpen or just two.
Myers returns to the Red Sox after failing to re-sign with the team following the 2004 season.
Boston obtained Myers in an August trade with Seattle. He was 1-0 with a 1.47 ERA in 25 appearances for the Red Sox, and 5-1 with a 4.64 ERA overall. He appeared in six post-season games.
The Associated Press
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