THE UNIVERSITY OF DAILY GANSAN
THURSDAY MARCH 12, 2009
NEWS
3A
ATHLETICS
Blog gives athletes forum for thoughts
Jayhawk Chalk Talk allows student athletes to give insight into their lives off the field
BY ADAM SAMSON asamson@kansan.com
Kansas student athletes are now at the forefront of the blogging world.
Brad Thorson, graduate student and offensive lineman, pitched the idea of a student athlete blog to the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in mid-February, and, with support from the committee of athletes, Jayhawk Chalk Talk was created. Jayhawk Chalk Talk, www.jayhawkchalktalk.blogspot.com, is one of the first collegiate athletics blogs started by a student athlete.
So far, Kansas athletes have written nine posts covering various aspects of their lives. Thorson's first post for Jayhawk Chalk Talk highlighted the reasons for creating the blog.
Thorson said the blog gave athletes an opportunity to control the information that went out through the media. He said players in big-time sports felt pressure when journalists and people asked the same question: "Why did you make that pass?" Or Thorson's case, "Why did you miss that block?"
"I don't think there's really been an avenue for people to share their opinions and everybody has a blog, so why not student athletes?" Thorson said.
The posts are mediated by Thorson and Mike Harrity, assistant athletics director for student athlete development and community relations, and all student athletes at Kansas have access to submit blog posts.
Harrity said the blog was an opportunity to showcase personalities of athletes from a wide range of sports.
"The newest feature for the blog is equal access for all." Harrity said. "You could be a freshman on rowing or a junior on track and still have your voice heard."
When Jayhawk Chalk Talk began, Thorson and others who helped create the blog set a goal: to have one new post daily. He said that goal would take time to achieve, but he wanted to find a way to get all student athletes involved.
Two other goals for the blog are transparency and individual freedom.
"We want people to see into the organization and see the student athletes where they couldn't see before." Thorson said. "It's a way of unlocking and opening some of the doors."
Thorson also said the blog allowed student athletes a free and open forum to share their ideas and opinions on other issues in sports.
"Everybody has their own style of how they want to say something, and they have their own stories to tell." Thorson said. "I think the individual nature of a blog and its organic flow where there is no real structured storyline is great."
Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director, said the blog allowed student athletes to showcase themselves outside of their athletic pursuits.
"I think it's always positive when others can learn or get to know a student athlete as something other than somebody who runs track or plays soccer," Marchiony said. "These are smart young people who have other things to offer besides being a student athlete."
Melissa Grieb, Olathe junior and volleyball player, said she thought the blog would portray athletes as normal students outside of their athletic abilities.
"One of the main purposes is to have a way for people who aren't athletes to connect and see who we really are," Grieb said.
Thorson said he got the idea for Jayhawk Chalk Talk when he came across Club Trillion, a blog by Ohio State basketball player Mark Titus. Titus gives a behind-the-scenes look at the Ohio State basketball team as a walk-on through his blog.
Thorson said sharing the stories online was a perfect way to portray student athletes as a less secluded group from the student body.
"I think it adds a more special aspect to the collegiate level of sports," Thorson said. "I wear the No. 76, but there's a lot more about me than what I do on the football field."
Edited by Andrew Wiebe
INTERNATIONAL
German Special Police Forces leave the Albertville school in Winnenden near Stuttgart, Germany, Wednesday. Police say a gunman dressed in a black combat uniform opened fire at the high school in southern Germany on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring others before fleeing the scene. The gunman committed suicide after a shoot out with police.
German teen kills 15, commits suicide
BY OLIVER SCHMALE
Associated Press
WINNENDEN, Germany — A black-clad teenager opened fire at his former high school in southwestern Germany on Wednesday, gunning down students and teachers with a large-caliber pistol in a rampage that ended with 16 people, including the gunman, dead.
The 17-year-old entered the school in the town of Winnenden at 9:33 a.m. after classes had begun and opened fire, police said. He killed nine students and three teachers, apparently singling out female victims. Eight of the students were girls and all three teachers were women.
The gunman killed a male passerby outside the building before forcing his way into the backseat of a car and making the driver head south, according to Stuttgart prosecutors, who are leading the investigation.
"He went into the school with a weapon and carried out a blood-bath," said regional police chief Erwin Hetger. "I've never seen anything like this in my life."
swerded off the road at a police checkpoint, he managed to escape.
The suspect, identified only as Tim K., ran into an industrial area in the town of Wendlingen with police in pursuit.
He entered an auto dealership, killed a salesman and a customer, both men, and went back outside, prosecutors said.
Police launched a land and air manhunt. When the driver
The guman opened fire at police vehicles in front of the auto dealership, prosecutors said.
"A gunbattle ensued between the 17-year-old and the many police," the prosecutors' office said in a press release. "According to our current information, the 17-year-old then shot himself."
Two police officers suffered serious but not life-threatening wounds.
Police said the attacker's father belonged to a gun club and owned 16 guns, one of which was missing. In their hunt for the gunman, police searched his parents' home in a nearby town.
Police said the suspect graduated last year from the school of about 1,000 students.
No motive has been identified.
No injuries has been identified.
The death toll was close to that of Germany's worst school shooting.
In the 2002, 19-year-old Robert Steinhaeuer shot and killed 12 teachers, a secretary, two students and a police officer before turning his gun on himself in the Gutenberg high school in Erfurt, in eastern Germany.
Steinhaeuser, who had been expelled for forging a doctor's note, was a gun club member licensed
to own weapons. The attack led Germany to raise the age for owning recreational firearms from 18 to 21
German Chancellor Angel Merkel called Wednesday's shooting "a horrific crime"
"It is hard to put into words what happened today, but our sadness and sympathy goes out to the victims' families," Merkel said at a news conference.
The European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, France, stood in silence for a minute, to honor the victims.
"It is our task as responsible politicians in the European Union and, indeed, all the member states to do our utmost that such deeds can be prevented," said EU assembly president Hans-Gert Pottering, a German.
NATIONAL Shuttle launch postponed by hydrogen gas leak
Shuttle managers put off the launch until Monday, although repairs could allow the launch to occur Sunday as well.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA postponed the launch of space shuttle Discovery just hours before it was to head to the international space station Wednesday because of a hydrogen gas leak that could have been catastrophic at liftoff. The leak was in a different part of the system that already has caused a vexing one-month delay
Associated Press
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If you are running as a President or Vice President in the Spring Student Senate Elections, your Declaration of Candidacy form is due Wednesday, March 11, 2009 by 5pm.
Your signatures are due by Friday, March 13, 2009 by 5pm.
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You can find the forms online at http://groups.ku.edu/~election/Pages/forms.htm.
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