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The University Daily Kansan
Yesterday in sports
Sports
The Denver Broncos signed two free agents, kicker Joe Nedney and running back Raymont Harris, to help cover two positions depleted by injuries.
Inside: Women's basketball players have new professional opportunities with the introduction of the WNBA four years ago.
SEE. PAGE 4B
Inside: Cross country freshmen Laura Lavoie and Lauren Brownrigg are making names for themselves.
SEE PAGE 5B
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2000 For comments, contact Melinda Weaver or Jason Walker at 864-4858 or e-mail sports@kansan.com WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Suite owners are last hope for alcohol at Memorial
It is with great honor that I write to you today. I understand that you are a busy person and that, for you, time is money. For me, time is college loan debt, but I digress. I will try not to waste too much of your time. I ask you please to hear me out.
This is my final semester at the University of Kansas. I've had a great time. There is something, however, I have yet to do at the University that I've always wanted to do: enjoy an ice-cold beer during a Kansas home football game.
Dear Scholarship Suite Owner.
As you know, students aren't allowed to have beer in the stands. The powers that be have deemed us unworthy of our beloved Budweiser. Other fans aren't allowed to have beer either. But you, the upper echelon of fan, the one with the large bankroll, are allowed to imbibe a cold one.
I totally understand the reasoning, mind you. If I were allowed to have a beer in Memorial Stadium and not be in a scholarship suite, well, the results would be disastrous. Before the Jayhawks would even have a chance to go three and out, I'm sure that after consuming one beer, I would fall from the top of Memorial Stadium to my death. I'd be the only fan wearing crimson from head to toe.
Goalkeeper Layla Young, Crawley, England, sophomore, surveys the field. Young said the United States has different training empathies than those in England. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
But you see, by sitting in a scholarship suite. you gain knowledge.
Knowledge is power, my friend. By sitting in the scholarship suite, you gain the knowledge of how to drink an alcoholic beverage and not fall to your death from the top of Memorial Stadium. It's true, it's true.
English goalie scores with 'Hawks
Sir or madam, it is this said power that I desire. Such power I'm sure would be, for lack of a better word, intoxicating.
Please understand by directing this letter only to you, O wise and powerful scholarship box owner, that I alienate virtually all my readership. But I'm sure that they understand. To take company with one of the aristocracy of the University of Kansas will help the masses by giving us a connection with someone who will hook us up. And after all, you wouldn't get in trouble, because in the scholarship suites, the only law is that of the scholarship suite owners.
The final thing I can offer is the promise to write about you fine people in a future sports column. It would be an enlightening piece for my readers. I can see it now: "A View from Above, by Seth Jones." Or maybe, "First down means drink!" Wait, I got it! "Beer: Making Kansas Football Fun Again."
I can provide Dennis Miller-like unfunny commentary to the game. For a laugh, I'll bring a sign that asks "Got beer?" and I'll wave it madly at the peons below.
Have your people call my people.
By Yashitaka Ebisawa
sports@kansan.com
Kansas scrippterwriter
Jones is a Mulvane senior in journalism.
Seth Jones
Representing her home country England, sophomore goalkeeper Layla Young was between the posts during the second half of the friendly game against France Aug. 15 in Paris.
With about 60,000 fans watching, she was nervous yet excited. It was her first appearance in an international soccer match between full national teams.
"It was just so much noise," she said. "I couldn't hear myself."
Young said people would shout and boo, which was different from the 50 to 100 people who attended Kansas soccer games.
Although France scored a goal in the first half and beat England 1-0, Young kept a clean sheet in one half of action.
"I enjoyed it," the 5-foot-8-inch goalie said. "It was great experience."
Young began her soccer career at a young age.
She was born Jan. 21, 1979, in London, and played a variety of sports during her childhood. But since the age of eight or nine, she has concentrated on her favorite sport: Soccer.
"I am always the best on the team in most positions." she said.
But meeting the position of a goalkeeper was probably her fate. When she played on a team that didn't have a goalkeeper, she tasted the amazing characteristics of the position. She has been a goalie since then.
"I definitely like being a goalkeeper," she said. "In most games, I can actually make a difference on the team."
She joined the club team Brighton in England when she was 14 and repeatedly earned the Player-of-the-Year award. But
the Crawley, England, native always wanted to come to the United States.
"In England, it's more of a men's game than a women's game, whereas in America, it's more a women's game because women won the World Cup," she said.
Young said that English female soccer players worked and played, while in America they played and trained.
she could be a great influence on the team.
Then she met Kansas coach Mark Francis. Trying to recruit the talented goalie, the coach, a native of London himself, told Young that if she came to Kansas,
she could be a great influence on his career. Intrigued by Francis' enthusiasm, she visited the University and fell in love with what she called a really nice atmosphere. She joined the Jayhawks this year and has begun to grow accustomed to the American style of play.
"In England, they work more on technique and how to play the game, but in America they work more on fitness, more emphasis on like force game than technical game," she said. "It's fun. It's just learning how different players play and different
The new 'Hawk said she wanted to continue her soccer career as a professional or a coach in the United States. She said she would like to play in the country as much as possible.
For the English goalie, the journey to Kansas is not the ending; it's just the beginning.
Francis said that Young's strengths as a goalkeeper were her communication skills with the defenders, good reflexes and experience.
countries play."
As a Jayhawk. Young has started all six games this season, making 33 saves and allowing 12 goals with one shutout.
Her goal this year — like many other girls in the team — is making the Big 12 Conference Tournament for the first time in the program's history.
"She does a very good job organizing the defense," he said. "And she wants to win very badly. I think that is good."
The coach also gives the vocal 'keeper a little homework with great expectation of her potential.
"I think there are some areas about the game that need to improve for her to step up to the next level," he said. "But I think she has the potential to do that."
Young also wants to be selected for the national team to go to the European Championships next year.
Young got a minor injury during the second game this season against Illinois, and she said that she struggled with the sore back then.
After that?
"But other than that, I've been OK," she said. "I've played quite well. I get into the game now more than I did the beginning."
— Edited by Warisa Chulindra
Volleyball to begin league play tonight
By Sarah Warren
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas volleyball team knows that starting today, every dig, every block and every kill means just that much more.
That's because at 7 tonight, the Jayhawks will open their Big 12 Conference play against Colorado in the Horeisi Family Athletic Center.
The 'Hawks are 0-9 so far, tying Kansas record for most consecutive wins to begin a season. However, the team is 1-3 in Big 12 openers since the formation of the conference and 0-2 in openers at home with losses to Nebraska in 1997 and Texas in 1999.
And to stack the odds, the Buffaloes have a preseason pick for sixth place in the conference compared with the Jayhawks' preseason ranking of eighth place — a drop from their seventh place finish last season.
Colorado is 3-3 on the season after losing to two teams ranked in the top 15.
"They're young but extremely talented, said coach Ray Bechard. "They had one of the best recruiting classes in the nation last year. They've been an NCAA Tournament team for a number of years now, and I'm sure that's their goal this year as well."
“It’s going to take a great team effort (to stay undefeated),” Bechard said. “It’s kind of a whole new situation for everybody. It’ll be a great challenge for us.”
However, Bechard said coming away with a win against the Buffs was definitely not impossible.
Beachard would like his 'Hawks to focus on a few things tonight to beat the
"It's exciting that we have come together as a team, and that's exactly what we need to do well in the Conference."
Nancy Bell senior outside hitter
Buffaloes.
"Our blocking needs a little help, but at this time of year it's probably pretty typical." Bechard said. "They've got a nice combination of size and foot speed, which will be a factor in that."
To make blocking and other defensive measures more effective, Bechard said that his team's offense needs to mesh well and flow fluidly.
"We'll have to make sure we feel comfortable in our roles," Bechard said. "And we need to get our offense moving around a bit."
Senior outside hitter Nancy Bell, who received Most Valuable Player honors last weekend at the Jayhawk Classic, said she thought her team was capable of downing the Buffaloes.
"I think we have a lot of people on the team that are very intense," Bell said. "It's exciting that we have come together as a team, and that's exactly what we need to do well in Conference."
Nebraska, 7-0, took the No.1 spot in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll on Monday for the first time since 1958.
Edited by Amy Bradolph
Briefly...
Senior outside hitter Amy Myatt spikes a ball over the net earlier this season. The Jayhawks begin Big 12 Conference play at 7 tonight against the Buffaloes. Kansas file photo
Garcia works hard to prove he can survive on football team
By Jason Franchuk sports@kanson.com Kanson sportswriter
You look to your right and see the Survivor cast playing some game. Robinson Crusoe is around here somewhere.
Imagine that you're on a remote island.
So now, who is that guy, kicking ball after ball through the goal post as his father, Jose, holds for him? That's Joe Garcia, the Kansas kicker. Welcome to the island
Hi. Gilligan.
everything hinges on a Saturday's performance and you can't rely on anyone but yourself. Monday through Friday are nothing to kickers because they often have only one or two shots per Saturday game to prove themselves.
The isolated island of kicker where
Joe Garcia wants to prove himself this year.
"I really want to have a good year," Garcia said. "I think I've done everything possible to make this a good year for me so I can help the team."
The itinerary of any kicker, like Garcia, can look simple. Often, sitting in the crowd at a game, people will scoff that they would love an
opportunity to play college football — on scholarship, at that — when the sole job is to kick a football.
Garcia's practices are pretty easy. Often he stands — or sits — around as the rest of the players scurry in the heat. Sometimes Garcia and his good friend, punter Joey Pelfanio, have a few moments to laugh as everyone else seems to suffer.
But Garcia practiced a lot this summer. For hours a day, he would lift weights or kick a football. Jose was a big help. He would hold the ball for Joe, then help shag the balls so that Joe would not have to spend all his time fetching balls that sailed past
"I didn't try to teach him or anything." Jose said. "He's a lot better kicker than I ever was. Really, I was just out there to keep him company. Kicking is so psychological, I was out there to try and make him laugh and keep his mind off it."
Jose is no stranger to islands. In 1962, he left Cuba for Miami when he was six years old. Jose was lucky. Fidel Castro had taken control of the isle, but he was still allowing people to leave.
the goal post. Joe could spend more time honing his skill.
Imagine leaving your homeland.
Thinking about that, kicking is suddenly no big deal. Jose tried to instil that in his son's head — enjoy yourself, have fun. Work hard. The rest will take care of itself.
"Sometimes when you're 20 or 21, you sometimes don't understand that," Jose said.
The media and the fans have been just as naive. Garcia took a good chunk of the blame when last season turned into another disappointment, and the statistics don't lie. Garcia was seven-for-18 on field goal attempts last year. He missed half (four of eight)
See GARCIA on page 3B
García wants to improve after a disappointing field goal percentage last year.