Thursday, August 24, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A • Page 13
Hobby is beneficial for Smith
Continued from page 14A
Really, go ask him. He'll play. But don't expect to win.
"How I play that game is a reflection of how I play on the field," Smith said.
Plus, this season is fun and simpler. Smith said this year was starting out easier because he was the definite starter. When the starting spot was finally his for good, Smith loosened up and ran a more explosive offense that opponents didn't expert.
"We couldn't ask for much more from Dylen, and what he's done here so far," said Kansas coach Terry Allen.
Smith finally earned a start in Kansas' fifth game last year, against Southern Methodist, where Kansas opens this season. He threw 12 touchdown passes last season, the seventh best in school history. And this year, he's one of five co-captains.
On a dreary, wet day when it was tough to grip and throw a football, Smith led the offense on a 75-yard scoring drive on his first attempt. He picked apart the defense, analyzed it just like he would the board game and won the battle. He dropped passes over the middle of the field as if they were small plastic discs designed to slide easily into different gaps in the game's playing board.
And the game imitates life. On that first successful drive, Smith connected on all four passes.
"I will win," Smith said. "I am always going to win."
He is talking about Connect Four. He hopes football is that way, too.
Edited by Warisa Chulindra
Practice schedule, heat take a toll on Hill
By Chris Wristen
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
With a sigh of relief and a gasp for air, the Kansas football team took its final snap of two-a-day practices yesterday.
All the while, someone was missing.
Junior wide receiver Harrison Hill still is absent from the Jayhawks lineup. He hasn't practiced since Friday and probably won't until he gets his chronic dehydration under control. Dehydration troubles are nothing new for Hill, though, as he has battled them since his high school
days at Wichita Collegiate.
Coach Terry Allen said that, while Hill hasn't been practicing, he may be an immediate option to play if and when he becomes healthy.
"I just want him to get better," said Allen after practice yesterday. "I wouldn't say with Harrison that (he won't play) if he missed another five days or more."
Senior fullback Moran Norris echoed Elon's thoughts, but said the offense was moving along without its prime receiver.
He said the loss of Hill shook the team up because he played a big role in the offense.
"A lot of the guys have really stepped in, though, like Termaine Fulton and Byron Gasaway and Derick Mills and they did a really good job," Norris said.
While Hill has suffered dehydration troubles since high school, other members of the football team joined in his anguish during the last two weeks.
Norris said that he and his teammates had to take some responsibility in preventing dehydration by drinking plenty of fluids.
"Over the course of the preseason, we've had 12 to 15 guys who have had some dehydration problems," Allen said. "Probably 10 of those have had some type of full body cramp. The last one of those was Tim Bowers (on Monday)."
"I drink lots of bottled water every morning before I come to practice and then lots of rehydrolytes like Gatorade at night until I just feel full," Norris said.
Although Hill has been sidelined for almost a week, Allen said his team is still moving in the right direction.
"Physically, I think we're farther along and mentally, we've got some catching up to do," Allen said. "I think we're farther on offensively than we were a year ago."
corps which, even with the absence of Hill, is miles ahead of last year's receivers in terms of health. Fulton has returned from a season-ending high ankle sprain from a year ago. Gasaway has fully recovered from the broken jaw he suffered from a weight room accident last fall.
That includes at the receiver - Edited by Chris Borniger.
The area Allen focused on improving yesterday was the conditioning of his linemen.
"The offensive and defensive linemen, today, we had them do some cardiovascular conditioning." Allen said. "I don't think we're at maximum lung capacity. It's not as bad as where (we were last year)."
Unselfish athletes fresh change from corrupt players
Sports Columnist
Chris
Wristen
sports@kansan.com
Isn't it good to know there are actually some good people in the professional sports world these days?
Last year was not good for professional sports. Players were arrested for financing drug rings, crimes were covered up, ex-wives were murdered — allegedly. There was a lack of respect for the games some athletes claimed to love and a lack of respect for those who made the games great. My friends, it's become an "all-about-me" society.
These things don't shock us anymore. We've seen it all before. Being a thug is nothing new.
Being a good person is.
Being a good person is.
That's why we like people such as St. Louis quarterback Kurt Warner, San Antonio forward Tim Duncan and golf pro Tiger Woods. That's why the loss of Chiefs' linebacker Derrick Thomas stung so badly. They were reverent when speaking of their predecessors. They cared about others and they play hard all the time — regardless of contract negotiations.
That also begins to explain Mia Hamm. Very few athletes since Michael Jordan have attracted such a crowd everywhere they go. Very few athletes inspire the media to stop dead in their tracks and trool over the opportunity to speak to troel. No other athlete has left this writer speechless during an interview. Hamm does on a daily basis, just like she did at Arrowhead Stadium Sunday when she and the rest of the United States women's
soccer team battled Canada to a 1-1 tie.
Why all the media attraction? It's the same reason fans flock to her. Simply put, it's about respect.
As the greatest woman to ever play soccer and the most prolific scorer, man or woman, in the history of the game, fans and media alike are awe struck by her ability to score and create goals. She has scored 123 career goals and has notched almost as many assists, making her equally dangerous passing the ball as when shooting.
You'd think someone with such a nose for scoring would bask in the spotlight like Philadelphia guard Allen Iverson, but again you'd be wrong.
Mia does the interview thing because we beg her for it, but she rarely speaks of herself. Why not? She's the best who ever played — the best scorer, best passer — why not brag? Because that's not Mia. She'll tell you about teammates Tiffeny Milbrett or Kristine Lilly making good runs at the goal. She'll talk about the
solid play of the midfielders. You'll get maybe two or three words about her to answer your question.
Then she'll speak of those who paved the way for her and her teammates to play the game. She'll tell you, "We have a lot to thank for the other women out there in the other sports who had the courage 20, 30, 50 years ago with the LPGA. If it wasn't for women like that who had that vision and perseverance, we wouldn't be able to have this opportunity."
Appreciation for the past? Without a doubt. Tiger did the same last week when he and the legendary Jack Nicklaus played 18 holes together at the U.S. Open
— Nicklaus final appearance at the Open.
Yes, it was a good weekend of sports,
highlighted by a few good people bringing
honor to their games.
I just hope the coming year in sports will follow this same trend.
Wristen is a Leawood junior in newseditorial journalism.
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