INSIDE: Men's cross country team prepares to run without its star. SEE PAGE 6A. INSIDE: Volleyball team faces Texas Tech tomorrow. SEE PAGE 7A.
10A
SPORTS
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TALK TO US: Contact Jay Kraill or Sarah Warren at (785) 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2001
Football game will test old friends
Former teammates will play for fun, bragging rights
By Brent Briggeman Kansan sportswriter
Kansas linebacker Leo Etienne didn't call his best friend after injuring his shoulder last week. He didn't have to.
"He feels me," the junior said of his lifelong friend, Kansas State defensive tackle Tank Reese. "I knew he knew what was going on with me."
Through little league and high school in Florida, to junior college in Kansas, Etienne and Reese have developed an air-tight bond. However, the friends will be on opposite sides of the field tomorrow as
they compete in the Sunflower Showdown.
Their story began on a youth baseball team in Auburndale, Fla., a town of about 9,000 an hour west of Tampa in Central Florida.
The two struck a friendship immediately. When they reached the seventh grade and interscholastic football competition began, their talent turned them into a formidable tandem.
In high school, both received All-State recognition and represented their state in the Florida Georgia all-star game as seniors.
After graduation, both took their talents 1,500 miles away to Hutchinson Community College.
Being far away from home and minorities in predominantly white central Kansas, Etienne said he
and Reese grew even closer off the field.
On the field, they emerged as stars in the difficult Jayhawk Conference, which produced two of the last three junior college national champions.
"They were probably the two best players in their conference at their positions," said Eric Schroeder, a defensive assistant at Hutchinson and former graduate assistant under Terry Allen at Kansas.
Schroeder said Etienne and Reese were the leaders of the team.
After leading the Blue Dragons to a 14-6 record in two years, Schroeder said schools were lining up to recruit the two all-conference performers.
SEE FRIENDS PAGE 6A
Leo Etienne, junior linebacker runs down a Soutwest Missouri State player. Etienne, will face a former teammate and friend in tomorrow's Sunflower Showdown at Kansas State.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
KANSAS, K-STATE COLUMNISTS SWAP OPINIONS
Quarterback likeness wrong; 'Cats to elongate dominance
OK. I admit it. I cheated.
OK. I read it. I couldn't.
No, no, I'm not talking about that geography bee in the sixth grade — that was legit. Really. it was.
Nor am I speaking to that 200-pound bench press I had as a high school senior. That was some serious bragging rights for my scrawny ass. No, the cheating actually refers to this year's K-State/Kansas column swap.
Generally speaking, you're not
supposed to read the other guy's (or girl's, I guess — not to be sexist, for heaven's sake) column before you finish your own.
Whoops.
So I was sitting at my desk in the newsroom, working hastily, when I casually hear our sports editor say we got the Kansas column. Sticking to my guns, I continued to write, avoiding temptation to run over and read what the Jayhawk schmuck called a column.
And I was doing good, too until I heard our sports editor bust into an uproar. Was his column that good?
Was it going to run mine into
Was it going to run mine into the ground faster than K-State running back Darren Sproles can hit the corner on a sweep?
on your soul.
It was worse than Terry Allen's comparison of quarterback Mario Kinsey to former K-State prodigy Michael Bishop, as Kansan sportswriter Brent Briggeman wrote in Tuesday's edition.
Sprokes can hit the corner of one wing.
It rarely took a small bit of beckoning — "How"
it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
It only took a small bit of bit of Boss, come check this out," my editor said — for me to toss my keyboard and check the Kansas column out.
His column was horrible. You always been looking to use
But my anticipations weren't any more right than males in Kansas wearing capri pants.
Commentary
PHOTO ILLISTRATION BY JAMIE ROPER
I've always been looking to use this excerpt from Billy Madison, but his column actually did make everyone dumber for having read
DOSS
Columnist
dnb8765@ksu.edu
Kinsey to Bishop based on each player's first five games? So what if their statistics are somewhat similar in passing — Bishop rushed for darn near twice that of Kinsey in that time period (327 yards to 187). But the big difference?
I don't care what players you have around you,a good quarterback is a winning quarterback.
Winning.
Kinsey's record in the first five games? It's 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12.
Did I mention Bishop went on to lead the Cats to a perfect 11-0 regular season mark and a Big 12
Bishop's record? 5-0 and 2-0.
Dream of a winning season lives on in hillbilly's mind
Help!
Help:
I've been stuck in a basement at the University of Kansas since August, and I can't take it anymore.
I want to celebrate K-State victories in Aggieville. I want to watch the Wildcats roll toward another
They promised to release me if K-State had a better conference record than Kansas when the two schools played each other.
schools played each other.
I know the game is this weekend because all the people around here are talking about how freshman
appearance in the Big 12 Championship game.
Y'all need to get me out of here.
My name is Billy Bob Clampett and the newspaper folks at the University Daily Kansan have locked me in a basement with the printing press because they said they needed someone to scare the rats away. I tried to tell them I was a student at K-
State and needed to get back for the fall semester, but they laughed at me and said I would be better off in a basement at the University of Kansas than a classroom at K-State. I pleaded and begged and finally got them to make a deal with me, but I
to make a deal with me, but I suspect they've gone back on their word and that's why I need your help, Wildcats.
Commentary
SEE BOSS PAGE 6A
quarterback Mario Kinsey is going to run the K-State defense ragged. Meanwhile, linebacker Algie Atkinson, lineman Nate Dwyer and corner back Andrew Davison will finally put a stop to our eight-game winning streak against Kansas.
Doug
Pacey
Columnist
sportsakansan.com
These layhawks are liars. No way, no how does Kansas have more conference wins than my purple Powercats.
I memorized K- State's schedule
The Buffs, however, were a lowly 3-8 last season, plus the game was in Manhattan. It is nearly impossible to win there.
and we should have at least three wins so far: Colorado, Texas Tech and Texas A&M. We might have won the Oklahoma game, but the Sooners are a darn good team.
I know the Red Raiders went to a bowl last year, but don't make me laugh. Kliff Kingsbury isn't that good of a quarterback. Tech can beat a team like Kansas, but not K-State.
The Aggies are a tough team, but with our high-powered offense and the game at home, a win is a pretty safe bet.
I mean, hey, we've got Ell Roberson. He is the next Michael Bishop or maybe even the next Tom
SEE PACEY PAGE 6A
'Hawks look to end eight-year drought against K-State
By Jeff Denton Kansan sportswriter
Most college football teams get geared up to play a rival school only once every fall. But for Kansas, a rivalry weekend will return tomorrow.
For the second consecutive Saturday, the Jayhawks will tangle with a nemesis of the Big 12 Conference. Last week, Kansas came up short in the 38-34 border war home loss to Missouri. Tomorrow, the Jayhawks will get a shot at the school who has owned the last eight Sunflower Showdowns and dominated the
state of Kansas in college football — the Kansas State Wildcats.
The words alone make Kyle Grady cringe.
"I hate K-State," Kansas' 6-foot-5,305-pound junior offensive lineman said. "I probably hate K-State more than I hate Missouri. But we always look forward to playing those guys. If we do our job, it puts us in preparation to win.
"We think that this year we have a better chance than ever to win."
No. 2 Oklahoma in its nail-biting 38-37 loss Sept. 29, the Wildcats have gone winless. Their offense disappeared Oct. 6 in a 10-point loss to Colorado. Two weeks later they got outplayed in the fourth quarter before falling 31-24 to Texas A&M. And in between those two home defeats, they were stunned by Texas Tech in Lubbock 38-19 — a team Kansas beat on the same field just one week before.
Kansas' confidence stems from K-State's struggles. After fighting
Seeing them fall to Texas Tech convinced Kansas sophomore Carl Ivey that the Wildcats were not immortal. It was not the
untouchable club that trounced his Jayhawks 52-13 last Oct. 7 at Memorial Stadium. It was not the same team that shelled Kansas 50-9 in 1999. It was now, Ivey said, a team Kansas could beat.
"It was real shocking seeing them losing to Texas Tech," the starting right cornerback said. "We believe that we can beat them since they've lost a few games this year. We just got to stay in attack mode all four quarters."
Kansas coach Terry Alien, beleaguered and distracted from a week-long fasco concerning his job status at Kansas, said tomorrow's tussle with K-State would give him a chance to see how much his players hungered for that third win.
Allen has gone 0-4 in the Sunflower Showdown.
The Jayhawks understand the game's magnitude. A win would still leave the door open to a bowl
"Are we going to nose dive or are we going to peak back up," Allen said Wednesday. "The intensity is there. We've had a good week of practice. And our guys know that from a record standpoint that K-State is struggling."
possibility. A loss would cloud Kansas' chance of playing in December for the first time in six seasons.
But tomorrow's game is more than just four quarters of football, said junior linebacker Leo Etienne. It is about pride.
"We are hungry for a win, and the rivalry makes it even more special," Etienne said. "We want it. I don't plan on going over there to lose."
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Contact Denton at 864-4858