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SPORTS
1B
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2002
COMMENTARY
Joey Berlin
jberlin@kansan.com
State of game due to duped owners
Unless something magical happens in the next two days, the Major League Baseball Players Association will go on strike Friday, bringing the baseball season to a halt and perhaps wiping out the postseason.
As during the last strike in 1994, many of baseball's fans are directing their anger at MLB players. But if this labor war results in the third cancellation of the postseason since 1903, fans shouldn't direct their venom at the players.
They should blame the owners
Baseball fans' anger toward the players stems from jealousy and a hatred of greed, which is understandable. Baseball players make more money to play a silly game than most people who do more important, boring work will ever see. On top of that, many of these spoiled players who already make millions have the gall to want even more.
Baseball players are greedy; there's no denying that. But sometimes, greedy people can be stopped from getting what they want. Why have baseball salaries escalated nonstop in the last two decades, to the point where the average salary is now more than $2 million?
Baseball players keep making more and more money for one reason owners keep paying them more and more money. Alex Rodriguez's agent told the baseball world his client was worth $200 million over ten years, so Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks happily shelled out $252 million.
Because owners are willing to pay those salaries.
Players don't even have to be very good to cash in anymore. Darin Erstad of the Anaheim Angels, a completely ordinary player with a mediocre .318 on-base percentage and little power, just signed a four-year, $32 million contract extension.
Things didn't have to be this way, though. The owners could have decided for themselves a long time ago — the aftermath of the 1994 strike would have been a good time — that they weren't going to spend outside their budget, like smart businessmen usually do.
Had the owners shown that kind of restraint, salaries would never have escalated faster than most teams can generate revenue.
There's no need for an official salary cap when owners can simply say, "No, we're not going to spend any more money."
It never would have occurred to the players that they could soon make as much as $21 million per year.
But the owners never showed any willingness to stop spending. Like most rich people who like to remind the world that they're rich, the owners kept spending more, offering more ridiculous contracts each year.
The owners' inability to police themselves, combined with commissioner Bud Selig's inability to police anything, has produced baseball's current situation.
The Players Association is fighting the owners' new efforts to drag salaries because the players have never failed to get their way.
get their way. The players are threatening to strike because they believe that if they continue to fight the owners, there will never be a ceiling on the amount of money baseball players can make.
They're probably right. And if the two sides don't reach a new labor agreement by Friday, the owners' inability to say no will likely result in another perfectly good baseball season shot to hell.
Berlin is a Leawood senior in journalism
Chris Burket/Kansan
At yesterday's press conference, Kansas football coach Mark Mangino announces that Zach Dyer will be the team's starting quarterback. Mangino chose Dyer but said that he would not hesitate to use Bill Whittemore, a junior transfer from Fort Scott Community College, as a replacement during Saturday's season opener at Iowa State.
Dyer earns QB job
Dyer will start for Hawks against Cyclones in opener on Saturday
By Doyle Murphy
Kansan sportswriter
The quarterback controversy is over.
"Zach Dyer will be the starting quarterback Saturday. He's earned the job." Kansas coach Mark Mangino told reporters at yesterday's press conference.
Dyer, back-up quarterback Bill Whitemore, and third-string quarterback
Jonas Weatherbie competed for the starting job throughout the preseason.
"It's not a feeling of surprise," Dyer said. "We've been battling back and forth."
For his part, Whittemore, a junior transfer from Fort Scott Community College, said there were no hard feelings.
"If I don't get to play that's fine as long as the team's doing good. That's what we're shooting for." Whittemore said.
Now that the job is his, Dyer said he will concentrate on leading his team.
"I'm going out there trying to win football games," he said. "I'm not worrying about getting yanked or not getting
vanked."
Mangino said no position was secure until after a few games, but he felt comfortable with Dyer. He said he wouldn't hesitate to use Whittemore in Saturday's opener against Iowa State, but he wouldn't switch back and forth during the season. Dyer and Mario Kinsey, who transferred to Sam Houston State University last spring, shared time as quarterback for most of last season.
"We'll get a feel for the game, but our plans are to use Zach as a starter, and we're confident in him," Mangino said.
SEE QUARTERBACK ON PAGE 3B
Tennis team looks for home
Writing on the floor of the tennis courts inside Alvamar Racquet Club identifies the future site of a classroom. Formerly the practice space of the KU tennis team, the space is destined to be the new home of Bishop Seabury Academy.
Jared Soares/Kansan
By Jonah Ballow
Kansan sportswriter
With the fall season just around the corner, the Kansas tennis team finds itself without a place to practice and play tournaments.
On Aug. 1, the Bishop Seabury Academy purchased the Alvamar Tennis and Swim Club to expand the size of the Academy.
Bob Billings, President of Alvama Inc., said that Bishop Seabury was looking for another location because they had insufficient space at the current school.
The decision to sell the club will affect the tennis team because of its past use of the indoor facility to practice and play matches.
SEE ALVAMAR ON PAGE 3B
Graves hires recruiter, volunteer
By Steve Schmidt
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas baseball coach Rich Price filled two of the three remaining positions on his coaching staff Monday.
Price enlisted Graves from Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo, where Graves helped with recruiting and pitching for three years.
Price appointed Ryan Graves as recruiting coordinator and Reggie Christiansen as a volunteer coach. He will name his third assistant on Sept. 15.
"I think he's one of the top assistant coaches in the country," Price said. "He's got a really good background."
Graves, 27, spent a season in the Chicago Cubs' farm system after a college career as a left-handed pitcher at Loyola Marymount from 1992-95 and later at Oklahoma State from 1995-96.
During the next few months, Graves will re-acquaint himself with the Midwest by making in-home visits to respective recruits and talking to area high school coaches.
Graves hopes new players will consist of local products but is also looking past the state line.
"I think it's exciting because obviously the Big 12 is one of the best conferences in the nation, if not the best," Graves said. "I'm excited to get back to the Midwest. College athletics is at the forefront out here. It's in the spotlight more out here."
"My biggest concern is getting the best players to come to the University of Kansas," Graves said. "From a recruiting standpoint, we're going to go after the best kids in the Midwest, but at a school like this we can afford to recruit at a national level. We can go outside the state and look for players."
Christensen's main duties will include working with the outfielders and serving as the team's first base coach. He is the former head coach at Menlo College in Atherton, Calif. — a school Price took over earlier in his career and led to sev-
Sophomores key players this season
By Nikki Overfelt
Kansan sportswriter
"They are big shoes to fill," Gilfillan said.
Monica Brothers and Rachel Gilfillan, sophomore forwards for the Kansas soccer team, have the task of filling the shoes of Hilla Rantala, holder of the Jayhawks' single-season scoring record.
Last year Rantala, in her final season before graduating, led the team with 32 points—10 goals and 12 assists. She also lead the team in scoring and assists in 1999, before medical redshirting in 2000.
Despite these statistics, neither Brothers nor Gilfillan is feeling the pressure of filling Rantala's void.
"I wouldn't say pressure," Gilfillan said. "I guess I have high expectations for myself. It's a bit nerve-wracking, but I just have to focus and follow in her lead and do the best I can."
Brothers agreed. "It's really not about pressure or scoring or filling a role," she said. "It's about playing our best."
"I think we're looking for them to help out the new guys and provide just a little bit of leadership," he said.
Now that Rantala is gone, coach Mark Francis sees Brothers and Gilfillan as his key forwards because of their experience, even if it is only a year.
Francis also said Brothers and Gillian are very different players, but both are strong finishers who are hard to stop.
Despite recovering from mononucleosis last season, Gilfillan was the team's fourth leading scorer in the fall, and Francis said she was the team's best forward in the spring.
"Rachel is very,very good in front of the goal," he said. "She just has a nose for the goal. Put her in front of the goal and nine times out of 10, she's gonna finish it."
Francis also said Gilfillan has improved on things the coaches asked her to work on for this season.
"She is one of those who is tough to take out of the game," he said. "She has so many different ways of beating you."
Francis said Brothers, like Gilfillan, is a good finisher. He also said she strikes the ball well and is extremely good in the air. He said her intensity on the field is constant.
"She always gives everything that she's capable of, every time she's on the field," Francis said.
"Monica is extremely intense, very hard, very athletic," he said. "She's very brave. She's not afraid to sacrifice her body."
Francis also considers Brothers, the team's second leading score last season, a tough player, but in a different style.
SEE SOCCER ON PAGE 3B
File Photo
Monice Brothers, a sophomore forward for the women's soccer team, will be a key player this season, coach Mark Francis said.