Volume 124 Issue 10
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kansan.com
Thursday, September 1, 2011
PAGE 14
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I think we have better leadership, I think that's probably been the biggest difference is guys are talking more and they're taking charge."
Turner Gill
FACT OF THE DAY
Kerry Meier, wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons, set a Kansas freshman record with 13 touchdown passes in 2006.
kuathletics.com
THE MORNING BREW
Looking forward to the Olympic season
I am a sports junkie. If it's a competition of athletic prowess, I will watch it, learn
prowess, I will watch it, learn about it, and discuss it (except for cricket, I'm still trying to figure that one out). Last weekend I found myself watching some of the Track and Field World Championships. It got me pumped for the 2012 summer Olympics in London, but bummed because it would still be another two years before I get to watch my favorite Olympics, the winter games.
If I could achieve any athletic feat, of course I'd want a championship ring. And it would be awesome to have my name etched onto the Stanley Cup.
But to win an Olympic medal, especially gold, would be something I could carry with me. To know that at one time I was better
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than everyone IN THE WORLD, even if it was at something extremely specialized.
I can't explain exactly why I prefer the winter games to the summer. Maybe it was watching Tommy Moe win the downhill gold at the '94 games, maybe it was hearing stories of the 1980 Miracle on Ice game growing up, but for some reason I do.
Specifically, I have two favorite parts of the winter games.
The first is curling. What other Olympic sport can you watch and say to yourself, "Hey, I can do that"? Curling is a sport for the out-of-shape. I know it takes skill, but it is the real life version of the movie BASEketball, a sport where 40-year-olds with bad backs and knees can compete with guys half their age who are all 'roiled up. As pathetic as it sounds, I think I would even play a curling video game. I fell in love with curling during the 2002 Salt Lake games. I was in sixth grade, home with the flu, and I spent my days watching curling. It was much better than school.
The other thing that puts the winter games over the summer games is the hockey tournament. As fun as it is watching the best players in the NBA dominate every
game in the summer Olympics, its always more compelling to root for the underdog. And in hockey, the USA is just that.
Canada has Crosby, Russia has Ovechkin, but the US has something better than one of the top two players in hockey — we have heart. And in 2010, we showed it by taking the Canadian team to overtime on the back of outstanding goalheading by Ryan Miller. In the end, Canada won, but I had never seen more interest in hockey than after that tournament.
But what really makes the Olympics special is that they only happen every four years, so I have to wait as the anticipation builds.
Edited by Ben Chipman
WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ALL THINGS SPORTS?
THIS WEEK IN SPORTS
Visit www.Kano to view photo ga resters; and!
Softshell Technology From 10,200ft.
M's and W's Leadville Jacket
Sport Fri. Sat. Sun. Mon.
Football
vs. McNeese State at 6 p.m. in Lawrence
Volleyball
Jayhawk Invitational at noon and 7 p.m. in Lawrence
vs. South Dakota State at 1 p.m. in Lawrence
Soccer
vs. Missouri State at 7 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.
vs. South Dakota State at 1 p.m. in Lawrence
M. Golf
W. Golf
Rowing
Cross Country
Bob Timmons Classic at 9 a.m. in Lawrence
804 Massachusetts St.
Downtown Lawrence
(785) 843-5000
www.sunfloweroutdoorandbike.com
FOUNDATIONS OF ZEN Retreat
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3
8:30 am to 4:00 pm
An Introduction to Zen Practice, Open to all, regardless of experience,
taught by Stanley Lombardo (Zen Master Hae Kwang).
Kansas Zen Center
1423 New York St.
$25 suggested donation.
Please email info@kansaszencenter.org to reserve a space.
Visit www.KansasZenCenter.org for more information.
PRACTICE WITH US
while 11 of the top 40 players will be playing football in Austin, Texas this season.
A&M is making a move that will put them in the lower echelon of the top football conference instead of remaining in the upper echelon of one of the top conferences (albeit a very unstable one).
Quite simply, this is Texas A&M giving the finger to Texas for being better than them in nearly every way, shape and form. Instead of beating the Longhorns head-to-head, they decided losing more games in a better conference would be the proper form of revenge.
So now it's the Big 12's turn, as they can say goodbye to Texas A&M. You can be sure they will take pleasure in watching them get "whoooped" more often than not.
Edited by Sarah McCabe
program joins the West Coast Conference.
Jan 19,2011
Aug 25,2011
Others and hosts "firmly committed" to the Big 12 and that league officials knew Texas was pursuing a network deal.
University of Texas president William Powers said Texas is
12 commissioner Dan Beebe explaining that Texas A&M is considering leaving the Big 12.
Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin sends a letter to Big
Aug 30, 2011
New York Times report that it notified the Big 12 of its intention to leave the athletic conference.
xas A&M denies the Monday
Jul 1.2011
become the 17th member of the Big East conference after
leaving the Mountain West.
The Governors of Colorado and Utah unite June 30 'Pac-12 Day' as the Utah Utes and Colorado Buffaloes become official members
01 Pac-12.
Aug 29, 2011
The New York Times reports that President R. Bowen Lotin informed Big 12 Board Chairman Brady Deaton that the Aggies will officially withdraw from the conference as early as Tuesday.
Aug 31,2011
Texas A&M officially notifies the Big 12 of its intention to withdraw from the conference.
Sara McClinton and Chelsea Albers may each be in their first season with the Jayhawks, but coach Ray Bechard is counting on both of them to contribute, and contribute early. McClinton started all three of the team's victories in the season-opening Georgia Bulldog Invitational over the weekend, and Albers started both of the Saturday sweeps.
"We're going to put the best six out there, and sometimes that's a bit of a stretch for freshmen to do that," Bechard said. "But we have a bunch of confidence in both of those young ladies."
McClinton finished the weekend with 11 kills, including seven in the finale against Georgia. To secure her role as a starter for the season's first three games, McClinton had to play catch-up with the upperclassmen who stayed over the summer.
work to achieve
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"I knew we had a good opportunity to compete with some of the upperclassmen for the spots, but you can't come in and expect to start," McClinton said. "You have to
work to achieve it. That was my goal, to come in and start, but I guess I wasn't expecting it so soon."
"That is a tough call," Bechard said. "You need to kind of get a sense for where you think their progress will be within the first month and this is a kid that can help us by mid-
Starting so early is an unexpected perk for Albers, but it is one she said she plans on working hard to maintain. Both freshmen had to work hard just to avoid being redshirted by Bechard, who said the decision to sit and develop a player for a year is a difficult one.
.
Albers had an impressive first start on Saturday morning, recording six kills in the sweep against Liberty. She may have ensured her spot as a starter through a decorated high school career at Papillion LaVista, where she notched a state-leading 487 kills in 2009 was named the Omaha World-Herald's Girl's 2010-11 Athlete of the Year her senior season.
training in Italy, the freshmen were not permitted to tag along. Still, the upperclassmen have tried to make the Nebraska' natives feel at home, Albers said.
"They have worked hard to include us and not make us feel like freshmen," Albers said. "Speaking for myself, I feel like they treat us like volleyball players and not by our age."
Since Bechard was hired as the coach of the volleyball team 14 years ago, he has had a player from Nebraska on his roster every season. Albers and McClinton first met as opponents in the state's notoriously competitive high school volleyball circuit. They would later come to know each other better as teammates at the even more competitive club level.
"Growing up in Nebraska, I think it gave us a huge advantage," McClinton said. "High school volley-
SEE VOLLEYBALL PAGE 8
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