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2B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008
SPORTS
quote of the day
"I think the level of commitment is demonstrated. They want to make this football program one of the strongest in the country."
- Iowa State coach Gene Chizik after being hired in 2006
fact of the day
Kansas Athletics Department
Kansas football last appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated last season after defeating Iowa State 45-7 in mid-November. The cover photo was of junior wide receiver Kerry Meier hauling in a touchdown pass. He also passed for a score.
trivia of the day
Q: What connection does Indianapolis Colts All-Pro wide receiver Reggie Wayne have to the Cyclones?
A: Senior wide receiver R.J. Sumrall is Wayne's cousin.
— Iowa State Athletics Department
Swimming: Pentathlon, 4 p.m.
(Lawrence)
Soccer: Texas Tech, 4 p.m.
(Lawrence)
Today
schedule
Saturday
Softball: Western Illinois, 11 a.m.
(Iowa City, Iowa)
Football: Iowa State, 11:30 a.m.
(Ames, Iowa)
Softball: Iowa, 4 p.m. (Iowa City,
lowa)
Volleyball: Texas Tech, 7 p.m.
(Lubbock, Texas)
Cross Country: OSU Jamboree,
TBA (Stillwater, Okla.)
Rowing: Head of the Oklahoma,
all day (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Softball: Western Illinois, 10 a.m. (Iowa City, Iowa)
Softball: Iowa, 12:30 p.m. (Iowa City, Iowa)
Soccer: Colorado, 1 p.m.
(Lawrence)
Monday
Women's Golf: Jeannie McHaney/Audrey Morehead Invitational, Day One (Lubbock, Texas)
Tuesday
Tuesday
Women's Golf: Jeannie
Mchaney/Audrey Morehead
Invitational, Day Two (Lubbock,
Texas)
Sunday
Wednesdav
Wednesday
Women's Volleyball: Texas A&M,
7:00 PM (Lawrence, Kan.)
Will the next Brad Witherspoon please stand up?
Dig through your closet and find your athletic shoes from high school, because it's time to revive your career.
The calendar just flipped to October — the month of open tryouts. If you think you're good enough to play basketball at an elite collegiate level or tough enough to play professional football, you're in luck.
Let's start with the team almost everyone would love to be a part of. The Kansas basketball team will hold walk-on tryouts Sunday, Oct.
Anyone who wants to participate needs to pick up an information packet from the men's basketball office in Allen Fieldhouse before Wednesday, Oct. 15.
How is that even possible? If all six of the favorites win, the Big 12 will really be a juggernaut in next week's poll. But the odds are against that. This is college football. Count on at least one upset in the Big 12 this weekend.
26.
If you've got hoop skis and pass on this tryout thinking you don't stand a chance. It's worth it. Just ask Brad Witherpoon.
If you've got hoop skills, don't
Witherspoon played on the basketball team for the past two seasons after earning a spot through one of these open tryouts. Witherspoon exhausted his eligibility but left with a championship ring.
Sure, Major League Baseball playoffs are what October is all about.
I'll take the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox to be playing for the title. The Phillies power their way to a seventh game triumph at Fenway Park.
Not to mention his popularity on campus skyrocketed and the Kansan featured a "Witherspoon Meter" every game day, which ranked the probability of him playing that night.
If your glory came on the gridiron instead of the hardwood, don't
You can register on the team's official Web site and will receive a discount if you do it by Wednesday, Oct. 8. Just think — you could be teammates with Quincy Carter, former Georgia great and the Brigade's starting quarterback.
The most likely Top 25 Big 12 team to fall? I'd say Missouri traveling to Nebraska. The Tigers haven't won at Memorial Stadium
worry. The Arena Football League's Kansas City Brigade will hold its open tryouts Sunday, Oct. 12 at the Kansas City Soccer Dome.
Six Big 12 teams are ranked in the latest AP Top 25 poll. Yet, none of them will play each other Saturday.
Edited by Kelsey Hayes
WORLD SERIES PICK?
The most likely Top 25 Big 12 team to roll? Oklahoma State playing Texas A&M at home. The Aggies are in complete disarray and barely slipped by Army last week. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State is the most surprising team in the conference and has destroyed everyone standing in its way.
WACKY WEEKEND IN THE BIG 12
The Brigade also held a tryout for their dance team that started yesterday. Although it's too late to apply, the finals will be held Friday, Oct. 10 at the Ameristar Casino and are open to the public.
in 30 years and Nebraska coach Bo Pelini is desperate for a trademark victory to kick off his tenure.
KICK THE KANSAN
Pick games. Beat the Kansan staff.Get your name in the paper.
This week's games:
1. No. 13 Auburn at No. 19 Vanderbilt (pick score)
2. No. 7 Texas Tech at Kansas State
3. No. 14 Ohio State at No. 18 Wisconsin
4. Florida State at Miami (FL)
5. No. 23 Oregon at No. 9 USC
6. Stanford at Notre Dame
7. Washington at Arizona
8. UNLV at Colorado State
9. South Carolina at Mississippi
10. Nevada at Idaho
Name:
E-mail:
Year in school:
Hometown:
Rules
1) Only KU students are eligible.
2) Give your name, e-mail, year in school and hometown.
3) Beat the best prognosticator at the Kansan and get your name in the paper.
4) Bail out your peers and get picture and pictures in the paper next to the Kansan staff.
5) To break ties, pick the score of the designated game.
Either submit your picks to KickTheKansan@kansan.com or to the Kansan business office, located at the West side of Stauffer-Flint Hall, which is between Wescoe Hall and Watson Library.
--left off the playoff roster.
NFL
Former Broncos owner loses bid for a buyback
DENVER — Former Denver Broncos owner Edgar Kaiser Jr. lost his latest bid to force current owner Pat Bowlen to sell him part of the team.
The Colorado Court of Appeals Thursday refused to revive Kaiser's state case that was tossed out last year.
Kaiser, who sold his 60.8 percent share of the team to Bowlen in 1984, lost his case in federal court in 2006. The case involved an offer to sell part of the team to Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway.
Kaiser argued the 1984 contract included a "buyback" provision if Bowlen tried to sell the team or a partnership holding majority interest in the team to anybody else. The case in state court involved Bowlen's acquisition of an additional interest of the team through a stock deal involving family members.
The state appellate court agreed the same legal issues resolved in the federal appellate court also apply to the state case. That was that the transactions involved the parent company and not the team or the partnership holding majority interest in the team.
2004 ruled in favor of Kaiser, saying Bowlen violated the contract by offering 10 percent of shares in a company that held ownership of the team to Elway for $15 million. That verdict was overturned by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2006.
A U.S. District Court jury in
"This was anti-climatic," Bowlen attorney Dan Reilly said. "The heart of the case was decided in the federal case. This was an attempt to resurrect a dead case that the court of appeals rejected."
Bowlen's 1998 offer was declined by Elway, who at the time said he wanted a more active role in managing the team than what he was offered.
Associated Press
MLB
Rays bedevil White Sox, win 6-4
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays looked perfectly at home in the playoffs.
The rookie homered in his first two at-bats and the surprising AL East champions were a big hit in their postseason debut, beating the Chicago White Sox 6-4 Thursday in their AL playoff opener.
After 10 seasons as baseball's doormat, Tampa Bay took the division with the best home record in the majors. And there were no October jitters as the young Rays kept winning at Tropicana Field behind James Shields' effective start and Grant Balfour's testy, bases-loaded escape.
Tampa Bay ranked near the bottom of the attendance charts this year, yet was cheered on by a sellout crowd of 35,041. Rays season-ticket holder Dick Vitale waved a "We Love Longoria" placard from his first-row seat next to the visitor's dugout.
Game 2 is Friday, when Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir (12-8) faces Mark Buehrle (15-12).
Chicago beat Minnesota in the AL Central tiebreaker Tuesday, and took a 3-1 lead on Dewayne Wise's three-run homer in the third inning. Butavier Vazquez, who has a history of flopping in big games, could not hold it.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"We want to win both of them now. We have such an advantage at home." Longoria said.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays' Evan Longoria hits a solo home run in the second inning against the Chicago White Sox during Game 1 of the American League Divisional Series baseball game in St. Petersburg, Fl., Thursday. The Rays defeated the White Sox 6-4
Longoria became the second player to homer in his first two postseason at-bats, joining Gary Gaetti from 1987.
Longoria started the year in the minors and became an All-Star third baseman in the majors. He hit 27 homers despite missing 30 games with a broken right wrist.
He homered on his very first postseason pitch, a leadoff drive in the second. He put Tampa Bay ahead 4-3 with another solo shot in the third, a homer off one of the infamous catwalks that support the roof at Tropicana.
"I was just looking for a pitch out over the plate I could hit," Longoria said.
He also had a RBI single and finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
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LAWRENCE
Balfour fanned Cabrera to end the threat, pumped his fist and pointed at the White Sox shortstop. The exchange also brought manager Joe Maddon and bench coach Dave Martinez out of the dugout and more words were exchanged between Martinez and the White Sox bench.
The Rays led 6-3 in the seventh when the game got tense.
Balfour relieved Shields with the bases loaded and one out, and struck out Juan Uribe. Orlando Cabrera was up next, and he kicked dirt toward the mound and appeared to shout something at Balfour. The reliever walked toward the plate before being stopped by umpire Joe West.
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It was the same kind of feistiness the Rays displayed in spring training during a dustup with the New York Yankees and a bench-clearing brawl in June on their first visit to Boston to play the Red Sox.
Shields allowed three runs and six hits in 6-1-3 innings. Balfour struck out both batters he faced and J.P. Howell worked a perfect eighth.
Dan Wheeler gave up a solo home run to Paul Konerko in finishing for a save. Wheeler is filling in for closer Troy Percival, who has been slowed by injuries and was
Tampa Bay slugger Carlos Pena left the game after the second inning with slightly blurred vision in his left eye.
Pena, who led the Rays with 31 homers and 102RBIs this season, struck out in his only plate appearance in the first inning. Willy Aybar entered the game at first base at the beginning of the third, and his sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning made it 3-all.
The Rays said he accidentally scratched his eye at home on Wednesday night. The injury is not considered serious and he is expected to return to the lineup for Game 2.
The Rays, who never won more than 70 games in a season before this year, entered their playoff debut on three days' rest, expecting their youth and speed to be an advantage against the more experienced White Sox, who have struggled on artificial surface this year.
The White Sox, who led the majors in home runs, fizzled after winning three straight elimination games, including a tiebreaker against Minnesota to determine the AL Central title, to reach the post-season for the first time since winning the 2005 World Series.