2B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2008
quote of the day
"I would have loved to take a nap on court because I was really exhausted. But rules are rules and I had to keep going."
— Jelena Jankovic following her marathon tennis match with Sofia Arvidsson.
fact of the dav
On this day in 1978, the United States Tennis Association National Tennis Center opened in Flushing, N.Y. Jimmy Connors dispatched Swede Bjorn Borg in straight sets in the men's singles final, his third US Open title. Chris Evert won the women's singles title.
United States Tennis Association
trivia of the day
Q: Unsurprisingly, the United States has the produced the most men's singles champions with 85. Which nation has produced the second most?
A: Australia with 18.
OLYMPICS Liukin, Clay newest pair of Wheaties champions
MINNEAPOLIS — First the gold, then the Wheaties.
At the Olympics in Beijing this month, Nastia Liukin followed in the footsteps of Mary Lou Retton and Carly Patterson, the two other American gymnasts who have won Olympic gold in the all-around competition. Now she and American decathlete Bryan Clay follow them onto the Wheaties cereal box.
Liukin and Clay will get their own special edition Wheaties boxes, General Mills Inc. announced Thursday.
Liukin, who is from Parker, Texas, won five medals in the Beijing Olympics, including helping the U.S. win silver in the team competition.
Clay, a native of Honolulu who lives in Los Angeles, was the first American to win the decathlon since Dan O'Brien brought home the gold in 1996. Two other Americans — Jim Thorpe and Bruce Jenner — have won the event
— have won the event.
The special-edition boxes will be sold starting in September.
Associated Press
After Olympics Games, Phelps's star still rising
LOS ANGELES — He does comedy, writes books, and mixes it up with the hottest stars in music and Hollywood. With all this, who needs swimming?
Certainly not Michael Phelps — not anymore, at least. But as a presenter at the 2008 Video Music Awards, all that fresh Olympic bling will certainly help.
The swimmer who took home a record-breaking eight gold medals from the Beijing Games joined Miley Cyrus, Scarlet johnsons, Lindsay Lohan and Ciara as presenters at the Sept. 7 VMAs telecast from Los Angeles.
Kansas, Canada school connected through Naismith
- Associated Press
It doesn't seem like Kansas' exhibition basketball game against McGill University at 11 a.m. Saturday in Ottawa carries any special significance.
After all, it's a college basketball game in August between two teams from different countries. But closer inspection reveals that the Jayhawks and the Redmen share a linked history.
They share the history of a man named James Nasmith. The inventor of basketball, who coached at Kansas for nine years, graduated from McGill in 1887.
Naismith famously created basketball four years later in
Massachusetts before coming to Lawrence and starting the Kansas basketball program in 1898.
Kansas and McGill have, not surprisingly, never played against each other in basketball. Although Kansas will be a heavy favorite in the game, McGill played well against American college teams last season. The Illinois Fighting Illini traveled north to Canada to face McGill and only escaped by four points in double overtime. Alabama beat McGill 97-88 in an exhibition match last season.
The McGill Redmen's basketball Web site, however, reports the last time they beat a Division-I college team was 1985 against Maine. But you can't trust everything on their website - just read the description of the lavwhacks for proof.
"Kansas, a Big 12 school from Lawrenceville, Kan," it reads.
I'm not familiar with a Lawrenceville in Kansas -- although I have traveled through
the northeastern Atlanta suburb of the same name.
Naismith certainly wouldn't have appreciated the McGill Athletic Department's hiccup with the town's name. But who would he root for in tomorrow's game? His alma mater or the school with its court named after him?
It's hard to tell. The only thing that's certain is, in some weird way, a historical basketball match-up
will take place in Canada Saturday morning. Call it the "Naismith Bowl."
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL ... ERGH, I MEAN FIU
FIU, Kansas' first football opponent of the season, doesn't want to be referred to as Florida International or Florida International University.
The Golden Panther game notes indicate that they are not to be called anything other than FIU by the media. But that's not all FIU would like to change about its football program. The Golden Panthers are also still trying to shed their football team's reputation.
FIU football is known primarily for two things - both of them negative. Until the Golden Panthers' final game of last season against North Texas, they held the nation's longest losing streak. It reached 23 straight games without a victory before FIU
beat North Texas, 38-19.
FIU also garnered negative publicity in 2005 when a benchclearing brawl broke out during a game against Miami. The Golden Panthers suspended 16 players and dismissed two following the fracas.
But one of the most infamous figures of the fight, running back Amod Ned, is still on the team.
Ned
Ned, a senior this season, got in the middle of the fight despite being injured and on crutches. He has since become an Internet sensation.
videos of the brawl is still available on YouTube.
Videos of the
Lock-down defense
— Edited by Arthur Hur
Stephen Mock, left, Lawrence senior, attempts a pass while guarded by Drew Anderson, Manhattan freshman. The Frisbee Club Team plays every Tuesday and Thursday at Shenk Field.
Jerry Wanq/KANSAM
In split decision, Nevada court rejects trial delay for O.J. Simpson
BY BRENDAN RILEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON CITY, Nev. — A request from OJ. Simpson's last remaining co-defendant to delay the Sept. 8 start of the pair's armed robbery and kidnapping trial was
rejected Thursday by a divided Nevada Supreme Court panel.
In a 2-1 decision, Justices Bill Maupin and Ron Parraguirrre refused to stay Simpson and Clarence "C.J." Stewart's upcoming trial, and rejected Stewart's petition for a separate trial.
The brief majority order salo justices "are not satisfied that this court's intervention by way of extraordinary writ is warranted at this time."
ed, saying he would have granted the stay. He called for an answer from prosecutors to the petition for separate trials.
Stewart's attorney, Robert Lucherini, did not return calls seeking comment on whether he would ask the high court to reconsider.
Lucherini appealed to the Supreme Court after Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass refused to halt proceedings. Glass delayed the start of the trial once in April
and vowed not to postpone it again.
Lucherini argued it will be impossible for Stewart to get a fair trial sitting next to Simpson, the NFL Hall of Fame player, actor and advertising pitchman who was acquitted in 1995 in Los Angeles of criminal charges that he murdered his ex-wife and her friend. Simpson was later found liable for the deaths in a civil case.
face 12 charges, including felony kidnapping, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. A kidnapping conviction carries the possibility of life in prison with the possibility of parole, and a robbery conviction would mean mandatory prison time.
Simpson maintains that he went to the hotel room to retrieve items stolen that had been from him, that he didn't ask anyone to bring guns and that he didn't know anyone in the room was armed.
Justice Michael Cherry dissent
The trial is expected to take at least five weeks. A kidnapping conviction carries the possibility of life in prison with the possibility of parole, and a robbery conviction would mean mandatory prison time.
Simpson and Stewart are charged in a Sept. 13, 2007, confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers at a casino hotel room in Las Vegas. Four men who accompanied Simpson and Stewart have accepted plea deals and agreed to testify.
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