what we heard "We will win. That's a guarantee." Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson on their upcoming game against the Chiefs off the bench
2B the university daily kansan
wednesday,november 12,2003
Chiefs remain steady, plan to continue
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Week after week they roll up win after win. Instead of leveling off, the Kansas City Chiefs appear to be gathering strength.
So where is this letdown people say the NFL's last unbeaten team is prime to have?
"We expect to play well," coach Dick Vermeil said, icily "I know there are a lot of people who think ... that you're bound for a letdown, or a letup, or whatever you want to call it. We don't approach it that way."
Nevertheless, it does seem logical to think that any collection of imperfect human beings will, at some point, have a bad day at the office.
It seems especially predictable in such a demanding and high-performance business as the NFL. Vermil himself keeps saying there are no bad teams in the National Football League.
The perfect place and time for the Chiefs to be a bit off their game would seem to be this Sunday at Cincinnati.
At 9-0, they own an almost insurmountable four-game lead in the AFC West, and they're two games ahead of their nearest pursuers in the drive for home field advantage.
The Bengals, although apparently on the ascent, are still with more losses than victories.
And wide receiver Chad Johnson obligingly supplied some welcome bulletin board material by guaranteeing a Cincinnati victory.
So wouldn't it be OK for the Chiefs to relax just a bit on this quick trip to Ohio?
"I've had some negative experiences in Cincinnati." Vermeil said.
Here's where the experience of their 67-year-old coach may come to the aid of the unbeatens.
If their last two games are any indication, the Chiefs are only getting better.
"I think a couple of my Eagles teams played about as close to the top week in and week out, except one time we went to Cincinnati and got beat 31-17 or something like that to a team that had only won one or two games. And we had won 10 or 11 at the time. I remember that."
The game before their bye week, they crushed Buffalo 38-5, getting seven turnovers.
Then Sunday, following a week in which Vermeil gave the entire team the whole week off - a time when many experts might think they were most vulnerable to a letdown - they were sharper still.
Trent Green threw three touchdown passes, Priest Holmes ran for two touchdowns and Dante Hall had 159 yards in kick returns in a 41-20 rout of Cleveland.
"Once you get into an upper echelon level in the National Football League, there's very little difference in the teams," Vermeil said. "What really is the difference is how consistent you play at that level. I'd like to believe we've now reached the level where if we play consistent football through the game from week in and week out, we'll be tough to beat, regardless if we have to play with a backup player.
"We can't take our fans with us. But the same people will get on the plane who played in Arrowhead Stadium last Sunday."
A victory would be their fifth straight on the road, their longest since 1971-72. They would become only the ninth team since 1970 to begin a season 10-0.
But as the wins pile up, so will desire on the other side of the field to be the team that finally outdraws the fastest gun in the West.
The trick, Vermeil said, is to turn every possible disadvantage into your own favor.
"The better your record, the more you inspire your next opponent. We right now are the only undefeated team, so we're a target," he said. "And we expect to meet everybody at their best. But that should make us better."
"I think pressure to win, utilized properly, should help create the tension that you need to keep striving to get better, and prevent you from getting relaxed and saying, 'Oh, hee, we've arrived.'"
Tulsa high school wins fight, can keep Redskin mascot
TULSA, Okla. — John Tarbell is an American Indian who was glad yesterday he could also still call himself a Redskin.
The Union High School basketball player welcomed the school board's decision Monday to keep the Redskins team name and mascot over the objections of those who find the term offensive.
Civil rights groups and the Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism had pushed for nearly a year for the south Tulsa district to give up the name. They said the term "redskin" historically refers to the selling of Indian scalps for a bounty.
The school board voted unanimously to keep it.
The president of Union High School's student body said he sees the term as something that only applies to school identity.
Research reviewed by board members revealed different accounts of the term's origin, said Scott McDaniel, school board president. He said he based his vote on "what the term means for the district," including pride, spirit and ideals.
"When you think 'Union Redskins,' it gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling," he said.
Fellow senior Elsie Urueta said she knew of no students who opposed the Redskins name.
"If they come to our school and see how we use the term, how proud we are, I think they would have a change of opinion," she said.
But Gray said supporters of the name are rewriting history if they believe Redskins means "honor, nobility and bravery."
"I don't think there's anything brave about a skinned human being," he said.
Tarbell, who said he is a full blood Indian descended from five tribes, said he thinks the issue is frivolous. He said he has never been treated poorly while playing basketball — either as an Indian or a Redskin.
"It's just a mascot," he said.
"That's all it really is."
The Associated Press
St. Louis moves to Atlantic 10 fourth conference in 13 years
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — Saint Louis, misplaced in a revamped Conference USA, yesterday agreed to join the Atlantic 10 in 2005-06.
The move comes a week after the Big East took five of C-USA best men's basketball programs, including Louisville and Cincinnati, and C-USA responded by adding five schools that have football. Saint Louis does not field a football team.
Saint Louis' announcement came a day after another C-USA program, Charlotte, joined the Atlantic 10. The Billikens became the 14th team in the Atlantic 10. The conference will not be renamed to reflect the number of programs or where they're located.
"We're able to put together conferences of people that want to be together, not necessarily because the geography makes sense," conference commissioner Linda Bruno said.
It will be the fourth conference affiliation for Saint Louis since 1990, following membership in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (1982-91), Great Mid west (1991-95) and C-USA, Athletic director Doug Woolard said it was the school's best option.
"This conference realignment thing continues to seem to bounce around," Woolard said. "I do think this might be the best fit of any league we've ever been in."
The Missouri Valley Conference, based in St. Louis, would have made sense from a geographic standpoint. Saint Louis was a member of that conference, considered a mid-major and ranked below the Atlantic 10 in the RPI last season, from 1937-74.
The Atlantic 10 was ranked ninth last season, one spot behind Conference USA, while the Valley was ranked 14th. The Atlantic 10 also sent seven schools to postseason competition, including three NCAA bids to Xavier, Saint Joseph's and Davton.
"We had some early conversations, but it was never really about the Valley vs. the A10," Woolard said. "It was about what was the best fit for us, and the A10 clearly became the place for us."
Men's basketball, Saint Louis' major sport, was the driving force in the new affiliation. Coach Brad Soderberg was excited to get the opportunity to match wits with Temple's John Cheney.
"My preference would have been for Conference USA to stay intact because I thought the league was starting to gain some real national credibility," Soderberg said. "Our next-best option is the A10."
Soderberg wasn't worried about the additional travel, either.
The Atlantic 10 is also stronger in women's basketball than the new Conference USA, with eight programs ranked in the top 100 vs. two for CUSA.
Other schools in the Atlantic 10 are Duquesne, Fordham, George Washington, LaSalle, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Richmond, St. Bonaventure and Temple.
"Anytime anything's basketball-driven, I think it benefits women's basketball," women's coach Jill Pizzotti said. "When there's an emphasis on men's basketball, women's basketball isn't too far behind."
K-State battles for Big 12 North title
The Associated Press
MANHATTAN, Kan. — For Kansas State, the road to the Big 12 North title leads through some pretty inhospitable territory.
That would be Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., where the Wildcats haven't beaten Nebraska since quarterback Lynn Dickey led Kansas State to a 12-0 victory in 1968.
Actually, Nixon wasn't inaugurated until 1969—the year Nebraska began a 29-year domination of the Wildcats. And even though Kansas State's victory drought ended in 1998, the Cornhuskers
"That was what, when Nixon was president?" Kansas State center Nick Leckey said.
still own a 17-game home winning streak against Kansas State.
That's a bit of history the Wildcats (8-3) can't afford to repeat Saturday against the 18th-ranked Cornhuskers (8-2). At 4-2 in Big 12 play, the two teams share the North Division lead with two games left.
That means Saturday's winner will have the inside track at facing No.1 Oklahoma in the conference title game on Dec.6.
Last year, the Wildcats humiliated Nebraska—on its way to an uncharacteristic 7-7 finish—49-13 in Manhattan. It was the Cornhuskers' most topsided loss in the series, which dates to 1911.
In the end, there's only one way to silence the Cornhuskers and the 74,000 fans who make Memorial Stadium one of the Big 12's most intimidating environments. That's by breaking that 17-game losing streak in Lincoln.
Since 1997, the home team has won each time.
Kansas State hasn't beaten a ranked team this season, though, losing 24-20 at then-No.13 Texas in its only other game against a Top 25 opponent.
If the Wildcats can get by the Huskers and beat Missouri a week later, it will cap a spectacular turnaround from a three-game losing streak and an 0-2 start to their Big 12 season.
"If we take care of business, then we have a chance," Kansas State's Andrew Shull said. "But we are going to have our hands full this weekend."
Marc D'Errico led the team with an average round of 205, with Rhino Page right behind him averaging 195 per round. Newcomer Chris Dilley had the third-highest average round for the team with 192.
"I was very pleased with the performance and the progress shown from the first competition," coach Mike Fine said.
The KU men finished with 8,801 total pins, 281 behind first-place Wichita State and only six pins behind third place Western Illinois. After seven team games, the men were sitting at sixth place. After 10 baker games, where all five bowlers bowl two frames in an individual game, the team moved up to fourth place with the second-highest baker total.
The women's team did not fare as well as the men, finishing with 846 points less than first-place Pikeville College, but showed progress from the first competition, Fine said.
Kelly Zapf led the team for the second-straight competition with an average round of 191. Kelly Sander and Sarah Roenfeldt tied with the second-highest average round for the team with 179.
"This was a major national tournament with many of the teams from last year's finals, so we faced some very tough opponents," Fine said.
The team traveled to Chicago on Nov. 8 and 9 to compete in the Brunswick Great Lakes Classic. The tournament also consisted of 28 women's teams, with the Jayhawk women finishing 16th.
Bowling
After finishing in the middle of the pack in its first tournament of the season, the men's bowling team showed some progress and finished fourth out of 40 teams at the second tournament of the year.
Jason Elmquist
Men's bowling team places in top five at tournament
I am watching any Williams right now on Sportscenter coaching for North Carolina and I think that I am going to throw up. This is horrible.
I am sorry, but I thought the key to winning games was touchdowns, not turnovers.
Kansas athletics calendar
Voleyball vs. Oklahoma 7p.m. Horegal Family Athletics Center
saturday
today
Cross Country at Midwest Regional Championship
Silhouette Ops
Football at Oklahoma State 1 p.m. Boone Pickens
Stadium, Stillwater, Okla.
Volleyball at Iowa State 7 p.m. Ames, Iowa
sunday
Women's Basketball vs. St. Louis Goldstar (exh.) 2
m. Allen Fainhouse