Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Iowa State and Oklahoma State will open Big 12 Conference play Saturday in Ames, Iowa. Six OSU players have been suspended for the game. See page 4B
Pro Football
Wide receiver Michael Westbrook apologized for fighting at a Redskins' practice last week.
SEE PAGE 5B
Tuesday
August 26, 1997
Section:
B
Page 1
Pro Basketball
Robert Parish, 44, retired yesterday. He won four championships during his 21-year career.
SEE PAGE 2B
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Outlook dim for baseball, football and Allen's hair
Seeking pigskin glory? 1997 is not the season
With school less than a week old and thousands of clueless freshmen still bouncing from hall to hall, I
have heard
enough inane
questions to last
al lifetime.
The new students have questions about everything. They want to know where the library is. They do not understand add/drop. They want to know why books are so expensive. Someone in one of my
Harley
Rattifl
sports@kansan.com
classes asked our professor "What's a ballot?" (For the politically challenged. you use a ballot to vote.)
Q: Who is still following the Kansas City Royals?
So with "questions" being the theme of the week, I am going to do a little Q-and-A around the sports world.
A: At last count, the number of diehard Royals fans was hovering at about three people. That should not be surprising because the Royals are hobbling towards the close of yet another hapless season.
Q: How much hair is Kansas head football coach Terry Allen going to have left at the end of the season?
Maybe someone should let Royals management in on a little secret—you cannot win with a lineup full of mediocre stars. Chili Davis, Dean Palmer, Jay Bell and Jeff King are nice players, but if you are waiting for them to bring home a pennant, it is time to get on the reality bus.
A: Very little. Allen could be sporting the "Charles Barkley" after his first year in Lawrence. His Jayhawks are picked to finish no better than fifth in the Big 12 Conference North Division by most publications—and that is generous.
Besides losing their three best players (June Henley, Isaac Byrd and Ronnie Ward), the Jayhawks have to break in one new coach and two rubber-band-armed backup quarterbacks.
The '97 Jayhawks are going to resemble one of those Kansas teams from the mid-1980s.
Trust me, it would not matter if Terry Allen was Bear Bryant, Bud Wilkinson, and Joe Paterno rolled into one.
Q: How many people read my column in last Monday's paper?
A: Hopefully, nobody.
In case you missed it, I boldly predicted (actually, I guaranteed) that the Oklahoma Sooners would "pound the Northwestern Wildcats off the north shore of Chicago."
But, please bear with me. I grew up in Norman, Okla., and suffer from severe bouts of Sooner lunacy. It is a rare affliction (at least in Kansas) that results in a temporary loss of sanity and spontaneous singing of "Boomer Sooner."
So, I was wrong.
Should I make any future predictions about the Crimson and Cream, please disregard.
Q: How should you spend your Fridays and Sundays this semester?
Rattif is a Norman, Okla., junior in journalism.
A: Going to SuperTarget Field to support the Kansas women's soccer program. It is the team's third year on campus, and the Jayhawks need your support.
New head coach Dan Magner has promised to instill a creative and wide-open offense. With a solid nucleus of returning players, the Jayhawks should be not only more competitive but fun to watch, too.
Sports, school occupy player
Tommy Gallagher
Soccer team looks to Friday opener
Jimmy Gallagher
tgallagher@kansan.com
Associate Sports Editor
The transition from high school to college life often can prove difficult, especially for students who have obligations that reach beyond the classroom.
For Kansas freshman centerfielder Jen Wallace, college soccer is nothing like she thought it would be.
"I had no idea that playing soccer in college would require so much dedication," Wallace said. "In high school you just have practice after school and go home. This fall has been entirely different."
From two-a-day practices on the field to working out in the weight room, Wallace has had to learn to dedicate herself to both academics and athletics.
"From high school to college, classes have been no problem so far," Wallace said. "But for the two weeks since I got here, I've spent part of almost every day doing something to prepare myself for this season. Every day, there's four hours of practice, weight training and two team meetings. It's been hard to adjust to that
kind of a schedule."
Kansas soccer coach Dan Magner has not released a starting lineup for the season opener Friday at Illinois State. The Jayhawks play two days later at Eastern Illinois.
Although Wallace is unsure whether she will be in the starting lineup, Magner is closer to naming a starting goaltender for the season opener after an intrasquad scrimmage Sunday evening.
Magner said sophomore goaltender Jennifer Fecke played the full 90 minutes in Sunday's scrimmage despite an upper-respiratory infection and flu-like symptoms.
"If Jennifer's able to shake off the cold, she'll be in goal for the season opener Friday," Magner said. "She played well Sunday night in our scrimmage, so we're optimistic that she will be ready to go. If she's not ready, we'll still be all right."
Sophomore goaltender Betsy Pollard will start for the Jayhawks if Fecke is unable to. Meanwhile, freshman goaltender Katie Garrity will miss a minimum of two weeks because of mononucleosis.
Last season, Fecke was the starting goaltender, and Pollard was the backup. This season, while Magner has refused to rule out any candidates for the starting spot, the roles of Fecke and Pollard might remain the same.
Dan Magner instructs his players during a recent practice. Magner starts his first season as Kansas soccer coach Friday at Illinois State. Photo by Geoff Krieker/KANSAN
Tryout training
From left to right, Leah Graham, Sioux Falls, S.D., freshman, Ellie Haije, Sioux Falls, S.D., freshman, Ali Brox, Shawnee, freshman, and Jana Bradfield, Lenexa, freshman, practice their technique at the women's rowing team practice. Tryouts will continue through Thursday in Allen Field House. September 3 is the team's first day on the water. Photo by Pam Dishman/KANSAN
Allen's debut not without pressure
Allen: Wants emphasis placed on players instead of himself.
Tommy Gallagher
tgallagher@kansan.com
Associate Sports Editor
Kansas football coach Terry Allen's collegiate coaching debut at Northern Iowa was one of the most disappointing days in his life.
Allen and Northern Iowa lost the season opener against Mankato State — a Division II school — in front of a home crowd. Northern Iowa is a Division IAA school.
"Turnovers and special teams played a large part in our loss that day," Allen said yesterday at a press conference. "Hopefully, there won't be a repeat of Mankato State when we open the
Since 1939, Kansas has had 12 coaches before Allen. Of those 12, only Don Fambrough in 1971 was victorious in his debut as Kansas coach.
There has been a lot of attention surrounding Allen and the new era in Javahawk football.
season Thursday."
Billboards of Allen holding a football and smiling are along interstate shoulders outside of Lawrence and throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area. Then there is the "Terry Allen TV Show," which is broadcast for both radio and television.
Allen said he would love to see the billboards torn down so that the emphasis could be placed
The team captains — inside linebacker Jason Thoren, outside linebacker Ron Warner, safety Tony Blevins, quarterback Matt Johner and running back Eric Vann — are all seniors.
back on the players.
"I'm receiving a lot of the attention up front, but that will have to change in the future," Allen said. "This team is not Terry Allen's. This team belongs to the University, and the five team captains more than anyone should be on those billboards."
Although Allen said senior leadership was scarce on such an inexperienced team, that would change in the coming years.
"We're young, but we're bound to become smarter and wiser," Allen said. "You need seniors to build a solid foundation to build a program on, and we will not have a shortage of seniors as we continue to build this program."
Vann said that Allen's concern with the players away from the football field was the biggest contrast from former coach Glen Mason.
1
"I never thought about visiting Mason when he was here," Vann said. "I visited Coach Allen three times before spring practice even began. That never happened with Mason because we never dared to walk past his office."