SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY OCTOBER 8, 2009
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I went through baseball as 'a player to be named later."
Joe Garagiola
-Kansas Athletics
FACT OF THE DAY
Dezmon Briscoe (2,234) needs 33 receiving yards to become the Kansas career receiving record holder.
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who currently owns the record for career receiving yards?
-Kansas Athletics
A: Willie Vaughn, who played from 1985 to '88, with 2,266 yards.
MANHATTAN — Through all those years of watching someone else get the glory, Grant Gregory never lost confidence, keeping the belief he was good enough to play quarterback at a BCS school.
BIG 12 FOOTBALL Senior Gregory excited for chance to compete
Problem was, he was running out of time.
Just two weeks ago, Gregory was still the backup at Kansas State, trying to keep a positive attitude. The clock was winding down on his career and he knew it.
Finally, it came.
A surprise starter against Iowa State on Saturday, Gregory threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-23 win at Arrowhead Stadium, earning Big 12 offensive player of the week honor.
MORNING BREW
Game renews baseball interest
I have never been confused with — and perhaps never will be — a baseball purist.
Sure, baseball and I have flirted a few times. A friendly smile here, a wink there. In the batting cages, however, I could never produce the long ball and so our love was ultimately fleeting.
Don't mistake this as an affront to the sport by any stretch. Camden Yards in Baltimore, and the colossal crab cake sandwiches outside,* provide an experience not soon forgotten.
*By the way, you can bring these in with you. Maryland, Crab. Cakes.
Kansas City's own Negro League Baseball Museum is one of my favorite places on earth. Likewise, Joe Posnanski's "The Soul of Baseball," in which he spends time touring the nation with Buck O'Neil as the local legend neared the end of his life, is the written word at its finest.
But after 2003, the last time I attended a Royals game with the
But it just wasn't the same. I would get excited in the spring, again around the All-Star break and the playoffs but that was about it — and even that lessened in the last two years.
thought of them returning to the playoffs, I began to fall out of "like" with the sport. Having a second home in Minnesota helped, despite the confusion of having my two teams in the same division.
After a tremendous start by the Royals and (presumptive/ deserving) Cy Young winner Zack Greinke grew depressing, I began to care much more about other things.
I'd catch a Greinke start here
and there, track the Twins in the standings but soon after go days, weeks (!) without knowing who was slotted where in the standings.
Tuesday evening saw one of the wildest, richest, pulse-pounding, off-the-wall games available for consumption in ages.
Until last week.
Behind again in the bottom of the 10th, the Twins scored to stay in it and when Nick Punto lined out to left, Alex Casilla sprinted to home and...was out.
I fell back in "like" with the sport Tuesday evening when the Twins and (presumptive/deserving) American League MVP Joe Mauer powered back to answer an early 3-0 deficit to the Detroit Tigers, fell behind again and found themselves tied after nine innings. Tied. Again.
But soon after, one lone sports fan sat in a quiet Lawrence laundromat as a tiny old television
At the end of the 163rd game of
the season, it still wasn't decided.
set displayed a Metrodome whose years were numbered erupt violently one more time when the winning run came home.
For one fan on the brink, there was a lot to like about baseball that night. And a lot more to love.
Edited by Tim Burgess
Follow Kansan sports editor $ ^{1}$
Stephen Montemayor at twitter.com/smontemayor.
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
Nebraska defense gears up for Missouri game
BY ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo. — No one in the country has scored less than whoever is playing Nebraska in a given week.
No one has cared less, it seems, than Cornhuskers coach Bo Pelini.
That's probably because No. 21 Nebraska (3-1) has shut down three Sun Belt teams and Virginia Tech's inconsistent attack, holding
them all to a total of 28 points through four games.
"I'm not satisfied with where we are as a defense," Pelini said. "We have a long way to go yet."
Blaine Gabbert and No. 24 Missouri seem likely to fare better against the nation's top scoring defense when the Tigers host their first Thursday night game in 17 years.
The Tigers quarterback has thrown for 1,161 yards and 11 TDs — without an interception — this
year, also against a soft schedule, though Missouri did play a Big Ten team, beating Illinois 37-9 in the opener.
The Big 12 opener for both teams will provide each a measuring stick for the rest of the season.
for whom the tables have turned a bit.
The Huskers won 24 straight in the series before Missouri broke that streak with a 41-24 home win in 2003, the first of three straight in Columbia. The Tigers won in Lincoln last year, and are aiming for their first three-game streak over Nebraska since the late 1960s.
Gabbert, a sophomore who backed up Chase Daniel last year, leads the Big 12 in passing efficiency.
He'll be trying to lead Missouri (4-0) to its fourth straight 5-0 start against a bitter rival — though one
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY No events scheduled
FRIDAY
Soccer vs. Texas Tech, 4 p.m.
Swimming Intrasquad, 4 p.m.
SATURDAY
Softball
vs. Johnson
County CC,
2 p.m.
vs. Butler County
CC, 4 p.m.
Rowing
Sunflower
Showdown,
Manhattan
Time:TBA
Volleyball vs. Iowa State,
6:30 p.m.
Football vs. Iowa State,
11:30 a.m.
SUNDAY
Softball
vs. Johnson
County CC,
11 a.m.
vs. Cowley
County CC,
1 p.m.
Soccer vs. Colorado, 1 p.m.