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2B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY HARRY KANSAN
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2009
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"if you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and you friends are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were swimming."
Jack Handy
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas Athletics
Julia Kuzhil's 100 and 200 backstroke times of 53.06 and 1:58.05 last season are school bests.
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Kuzhil was also a part of setting two other school records in 2008-09. What were they?
A: 200 medley relay (1:38.45)
and 400 medley relay (3:38.45)
—Kansas Athletics
FOOTBALL Tight end may miss game because of illness
Sophomore tight end Tim Biere has been sick, coach Mark Mangino said yesterday after practice. Mangino didn't say what, exactly, Biere is ailing from.
"Tim will be OK. He's been sick," Mangino said."I don't know exactly if we're going to be able to use him this week or not but he'll be ready for sure for the Southern Miss game."
Mangino says Briscoe is doing well at practice
Mangino said that junior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe hasn't had any problems so far this season.
Briscoe was suspended for all of spring practices — and for Kansas' season opener — because of academic issues.
"Dezmon has been good. He works at it," Mangino said. "Dezmon, he loves football and he loves to practice and play. That's never been an issue for him ever."
Jayson Jenks
ABE&JAKE'S
--open-field tackles," McDaniels said. "And his energy and leadership on the sideline is as good as any player I've ever seen."
THURSDAY
$1
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COVER
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PARTY
MORNING BREW
UFC fights; possible new bowl
Ready to rise bright and early the next two Saturday to watch Kansas round out its nonconference football schedule?
The 11 a.m. kickoff may be harsh for some, but we can parlay this into an opportunity to catch even more afternoon and evening events.
One incentive to remain clear headed and conscious through the day's later hours is catching one of the first head-to-head battles between boxing and mixed martial arts.
Now, I much prefer MMA to boxing but in the same way I prefer football to baseball. I happen to prefer one sport over the other yet also believe that the two can coexist in the same sporting spectrum.
That's not to say we won't be witness to plenty of bouts of competition amongst the two fight sports. On Saturday, one of the year's most anticipated boxing pay-per-views will go head-to-head with UFC 103.
One of boxing's finest,
Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0),
returns from retirement after
21 months to fight Juan Manuel
Marquez (37-4-1) in Las Vegas.
Mayweather retired in December
2007 after knocking out Ricky
Hatton seven months after setting a boxing record for pay-per view buys for his fight against Oscar De La Hoya.
Here's hoping Pretty Boy Floyd still has it in him and that sometime next year we can watch another superfight between him and Manny Pacquiao — who has since elicited claims that he's now the top pound-for-pound boxer.
Dallas gets its first taste of the UFC — still waiting out here, Dana White — when Rich Franklin (25-4) and Vitor Belfort (18-8) headline UFC 103 in a catchweight (they will fight at 195 pounds) bout. I can't say there is anything about this card that makes me want to fork over $44 and exorbitant Sunflower Broadband taxes. That said, if you can find a place to watch it you may be pleasantly surprised
Franklin headlined a decent UFC 99 in which he defeated
Wanderlei Silva in one of the better fights all year. He and Belfort, who debuted at UFC 12, should put on a good show. Also on the card is the second installment of heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop's return with the UFC as he fights the 25-year-old Junior dos Santos (8-1). Cro Cop (25-6) can put himself in position to headline another card with a victory, dos Santos could greatly expedite his climb up the heavyweight ladder.
DAMN YANKEES
With the football team taking a hit next year due to graduation,' it is far from unfathomable to imagine a 6-6 or 7-5 2010 season. In that case, the Jayhawks could find themselves bowling ... in Yankee Stadium.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Yankee Bowl, to be played in Yankee Stadium, is in the works and could well be reality. The Big 12 and Big East conferences confirmed in concert with the New York Yankees that, though nothing has been completed, it is possible that the bowl could occur in 2010 and pit the seventh-place Big 12 team against a third- or fourth-place team from the Big East.
WHAT'S YOUR FANTASY?
Hope it's not watching an upcoming fantasy football drama on FX or next month's off-Broadway production of "Pantasy Football: The Musical." Because if it is, you should be ashamed of yourself.
FF!
I'll be assuming the live-tweeting duties for football writer Hallie Mann Saturday, so hit up @smontemayor and let's get a discussion going while Kansas hosts Duke.
Follow Kansan sports editor Stephen Montemayor at twitter.com/ smontemayor.
Edited by Alicia Banister
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
No event scheduled
FRIDAY
Swimming:
Alumni Meet, 4
p.m., Lawrence
Soccer:
San Diego, 5 p.m.
Lawrence
SATURDAY
Football:
Duke, 11 a.m.
Lawrence
OBITUARY NCAA president dies of cancer at the age of 67
INDIANAPOLIS — NCAA president Myles Brand, who while leading Indiana University fired basketball coach Bob Knight, died Wednesday afternoon from pancreatic cancer. He was 67.
Brand broke the news that he had cancer in January at the NCAA convention and continued to run the organization's day-to-day operations, despite undergoing treatment. The NCAA announced his death.
Associated Press
FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL Sophomore adjusts to new position; college life
Sophomore Steven Foster arrived at Kansas as the fourth best fullback prospect according to ESPN.com. With Kansas' offense rarely using a fullback, though, coach Mark Mangino decided Foster would be better suited at defensive end.
But first, Mangino said, Foster had to make some changes.
"We told him in the winter time that he had to change his ways and his work habits," Mangino said. "To credit, he responded very positively.
"Some kids it takes a little longer to adapt to college life. He was a kid who was used to being a big star in high school and now everybody was a big star in high school. You have to earn your way and sometimes kids get frustrated, lose their patience and kind of get down about it. I think he did to some degree."
Mangino didn't elaborate on specifics but did say that Foster has made the necessary adjustments this season. Through two games, Foster has recorded five tackles while playing primarily on third down.
"He's not a huge guy," Mangino said, "but he's strong and he's quick."
Offensive lineman has more 'tenacity' this year
Sophomore offensive lineman Jeff Spikes looks up and smiles when asked about last season. In his first year as a starter, Kansas struggled to run the ball early in the season. He said he wasn't as comfortable with Kansas' offense.
Mangino, too, has noticed a change in Spikes' play in his second season as a starter.
"I think he plays with more tenacity and is a smarter player," Mangino said. "No question. He's more than dependable."
Jayson Jenks
NFL
Broncos safety energetic and positive on field at 36
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When Josh McDaniels became head coach of the Denver Broncos at age 32, his top target in free agency was safety Brian Dawkins, who turns 36 next month.
"He doesn't look like it." McDaniels said. "When you watch him on tape, when you watch him on the field, he's playing as fast or faster than everybody else."
Dawkins, who left Philadelphia after 13 years when McDaniels offered him what essentially is a $9 million contract over two years, led the Broncos with 11 tackles and a ton of pep talks in their season-opening win at Cincinnati.
"The way that guy runs around the field, he saved a bunch of yards.
McDaniels said that even with headphones on, he could hear Dawkins' con-
hearing him behind me, and it's all positive, it's all the right things and
stant chatter on the sideline.
"His energy and leadership on the sideline is as good as any player I've ever seen."
"When I'm calling plays on offense, there's not one time that I don't hear him behind me, talking to the defense, talking to the punt team. It doesn't matter who it is, I can hear him," McDaniels said. "I'm
JOSH MCDANIELS Broncos coach
it's not phony. It's real leadership."
There is "tremendous value in the things he says, and he's such a smart football player that as the game goes along he makes the proper adjustments in the blink of an eye," McDaniels said.
It's the same thing he did for years in Philadelphia, where Dawkins energized the entire stadium with plays that led the Eagles to five NFC championships and one Super Bowl and earned him trips to seven Pro Bowls.
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