NFL REPORT
A few months ago, Atlanta Falcons coach JUNE JONES signed a two-year contract extension through 1998. Now, with the Falcons off to their worst start in more than a decade and in the midst of the Jeff George debacle, there are questions about whether
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
Jones will make it to the end of
brushed off the issue.
"That's not in my hands," he said. "All you can do is win as many games as you can, work as hard as you can work, and let the chips fall where they will."
KANSAS MEN'S BASKETBALL UPDATE
TRYOUTS FOR THE MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM are tomorrow night in Allen Field House. Registration for tryouts, which are open to all Kansas undergraduate students, is at 7 p.m. in
the north end of the field house. Candidates should bring proof of medical insurance and be dressed for a full workout. A second practice will be held Thursday morning at 6 a.m.
FOOTBALL UPDATE
TWELVE COLORADO FOOTBALL PLAYERS were suspended for up to two games for misusing university access codes for long-distance calls. CU coach Rick Neuhieß announced the suspensions on Saturday. When suspicions surfaced in August, the university investigated before reporting a dozen violations of the NCAA's extra benefits rule. Interim athletic director
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1996
Dick Tharp said the
players repaying the bills should keep the school in good standing with the NCAA.
Cornhusker fans humming a name-less victory tune
Few people know the lyrics to the new song, composed by Mannheim Steamroller's Chip Davis, an Omaha resident, because the lyrics weren't completed until a few weeks ago.
LINCOLN, Neb. — It won't replace Hail Varsity any time soon, but Nebraska football fans hummed a new tune at Saturday's homecoming game against Baylor.
There isn't a title yet either, but heck, it's about Nebraska and that's enough for most fans — but not all.
Jack Snider, a former Nebraska band director, said the song sounded more religious than rahrah.
"It's bad," he said. "It sounds like you're in church. Anybody can make up a tune like that."
Students were less critical.
students were less critical. "The lyrics are fabulous," said Hweejoo Kam, Malaysia sophomore.
Mannheim Steamroller, a new-age music group, performed the song Saturday, and Chancellor James Moeser sang, not hummed.
Jeremy Roenick agrees to contract with Coyotes
PHOENIX — Jeremy Roenick signed a five-year, $20 million contract with the Phoenix Coyotes on Sunday.
Richard Dewinki / KANSAN
The agreement ended a 58-day holdout. It didn't come until the Coyotes lost center Cliff Ronning indefinitely after Ronning broke his hand Thursday night.
Phoenix, off to a 3-1 start with three consecutive victories, obtained Roenick Aug. 16 in a trade with Chicago for center Alexei Zhamnov, right wing Craig Mills and a first-round draft pick.
Bobby Smith, the Coyotes' vice president of hockey operations, boarded a flight for Boston on Friday, met all day Saturday with Roenick's agent, Neil Abbott. The contract was signed late Sunday.
Roenick, who scored 267 goals in 524 games for the Blackhawks, made $1.4 million last season in the final year of his five-year contract.
Abbott said the contract contains unusual incentives above the $4 million annual base salary. He called them high-achievement incentives.
Roenick was a Group II free agent, meaning the Coyotes could match any offer and retain his rights, and the Coyotes repeatedly said they would do just that.
Negotiations had been at a standstill since the trade, with Phoenix offering Roenick an average salary of $3.6 million during five years and Roenick seeking a multiyear deal averaging about $4.5 million.
Istanbul opens bidding to build Olympic stadium
Istanbul, one of 11 cities bidding for the games, said it plans to build the stadium regardless if it is awarded the Olympics.
ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkey opened bids yesterday for construction of an 80,000-seat Olympic stadium, a key selling point in its hopes to host the 2004 Summer Games.
"We will chose four or five firms by December and make our decision by March for the final company," bid committee chief Yalin Cakin asoy said.
"We can afford some $150 million but, of course, the amount will be decided upon the shape of the stadium." Aksoy said.
The committee receives about $15 million a year from the Turkish government and other sources under terms off a special law passed in 1994 to support Istanbul's bid. The law guarantees 80 percent of capital expenditures necessary to finance the games.
He said the exact cost of the stadium project was not yet known.
The Associated Press
Vaughn cast in role
By Evan Blackwell Kansan sportswriter
Kansas senior point guard Jacque Vaughn appeared at the annual Media Day. The event was held yesterday in the Naismith Room of the Parrot Athletic Center to kick off the men's basketball season, which officially starts tonight. Late Night will be on Friday.
When practice officially starts tonight for the Kansas men's basketball team, injured senior point guard Jacque Vaughn will be there.
He is unable to play because of torn ligaments in his right wrist, but the Jahawks' floor leader still will be front and center with the opening of the new season.
"Honestly, it's going to be tough, but I'm going to be there," Vaughn said as he spoke of the injury for the first time publicly at the team's annual media day yesterday. "The easiest thing, I think, would be not to be there, but that would be selfish."
Vaughn said he hoped his presence at practice would be beneficial to the Javahaws.
"I've always said I was a student of the game, and I guess I get a chance to prove that by being more analytical on the bench and paying attention to certain things I wouldn't see on the floor." Vaughn said.
"They're at the point where they're going to release him to do weight work on the rest of his body, except his right shoulder on down," Williams said. "He hasn't done any running as of yet, and I think we'll get him going there but at a gradual pace."
Kansas men's basketball coach Roy Williams said he expected Vaughn would be at practice every day, even while the cast remains on.
That time frame means that Vaughn won't start rehabilitation on the wrist until about the middle of November. Williams said he still expected Vaughn would be able to take on a more active role in practice before then.
"I'm hopeful that before he gets the cast off, he'll be able to start taking part in some defensive drills as long as the ball's not involved," Williams said. "But I think that would just be a little hopefulness on my part."
After Vaughn's highly-publicized decision to return to Kansas and not enter the NBA draft, he said he still had no regrets.
Although Vaughn's injury and subsequent absence were the talk of Kansas media day, the Javahaws are optimistic about the season.
"Jacque was our leader, he is our leader. We'll just have to do without him for the first part of the season," said Kansas junior forward Raef LaFrentz. "It's not like he died. He's going to come back to us, and when he comes back we'll be that much stronger."
Vaughn is also optimistic.
"This could be a blessing in disguise," he said. "This is definitely a challenge to the ball club, but I think they're ready to accept the challenge."
The biggest challenge will fall on the two Jayhawks who will man the point guard position until Vaughn returns, junior C.B. McGrath and sophomore Ryan Robertson.
"For both C.B. and Ryan, it's going to be tough," Vaughn said. "I told them the first thing is being confident in their abilities. In order for the other guys to have confidence in them, they have to have their own confidence."
Williams said the Jayhawks enter the new season virtually injury-free except for freshman guard Nicky Bradford, who may have broken
his nose again in a pickup game on Saturday. Bradford broke his nose earlier this summer while playing in the Sunflower State Games. Bradford may be wearing a protective mask when the Jayhawks take the floor for Late Night with Roy Williams on Friday night.
"You may see him Friday night with a masked marvel look," Williams said.
Jayhawk defense improving
Chris Hamilton / KANSAN The Jayhawks defense could not stop Heisman hopeful Byron Hanspard at Saturday's game. Hanspard gained 190 yards on 37 carries, making him the nations' second-leading rusher.
By Dan Gelston Kansan sportswriter
Chris Hamilton / KANSAN
Let's get this right.
"Saturday we came out and did a good job against Hanspard," Kansas senior defensive tackle Kevin Kopp said. "We felt as a defense we had to come together and play a complete game and go out and shut down their running game."
The Jayhawks lost, their defense allowed 30 points and they let Texas Tech running back Byron Hanspard rush for 190 yards in the Red Raiders 30-17 victory against Kansas on Saturday. However, players and coaches said the defense had a good game?
iowa State's running back Troy Davis and the rest of the Big 12 Conference's running backs may be salivating at the fact that 261 yards rushing by the Red Raiders is considered a shutdown by Kopp.
Actually, 381 total yards is an improvement from the previous two weeks when the defense surrendered 1,117 yards. The Jayhawks scrambled up their defense because of a shoulder injury to
strong safety Maurice Gaddie. He was replaced by freshman Michael Allen. Junior safety Tony Blevins moved from cornerback to free safety, and sophomore Jamie Harris started in Blevins' spot.
Mason said that Gaddie would be ready for Saturday's game against No. 9 Colorado.
Kansas coach Glen Mason said that although there still were problems with the defense, there had been improvement.
in school history.
The defense did not allow the big plays that had plagued them against Utah and Oklahoma. Texas Tech's longest play for a score was a 14-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.
"We played better defensively than the score indicated," he said.
The defense will be tested when the Jayhawks play the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday. Quarterback Koy Detmer leads the conference in passing efficiency and total offense. Colorado is second in the conference in total offense.
Kansas senior linebacker Ronnie Ward had a career-high 21 tackles, the ninth highest single-game total
"What we have to do is play like we did last year. We have to stick to our game plan and play hard every down," Kopp said.
Last season the Jayhawks went to Boulder and stunned Colorado 40-24 on the way to a 10-2 record and their first ever top-10 finish.
"I think we've gotten to the point with this program where if we play well, we've got a chance to beat anybody," Mason said.
Big 12 mix falls short of promised competition
The football competition was to be
How about that superconference? If you didn't know, that was supposed to be another way to refer to the Big 12 Conference this year. It hasn't been used much, however.
the merger. The Big Eight Conference had four bowl teams last year. Two of the Southwestern Conference teams (Texas and Texas A&M) also went to bowls. Splitting the conference into two divisions was supposed to foster a thrilling championship
game matchup that would decide which was the best team in the best conference in the nation.
There will still be a championship game played on Dec. 7 in St. Louis. But it won't decide the best team in the Big 12. Why? Because the best teams are in the same division — the North.
So much for that idea.
This isn't a huge surprise. As Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes said yesterday in the Big 12 coaches' teleconference, "Whatever division you put Nebraska in, that makes them the strength."
Too bad they're playing Colorado. Oh yeah — it's homecoming, too (a brilliant scheduling move). This is going to be a huge revenge game for the Buffaloes. They didn't just lose to the upstart Jayhawks last year. They were embarrassed 40-24 in Boulder. Did I mention that they were undefeated and ranked No. 4 at the time?
- Saturday's game is make or break for the Jayhawks. They need to bounce back after last weekend's immensely disappointing loss to Texas Tech, play well and get a win. With their 3-2 record and six games left on the schedule, Kansas still has a chance to make it to a bowl. But more importantly they need to come back strong after a tough loss.
The 'Hawks need to get it together and fast if they want to have any chance at pulling this one out.
It certainly does. A North division team leads every conference team offensive or defensive statistical category except total offense. The North has the only two teams, Colorado and Nebraska, that are undefeated in conference play. The only Big 12 teams ranked in either The Associated Press or the CNN/USA Today polls are Northern teams — Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas State.
So look out for the real conference championship game. It's scheduled for Nov. 29 when Colorado meets Nebraska in Lincoln. Sound familiar?
I've said it before, and I'll say it again — the Yankees are going to walk away with it all. (Disclaimer: As I'm writing this, the Cardinals have yet to play the fifth and hopefully deciding game of the NLCS. Should my beloved Cards make it to the Series, I will be rooting for them.)
Besides, the Big 12 could still show its superconference colors this year — basketball season is just around the corner.
The Yankees are playing their best ball of the season. Their offense has finally gotten it together and Andy Pettitte heads a rotation that rivals — and possibly bests — that of the vaunted Braves.
By the way, St. Louis' Rick Honeycutt's "tomahawk chop" comment gets my vote for sound bite of the year. Let me know what you think. Send any comments to me at cfoster@kansan.com
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