sports
KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | MONDAY, FEB.13, 2017
Josh Jackson's heroics save the day for Kansas
BRIAN MINI
@brianminimum
n a back and forth game, with senior guard Frank Mason III on the bench for the final shot, freshman guard Josh Jackson took the reins for No. 3 Kansas against Texas Tech.
With five seconds left in a tied game, Jackson took advantage of senior center Landen Lucas' pick and was
Mason fouled out with 3:05 in the game after only playing 26 minutes. He ended the game with just 12 points, five rebounds and no assists.
"We got 26 minutes from him before he fouled out," Self said. "He wasn't himself and that was pretty obvious."
the floor.
The other player who struggled with fouls was Lucas with four, although Lucas did contribute 13 points
Kansas was outrebounded 38-32, but the Jayhawks were able to keep it close because of their 40 percent three-point shooting.
"We couldn't guard them and they couldn't guard us," Self said.
Kansas shot 49 percent for the game, while Texas Tech shot 48 percent.
One reason Kansas was able to keep the game close
SCHOOL OF LOVE
KANSAN.COM
Experts and students weigh in on the friend zone
► DARBY VANHOUTAN
@darbyvanhoutan
"Man's Best Friend-Zone"
Illustration by Roxy Townsend
As couples take to local restaurants to celebrate their relationships this Valentine's Day, some people may spend the holiday in the place no one wants to be: the friend zone.
Maheen Bangash, a junior from Overland Park, says she's "friend-zoned" her fair share of guys when the lines between friendship and relationship get crossed.
"It is extremely important to set boundaries with someone who might be making you uncomfortable," Bangash said. "There's always a kind way to do it. I'm a friendly person and sometimes it can come off the wrong way to guys."
This friend zone can be most easily described as the area an individual finds themselves in emotionally when romantic or sexual feelings are not reciprocated.
Communication studies professor Jeffrey Hall agrees on this definition, but also notes the different ways it can be viewed.
"I think maybe the more harsh interpretation is that the guy expects because a woman is friendly to him he expects to have access to her sexually," Hall said.
Hall delves deeper into the misconceptions of the friend zone in his book "The Five Flirting Styles," which has an entire chapter dedicated to the friend zone.
"It is absolutely possible to have a romance- and sex-free platonic friendship, but other people might not see it that way. It used to be so uncommon that women and men were 'just friends' that nobody believed it when they saw it," Hall says in his book.
Although many students have only been around for the rise in popularity of the "friend zone" idea, Hall explains in his book
"The friend zone has been around forever," Hall said in a phone interview. "The friend zone comment was a famous comment in the ." "Friends" television show where Joey chides Ross about not making his move quickly enough, and getting friend-zoned."
Jadrian Salmans, a
junior from Garden City, said he thinks there is a reason why men, in particular, become caught in the friend zone.
that it may have begun on an episode of the comedy show "Friends," between characters Ross and Rachel.
"More often men (are victims of friend zone) because I think men seek serial relations more often. Although that feels like a sexist thought," he said.
However, according to Haley Vellinga, a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of
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It is absolutely possible to have a romance- and sex-free platonic friendship, but other people might not see it that way."
Communication studies, it may be the opposite.
Jeffrey Hall Communication studies professor
"I feel like it's more matriarchal," Vellinga said. "I feel like it's women kind of asserting 'hey, this is what I want, or by my actions you should be able to figure out that I don't want that."
Hall said he has heard from many women about why they feel the way they do about the friend zone.
"What I've heard women say to me in these conversations is women feel frustrated when they find that their male friends or men that they're friendly with become really attracted to them and then hope that the woman feels the same way," Hall said. "They feel frustrated about that because they feel like the guy was not being genuine in his friendliness."
Regardless of origin or which sex the phenomenon favors, it may be where some people find themselves around Valentine's Day. However, this may not be a bad thing, Vellinga said.
"Minus that many people say it's really negative, I think it does have a benefit," Vellinga said. "If you are at a place in your life where, yes you may really care for the person and you may be romantically interested, but hopefully they're honest and say 'hey I think you're a great friend' ... I think if you can handle it there's a lot to be gained from those interpersonal relationships."
- Edited by Casey Brown
the action, too.
Few things were similar to Kansas' other games. Senior guard Frank Mason III actually played significantly fewer minutes than normal, as he fouled out after playing 26 minutes. However, if you had watched a single second of the game, you'd know that the day offered no rest for Mason. Mason recovered an initially slow performance by ending up with 12 points and five rebounds.
Despite the flipped script, Kansas heads back to Lawrence to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers with an 80-79 win in hand. For once, Mason wasn't out of this world. Jackson compensated — because some-
with 31 and sinking the game-winning free throw.
Kansas still allowed the opponent's big man a career day. Texas Tech's Zach Smith finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Kansas had a tough day on the boards, losing the rebound battle to Texas Tech.
Kansas' bench still lagged behind the production of the starters, though it ultimately didn't affect which team won. Sophomore forward Carlton Bragg Jr. replaced senior center Landen Lucas for 12 minutes and recorded two points and two rebounds. Freshman forward Mitch Lightfoot's audition as backup big was successful, but it looks to be over now that Bragg is back
Jayhawks: simply keeping pace. Kansas shot an outstanding 49 percent from the field on the day and shot 40 percent from three.
At least Kansas fans know exactly what to expect from this Jayhawks team. Whether the Big 12 title will be a race to the finish or a foregone conclusion will be determined in Kansas' next two games, but this Kansas team continues to figure out how to win against tough Big 12 opposition.
The Jayhawks survived the trap game, and that's more than a lot of the leading teams in the nation this season can say for themselves.
From Pop Warner leagues through college football, it makes sense why there are cheerleaders. For younger kids, it's an after-school activity, and like any other extracurricular it's just a way to stay busy once classes end.
In college, where school spirit is a major part of the aura of the game, cheerleaders serve an important purpose by executing their namesake duty. But when it comes to the NFL,where the pomp and circumstance is almost nonexistent compared to the college game, there's no good reason to have cheerleaders in this day and age.
Let's not be naive, the obvious reason most of these teams maintain cheerleading
New Orleans Saints for their Saintsations cheerleading team, while the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have their own TV show on CMT.
Considering the needlessness of actual cheerleading in the NFL, along with the blatant and equally unneces-
Ignoring the financial implications for the NFL (because frankly the league isn't going to suffer if its franchises no longer operate cheerleading teams), there's no legitimate reason why you need to supply sex appeal on the sidelines every Sunday in the fall. No fans are going to games just to see cheerleaders, and if there are, they may need to reevaluate some priorities and discover the internet.
for years. It doesn't make sense to perpetually underpay cheerleaders and have nasty lawsuits pop up frequently when the problem could be solved by accepting the minuscule financial implications and clear PR benefits of ending cheerleading league-wide.
The NFL has enough headaches to deal with, the last thing it needs is another lawsuit from disgruntled employees. Once this lawsuit is resolved, it's in the league's best interest to stop employing cheerleaders. The NFL doesn't even need to worry about the fans in this case (not that it often does); we probably won't even notice the cheerleaders are gone, let alone actively miss them.
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