MONDAY AUGUST 16.2004
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 5
5B
ers
the said,
ers.
Elin-
ning
the
other,
our-
the
belies
get Mart- catch-
In August heat, cool heads prevail on practice field
BY RYAN CULAIANNI
rcolaiani@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWINTER
It is more than 100 degrees outside and it feels even hotter with football pads on. After a long sprint, a player is immediately given a water bottle from one of his teammates.
Seconds later, he is back to sprinting. This is the daily ritual for the Kansas football team and this heat can cause deadly problems.
Since 1995,21 football players in the United States have died of heat stroke.
Last month, a senior at Carter High School in Dallas died after the first practice of the year, potentially because of heat stroke.
Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman Korey Stringer also died in training camp in 2001 from heat stroke.
Weeks before Stringer's death, a University of Florida freshman, Eraste Autin, also died from similar complications.
This issue gets more attention throughout the country as coaches, administrators and training staffs from the pee-wee to professional level attempt to thwart this problem.
While the unbearable August heat has yet to arrive, the Kansas football training staff and players have implemented many procedures to combat the heat when it comes.
"We know the heat is going to come sooner or later, and we are ready for it," junior linebacker Banks Floodman said. "Our conditioning we have been doing all summer is going to pay off."
At Kansas, the training staff has many strategies to make sure that none of the football players have a serious problem
Practices are held either early in the morning or after 5 p.m. to minimize the time the players are exposed to the hottest parts of the day.
because of heat.
According to the National Center for Environmental Health, symptoms of heat stroke are extremely high body temperature above 103 degrees, red, hot and dry skin while not sweating, rapid pulse, throbbing headache, dizziness, nausea and unconsciousness.
"You see a little confusion, you see a little lethargy, harder time recovering between reps," head football trainer Carol Jarosky said.
The training staff also conducts a medical inspection before training camp even begins.
"The ones that are not in great cardiovascular condition are going to have a harder time recovering, and more problems in the
Through the medical examinations, Jarosky has a good idea of whom the training staff needs to pay more attention to during hotter days.
heat." Jarosky said.
Jarosky said the most effective way to combat heat stroke is to keep the athletes hydrated. That is why each football player is issued a water bottle that is required to be with them at all times.
"Everytime they are up, moving around, in meetings, going to the training table, whatever, they are to have that water bottle with them." Jarosky said.
The training staff also weighs each player before and after each practice to see how much weight they lose.
For each pound of water a player loses at practice, they are required to drink 24 ounces of fluids.
Jarosky also works closely with Lawrence Emergency Med-
"We know the heat is going
to come sooner or later, and we are ready for it. Our conditioning we have been doing all summer is going to pay off."
Banks Floodman Junior linebacker
ical Service, so that if a problem were to occur, an ambulance would be on the field within three minutes.
"If something serious does go wrong we can take care of it as quickly and efficiently as possible,"jarosky said.
— Edited by Ryan Greene
Photo Illustration hv Kit Leffler/KANSAN
Hot weather conditions can cause major problems for football players through the late summer months. For each pound of water a KU player loses during practive, they must drink 24 ounces of fluids. Each player is issued a water bottle to ensure that happens.
Big 12 schools need to spend in order to earn wins
BY JONATHAN KEALING
jkealing@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWINTER
It seems the most successful sport programs in the Big 12 share at least one thing in common. The biggest spenders are often the biggest winners. Football, especially, appears to be ruled by the biggest budget.
In the last season for which information could be gathered from all schools, 2002-03, the Big 12 had a combined budget of $316 million, according to a presentation made by the Iowa State Athletics Department.
That year's top six football programs controlled $202 million of the Big 12's combined $316 million budget.
In other words, 50 percent of the teams controlled 64 percent of the budget.
"We have to look for
Take out Texas Tech,which has not traditionally succeeded,and Nebraska,a historically successful program,and the numbers are
ways to raise revenue and create an even playing field. That kind of disparity is hard to overcome."
Jim Marchiony Associate athletics director
even more dramatic.
The six remaining school's $221 million combined expenditures are 70 percent of the combined budget.
Of the schools that responded to Kansan budget requests, all showed large increases in their sports spending.
Nebraska, for example,
increased its spending from $44.9
million to $53.6 million in just
two years.
Kansas, on the other hand, increased its spending by less than $2 million.
The Jayhawk budget went from $25.7 million to $27.2 million.
However, these changes are not quite as stark as those that show how much budgets have ballooned since the Big 12 was formed.
According to a story written in The Daily Collegian in 1996, Nebraska's budget was a paltry $24 million, less than half of its current outlays.
Kansas' budget was $15 million and Kansas State spent just $11 million.
Eight years later, Kansas State's budget has grown in excess of $30 million, an almost 300 percent increase.
Of course, the only numbers that truly matter in sports are those that appear on a score board at competitions. When considering the win-loss information, the schools that are winning are the schools that are spending.
According to the Kansas City Star's all-sports rankings, the overall winners last year were Texas and Texas A&M. Combined, their 02-03 budgets were $82.6 million.
Those two Big 12 teams spend more than one-fourth the conference's money.
The last three regular season football champions, Oklahoma. Colorado and Texas all have budgets in the upper third of the conference; Oklahoma and Texas are both in the top three.
"We have to look for ways to raise revenue and create an even playing field," said Jim Marchiony, Kansas' associate athletics director. "That kind of disparity is hard to overcome."
The paradox of the entire situation, however, is the more that is spent, the more that is earned and then spent again.
At Kansas, and only Kansas, football actually generates less revenue than men's basketball.
It is this reality which contributed to the creation of the priority points system, which is being implemented for the current basketball season.
By generating additional dollars from basketball, Kansas can boost overall spending for each of its other sports.
Kansas' budget jumped more than $5 million from 2002-2003 to 2004-05.
That jump is bigger than the combined increases from 1999 2004
While the numbers are real, schools with less cash often manage to do great things, too.
Baylor, the Big 12's most thrifty program, manages to perform well in many sports.
In addition to spending the least, it must pay the largest portion of its budget to tuition, as it is a private school, said Nick Joos, Baylor's associate athletics director for media relations and broadcast properties.
Two years ago, Kansas' projected $34 million budget would have landed the school a distant fourth in the Big 12. Today, that spending may not be enough to break the top half.
A report in the Lawrence Journal-World speculated that Lew Perkins, Kansas athletics director, would like to see a $40 million lhavawk budget.
Even today, though, that would be less than two-thirds of Texas' spending.
Accounting practices differ from school to school as does the way financial data is measured, sometimes skewing direct comparisons between schools, but the central idea remains constant.
Across the Big 12, athletics spending is on the rise, as schools throw down bigger bucks for bigger success.
- Edited by Marissa Stephenson
subsonic scooters
gas & electric scooters & mopeds sales • service • parts • restoration Electrics from $199 Full Size Scooters and Mopeds from $995 19 W. 9th, Lawrence, KS • 785-749-0200 www.subsonicscooters.com
Approved for Excellence
www.subsonicscooters.com
Go with someone you can trust.
- MACHINE SHOP
·A/C SERVICE
·COMPUTER DIAGNOSTICS
·FRONT END ALIGNMENT
·ELLECTRICAL SYSTMES
·BRAKES
·SUSPENSION
·STEERING
DON'S AUTO CENTER, INC.
920 E. 11TH (11TH & HASKELL) • 841-4833
8-5:30 • FOR ALL YOUR REPAIR NEEDS
EVERYTHING BUT ICE
BEDS • DESKS
CHEST OF DRAWERS
BOOK CASES