Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Sports
Top-seeded Pete Sampras withdraws from the U.S. Open, citing back pain.
College Football
SEE PAGE 3B
Former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz will make his debut as South Carolina coach this weekend against No.24 North Carolina State
SEE PAGE 6B
Wednesday
September 1, 1999
Section:
B
Page 1
College Football
The Ohio State Buckeyes attempt to rebound following their opening-weekend loss to the Miami Hurricanes.
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Football isn't fantasy for all sports fans
I had to go to the Kansas women's soccer game against Wyoming on Sunday, which they won, 4-1. It served as something of a mouthwash after the nasty taste the Kansas football game against Notre Dame left in my mouth. You know that really bad taste, like in the morning after a night when too much tequila was consumed? Yeah, that taste.
I'll warn you that I have an unusual dislike for random things. Like people who don't consider comic books literature. And the parking situation at the University, Wal-Mart — I can't stand.
Football falls belong in the list of stuff I don't like. They are just plain boring.
Some people live and die football. On Saturday and Sunday, they refuse to get from their couches, afraid to miss an offsides flag or an incomplete pass. But this sport is too low action. Before you consider me a communist columnist, check out this argument.
While watching the first quarter of Saturday's game, my roommate was flipping back and forth from the Jayhawks to the Penn State-versus-Arizona game. The score was something like 42-0 at switched channels, back and forth because there was so much dead air between plays.
Center snaps to quarterback.
Bunch of guys pile on each other, all of whom look exactly the same.
Couple of other guys run down the field, out of the picture.
Quarterback
Seth Jones
columnist
sports @ kansan.com
throws the ball. No one catches it.
Team takes two minutes preparing to do the whole 6-second play again.
Exciting? Exciting like watching a glass of milk curdle.
As an experiment, I took a stopwatch out while watching the second quarter of this week's Monday Night Football game. I timed how much action really was involved in this game.
In this 15-minute quarter, how much time would you imagine the ball was actually alive, with a play happening? By the time the quarter was finished, there were only 3 minutes and 15 seconds of real action.
The rest of the time included replays of plays where nothing happened and Al Michaels talking about Lawrence Phillips dragging his girlfriend down a flight of stairs. There also was an interview with San Francisco player Bryant Young, who shattered his leg a little less than a year ago. He talked about how excited he was to get back into football, even if he has a titanium plate in his leg. Boomer Esiason said "Football players are amazing people when you think about it," Did he really say amazing? I wonder if Taylor's ex-girlfriend would agree. That glass of milk might be getting lumpy about now.
I'll still go to Jayhawk football games. I'll still cheer for them to win. I still think my friend Michael Henry's HAWK Club idea, which is trying to get more students to attend football games, with better seats as well, is a fantastic idea. Now if we could just have a beer at the game, like the rich people in the "scholarship" boxes. Maybe it would make the time go by more quickly.
Jones is a Mulvane senior in journalism.
So, can I still be your sports columnist, even though I have the scarcet letter now? Well, let me tell you, it doesn't matter if I don't enjoy football. After all, there is always women's soccer and even a volleyball match tonight to keep me entertained. And maybe I'll stay caught up in my classes during football season, at least until basketball season arrives. And if worse comes to worse, I can see how long it takes for my milk to curdle.
Kansas defender Natalie Hoogveld makes a play for the ball against Colorado. Hoogveld has been moved to defender this season after playing most of her career as a forward or a midfielder. Photo by Eric Sahrmann/Kansan
New defender adapts well
Soccer midfielder switches positions
By Brad Hallier sports@kansan.com
Kansan associate sports editor
Imagine Kansas football coach Terry Allen asking running back David Winbush to play free safety rather than his traditional position.
While that scenario is unlikely to happen, sophomore Natalie Hoygveld has made an unlikely and unexpected move for the Kansas soccer team.
After spending her entire career as an forward or midfielder, Hoogveld has begun the 1999 season as a defender.
“It's the first time I've played defender, and I like it,” she said. “I was a little uncertain at first, and I had a lot of frustrating moments the last couple of weeks, but as long as I find and keep
my confidence and have the right mind set. I'll be OK."
Coach Mark Francis said that Hoogveld has all the tools to make a good defender.
"You need to look at the strengths of a player and where they are best," Francis said. "(Natalie) is fast, athletic and good in the air, and she has done well and will stay at defender."
Hoogveld spent most of her freshman campaign for the Jayhawks as an outside midfielder. Her athleticism shone with a goal against Central Missouri State, a goal in which she dribbled around five defenders and slammed a shot. She also became the second Jayhawk in history to tally two assists in one match in a 5-0 win against Western Illinois.
But when the Jayhawks played their eight-game spring schedule, the only true defender that could play was Kylie Watts. Francis said that Hoogveld was placed at defender out of necessity.
"She was the best to adapt back there," he said. "She did so well in the spring that I figured we'd just leave her back there."
The adjustment didn't get any easier this fall for Hoogveld. She spent her summer playing forward for her club team in Calgary, but Hoogveld said she thinks that she is adjusting fine.
"it's like playing forward, in that you use your speed a lot," she said. "But on offense you use speed to beat defenders and on defense you use it to shut down the forwards and beat them to the ball."
Francis said that it's not easy making the adjustment that Hoogveld has made, and it takes a lot of work to understand a new position.
"You need to put them in a practice environment and correct them each time they screw up," Francis said. "She has made mistakes, such as her positioning. But she has a better understanding of the position. She's way ahead of where she was in the spring."
Hoping to hop down a path of dominance
—Edited by Julia Nicholsor
Jayhawks winning streak will be tested against Roos
By Shawn Hutchinson sports @kansan.com
Kansan kansaswriter
The last time that Missouri-Kansas City beat Kansas in volleyball, most of the current Jayhawks were in preschool.
That was October 19, 1982. Jayhawks' senior middle blocker Ananda Reves was 5 years old, Fast Times at Ridgemont High was still in movie theaters and the Kansas City Royals were an American League powerhouse.
It's been a long time.
for the Kansas volleyball team, that streak will be one of the many interesting side notes heading into tonight's regular season opener at 7 p.m. against the Missouri-Kansas City Roos at the Horesei Family Athletics Center. The Jayhawks ride a seven-match win streak against the Roos, lead the all-time series 18-1 and are undefeated against them in Lawrence.
Regardless, there still remains a match to be played.
"If we can jump out early and establish a playing tempo then that will benefit us greatly," said Kansas coach Ray Bechard, whose team was 15-17 a year ago.
The Roos, 13-18 a year ago, have most of their players back this season as well. They return five starters, including 5-10 junior Julie Mohrfeld, who racked up 498 kills and 61 total blocks last season.
"You can view last year's game and we'll see some similar tendencies," said Bechard, who is 1-0 against Missouri-Kansas City. "I think right now, in a first-match situation, we've got to worry more about what's going
"We're looking forward to putting everything together. Everyone's supporting each other, going all out and starting off with a bang."
Kansas swept all three games when the two teams met last season. Much of that same team will return for the Jayhawks this season, including all six starters and 10 players overall.
Kristi Kiyabu
Defensive specialist
on on our side of the net."
The Jayhawks probably won't need to spend time worrying as long as a few of their star players perform up to expectations. Reves was an All-Big 12 Conference performer last season and is expected be the team's workhorse. Sophomore setter Molly LaMere had a strong game Saturday night in an exhibition win against Kansas alumnae, recording 44 sets and 11 digs. Juco transfer Danielle Geronymo also showed promise in Saturday's match, with 11 kills and two solo blocks.
The only question marks for the Jayhawks heading into the match are the knee injuries to starting senior middle blocker Anné Kreimer and freshman setter Amy Billings. Bechard said that Kreimer might be available for the game, but Billings was out for an undetermined amount of time.
Other than that, the Jayhawks think they're ready. Tonight will be the first regular season game played at the Horejsi Center, the team's new $3.8 million facility. The cozy 1,300 seating capacity, could mean a significant home-court advantage for the Jayhawks.
"We're all really excited about it," said senior defensive specialist Kristi Kiyabu. "We're looking forward to putting everything together. Everyone's supporting each other, going all out and starting off with a bang."
Edited by Matt James
Kansas outside hitter Mary Beth Albrecht soars to spike a ball on the opposing team, which was made up of former Kansas volleyball players during the alumnae game Sunday. The Jayhawks regular season play against the UMKC Roos at 7 tonight at the Horejsi Center. Photo by Chad Cummings/KANSAN
Football upset hits hard deep in heart of Texas
By Michael T. Rigg sports@kansan.com Kansan sportwriter
Team blames blunders on players' inexperience
They say everything is bigger in Texas. According to the Texas Longhorn football team, this includes the upsets. North Carolina State, who knocked Florida State from the ranks of the undefeated last season, waltzed into Austin, Texas, Saturday night and came away with a 23-20 victory against then-17th ranked Texas.
While North Carolina State finished 7-5 last season and played Miami in the Micron PC Bowl, this was not the same Wolfpack team as a year ago. North Carolina State lost star receiver Torrie
Holt to the NFL, along with nine starters.
Longhorns coach Mack Brown was pensive about the loss to the underdog Wolfback.
"You fight your guts out over 300-plus days for 11 Saturdays, so when you lose one of them, it's really hard," Brown said. "As hard as it is for the fans, they could quadruple that pain for myself, our
coaches and our players be ca use we're the ones who put in all that time. I
am totally devastated every time we lose.
What we've got to do is make sure we don't lose two games because of one loss."
Texas must recover in time to play the Stanford Cardinal at home this weekend.
On the bright side, the Cardinal doesn't boast the talent the Wolfpack has. While this may be a different story in science fairs, on the football field Stanford finished only 3-8 last season.
and in order to avoid starting its season 0-2, the Longhorns must keep pressure off punter Ryan Long. The Wolfpack blocked three punts on Saturday, the last of which led to the game-winning touchdown. Brown blamed the blocks on lack of experience.
"We had some young guys in there, and it was my mistake for putting them in when they shouldn't have been out there," Brown said. "They just hadn't had enough reps."
Still, Texas is weary of the upset-minded Cardinal.
"We know that they are going to come in here looking to beat us on our home field, just like everyone else," said
BIG 12 CONFERENCE
Longhorn safety Lee Jackson. "We've just got to get our game straight so we won't have the same problems this weekend that we had last Saturday."
It is hoped that avoiding these problems will help the Longhorns sidestep another Texas-sized upset.
How much do they love their football in Norman, Okla.? The Oklahoma Sooners drew more than 37,000 fans for two scrimmages last week, including one in Tulsa where the gate receipts benefited victims of last spring's tornadoes.
See OKLAHOMA STATE on page 2B