Volleyball
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Kansas volleyball player Amanda Reves leads her team on the court and in the classroom.
Monday August 23,1999 Section: B Page 1
SEE PAGE 3B
WNBA
Cynthia Cooper returned to the court and lead the Houston Comets after the death of Kim Perrot.
Page 1
SEE PAGE 4B
Pro Football
The Cleveland Browns, after a three-year hiatus, lost their stadium opener.
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Rally is soggy but not sunk
Rain does not keep eager fans from stadium
By Mike Miller
By Mike Miller
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
It was football weather — even if the first Kansas home game wasn't until Sept. 11.
An early-afternoon rain had soaked the turf at Memorial Stadium, but about 2,000 people came to the Get Ready Rally last night despite the rain.
It was mostly families, some in crimson and blue, some in rain gear, who came for free food and games at Memorial Stadium. But when another drizzle hit as the players arrived, they stayed to meet the 1999 Jayhawk football team for the first time.
"My daughter loves Baby Jay," said Terry Campbell, Lawrence resident. "So we come out here, she gets to play some games and I get some autographs."
Students came too, though if they were too late for the free food — the first 1,000 people got free food — they came for autographs or to buy all-sports tickets.
a raffle, 14 different game booths for kids, free food and the debut of the Mega Vision board gave fans several options at the rally.
"I'm mad that I didn't get any food," said Steve Stewart, Topeka junior. "But I needed a sports pass anyway. Maybe I'll win something."
"We got a good crowd," said Rick Mullen, event organizer and director of promotions for the athletics department.
"It stopped raining for a few
hours and gave people a chance to see the new board."
But they stayed for the players.
When the players' bus rolled up to Memorial, it started raining again, and anyone who didn't have an umbrella or a poncho got soaked, including the kids, most of the parents and the players.
But the rain didn't do much. Most of the players took their time weaving their way through the crowd, signing autographs and posing for pictures. Some, like fullback Moran Norris, came ready for the rain.
Wearing a hat with a miniumbrella, Norris laughed when someone asked if he knew it was going to rain.
"I guess. I bought the hat in Houston for the sun, but it works all right for this," he said.
Norris also didn't mind braving the elements for the fans.
"It's good. We get out here for the community and the kids."
Linebacker Dariss Lomax agreed with Norris, but wasn't quite as cheery without an umbrella hat.
"It's tight. I wish it wasn't raining, but you know," he said. Later, when the pep rally portion of the rally began, the sky cleared just in time for the band to play and for coach Terry Allen to introduce his team.
Introducing senior co-captain Michael Chandler to address the fans, Chandler evoked the biggest response from the crowd.
"I wanted to clarify something. "A lot of people have been writing us off. We're going up to Notre Dame to name him." he said.
A cheer went up from the crowd, as expected. They welcomed the new football season even if the elements didn't.
—Edited by Mike Loader
Dressed for the rain, fullback Moran Norris autographs the ball of Lawrence resident Dane Erickson. Scattered showers didn't keep fans away from the rally last night, which offered free food, games and movies. Photo by Jay Sheperd/KANSAN
Coach says he'll discipline Earl
Kansas forward Lester Earl, who was arrested early Thursday morning, will be disciplined for his actions, men's basketball coach Roy Williams said Friday.
Although Williams did not say what Earl's penalty would be, running extra laps may be out of the question because Earl is undergoing rehabilitation on his knee, which was operated on before the start of the 1998-99 season.
"There will be discipline, and it may or may not be something the public
sees, Williams said. Another factor in Williams' decision is a NCAA rule that prohibits practices before Oct. 16, which is the official start of the season.
Earl was arrested Thursday on a warrant for failure to appear by Lawrence police in front of Dos Hombres, 815 New Hampshire St., Sgt. George Wheeler said. After the arrest, Earl was booked at the Douglas
Earl: Will be disciplined by coach Roy Williams
not be something the public sees." Williams said.
County Jail, 111 E. 11th St., and less than an hour later, Earl was released on $331.50 bond. The bond was paid in cash.
Earl had failed to appear in Lawrence Municipal Court for two traffic violations, the court said. He had previously been cited for speeding and driving with a suspended license.
license. Although Earl did not comment about the arrest, Williams said, "I don't like it, I'm upset about it, and it upsets me because it's Lester." Earl's next court appearance is scheduled for 8:15 a.m. Sept. 8.
—Katie Hollar and Matt Tait
Soccer hits road for tune-up match
By Chris Wristen
cwristen@ukans.edu
Konson sportswriter
Kylie Watts, junior midfielder, tries to dribble around Katie Lents, junior defender, during a drill in practice. The Jayhawks play an exhibition game against central Missouri State this afternoon. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
Today at 4 p.m. the Jayhawks will play an exhibition game against Park College in Kansas City, Mo., The team hopes to continue its winning ways it developed last spring when they posted a 6-01 record.
The Kansas women's soccer team has been waiting a long time for this day.
"The biggest thing is that we gained a lot of confidence in the spring and also got into the habit of winning," Coach Mark Francis said. "That's a habit, just like losing is, and to be honest with you, they liked it better than losing. I think it fired them up a little bit and gave them a lot of confidence."
Today's game will mark the first opportunity for the team to compete against anyone other than themselves this season, something which Francis thinks will be good for his team.
Sophomore midfielder
"After a while you get tired of kicking your own teammates," Francis said. "You want to get out there and play against some outside people, so I think they're looking forward to playing somebody different."
"It will be good to see us all in a game situation where we're all together as one team instead of split up like when we scrimmage." Hensley said. "We're clicking really well. It'll be interesting to see how well we play together since we've been clicking so well."
Kansas doesn't know much about its opponent, but that's not a concern to Francis. He's hoping to use the game to give his players an opportunity to play, and see what they can do.
Edited by Allan Davis
Katie Henslev agreed.
"We're going into it pretty blind, but it's going to be more for preparation than anything else," Francis said. "We're trying to get everybody some playing time and see how some different combinations of players work."
Francis also plans to use the exhibition to determine who the final members of his starting lineup will be. The game against Park is Kansas' final tune-up before Friday's home and season opener vs. Colorado.
"We've still got some unanswered question marks at some positions, and then there are some that are pretty solid," Francis said. "There's still some people we're shifting around a little bit. That's something
we'll be able to look at on Monday — putting different people at different spots, and see who's going to be able to do the job for us."
This comes as good news to some of the players who are looking to earn their place on the team. Most notably, the freshmen, who will also be experiencing their first college competition today.
The team is eager to start playing games and Hensley expects them to play well.
"I just hope to play first," freshman defender Bridget Goyen said. "I don't know
how we'll do since we haven't played anybody. I'm just excited about it."
"I think we'll be even stronger as a whole team instead of going against each other because we're all aiming for the same goal—to get to (the Big 12 Conference tournament in) San Antonio."
Columnist has a suggestion for bored fans
Sick of the Yankees? The Indians?
Braves?
Boy, do I have the team for you.
Sick of owners with deep pockets and teams with room temperature payrolls winning games instead of the players?
Buy, do I have the team for you?
Please meet the Cincinnati Reds, the team every baseball fan who's looking for a level playing field should be rooting for. Cincinnati is
in the midst of a playoff race with Houston, Atlanta and the Mets, teams whose average payroll is almost twice that of the Reds.
If you're sick of payrolls winning games, root for the Reds.
Let the usual suspects throw together a team of players raking in around $80 mil
Sam
Mellinger
columnist
sports @ kansan.com
lion. There's 14 teams above .500, but the Reds are the only winning team with a payroll under $40 million.
Just eight major-league owners pay their players less than the $33 million than the Reds make. Two of Cincinnati's all-stars - Sean Casey and Scott Williamson - make a combined $420,000. Barry Larkin, the other, grew up in Cincinnati and is one of those rare athletes who has spent an entire career with one team.
The players are all guys who know their role, and all guys you'd have a beer with. Greg Vaughn, the team's highest-paid player, is hitting .225. But he doesn't care about that: "As long as I drive in runs," he says. He leads the team with 78 RBI.
Vaughan can't talk to the media for more than a few minutes without saying how lucky he is, and how he plans to never lose perspective as long as his family is healthy.
But it's more than monev.
The Reds have no egos, no selfish players. Then again, how could they? Even with the success and no other decent professional team in the area, most home games draw crowds under 30,000.
And Casey, the team's other star, is Everyman. He wears an NWO shirt under his game jersey and will talk your ear off about anything in the world. His minor-league report said his psychological weakness was that he cared too much about people.
The Reds play like you wish your favorite team played.
This is not a team of angels, don't get me wrong. But anybody who deals with major league baseball teams on a regular basis will tell you that this is a team you root for if you know them. They're nice guys with level heads who play hard.
2.174
The Reds aren't even the talk of their own division. That title goes to Smilin' Sammy Sosa's and Mark McGwire's encore performance of the home run derby. I lived in Cincinnati this summer, and the only big crowd I can remember was when the Cardinals played. The Reds were even slapped in the face that game when McGwire homered. Not only did the Cincinnati crowd dish out a standing ovation, but the Reds even set off fireworks, which are usually saved for hometown players.
They have no flashy revenue-producing stadium like Ohio's other team in Cleveland. They play in corporate-named Cinergy Field, a vanilla stadium if ever there was one. There are construction plans for a new stadium, but the Reds must wait in line at the contractor's office behind the sorry Bengals and their downtown stadium, which opens next fall.
They're also the best cure out there for Yankee-itis.
Mellinger is an Lawrence, senior in journalism.