4B
Wednesday, September 27, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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"Ports to back, starboards to touch and row! Kansas junior jower Melissa Liem was so used to yelling the phrase at practice her freshman year as a coxswain, she said it in her sleep.
And her roommate at Gertrude Sellards Pearson Hall thought it was so funny that she brought another rower that lived down the hall into the room to hear it too.
Dancing pains influence Jayhawk rowing leader
"They were concerned about length of career," she said.
"Definitely the love is still there and it'll always be a part of me," she said. "It's a really short career. It's over by the time you're 30, so I have to do something different anyway."
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Liem, however, grew up with a much softer sport. She grew up in Omaha, Neb., and joined an Omaha ballet company with dreams of becoming a professional ballet dancer. A dancer since 4, she fell in love with the art.
Liem said that dancing was an environment her parents hoped she wouldn't want to be a part of for long. The high pressure to perform and pressure to be thin worried Liem's parents. That wasn't all that concerned them, though.
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That's why the decision to give up ballet was a difficult one for Liem.
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Molissa Liem Kansas juniorrower
"Forme, once I'm in the boat, I try and leave everything else on the dock."
"Above all they wanted me to be happy."
"I was really lucky," she said. "But I was 12, so it was hard to understand the impact of that until I was older."
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"Dancing has helped me understand the pain my rowers are going through," Liem said. "The blisters the rowers have on their hands, I had on my feet."
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In addition to ballet, Liem also played the violin. By age 12, her youth symphony had already won a competition and a chance to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York.
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Even the age difference didn't intimidate Liem. Perhaps performing in front of audiences as a
Rowing didn't become a part of Liem's life until she came to Kansas two years ago. At 16, Liem was the youngest member of the team. But even then, her childhood experiences with ballet and the violin had prepared her for the challenges and hard work needed in rowing.
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child made her more at ease around unfamiliar and older faces.
"For me, once I'm in the boat, I try and leave everything else on the dock. When I'm in a boat, it's just me as a coxswain and my rowers," she said.
"Iliked it so much I couldn't give it up." Liem said.
"It's really difficult because with violin and ballet, it's very much just you. With rowing, it's pretty much the ultimate team sport. Everyone has to work together. It's all or nothing."
"She projected herself as a very mature young woman who wasn't afraid to perform," Kansas women's rowing coach Rob Catloth said. "She's very controlled, and she doesn't get upset and intimidated easily. Even in a very intense situation, she's very calm and has her wits about her."
Liem said that Catloth also helped her feel more comfortable not only with being the youngest team member, but by helping her learn to be a coxswain.
Liem plans to continue rowing even after she graduates from KU in two years and heads off to medical school — even if it means rowing on an ergometer, or rowing machine. Until then, Liem just wants to enjoy her time as a coxswain for the Javahaws without rushing things.
Liem gave up ballet last year. With two rowing practices each day, she found it hard to concentrate on ballet. Though she misses ballet, she doesn't regret giving it up.
'Rob has kind of guided me through everything,
"That's something you can't really teach anyone," Catloth said. "She has a good competitive spirit, she works really hard and she's very intelligent, and that helps out a lot."
Catloth said much of a coxswain's personality comes out when they're in the boat and a coxswain has to have good leadership and know their abilities. This is something Liem learned herself, Catloth said.
so what I know is what he's taught me himself," Liem said. "From the day I started practice I asked him what the requirements for coxswain were. He looked at me and took me under his wings I guess."
"There are clubs around the country that have rowing so hopefully I can hook up with a club in whatever city it I'm in," she said. "Right now I can't imagine life without rowing."
Chiefs prepare for Cardinals
Coaches believe that injured players will be available on Sunday
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. Most of the walking wounded from Sunday's
should be ready for this week's game at Arizona, Kansas City coaches have optimistically decided.
Most heartening after Monday's practice was the report on left tackle John Alt, who took a knee in the back, an injury similar to the one that caused him to miss all or parts of eight games a year ago.
The Chiefs' offense never seemed
to recover after Alt's effectiveness was damaged in the eighth game last year. A Pro Bowl choice in 1992 and 1993, the 14-year veteran considered retirement when he got hurt.
"I think John will be all right," Kansas City coach Marty Schottenheimer said. "He took a knee to the back, but this is nothing related to what happened to him in the Buffalo game last year. I don't think this one is nearly that serious."
However, Schottenheimer said the Chiefs may be without right tackle Jeff Criswell, who injured a knee.
Kick returner Tamarick Vanover, who sustained a deep thigh bruise, and running back Marcus Allen, who was hit in the eye on the first offensive play, should be ready, though.
Without Allen, the Chiefs netted only 59 yards on the ground while their record dropped to 3-1. For the third consecutive week, their offense failed to generate anything
until the fourth quarter. But unlike the two previous weeks, there was not enough time to stage a fourth-quarter comeback and win in overtime.
"I're really very frustrating," wide receiver Willie Davis said. "Our offense just doesn't seem to come alive the first three quarters."
The lone bright spot was tight end Keith Cash, who caught eight balls for 111 yards.
"I don't think anything's going right for us now," Cash said Monday. "I had a couple of catches, but offensively as a whole, we're struggling. It's not just the running game."
Cash didn't even take the credit for some of his big catches in the fourth quarter.
"I don't want to say our stats were padded. But that fourth quarter, they had the second team in." he said. "We're not playing well, period. Third downs are killing us."
Fans bid farewell to parquet palace
Hockey exhibition marks final game in hoops landmark
By Jon Marcus The Associated Press
BOSTON — It took a year to say goodbye to Boston Garden.
There was the last regular season basketball game, and then the very, very last post season basketball game. There was the last hockey game and, Tuesday night, the really, truly last hockey exhibition game.
While New England isn't short of landmarks — it has the town green at Lexington, Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church — the giant gold vault on Causeway Street has been its rallying point for 67 years.
And it's been tough to let go.
Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and the Beatles played there, and the Grateful Dead came each September. And if it wasn't for last month's death of the band's spiritual leader, Jerry Garcia, its would have been the Last Concert.
There's still a closing ceremony ahead, on Friday, before the doors slam shut and the
But the memories that linger longest are of the Bruins and the Celtics.
Tex Rickard, developer of Madison Square Garden, built the Boston Garden in 1928 and envisioned it mainly as a boxing venue. The opening night boxing card on Nov. 17, 1928, was a benefit for veterans of World War I.
The Celtis won 16 NBA crowns on the famous parquet floor. Bobby Orr scored in overtime as the Bruins won the Stanley Cup championship on May 10, 1970, one of five times the coveted cup has come to Boston. The banners that attest to this are being moved to the replacement arena, the FleetCenter, next door.
In 1940, Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised in the Garden that Americans would not be sent to fight in foreign wars. Then-presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower made his 1952 campaign promise there to go to Korea. John F. Kennedy held a rally in the building on the eve of his election.
Celtics greats such as Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, John Havlicek and Larry Bird were honored at halftime during the
unreliable ceiling lights are switched off for the last time.
last regular-season basketball game in April. Most returned for the next day for a tickets-only open house.
In May, after the Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs by the Orlando Magic, several hundred fans poured onto the parquet, popping champagne to commemorate another finale in the historic building. Some posed for pictures. Others tried to kiss the leprechaun painted on the center of the court before they were gently herded out an exit by security guards.
Hockey fans said goodbye — the first time — in May, after the Bruins lost to the Devils in the first round of the playoffs. The crowd stuck around to give one last cheer when the lights were turned out after the game ended.
Of course, the year-long string of last games has kept the hard wooden seats filled, and tickets for the closing ceremony cost up to $125 aniece.
The $160 million FleetCenter, which debuts Saturday with its own tickets-only opening ceremony, has 18,400 seats for basketball, compared to the Garden's 14,890, and more than 17,000 seats for hockey, up from 14,448.
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