CROSS COUNTRY Four runners called Lawrence home before they became Jayhawks this year, Page 3.
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sometimes sports is maddening
FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1995
Sports, sportswriters should try to look past bad news, attitudes
Ever since I started writing this column two weeks ago, I've gotten a lot of advice.
Overwhelmingly, I have been told the same thing over and over: Get people mad so they'll read my column. After hearing it again and again it began to bother me. If that is what the world of sports and sports journalism has become, I want no part of it.
I suppose with all that college and professional sports have become, this kind of attitude is to be expected. Maybe I'm naive and old-fashioned, but I believe sports should be held on a higher plane. To me, sports are a part of an
American dream.
It's father and son playing catch in the yard (or, to appease the gender equity proponents, a mother and daughter playing catch in the yard ). It's playing hoops on the neighborhood playground or hockey on a frozen pond on the farm.
If you were good enough, you could get a college scholarship. If you were really good, you made it to the pros. And you were darn happy to be there. You didn't care if you were the highest paid player in the draft or what endorsements you could make.
SPORTS COLUMNIST
The worst things that athletes used to do involved either not being able to put a bottle down or not being able to keep their pants up.
Sports were so much better then I think all this mess started with Brian Bozworth. That should give everyone another reason not to like Oklahoma football.
Those terms make it sound like a business. Is that what sports have become? A business?
Lawsuits, injunctions, labor disputes and contract negotiations all are definite signs that American sports are not what they used to be. Those terms make it sound like a
SECTION B
I know the answer, and I can't stand it.
Judging by the amount of space athletes take up on "Hard Copy" and the nightly news for their off-the-field exploits, it would seem that they're slipping below politicians on the American popularity list. Tax evasion and cocaine are more at home in sports sections than triple-doubles or grand slams.
And every sports columnist in the country takes the opportunity to bash.
Sports journalists everywhere see the cup as half empty, rather than half full. Who got cut is printed rather than who made the team.
The only exception to all this is boxing—a sport beyond being nice to. We need to have a unified belt under which all boxing federations would crown one champion soon or the sport will lose a lot of fans. Maybe Jimmy Carter isn't busy.
If you read sports columns from all different parts the country you'll see what I'm talking about.
Locally, The Kansas City Star's sports columnists seem to see only the bad things in sports. Jason Whitlock and Jonathan Rand, who are the Star's main sports columnists, almost always write columns citing what's wrong with the world of sports. The problem is, they never propose a solution.
During the course of this semester I imagine that I will have an idea or a column that will upset people. That's OK.
If I write a negative column it won't be to make people mad so they will read what I have to say. It will be because I see something wrong in the world of sports and want to draw attention to it.
Maybe you'll agree with me, maybe you won't. I really don't care. I just want to give you something to think about.
Wide receiver shines at Kansas
At 5-foot-6 and 160 pounds, Kansas senior wide receiver and punt returer Ashundal Smith takes his share of abuse. However, he ranked sixth nationally in punt returns last year. Smith averaged 26.35 yard a return.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Ashundai Smith ranks high among his peers at Kansas, nationally
By Robert Sinclair
Kansan sportswriter
In addition to pulling down receptions, the 5-foot-6, 160-pound Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., native is the Jayhawks' leading kickoff returner — a position notorious for its physical abuse. However, his body isn't the only thing Smith is willing to give up for the team.
In a day and age when success in football is measured in dollars and endorsements, Kansas senior wide receiver Ashundai Smith is an exception to the rule.
"The most important thing to him is winning," said Kansas wide receivers coach Vic Adamle. "He will sacrifice all individual stats and individual glories for 'Ws. I don't know if I could say that about a lot of guys."
Smith has been playing football since he
was 8 years old.
"Iplayed quarterback in Pop Warner, running back in high school, and I moved to receiver here," Smith said. "I miss playing running back, but I don't miss playing quarterback."
Last year as a wide out, Smith led the Big Eight Conference with an average of 19.4 yards a reception and was ranked in the top 10 in average receiving yards a game. He also has led the team in receiving the past two years and could become the first Kansas receiver ever to accomplish that feat three consecutive years.
"Kickoff returns are more fun because you have the ball, and you can see everything in front of you," Smith said. "When you catch the ball, you never know who is around you because you have to focus on the ball."
Wide receiver is not his favorite position, though.
With an average of 26.35 yards a return, Smith led the Big Eight and was ranked No. 6 nationally in kickoff-return yardage. His average is the highest for a Jayhawk since Gale Sayers' 'average of 27.8 yards in 1964.
Smith also had a career-high 93-yard return for a touchdown last year against Alabama-Birmingham.
"I think that the threat that he is back there returning kickoffs is every bit as important as the threat that he is at wide receiver," said Adamle, in addition to coaching wide receivers is the kickoff return coach. "If there's any chance of getting him the ball, then we want to do it any way we possibly can."
Smith, a fifth-year senior who recently was elected a captain by his teammates, said he really didn't have any personal goals. All he is trying to do is improve from week to week and set a good example for his teammates.
This work ethic hasn't gone unnoticed by fellow captain and senior quarterback Mark Williams.
"He means a great deal to this team," Williams said. "He leads by example. That's the type of leader he is. I've learned a lot just from being around him in practice and off the field."
As a second-team All-Big Eight selection last year on a team that has publicly
announced it would throw the ball more this year, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if Smith was setting his sights on the NFL.
This isn't the case though. He plans to move to Atlanta after graduation and pursue a career in criminal justice.
But he hasn't ruled out a football career either.
"The greatest thing about Ashundai is that he's as unselfish a guy as you could have around," Adamle said. "He doesn't care if we run it every down. Whatever it takes to win, what's what he wants to do."
With big-play receivers like Smith, it isn't likely that Kansas will run the ball on every down. Last year Smith had 22 receptions for 426 yards and three touchdowns. One of his best games as a Jayhawk came last year as he tallied 153 yards and a touchdown on five catches against Colorado. Colorado ended the season ranked No. 3.
"He makes big plays, he showed that last year," said Williams, who will be on the other end of Smith's receptions this year. "He just plays the hardest he can. When it's crunch time, he's one of the men that steps up on the team."
Mexican members add force to men's tennis team
By Dan Geiston Kansan sportswriter
To be a consistent contender for a national championship, a program must be willing to go to great lengths to find high-caliber talent.
The player who could lead a team to a conference title or national championship could be right around the corner at the local high school — or on the other side of the world.
For Kansas men's tennis coach Michael Center, the quest to build Kansas into a national powerhouse has led him on several recruiting trips to Mexico. He has been there three times in the last two years, coming away with two of the best prospects that nation produced in recent years.
One of his former players, Rafael Rangel, suggested that Center scout the talent there. The trips have allowed him to become familiar with Mexico, certain players and coaches.
Andy Rohrbeck/KAMAN
"There are language barriers with the players I'm recruiting," Center said. "Usually the player can speak English, but maybe the families can't, or a maid answers the phone, and it's hard to get through."
Going to a foreign country takes the recruiting process to a different, and at times more difficult. level.
Once Center gets through, he must convince the players to leave Mexico and come to the Midwest.
He has to prove to the players, their families and their coaches that he genuinely cares about the well-being of the players, both on and off the court. That was a selling point for former junior circuit star Enrique Abaroa, a sophomore from Monterrey. Abaroa won the 1992 French Open doubles title and advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in
the same year.
Abaroa said he was strongly considering turning pro and had offers to play at Southern California and Texas Christian. At the time, they were the No.1 and No.3 teams in the country respectively.
"Rafael told me about the great experience he had here," Abaroa said. "He told me how great Coach Center was, and he is. When I met him, I trusted him. He's a friend to me, and that important."
But it was the personal recruitment from Center and positive stories he had heard from Rangel than convinced him to choose Kansas.
Center and Abaroa played pivotal roles in the recruitment of freshman Luis Uribe, who is from Queretaro. Abaroa said that he told Uribe about his experiences with Center and the
team.
Center said he told players that there was more to the University of Kansas than tennis. All of his recruits are dedicated to academics.
"The type of opportunity they have is incredible," Center said. "They get a great education and play tennis that is at a higher level than in Mexico. There's just not as much depth."
"Tennis is an international sport," he said. "We're not equipped to recruit some of the top players in high school because we just don't have the facilities. If we are serious about competing for the national championship, we need the international students, and it's hard to find two better than Enrique and Luis."
Center maintains contacts with several coaches in Mexico and is scouting yet another Mexican player now.
By Bill Petulla
Intense workouts train volleyball team
Kansan sportswriter
Walking onto courts five and six in Robinson Center at 3:30 p.m. is like entering a boot camp.
The shouting echoes off the concrete walls, and sneakers make squeaking noises on the freshly polished floor.
In this gym, however, there are no soldiers — only setters,
humbers and skikers.
A game that is played at church picnics with underhand serves and love-tap spikes takes on a new meaning when the Kansas volleyball team takes the floor.
The practice starts in the 90-degree-plus gym, with enough stretching to work nearly every muscle in the players' bodies.
After stretching, the players go into warm-up drills, which include bumping and spiking the ball at a partner 10 feet away.
Following a two minute break, the women separate into two courts, and a trainer serves balls to them. The object is to practice bumping and setting. The trainer, however, serves in rapid fire — never pausing after a point is won.
Another drill involves placing a 3-foot bench in front of the net. The trainers stand on the bench and spike the ball as the players try to block it.
As with the previous drill, this is done without a break in the action.
"We do all of our drills with the same intensity," Kansas volleball coach Karen Schonewise said.
During the drills, Schonewise stands on the sideline with a fixed stare on the players. She doesn't yell. When a problem arises, she stops the action and in a calm voice offers a solution.
The intensity only heightens in the next drill, which is impressive but also very punishing.
The Jayhawks scrimmage each other in what can best be described as a high school volleyball match in fast forward. Spiked balls that a spectator has difficulty following somehow are bumped back into the air.
The screeching stops from forearms and legs diving after balls far outnumber a 2-car pile-on on Interstate 70.
After the strenuous scrimmage, the players go into various high-speed spiking and bumping drills leading to the most difficult drill of the day.
In their final routine, known as the "pit drill," the trainers throw and spike the ball to several parts of the floor while a single player attempts to keep the ball from hitting the floor.
The "pit drill" leaves many players with barely enough energy.
"The coaches expect a lot out of us," junior Jenny Wiedeke said. "And we expect a lot out of ourselves. We want to get into the top 20, so it starts right here in the gym."