Today is the final day to pick up the first set of men's basketball tickets. Students who have purchased a ticket combo package may have their tickets put on their KUID cards at the Allen Fieldhouse ticket office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or redeem online at kuathletics.com. Online redemption has a $1 per ticket fee. Student ticket packages are still available and cost $150. If there are unredeemed tickets, they will go on sale Thursday for $10 each.
WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 25,2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
PAGE 1B
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Giles' problems remain unresolved
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
Nearly a week after the C.J. Giles soap opera hit its craziest point, there is still little in the way of resolution.
A court date that was scheduled for Monday was pushed back to January. At the court date, Giles will be asked to provide a reason why he has not paid child support for his 18-month-old child.
When reached by telephone, the child's mother, Lawrence resident Laura Bender, said that either Giles
or his attorney requested the date be moved.
"I had no say in it," she said.
Since her name was released last Thursday by the Lawrence Journal-World, she has been dealing with the consequences of her newfound infamy. She has made her MySpace-page profile private after receiving some negative comments.
In addition, some people are recognizing her as she waits tables at a local restaurant.
"People are just asking random questions and asking about rumors
thev heard." she said.
Despite the notoriety, she said she had absolutely no regrets about her decision, and hopes it spurs Giles to take responsibility for his child. Giles could not be reached for comment.
One of the rumors that has been circulating on the Internet is that Giles has left town. Basketball coach Bill Self put that rumor to rest Tuesday, saying that while he has not spoken to Giles personally, he knows that other people have.
"I said last week that he had an opportunity to straighten some personal issues out," Self said. "There hasn't been enough time elapsed to know if that has been done."
Self emphasized that the issues go beyond just the child support payments. He said that Giles was dealing with "multiple things," and added that a decision about whether Giles could possibly return to the team might be made within the next several davs.
Bender is continuing to take care of the child in addition to her job and school duties. She said last Wednesday that Giles' father,
Chester, had been helping her out on occasion. In addition, she stays in touch with her parents, and has talked to them everyday for the past year.
"They read about it in the paper, they've known about it," she said. "It's nothing new for them."
Unless Self makes a decision about Giles' future, there will likely not be any further details about the case until the new court date in January.
the men's basketball team. Self said that the whole team has been practicing well, and that while he has occasionally held players out of practice to get rest, the team is healthy and operating at full strength. The team's first exhibition game will be Nov. 2 against Washburn.
Kansan sports editor Michael Phillips can be reached at mphillips@ kansan.com.
More basketball:
Practice is now in full swing for
Edited by Brett Bolton
Injury keeps linebacker out all season
FOOTBALL
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
Three weeks after suffering a severe concussion, Eric Washington's football career appears to be over.
Kansas coach Mark Mangino said Washington had a neck surgery last week and would not return to the team this season.
"I feel badly for him," Mangino said, "I feel like he was really playing well and really getting comfortable. He really was a key guy for us."
Earlier this season Mangino had been optimistic that the senior outside linebacker would return.
Washington was carted off the field in the third quarter of the Nebraska game on Sept. 30 after making a headfirst tackle. He experienced temporary paralysis, but feeling returned in his extremities nearly 30 minutes after the hit.
Washington stayed in a Lincoln,
Neb, hospital for nearly three days before he returned to Lawrence.
An individual close to the team told The Kansan earlier this month that Washington was admitted to a Kansas City, Mo., area hospital for "precautionary reasons" the week after the game. He was released a day later.
In Washington's absence, freshman Arist Wright and sophomore James Holt have both seen time at outside linebacker.
Mangino said it was more important for Washington to earn his degree and get healthy.
"He's doing good," Wright said of a conversation he had with Washington on Monday. "He's pretty proud of me. He called his son."
"Football is a short window in your life anyhow," Mangino said.
SEE SCHNEIDER ON PAGE 2B
players of the week
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Senior linebacker Eric Washington's injury during the Sept. 30 game in Lincoln, Neb., will keep him off the field the rest of the season. Washington suffered a concussion and underwent neck surgery last week.
》 DANCING NACHOS
Photo illustration created by Michael Philips with photos by Jared Gab and the Associated Press Coach Mark Mangin was recently asked as saying that the football team needs to "stay the course," a phrase often used by President George W. Bush in reference to the Iraq war.
Photo Illustration created by Michael Phillips with photos by Jared Gab and the Associated Press
1.
Mangino's excuses sound familiar
We finally have an appropriate analogy for this season's football team.
At this week's football press conference, coach Mark Mangino said what this year's team needed to do.
Sound familiar? Of course it does. That's the same thing that President George W. Bush said about the situation in Iraq.
"We've got to stay the course," he said.
Perhaps Mangino just did a terrific job playing to KU's Lawrence fan base. After all, you probably couldn't get away with a Bushism like that in say, Manhattan. Of course, K-State has a won game.
The commander-in-chief of the football team might just be taking the baton from the other commander-in-chief.
White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters Monday that the president has stopped using the phrase.
"It left the wrong impression about what was going on," Snow said. He then continued: "The President is determined not to leave Iraq short of victory."
That may be where the two styles differ. Mangino leaves lots of places short of victory. Saturday's 36-35 loss to Baylor was the team's seventh consecutive road loss. In two weeks the Jayhawks will head to Ames, Iowa, where they will likely make it a crazy eighth.
Instead of the movie "Groundhog Day," we're living in a Groundhog Week. Every meltdown brings the same response from the coaching staff.
What did Mangino have to say
about his team's latest meltdown, the one that allowed the largest fourth-quarter comeback in Baylor history?
"A lot of younger kids gained some valuable experience," he said.
The divide between what Mangino says and what the players hear seems to grow larger every week.
At the press conference, I asked Mangino what steps he was taking to fix the fourth-quarter problems.
He said that the defensive coordinators were simplifying their schemes so the players would be able to follow along more easily.
"They just assumed I was injured," he said. "I'm just fine. I could have
When asked, defensive end Arist Wright said that he hadn't heard of any such change yet.
Likewise, after the game Mangino said that running back Jon Cornish wasn't called on as often as he usually was in the fourth quarter because he was injured. The problem is, nobody bothered to tell Cornish he was hurt.
kept going in the fourth quarter."
The only thing left is for Bob Woodward, assistant managing editor of The Washington Post, to come write a book about Mangino and company.
He might point out how the "administration" continues to sell these close losses as aberrations. The KU Athletics Web site has used the following descriptions for the last five losses: "thriller," "edged," "outasted," "one for the ages" and "double-overtime thriller."
Fans have wised up to the Mangino charade and will respond by not coming to the game on Saturday. They're going to finish the season like the Jayhawks finish games.
Phillips is a Wichita senior in journalism. Kansan sportswriter Ryan Schneider contributed to this column.
Edited by Mindy Ricketts
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