10A SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2007
FOOTBALL (CONTINUED FROM 12A)
Keefer: Reesing has earned the right to be mentioned among the nation's most impressive quarterbacks this season. His numbers speak for themselves: 299.75 passing yards per game, 2.75 touchdowns per game and an efficiency rating of 166.41. The question now is whether he can keep his freakish pace in Big 12 conference play. With all his new weapons, it's certainly plausible How will defenses respond when Kerry Meier, fully equipped with his long, curly and glistening hair, trots onto the field as a receiver? I know it was the most bizarre thing
I've seen in sports since Charles Barkley's golf swing.
Fusco: The addition of Meier to the fold definitely makes an already versatile sitte downright scary. Just look at all of the options Mangino has at his disposal: Meier, Aqib
Talib, Marcus Henry, Jake Sharp,
Brandon McAnderson, Derek Fine
and Meier's hair, to name a few. I'm
not sure what Ron Prince has up
his sleeve, but he has a tough task
ahead of him.
— Edited by Tara Smith
football notes
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Kansas coach Mark Mangino named the Kansas players of the week on Sunday, Junior cornerback Aqib Talib and junior linebacker Mike Rivera shared the defensive player of the week award. Talib made five tackles and one interception, which he returned 100 yards for a touchdown. Rivera forced two fumbles and made nine tackles, including 2.5 tackles-for-loss. Sophomore quarterback Todd Reeing won the offensive player of the week award for the second time this season. Reeing threw for 368 yards and one touchdown on
23-of-37 passing. His total passing yardage from last Saturday ranked ninth in single-game Kansas history. Freshman linebacker Dakota Lewis took the special teams honors. Lewis recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for Kansas' first touchdown of the game and made three tackles on kick and punt coverage.
NATIONALLY TELEVISED
Fans who can't make it to Bill Snyder Family Stadium Oct. 6 will still be able to see the 2007 Sunflower Showdown between Kansas and Kansas State. Fox Sports Net
(Sunflower Broadband Channel 36) will broadcast the game at 11 a.m. as part of its Big 12 Conference television package. Kansas State is currently 2-1 heading into a match-up against Texas this week. Kansas is 4-0, having outscored its competition 214-23 so far this season.
INJURY UPDATE
Sophomore cornerback Anthony Webb did not dress for last Saturday's game despite being listed as a backup on the team's most recent depth chart. In a teleconference, Mangino did not explain Webb's absence but
said the cornerback was not injured.
PENALIZED
After steering clear of costly penalties through the first three games, Kansas committed six penalties last Saturday. The fouls cost the Jayhawks 65 yards. Despite the Jayhawks' bad behavior against Florida International, Kansas has been penalized just 17 times this season. The team's opponents have drawn flags on 25 occasions.
Asher Fusco
VOLLEYBALL Senior wins weekly award after starring offensively
After winning two conference matches last week, the Kansas volleyball team is starting to get noticed in the Big 12. Senior setter Emily Brown was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 24.
Brown had 12 kills and 29 assists to lead Kansas against Missouri on Wednesday — its first Big 12 road victory since 2005. Then, on Saturday, Brown posted 10 kills, 25 assists and 11 digs in a victory against Texas Tech.
The Baldwin City native is the first Jayhawk to take home the award since Loi Lima did so on Sept. 19, 2005.
UP NEXT
Kansas will play host to the defending national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Horesji Family Athletics Center.
Rustin Dodd
CRIME
Tyson caught with cocaine in BMW
BY CHRIS KAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS
MESA, Ariz. — Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson pleaded guilty Monday to charges of drug possession and driving under the influence stemming from a traffic stop last year as he was leaving a nightclub.
Tyson quietly acknowledged to a judge that he had cocaine and was impaired that he had was stopped for driving erratically in Scottsdale on Dec. 29.
He pleaded guilty to a single felony count of cocaine possession and a misdemeanor DUI count and faces up to four years and three months in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 19. A felony charge of possession of drug paraphernalia
and a second misdemeanor DUI charge were dropped, according to the terms of a plea agreement.
Defense lawyer David Chesnoff said Tyson had been clean and sober for eight months.
Police stopped Tyson after the boxer had spent the evening at Scottsdale's Pussycat Lounge. An officer said he saw Tyson wiping a white substance off the dashboard of his black BMW, and that his speech was slurred. Authorities said they found bags of cocaine in Tyson's pocket and in his car.
Tyson told officers later that he used cocaine "whenever I can get my hands on it," and that he preferred to smoke it in Mariboro cigarettes with the tobacco pulled out, according to court documents. He also told police that he used
marijana that day and was taking the antidepressant Zoloft, the documents state.
Since his arrest, Tyson checked himself into an in-patient treatment program for what his lawyer called "various addictions." Defense lawyer David Chesnoff had said previously that he had tried to keep the boxer out of prison.
Tyson, 41, recently had been trying to revive his career with a series of boxing exhibitions.
County Attorney Andrew Thomas said earlier this year that Tyson should be put behind bars if convicted, noting that Tyson was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992 and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault charges in Maryland in 1999. "He has run out of second chances", Thomas said.
SHROYER (CONTINUED FROM 12A)
In the second inning I got my first at-bat. With runners on second and third and one out, all I had to do was put the ball in play to give Team Tryout the lead. And that's just what I did, grounding a first-pitch fastball to the shortstop, allowing the runner on third to score as the shortstop threw me out at first. 1-0 Team Tryout.
In the field, no hits came my way, but I took a couple of throws at first from my fellow infielders to retire the Kansas batters. No hits came my way in left field, either, so all I contributed to Team Kansas was to backup the shortstop and third baseman in front of me and the center fielder beside me.
I didn't come to bat again until there were two outs in the top of the fourth. At the same time, a thunderstorm was closing in on Hoglund Ballpark. Even with lightening lurking in the distance, I waited for my pitch. I was determined to get a hit. When I thought I'd found it, I took a mighty swing. Unfortunately, shortly after takeoff, the ball landed harmlessly in the right fielder's glove.
But neither that nor the downpour that followed put a damper on my day. Heck, I drove in the deciding run in Team Tryout's 2-0 victory.
JUDGMENT DAY
The next day we all came back for the final day of tryouts. We were only there for an hour, but in that time the coaches tested our defense and hitting to see how much we'd improved in a week.
My fielding and throwing were noticeably better. I still missed some grounders that I shouldn't have, but the ones I did field, I fielded cleaner and I was no longer making any erratic throws. I even scooped a few throws in the dirt, like I had years ago.
However, my hitting didn't improve as much as my defense. I was trying too hard, and as a result, most of my hits were either grounders or fly balls. I got one at bat against live pitching that day.
and again, I flew out to right.
So was it worth it? You better believe it was.
Sure, I expected to be better in the field, and I didn't get a hit off live pitching like I wanted to. I played like someone whod taken almost four years off from the game should have, and I can say with full confidence that I won't be wearing those game pants in the spring.
Yet, I improved every day I was out there. For five days I got to be a baseball player again. For one day I was part of a team again (or, two teams, I guess). I even got to play ball with my dad for the first time in years. I doubt anyone had more fun than I did the last two weeks.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, thanks to all my friends and family who helped me prepare for tryouts and offered me encouragement from start to finish. You came through when I needed you.
Thanks also to the Kansas base ball coaching staff. Coach Price, coach Frady, coach Kevin Tucker and coach Ryan Graves helped make this experience something I'll never forget. I found out first-hand why players come from all over the country to play for them and why so many players want to play for them, regardless of the odds.
Finally, thanks to all the players who tried out alongside me. It was truly an honor to play on the same field as you guys and I urge you all to remember coach Price's words at the end of the first week. While the last few weeks provided closure to my baseball career, each and every one of you are capable of playing somewhere at the collegiate level. My advice to you is: Don't make the same mistake I did. Don't put away your spikes until you absolutely have to.
A ballplayer without his glove is like a cowboy without his gun.
- Edited by Elizabeth Cattell
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