THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2007
SPORTS 13B
》CLUB SPORTS
Football starts intramural season
BY MEGAN MORRISS
mmorriss@kansan.com
Flag football is up first this intramural season, out of the four intramural sports offered by KU Recreation Services.
Play begins Aug. 26 at Shenk Sports Complex.
About 140 teams registered last season.
"The number increases and decreases, but it's been pretty steady," said Ben Prahl, Oregon graduate student.
Ben Smith, Overland Park sophomore, chose to start his own intramural team.
"It's just something fun to do with your friends," Smith said.
Intramural sports are a way for students to get involved and stay in shape.
Teams also have the amusement of creating their own team names.
"One team last year was named 'If We Show Up We Win,' Prahl said. "There's a lot of creativity out there."
"I played football in high school
Registration begins August 17 and ends August 20. Each member of a flag fooball intramural team must pay a $20 entry fee. Only students on the Lawrence campus or faculty with a membership to the Student Recreation Fitness Center may participate.
and this was the next best thing, it let me stay competitive," said Clint Brown, Cincinnati senior, whose team was named the CV Hawks.
"But some people want to win no matter what," Prahl said. "But it comes back down to the fact that people are out there to have fun."
Some teams use wit to name their teams in a way so when the question "Who did you beat?" is asked, a reply such as "Your Mom" is given.
The Student Recreation Fitness Center offers more sports for student to look forward to in the coming months, such as table tennis, racketball and three-on-three soccer.
Edited by Dianne Smith
NFL
Owners give Goodell rave reviews so far
BY DAVE GOLDBERG ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — To most people, Roger Goodell's crackdown on misbehaving players is perceived as his main accomplishment in his first year as NFL commissioner.
In truth, the long-term promise for his administration is reflected in the raves from Dallas' Jerry Jones and Buffalo's Ralph Wilson, two owners at the opposite ends of the NFLs most critical divide: revenue.
"It's been just a wonderful year. Roger has made all the right decisions, all the common sense things that make the NFL what it is," said the 88-year-old Wilson, who has been the most outspoken of the league's small-
market owners. Wilson was less than enthusiastic about Goodell before he was selected last Aug. 8 to succeed Paul Tagliabue.
"He gets an A-plus from me," said Jones, who agrees with Wilson on very little — at least on the business side of the league.
The raves from two sides of the NFL's deep financial debate are about Goodell's handling of issues more far-reaching for the NFL's future than his discipline of Adam "Pacman" Jones, Tank Johnson, Chris Henry and Michael Vick. Such items as revenue sharing, labor, pensions, television, and competitive and economic balance are the critical to the future, not how he deals with a star quarterback accused of dogfighting.
For example, he commuted from four games to two a suspension given to Kansas City defensive end Jared Allen after two DUI arrests; Allen will also be fined a third game check. Pacman's suspension can be reduced from a year to 10 games for good behavior, and Johnson's eight games can become six if he doesn't run afoul of the law, although Johnson currently has no team.
He's not the "hanging judge" that some fans and players think he is. Goodell's decisions are made case by case and allow the suspended players to come back earlier if they behave.
"I deal with everything that comes across my desk and, frankly, discipline is just a small part of it."
Jerry Jones, who had more than his share of run-ins with Tagliabue over individual marketing and revenue sharing, thinks Goodell's 20 years working for Pete Rozelle and Tagliabue make him perfect for a complex job. An outsider, he points out, would have needed to learn how to be a CEO dealing with 32 other
"It's not as if my entire time — or even most of it — has been devoted to that," he said last Saturday after visiting with the Tennessee Titans (Pacman's team) in Nashville. "Basically, we're talking about four players. I deal with everything that comes across my desk and, frankly, discipline is just a small part of it."
CEOs with conflicting interests and very different personalities.
"What he had was a very good working relationship with individuals and clubs before he became commissioner," Jones said of Goodell.
"I'm amazed at what a regular guy he's been," said Tom Condon, one of the NFL's top player agents.
Condon cited Goodell's sympathy at the draft for his client, Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, who fell through the first round after being considered a potential No. 1.
ROGER GOODELL NFL commissioner
overall choice.
"Roger came over and asked. "Would you like to get out of the spotlight?" Condon said. "He took him back to a room with his own family, then left him alone with his parents and had his family
leave the room. He didn't have to do that. It was a very human thing to do."
Those political and social skills certainly will be needed for any labor talks.
Dallas' Jones believes Goodell is the best possible lead negotiator.
"His way of operating and his knowledge of the league reflect instinctive people skills — political skills if you want to call them that," Jones said.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Big 10 to shine, but will it be on TV?
BY RUSTY MILLER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michigan running back Mike Hart (20), and tight end Mike Massey (83) gather with teammates and football coaches for photos during the Wolves' annual Media Day in Ann Arbor, Mich.
This should be a banner year for the Big Ten. The problem is, few may get a chance to see it.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Big Ten's new television network is struggling to reach agreements with the biggest cable providers in the Midwest, and the clock is ticking on the Sept. 1 openers.
The sticking point is that the conference insists that it must be on basic expanded cable. Comcast and Time Warner say no way.
"When the cable company decides to send 70 channels — the food channel, and the dog channel and the bike channel and the jewelry channel — into your home, (we believe) that the Big Ten Network deserves to be in that grouping," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said. "Everything else is pretty negotiable."
The favorite figures to be MICHIGAN. In this era of kids jumping early to the pros, the Wolverines' biggest stars are back. First massive left tackle Jake Long said he was come back, which prodded tailback Mike Hart and QB Chad Henne to return.
If the deals don't get done, be prepared for infomercials instead of Big Ten showdowns.
"It's not fair to criticize a guy for leaving, but for the three guys that stayed, I think it speaks volumes about them and what their values and goals" coach Iloyd Carr
and goals are,
said. "We're
excited to have
them back.
They are three
special guys, not
just three special
football players."
T h e Wolverines need to patch some holes on both lines and at line-backer, though.
TB PJ. Hill is coming off a 1,569-yard season and will ease the
transition for the young QBs. The Badgers get Michigan at home a week after they play at Ohio State on Nov. 3. The whole season will revolve around how they do in that short span.
All those lit
OHIO STATE must rebuild its offense. No problem. A year ago the Buckeyes came in with just two starters on defense and all the new guys did was hold nine teams
"It's not fair to criticize a guy for leaving, but for the three guys that stayed, I think it speaks volumes about them and what their values and goals are."
erally blue-collar fans at The Big House have tired of the late-season pratfalls of the guys in winged helmets — four straight bowl losses and a three-year drought against rival Ohio State. Many are not happy with the coach.
LLOYD CARR
Michigan Head Coach
"I can assure you you're not going to see a two-platoon quarterback system out of Wisconsin," coach Bret Bielema said. "Never say never, but that's not on my agenda."
WISCONSIN is loaded, just not at a couple of key spots. With QB John Stocco graduated, the nation's most overlooked 12-1 team last year desperately needs Tyler Donovan or Allan Evridge — either one — to take control of the job. That's the only hole on offense from a team that is riding a nine-game win streak.
Asked what his team's biggest weakness is, the 62-year-old Carr cracked, "Weaknesses? Just me. Why do I say that? I'm old."
to 10 or fewer points. Of course, both sides of the ball picked up speed burns from Florida players running past them in the BCS championship game, which the Gators won by a stunningly
"It's an exciting time to get back at it, especially when your last game wasn't as good as you would have liked it to have been," coach Jim Tressel said.
easy 41-14 count. The Buckeyes are still embarrassed by that one.
QB Todd Boeckman will likely draw the assignment of replacing the Heisman winner.
There is nothing that 80-year-old Joe Paterno would like better in his 42nd year as the head coach at PENN STATE than a third national title. He's joined by standout LB Dan Connor and QB Anthony Morelli. The o'l high-pants-and-white-socks coach has returned from knee surgery and now must find somebody to replace TB Tony Hunt (1,386 rushing yards, 27 catches) and LB Paul Posluszny, who led the team with 116 tackles.
"After I had the operation, the doctor asked me how long I wanted to still coach," JoePa said, "I said, 'Five or six years.' He said, 'There's no reason why you can't.' An 0-4
finish doomed IOWA to its first losing season (6-7) in six years under coach Kirk Ferentz. Most of the offensive line is gone, along with QB Drew Tate. Ferentz will earn his $2 million-plus annual salary if he can get the Hawkeyes flying up instead of down.
PURDUE will pay for a relatively soft early schedule (Toledo, Eastern Illinois, Central Michigan, Minnesota) with consecutive tests against Notre Dame, Ohio State and at Michigan. That doesn't mean coach Joe Tiller is down.
"We have a degree of optimism at Purdue in the sense that we have the most starters back (18) that we've had in our 10 years here," Tiller said.
Instead of celebrating another step in its rebuilding project, INDIANA is still shaken by the death of coach Terry Hoeppner.
The Hoosiers had a bowl trip in their grasp last year until losing their last three games. Now that Bill Lynch has moved from interim to head coach, it'll be hard for the Hoosiers not take a
back, coach Pat Fitzgerald hopes to be more consistent throughout.
MICHIGAN STATE was 3-0 and ahead of No.12 Notre Dame by 16 points at home heading into the fourth quarter. Then the Spartans went belly up, losing 40-37, the first of eight losses in their last nine games. John L. Smith was let go after the season and defensive-minded Mark Dantonio was hired from Cincinnati. He draws a brutal schedule, which includes road games against Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Ohio State.
"It's an exciting time to get back at it, especially when your last game wasn't as good as you would have liked to have been."
Two teams followed humiliating collapses by firing their head coaches.
Up by 31 points with less than two quarters left in the Insight Bowl against Texas Tech, MINNESOTA found a way to lose 44-41, costing coach Glen Mason his job. Now Tim Brewer, a receivers coach
"We were shattered when Coach Walker died," TB Tyrell Sutton said.
step back despite the presence of double-threat QB Kellen Lewis and sterling WR James Hardy.
JIM TRESSEL
Ohio State Head Coach
NORTHWESTERN went through a similar experience last year after the death of coach Randy Walker.
The Wildcats won two of three to start the year and two of three at the end, but lost six in a row in the middle. With Sutton (1,000 yards on the button) and QB C.J. Bacher
good."
in the NFL, is brimming with positivity despite off-field problems that led to four players being banished from the team.
"Change is not always something that is bad." RB Amir Pinaxi said. "Change can be pretty
ILLINOIS unveiled one of the Big Ten's most exciting players in Juice Williams, but still lost four games by seven or fewer points including taking then-No. 1 Ohio State to the mat before falling 17-10. There are nine starters back on each side of the line to fuel optimism.
Now if their fans just get a chance to watch them on TV ...
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