THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2007
SPORTS
3B
QUARTERBACKS (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
"I would imagine that before the first game they will make a decision so whoever is starting would know," Reesing said. "Whenever they're ready to make a decision, they're ready. It's kind of out of my hands."
Meier, a sophomore, began last season as the starter. He was
fairly successful in the first three games but missed the next three because of injury. He started five of the team's final six games but his tendency to scramble outside of the pocket made him vulnerable and he
suffered several more injuries
"I don't have a preference. These quarterbacks all have the skills they need and I'm not worried about any of them at all."
"I've learned my lesson since last year," Meier said. "You can't run over everyone in college football. Injuries are part of the game, and you just take what you're given."
nal-caller. He is fast enough and possesses a strong-enough arm to run the diverse new spread offense designed by Kansas coacnes. Reeing is listed generously at 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds. It was his improvisational style and quick feet that helped Jayhawks defeat Colorado in October. Mangino
Reeing, also a sophomore, saw the first action of his career in a late-season 2006 game against Colorado. He replaced an ineffective Adam Barmann at halftime and led the Jayhawks to a comeback victory with 105 passing yards and 90 rushing yards.
Meier and Resing certainly bring different styles to the table.
At 6-foot- and 220 pounds
Meier has the look of a star sig.
DEREK FINE
Senior tight end and captain
said Reesing's improved conditioning and arm strength helped him in the fight for the quarterback job.
pounds and gaining a lot of strength. He's zipping the ball with a lot more spin than he ever has"
The competition between the two is heated but healthy. Meier and Reesing are close friends and share an apartment. Both quarterbacks said that although they had great respect for one another, winning the starting job was their first priority. Meier said he thought he possessed an edge in game experience, and Reesing said his own qualities as a leader and playmaker qualified him for the spot.
Though the quarterback controversy might seem detrimental
to a team hoping to contend in the Big 12 North, many of the Jayhawks see it as a good thing. Throughout the spring, Mangino said that having two capable quarterbacks was a good problem. Junior cornerback Aqib Talib, one of the defenders who attempt to stop Reesing and Meier every day in practice, said both contenders had played well.
"You couldn't even tell the difference if you didn't look back there to see," Talib said. "They both know the offense, they're both throwing the ball good, and they're both leading the offense."
The players most directly affected by the competition could be the ones catching passes from Meier or Reesing. But senior tight end and team captain Derek Fine said either quarterback would have his vote of confidence.
"I don't have a preference," Fine said. "These quarterbacks all have the skills they need and I'm not worried about any of them at all."
With precious few practices remaining before the 2007 season begins, time is drawing thin and the Kansas coaching staff will soon need to settle on a quarterback. Between now and the start of September, the situation could change. But for the first time in months, there is a frontrunner in the Kansas quarterback battle: Todd Reesing.
Edited by Trevan McGee
BATTLE OF THE 'BACKS
BY ASHER FUSCO
Pittsburg, Kansas Hometown Austin, Texas redshirt sophomore Class sophomore 6-foot-3 Height 5-foot-11 220 pounds Weight 200 pounds Meier started eight games in 2006 and set a Kansas freshman record with 13 touchdown passes. He completed 56.5 percent of his passes while struggling with accuracy issues because of a nagging injury. Meier's running ability could be his best asset. He gained 346 yards on the ground last season and ran option plays effectively. Experience Reesing made a flashy debut in a come-from-behind victory against Colorado. He played in two other games later in the season, passing for 204 yards and completing 58.3 percent of his throws. Though not as physically gifted as Meier, Reesing's uncanny ability to keep plays alive added a dimension to the Jayhawk offense. Reesing's height is his biggest disadvantage. At 5-foot-11, he has trouble locking in on open receivers. Kerry, it's just a matter hearing the reads and well consis- Mangino's preseason take "Reesing is in the best shape he's ever been and he's throwing the ball really well."
》 MLB
Bonds' record induces skepticism and yawns
BY JOCELYN NOVECK ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — We all know President Bush is an early-to-bed kinda guy. Still, there was something particularly apt about his spokesman's revelation that at 11:51 p.m. Eastern, when Barry Bonds broke the hallowed home run record, the president was likely asleep.
Barry Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run generated little media buzz compared to Hank Aaron's record in 1974. The cloud of suspicion of steroid use may have contributed to the lack of excitement, but experts also blame the media that competes for Americans' attention.
Clearly, many people experienced a similar lack of engagement with this landmark event, whether they were actually asleep, or just metaphorically so.
The initial reason is obvious: the cloud of suspicion of steroid use that has long overed over Bonds on his march to home run No. 756. But could it be more than that?
In 1974, when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record, the way we consumed our news, our sports, our popular culture was radically different. There was no TiVo, no DVRs, no 24-hour cable, no Web video to catch up with the next morning. You wanted to see the game? You watched it live.
theory would have it. Thus, a seminal moment like the felling of a huge sports record would be just another event amid all the noise, competing for attention.
Hogwash, says a huge baseball fan, author W.P. Kinsella, whose novel "Shoeless Joe" became the movie "Field of Dreams." Kinsella watches baseball on TV almost every night. And yet on Wednesday, after conversing with a reporter for 10 minutes about sports and culture and life, he asked, in all seriousness, "Oh, did Bonds break the record last night?"
These days, there's so much out there competing for our eyeballs — some call it cultural fragmentation — that perhaps were less able as a nation to share a communal experience. At least, that's how one
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Turns out the author had been watching a British detective show, so much disdain does he harbor for Bonds, whom he calls a "cheat, a jerk, and a nasty person who shouldn't get credit for anything." He said Bonds himself was the only reason the country has not been energized and inspired by the record — the ultimate achievement, after all, in a game that means so much to so many.
"Ten years from now, it'll be a really big deal when A-Rod breaks the record," Kinsella said. "If it were A-Rod right now, people would be ecstatic."
game received a 1.1 cable rating, which translates to 995,000 households. When Aaron hit his 715th home run, NBC's broadcast received a 22.3 rating, the equivalent of 14.9 million homes. Back in Aaron's day, there were only a fraction of the TV channels, and baseball as a sport had far less competition.
But media analyst Marty Kaplan said a communal sense of ecstacy — or other emotions, such as shock and horror — was still very possible today, despite the fragmentation over the last few decades.
Supporting the fragmentation theory — at least in part — is the fact that Aaron still holds the record when it comes to television ratings. ESPN2's broadcast of Tuesday's
"The evidence is that when a win or a victory is regarded as legitimate, people are thrilled to share the excitement — in the moment, or afterward," said Kaplan, of the University of Southern California. "Look at the Red Sox World Series win — it was a national phenomenon."
The reaction to Bonds, Kaplan said, "is all about our ambivalence. It's hard to be thrilled by something whose authenticity is in doubt."
Media coverage of Bonds' run all along has focused on that doubt. When he finally broke the record, the New York Post took its usual no-holds-barred approach: On the cover, it illustrated the number 756 with a bunch of medical syringes. The rival Daily News, by contrast, had a tamer "King of Shame" headline.
In The New York Times, however, columnist George Vecsey argued for Bonds to get his due. "Nobody — and
"You cheer Bonds if you want to," wrote Daily News columnist Mike Lupica. "You believe he is something more than the lyn' king of home runs. Not me."
certainly not some chemist in a white smock — swung the bat for Bonds against objects moving 80 or 90 or 100 miles an hour," Vescey wrote.
Many point to Bonds' personality as a reason for apathy.
tion of being surly, angry, and media-hostile," said Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp Ltd., a Chicago-based sports consulting firm. "That has as much to do with the resounding thud that's greeted this record as the steroid accusations. Personality counts."
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