SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1994
SECTION B
ANALYSIS
KANSAS FOOTBALL
Arrogance strikes out baseball
By Jim Litke
The Associated Press
In a last-ditch effort to save baseball, after months of hearing everybody else do nothing but talk about it, I actually tried a salary cap on.
It wasn't all that bad. But after wearing it awhile, I could see why the players never would submit to such a thing. It lets your head get only so big and no bigger. Who needs that?
In another last-ditch effort to save baseball, I tried sharing revenues with the smaller markets in my household.
It wasn't bad. But after awhile, I could see why the owners want most of the revenue to be shared to come out of the players' pockets. After a few regular meals, the kids were bold enough — not to mention strong enough — to start competing for the dessert. Who needs that?
No wonder the baseball season is dead.
Like a runaway train, everybody saw this wreck coming. But reasonable solutions need reasonable people to have a reasonable chance to succeed. There were some reasonable solutions mentioned from time to time. Several, with a little bit of compromise and fine-tuning, would have addressed the only legitimate issue in this whole mess: How to form an economic partnership that would shore up all the teams and launch baseball toward the next century.
A salary cap put the NBA back on its feet. Revenue sharing增了the NFL the 800-pound gorilla of sports. Some modification of either, or both, might have done wonders for baseball. But we won't know because those bitter twins — the owners and the players — couldn't even be bothered to listen to each other.
Talk all you want about the selfishness and greed that disrupted all those seasons over the past two decades. What this strike demonstrates, above all else, is the height of the two side's arrogance.
Acting baseball commissioner Bud Selig spent most of Tuesday wrestling with the wording of a news release announcing baseball's end. Next, he had to wrestle with the weighty question of how to pass it around without spilling the bad news all over himself by bax, or conference call, or the always troublesome news conference, where people might actually ask questions?
Baseball as we know it is finished. Whenever it comes back, unlike past reincarnations, it won't come back intact. The owners could face competition from rival leagues, the players could face competition from the same Triple-A kids that they looked so haughtily down on only a few months earlier.
Because they couldn't brave that new world, they are going to have to find their way in it without a road map. If nothing else, that will wipe the smugness off their faces.
Rushing attacks to highlight matchup
Ground games to test defenses of Kansas, TCU tomorrow night
By Matt Irwin Kansan sportswriter
Can a running game be stopped?
When the Kansas football team plays Texas Christian University, each team's defense will try to stop the other's running game and answer that question with a yes.
Both teams will display rushing attacks that have amassed more than 400 vards for each team this season.
Both teams will find out how their defenses shape up against these running attacks at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow at Fort Worth, Texas.
Kansas is 1-2 after defeating Houston 35-13 and Michigan State 17-10. The Horned Frogs are 1-1 after losing to 16th-ranked North Carolina 27-17 and defeating New Mexico 44-29.
Coming off an impressive defensive performance against Michigan State, the Kansas defense will be trying to stop a team that racked up 606 yards in total offense against New Mexico, including 325 yards rushing by junior running back Andre Davis.
"Any time a guy rushes for 325 yards in a game, he's pretty dam good," said Kansas coach Glen Mason. "He's got good speed. He's got good moves. He's got good hands. He's a guy you don't stop with one guy playing well on defense. You need a good defensive team effort."
The Jayhawks have a potent rush offense of their own. In their first
two games the Jayhawks rushed for 589 yards.
Texas Christian defensive line coach Hugh Nall said that the Jayhawks' running game was impressive.
"I don't know if we can stop it," he said. "I just hope we can slow it down."
Nall said Texas Christian had even more to worry about in preparing for Kansas' option, which worked well against Michigan State.
Nall will rely on senior defensive guard Royal West, who was a 1993 All-Southwest Conference selection, to help stop the Kansas running attack and disrupt passes.
The Texas Christian defensive mastermind trying to shut down the Kansas offense is Pat Henderson, first-year defensive coordinator and secondary coach.
Henderson played linebacker and defensive end for Kansas from 1970 to 1974 and was a member of Kansas' 1973 Liberty Bowl team, which lost 31-18 to North Carolina State.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Mason said Henderson was a member of an impressive coaching staff, and that the Horned Frogs were better this season than he had expected.
Mason stressed that the Jayhawks must not let down after their game with Michigan State.
"That was a big win against Michigan State, and everybody was excited and talking about it," he said. "But come Monday, you've got to get back to work on Texas Christian."
"And if come Wednesday you're still thinking about Michigan State rather than Texas Christian, you're going to get your butt beat."
Sophomore June Henley leads a talented Kansas corps of running backs this season. "I don't know if we can stop it. I just hope we can slow it down," Texas Christian defensive line coach Hugh Nall said. Tomorrow night's 7:05 game will not be televised but will be broadcasted live on 105.9 FM radio.
Jayhawk Football Listed are the starters for Kansas' offense and defense
Matching up 'mythical' mascots
During the Civil War, Kansas' governor formed a group called the "Independent Mounted Jayhawks". After the Civil War, the word Jayhawk was associated with comradeship and courageous fighting spirit. In 1890, the Kansas football team's first season, the team was called the Jayhawkers.
The name "Horned Frog" was adopted by Texas Christian University in 1897 to name the school yearbook. The plural name gradually became the nickname for Texas Christian's athletic teams. The committee which chose the name decided on the horned frog instead of the cactus.
--cross-country race, Kempf said. All of the swimmers will start at Lone Star's boat dock and swim for 3.1 miles on a continuous course. Kempf expects the finishing times to be around one hour.
FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK
**Turn the TV off:** The Kansas-Texas Christian football game will not be televised in Lawrence.
The Jayhawk Radio Network, 105.9 FM the Lazer, will carry the game.
*The grass is always greener: Tomorrow's game will be played on natural grass. Kansas has played 42 consecutive games on artificial turf. The Jayhawks last played on grass Oct. 13, 1990.*
A historic challenge: Kansas will play Texas Christian for the 25th time in its history. The Horned Frogs lead the series 15-5-4.
Rushing ahead: Despite being one of many running backs used in the Kansas rushing attack, sophomore running back June Henley has climbed to 19th on the career rushing list since the beginning of the season.
Henley has gained 200 yards in two games and needs 74 yards to move to 14th on the all-time list. If Henley can gain 105 yards against Texas Christian, he will move to 13th on the all-time list.
**Passing attack:** Kansas senior quarterback Asheli Preston has passed for 1,521 yards and is 273 yards away from moving into Kansas' top 10 in career passing yards.
BRIEF
Royals fire McRae hoping to build younger ballclub
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City manager Hal McRae and all his coaches were fired yesterday as the Royals began a youth movement.
Sophomore swimmer Robert Tegada practices in the pool in Robinson Center. The Kansas swimming team began practicing three weeks ago and will compete in a meet tomorrow.
Jayhawk swimmers to go jump in the lake
"We appreciate the contributions Hal has made in the past four years," Robinson said. "Our focus in the immediate future will be on transition of the young talent from our minor league system on to the major league club. And we believe a change in managers is necessary to make this step successful."
Robinson said the club needed a manager who could work with young players.
Paul Kotz / KANSBAN
"We want someone who can understand the young player when they come up and what they have to go through." Robinson said.
General manager Herk Robinson praised McRae and his efforts but said that the Royals would have a number of young players next year and that change was needed.
Robinson said he did not have a successor in hand. Team vice president George Brett sat next to Robinson at a news conference but said he was not interested in the job.
Robinson said he did not have a successor in mind.
"Because then," he said, turning to Robinson,
"you'd have to sit up here one day and tell me! wasn't coming back."
Swim team starts season with meet outside of the pool
By Jenni Carlson Kansan sportswriter
The waves were high in the pool during yesterday's practice. But it's nothing like the ones the Kansas swimming team could see this weekend.
The Jayhawks will battle the weather, as well as their opponents, when they open their season at 8 a.m. tomorrow with the Open Water Invitational at Lone Star Lake. Kansas has attempted to hold this meet twice before, but weather forced cancelation both times, Kansas swimming coach Gary Kempf said.
A competitive meet in open water is a unique concept, Kempf said. He said he thought it was the first dual competition of its kind in the nation. The only other team competing in the invitational will be Southern Illinois University.
"I've never heard of anything like this," he said. "Our idea is to expand it into a college invitational."
The format for the meet is much like a
Kempf said the Kansas team was accustomed to swimming in the lake for extended periods of time.
Senior captain Heather Switzer said she was prepared for the challenge to compete at the lake.
Sophomore Erik Jorgensen said he preferred swimming in the pool but was looking forward to competing in the lake.
'It's an adjustment, but I think we're doing just fine. It's just different mental-
"We've been training in open water for about five years," Kempf said.
"I like the lake because it poses a challenge to me," he said. "It's good for me to go out of my comfort zone."
Jorgensen said that Southern Illinois would be good competition for the Jayhawks.
"What we're doing right now is getting our base for the year," she said. "Saturday will dictate where we are and where we are going for the year."
Switzer said tomorrow's race would serve as a measuring stick for the Jayhawks progress.
ty," she said, though the team swims in the lake two or three days a week.
Kansas is only in its third week of practice, but the squad has been swimming well, Jorgensen said.
The ability to compete, though, only will better help prepare the Jayhawks, he said.
"I'm glad we're competing early in the season," jorgensen said. "Itgets us mentally ready for the season. The sooner we get into competition, the better."
4.
Not only should the invitational benefit Kansas, but Kempf said, "I think we're going to have fun doing this."