SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, July 13, 1994
9
NCAA football playoff committee overruled
By Laurie Hudson
Kansan staff writer
In two actions this month, the NCAA Presidents Commission halted plans for a football playoff and amended a proposal meant to stiffen freshmen eligibility standards.
The proposal, Proposition 16, uses a sliding scale to determine qualification. It requires athletes to score at least 700 on the SAT exam if they have a 2.5 GPA and a 900 on the SAT if they have a 2.0 GPA.
While supporting the proposal, the commission also favored the possibility of a partial qualifier. The qualifier would allow a student
who received a 600 on the SAT — equivalent to 15 on the ACT — but who had a 2.5 GPA in 13 core courses to still receive financial aid.
The Black Coaches Association, which considers standardized tests to be racially discriminatory in wording and structure, had hoped for a looser sliding scale.
"It seems disappointing," said Marian Washington, member of the Black Coaches Association executive committee.
Bob Frederick, University of Kansas athletic director, said he was surprised that the commission did not relax Proposition 16 requirements, originally approved in January.
the D-1 (Division I) presidents were all in favor of the sliding scales," Frederick said. "It was the D-II and -III Presidents that voted against it."
i was surprised initially until I realized that
frederick said president of smaller schools subscribed to the theory that if standards were raised, athletes would meet them.
"That still doesn't address the issue of standardized tests and whether they are fair," Frederick said.
The proposition will take effect August 1995 and will replace the current standard requiring at least a 700 SAT — equivalent to a 17 on the ACT — and 2.0 GPA in 11 core classes.
Partial qualifiers who sit out their freshmen
season are eligible for a fourth year of eligibility if they meet academic standards by the beginning of their fifth year in school.
The NCAA also halted the work of a football playoff committee.
"We want to send a message that what we're about is college athletics, not professional athletics," said Judith Albino, president of the University of Colorado.
Because of the pay problem, the playoffs were halted despite the financial benefits for the schools.
Frederick said the football postseason could bring in a much larger amount if the postseason was organized into a one-playoff
tournament.
Last year, for example, 19 bowls were covered by four networks. If all TV stations had bid one figure for an entire college playoff, instead of individual schools selling TV rights, the NCAA would have made a lot more money.
"Philosophically, I've always been opposed to a playoff," Frederick said, "The bowl system has worked well for Kansas. But I think it's inevitably going to happen."
Frederick said he predicted that a football playoff system would be in place in three years, despite the NCAA's current action against it.
Robinson gets evening workouts
By Laurie Hudson Kansan staff writer
Robinson Center blisters with activity around 5 o'clock on summer afternoons.
The weight room opens at 5 p.m.
The pool opens at 5 p.m. Jennifer Henderson puts on her workout clothes at 5 p.m. for her 5:15 p.m. Robinson aerobics class. And on the second floor, pick-up games fill the basketball courts at 5 p.m.
Outside, tennis balls are swatted over 12 tennis court nets and against six backboards. Nearby, games of sand volleyball spike into action.
- "Basically, a lot of people are just enjoying open-rec time," said Mary *Chappel, recreation services direc-tor.
Students can still sign up for the tennis tournament this weekend, or for the aerobics class, which costs $20 and will continue meeting twice weekly until August.
Shawn Derritt, Kansas City senior, said he enrolled in the aerobics class to keep in shape.
"Most people, when they graduate from high school, gain a lot of weight," he said. "I gained about 60 pounds, so this helps."
Derrick added that aerobics was competitive.
"Sometimes it can push you to go
past your limits," he said. "The music goes fast, everyone else is going fast, and that compels you to go fast."
Leila Reduque, Lawrence senior, compared Robinson to her previous membership at a health club.
"It's a lot hotter," she said. "The health club had air conditioning. At the same time it pushes me more. At a health club everybody is really into looking nice. Here you have a wide range — people who have just started to people who have been doing it for years. That makes it more approachable, less scary. It makes it seem like you can do it."
Christen Bourgeois, Junction City senior, took the class for a different reason.
"I'm a singer, and I need better vocal capacity," she said, "I'm in terrible shape."
The most popular things to do,
said a Robinson worker who checks
KU IDs, are using the weight room
and playing pick-up basketball.
Often the basketball courts fill so quickly that people have to line up against the wall and wait for their slice of the action.
"Average people can't get on," said Ashley Battles, DeSoto senior. "They have to wait three or four games. That can take an hour."
Greg Porter, Kansas City, Mo., junior, lifts barbell, with support from Steve Helver, Overland Park park, at Robinson Center early yesterday morning.
Yumi Chikamori / KANSAN
Topeka TV station to air NFL games
By Michael Breen Special to the Kansan
Sunflower Cable customers won't miss any televised football games in the coming season, but whether "The Simpsons" will return is another matter.
KITKA, Topeka's channel 49, will broadcast the NFL's National Conference games. The ABC station bought the rights from the Fox Television Network, which Sunflower Cable doesn't carry.
However, there has been some confusion between the networks and area affiliates over when and where programming will be found.
Sunflower Cable stopped carrying Fox affiliate KSHB, Kansas City's channel 41, in October because Sunflower refused to pay 25 cents per subscriber as Fox had wanted.
Fox's demands were made after Congress' passage of the Cable Consumer Protection Act of 1992, which allowed networks to charge local cable operators for programming.
Sunflower did not want to pass increased costs to customers, Dennis Knifer, Sunflower Cable's general manager, said.
Knifer said that Sunflower must wait until negotiations were completed before knowing whether it would be able to carry Fox. The new
regulations make acquiring new channels or services a complex and confusing process,he said.
Last month, the Fox network acquired part of New World Communications Group, Inc., which owns 12 stations across the country. These stations will switch affiliations to the Fox Network.
"It's like playing baseball with soccer player," Kniffer said.
One of these stations is WDAF Kansas City's channel 4, the current NBC affiliate.
As a Fox-owned station, WDAF will have the rights to all Fox programming. No one knows which Fox programs WDAF will carry, what will happen to the ones it doesn't carry or which station will carry NBC programming.
Jeff Anderson, program director for WDAF, said that it was still too early to determine whether WDAF would charge for its Fox programming when it became the affiliate.
Anderson said that the networks and local stations were still deciding which stations will carry which networks.
Once a decision is made, all affiliation agreements will be nullified and new ones will be signed, he said.
However, Anderson said that he thought that KSHB would get the NBC affiliation.
Thursday, July 14* 7p.m.
Campanile Hill
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
*Rain date for Summer Programs Thursday, July 28