KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2011 / SPORTS/
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"He's Michael Jackson playing with a bunch of Tito Jacksons."
Charles Barkley talking about Dwyane Wade last season
FACT OF THE DAY
In Game 1 against the Mavericks on Monday, Kobe Bryant failed to record an assist for the first time in a playoff start.
— espn.com
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: How many playoff games has Kobe Bryant started?
A:185
— espn.com
MORNING BREW
Amid tragedy, sports unify America
On Sunday night, in the top of the ninth inning of the Phillies-Mets game, jubilant
cheers of "U.S.A." burst out throughout Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia. The fans were reacting to the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed. Even just watching the highlight sends chills down my spine because it reminds me of how sports unite our country.
The game matched two division rivals at opposite ends of the spectrum: the Phillies, tied for first in the division and less than three years removed from their most recent World Series victory, and the Mets, sitting in the cellar of the National League East with worries about the financial stability of their owners. But at that moment, as everyone in the stadium broke out in a cheer, team affiliation didn't matter.
BY ETHAN PADWAY epadway@kansan.com
My thoughts keep circling to how Americans turned to sports after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The National Football League canceled games the following weekend to give the country time to mourn. But what I remember most was the Super Bowl that followed.
How fitting was it that a team called the Patriots won that year? The Patriots went into the game unheralded. No one expected them to topple the Rams,
the offensive juggernaut that was the greatest show on turf. But the Patriots did win with a hard nosed defense that any American could identify with and a second-year quarterback who started the season so low on the depth chart that he wasn't even included on his team's roster for that season's Madden video game.
Later this year, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the NFL has scheduled a game between the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants, teams from two of the cities targeted in the 9/11 attacks.
it at least a hundred times growing up. Then the movie "Miracle" came out and immortalized the event on the silver screen.
Sometimes it's the sports themselves that give us something to rally around. I wasn't around for the 1980 Olympics' "miracle on ice," but I must have watched the HBO documentary about
Any time an American has a chance to achieve any feat of athletic prowess, we give them our support. I remember huddling around a TV in a friend's basement with 15 others to watch Michael Phelps win his record eighth gold medal in 2008.
When it comes down to it, sports are just games. But in the U.S. we are lucky to have sports that bring us together as a nation.
Edited by Helen Mubarak
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
Baseball
vs. Wichita State
6:30 p.m
Wichita
THURSDAY
Softball vs. Drake 5 p.m. Lawrence
vs. Drake
7 p.m.
Lawrence
Women's golf
NCAA Regionals
All day
TBA
FRIDAY
Baseball
vs. Oklahoma
6:30 p.m.
Norman, Okla.
Women's golf
NCAA Regionals
All day
TRA
Track and field
Arkansas Twilight
All day
Fayetteville, Ark.
Sun's out, fun's out
Macy Heidrick, a junior from Beloit, stretches out for a bump during a sand volleyball game Tuesday evening. "Sun's out, guns out, play some volleyball," said teammate Dan Hemme, a senior from Prairie.
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
Smashing success
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
Shripad Adwalpalkar, a graduate student from Goa, India, guides a forehand during a game of tennis Tuesday evening. Adwalpalkar made sure to take advantage of the break in Kansas' unpredictable weather to play with his friend.
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