6B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY. MAY 10. 2007
BIG 12 BASEBALL
Texas, Missouri fight for Big 12 title
BY RICKY TREON DAILY TEXAN
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas has come too far, it seems, not to reach its first major goal of the season — the Big 12 regular season championship.
Though the No. 7 Longhorns did miss out on their first opportunity to claim the title Sunday by not winning their series with Missouri, it's still possible for them to make it happen. The Longhorns still top the conference as they head into their final conference series of the season with No. 11 Texas A&M on May 18 in College Station, Texas. It's then that Texas must prove what its coach, Augie Garrido, already seems to know.
"We're the best team," Garrido said. "We're going to win the championship."
Garrido isn't the only conference coach that feels Texas is, at the very least, tied for the top crew in the
conference. Missouri's Tim Jamieson said Texas is the best squad his team has played all season.
"These are the two best teams in the Big 12," Jamieson said, referring to the Longhorns and his Tigers.
But there's a lot of baseball to be played by Missouri, who sits second in the conference standings, and Oklahoma State, listed just one loss behind Missouri.
The Tigers and Cowboys, both of whom Texas has already played, each have a series during Texas' weekend off. On paper, both teams should win their series with Oklahoma and Texas Tech, respectively.
Those games lead up to a meeting between Missouri and Oklahoma State during the same weekend the Longhorns and Aggies square off, meaning the race for the Big 12 regular season championship may not be determined until May 20.
The amount of games and scenarios is one reason why most of the Longhorn players are a little more
skeptical than their skipper.
"We definitely do have a shot at winning it," senior Nick Peoples said. "I'm not making any guarantees or anything, though."
One advantage Texas has by not playing a Big 12 team this weekend is having time to rest — both physically and mentally.
Two Longhorn outfielders, Jordan Danks (left) and Kyle Russell (right) are currently out of commission with minor injuries to their shoulder and right wrist, both sustained during the Missouri series.
"This is the best time for them to be injured," said Garrido, who expects both players back by the A&M series. "Now they have some time to heal."
The Longhorns will also have time to get final exams out of the way during the short hiatus from conference play, though they do play a game with Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday at 2 p.m.
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Royals pitcher Zack Greinke was replaced Wednesday in by Scott Elarton and Luke Hudson. Hudson will start in tonight's game against Oakland.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Royals announce lineup
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals' rotation will get a boost with Luke Hudson and Scott Elarton coming off the disabled list.
Manager Buddy Bell said on
Wednesday that Hudson, who suffered shoulder stiffness in spring training, would start Thursday against the Oakland Athletics, while Elarton would start Saturday against the Chicago White Sox. Elarton had
shoulder surgery last Aug. 1 and is coming back ahead of schedule.
Bell said Brian Bannister. who
"We've already talked with Brian," Bell said. "We obviously want him
was scheduled to start Thursday, would be available in the bullpen Wednesday night, but would be optioned to Triple-A Omaha after the game.
"We have a lot more depth than we've had in the past, which is good. We can cover some losses we weren't able to do last year."
to continue to start. He did a good job while he was up here. He still needs to continue to develop. "
BUDDY BELL Royals manager
Hudson made four rehab starts with Omaha and Double-A Wichita, with 0-2 with a 4.41 ERA, allowing
19 hits, while striking out 26 and walking six in 16 1/3 innings.
Elarton, who was the Royals' 2006 Opening Day starter, will replace Zack Greinke in the rotation. The Royals will make another roster move Saturday to activate Elarton.
Kansas City bullpen and finished it in the rotation. He went 6-3 with a 4.79 ERA in 11 starts.
Elarton went 2-3 with a 4.78 ERA in five rehab starts. He gave up 14 runs and 29 hits in 26 1/3 innings. Elarton was 4-9 with a 5.34 ERA in 20 starts last season before the surgery.
Hudson began last season in the
"We have a lot more depth than we've had in the past, which is good," Bell said. "We can cover some losses we weren't able to do last year. For example, we lost Elarton in midseason, we just really didn't have anywhere to go. When we lost (Mark) Redman at the beginning of the season, we really didn't have anywhere to go."
Pitcher on road to recovery
MLB
ST. LOUIS — The long road to recovery has begun for St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter.
BY R.B. FALLSTROM ASSOCIATED PRESS
"For now it's just rest and getting rid of the swelling." Carpenter said. "Once the swelling goes away we can start starting a little more aggressive."
Before the surgery, the team said Carpenter would be sidelined at least
Carpenter, who has been sideline since working six innings in the season opener, said his therapy program begins on Thursday. He'll remain in St. Louis for treatment while the team, after a day off, starts a nine-game trip to San Diego, Los Angeles and Detroit.
three months. Dr. George Paletta said the right-hander likely would begin throwing in six weeks and then need about six more weeks to build up strength and stamina.
"It definitely feels good to know I'm not going to have to deal with it," Carpenter said. "Now I'm looking forward to being healthy and
sense of relief that the 30-40 minute procedure is behind him.
Carpenter, a 15-game winner last year and the NL. Cy Young award winner in 2005, said there was some
"It's not fun sitting around, not at all" he said. "Hopefully the swill will go away and I can get back in the gym and work out and start doing things to pass the time"
100 percent and not having to deal with wondering whether my elbow is going to swell up"
"Hopefully the swelling will go away and I can get back in the gym and work out and start doing things to pass the time."
Carpenter said he wasn't looking forward to the inactivity in his
Before the surgery, Palette said it was important that Carpenter
immediate future.
CHRIS CARPENTER Cardinals pitcher
"Regardless of wherever the team stands come August and September, it's important to get Chris back
pitch again this season if for no other reason to assess any problems before spring training of 2008.
pitching, get his confidence back and go through those first steps of returning to competitive play and not waiting until next season," Paletta said.
HARLAN (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
to arrange a visit to Lawrence in January 1978.
"Just soaking in Allen Fieldhouse, seeing this beautiful campus, I was completely taken." Harlan said.
To make things even better, Hedrick told Harlan that he would get the opportunity to fill in for Hedrick on his local sports radio show.
"That sold me right there," Harlan said.
"As much work as I could possibly handle"
"When I went there," Harlan said of his arrival at Kansas, "it was like I was stepping into a completely different world."
Hedrick kept his promises to Harlan, who, as a freshman, would fill in for Hedrick on his radio show whenever Hedrick was out of town.
By the time he was a junior Harlan had enough experience that the Kansas City Chiefs hired him to produce the radio pre-game show.
All of this work, which required Harlan to be involved with a broadcast every Thursday through Sunday, left him little time for a normal college life. Still, he was involved in the Greek system and frequented local landmarks like The Wheel and Joe's Bakery.
By his senior year, Harlan had his own KU sports talk show on Sunday nights and did some KU baseball play-by-play on Kansas City radio. He was no longer a broadcasting student, but a broadcaster who happened to be a student.
"There was still enough freedom to get just to the edge of trouble," Harlan said.
"That put me in a position that few kids in the country were in as far as practical experience," Harlan said.
"By the time I was walking down the hill, I knew I would be an NBA announcer." Harlan said.
His first big break professionally came three days after the end of his senior year, when Kansas City television station KCMO told him its announcer for Kansas City Kings NBA games was leaving and he was the choice as the replacement.
A "meteoric" rise
After graduating with a degree in broadcast journalism in 1982, Harlan worked for one year as the voice of the Kings before the station lost the rights to the games and acquired KU football and basketball in its place. Fittingly, Harlan was paired with Tom Hedrick.
They worked KU games for a year before the station lost the rights. Harlan bounced around for a while until he did the radio broadcast of the spring football scrimmage for the University of Missouri.
The game itself was not notable, but it served as Harlan's audition for a job that just opened up, the radio voice of the Kansas City Chiefs. He
While with the Chiefs, Harlan gained local fame for his catchphrase, "oh baby what a play," which he would exclaim after a great play by the Chiefs.
got the job.
"It was a Monday night game against Buffalo, the first Monday Night Football game in Arrowhead in a long time, and I guess I used it a couple times during that game," Harlan said. "I was driving home with my wife after the game and listening to the post-game show and some drunk guys in the parking lot called in and talked for a while and then when they were finished they said 'and one more thing: Oh baby, what a play!' So I thought people must have liked it and I started using it."
In 1994. FOX hired Harlan as one of its play-by-play announcers for NFL coverage. He was now working a network television job, the top of the ladder in sports broadcasting, and he was just 34 years old. At the same time, he kept a job with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he gave Kevin Garnett his nickname, "The Big Ticket."
In 1996, he started doing NBA
playoff games for TNT and left the Timberwolves to work regular season games on TNT the next season. He now had two national broadcasting jobs.
Harlan left
FOX for CBS
after the 1997
season, a decision he said may have had its roots in his Kansas experience.
"He's kept things in perspective which not many guys in this business are able to do."
TOM HEDRICK
Retired KU journalism professor
"I was really missing college basketball." Harlan said.
Now, Harlan does college basketball games after the end of the NFL season and covers the NCAA Tournament, including the Final Four on CBS radio.
"Whatever is humanly possible"
Harlan's only regret about the path his career has taken is the heavy travel requirement limits his time with his family.
When the NBA playoffs move into the Finals and off TNT at the end of this month, Harlan will be done working until the NFL starts back up in August. During that time, the family heads up to their cottage on Lake Michigan for the whole summer, where Harlan is finally able to get some much-needed relaxation.
Harlan has been married since 1987. He and his wife, Ann, have four children: Abigail, 17, Haley, 16, Olivia, 13, and Robert, 10.
During the off-season, things are different.
"That is unquestionably, unequivocally, the worst part of the job." Harlan said.
"He's as good a family guy as you will ever meet," Hedrick said. "He's kept things in perspective, which not many guys in this business are able to do."
nity to be with his family, regardless of convenience.
During the fall and winter, when the NFL and NBA are both in their regular seasons, Harlan often finds himself on different coasts during the week and on the weekend. Still, Ann said, he takes every opportunity
"I'm not working during the summer, so we've tried to make our summers really special," Harlan said.
"He does whatever is humanly possible to get back here when he's not working." Ann said. "Sometimes his definition of 'humanly possible' is different from most other people's."
Ann says that even though Harlan is working constantly and barely getting any rest during football and basketball seasons, she would never categorize him as a workaholic. She compared his life to that of an accountant during tax season.
"He literally leaves a message on the answering machine that says 'I am out of the office until August and I cannot be reached,' Ann said."
Ann said
Harlan doesn't
watch any
sports while he is away, including the NBA Finals.
"He just completely tunes out," Ann said. "People will see him and ask what he thought of the game last night and he'll just say 'I have no idea.'"
When Harlan comes back to Lawrence now, it is as a detached observer for whom neutrality is second nature. Still, it is his experience at Kansas and the help of Tom Hedrick that Harlan says got him where he is today.
"My kids are starting to look at colleges now, and I don't know if they are considering KU, but I can only hope that their experience comes close to how fulfilling and gratifying my college experience was," Harlan said.
Meanwhile, his mentor, now a retired Lawrence resident, watches happily as his student ascends to the top of the sports broadcasting world.
"He didn't cut any corners and he's done it the right way," Hedrick said. "I'm very proud of him."
Kansan senior staff writer Danny Luppino can be contacted at editor@kansan.com.
Edited by Trevan McGee
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