2B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAYAN KANSAN
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2007
LAURECE AUTOMOTIVE DIAGNOSTICS
INC.
Domestic & Foreign Complete Car Care
842-8665
2858 Four Wheel Dr.
SAT5
THE ESOTERIC BE/NON
OLD BLACK
CABT PATTERN
FRI 11 CLATTER RANDY BURK & THE PRISONERS
SAT12
TRUCKER
WED16
WED 16
TRAMPLED BY
TURTLES*
GREEN MOUNTAIN GRASS
PLAYERS
FRI 18
FRI 18
LAWRENCE
LETTERDAY
BLACKPOOL LIGHTS
www.bottlenocklive.com
www.myspace.com/bottlenock
*advance ticket show
WAKARUSA MUSIC & CAMPING FESTIVAL June 7,8,9,10
WIDESPREAD PANIC
BEN HARPER & THE
INNOCENT CRIMINALS
YONDER MOUNTAIN
STRING BAND
... AND MANY, MANY OTHER'S OVER 70
BANDS ON 6 STAGES!!!
WWW.WAKARUSA.COM
TRACK
TRACK Four Jayhawks qualify at Cardinal Invitational
While their teammates competed at the Drake Relays, Penn Relays and the UMKC Invitational earlier in the weekend, a few Kansas distance runners took on the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational on Sunday.
Senior Melissa O'Rourke qualified in the 1,500-meter run with a sixth place time of 42.52.21.
cut-off time (9:07) with a 17th place finish and time of 9:06.78 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Also qualifying in the steeplechase was freshman Lauren Bonds, who crossed the line in 10:40.85.
Junior Patrick McGowan squeaked in under the regional
In the 5,000 meters, junior Colby Wissel qualified in eighth place at 14:06.08. Junior Paul Hefferon finished his first 10,000 meters in a time of 29:45.33 to take 14th place.
— Taylor Bern
athletics calendar
WEDNESDAY
Softball vs. Wichita State.
5 p.m., Wichita
Softball vs. Wichita State.
7 p.m., Wichita
FRIDAY
Baseball vs. Kansas State, 6:35 p.m., Manhattan
2 p.m. Ames, Iowa
**Baseball** vs. Kansas State,
3 p.m. Hoglund Ballpark
**Track** at Nebraska Invitational,
All day, Lincoln, Neb.
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
Softball vs. Iowa State
SUNDAY
Softball vs. Iowa State,
Noon, Ames, Iowa
Baseball vs. Kansas State,
1 p.m., Hoglund Ballpark
842-0377 • 401 N. 2nd St. • Just *Cross the Bridge*
Class of 2007!
》'HORN BORN'HAWK BRIED
Soccer amazes, thrills fans
Tom Hevezi/ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY TRAVIS ROBINETT
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
TROBINETT@KANSAN.COM
Newcastle United's Michael Owens shoots during the Premiership match against Reading at the Maidskiet Stadium, Reading England, on Monday. Newcastle United striker Michael Owen played for the first time since the 2006 World Cup in Monday's Premier League match.
Soccer. Ooops, I just lost more than half of my readers. But those who like watching the best players in the best leagues compete against each other in the world's most popular sport should tune to ESPN's coverage of the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League semi-finals.
European soccer is an incredible spectacle. These games are exceptionally fast-paced, the passing is clean and the atmospheres are notous — literally. In the quarterfinals, Manchester United supporters had to wait an hour and a half inside of AC Roma's arena before they could leave because of threats to their safety, and they were still assaulted. Any visiting fan who traveled to Rome for a soccer game has my respect. That's dedication. These games are something any soccer fan has to watch, for the atmosphere, if nothing else.
Today begins the all-important second leg of the semi-finals, and all four teams are stacked with world-class talent who are really fun to watch. Those who watched last summer's World Cup closely will recognize most of the players.
For those unfamiliar with the rules of the Champions League, here's a brief summary. In the elimination stage, each matchup (besides the winner-take-all final) consists of two games, one home and one away. The aggregate total of goals decides who moves on, with away goals as the tie-breaker. If the number of away goals is a tie, the teams go into overtime. If overtime decides nothing, a penalty shootout will.
Last week during the semi-finals
first leg Manchester United hosted ACMilan in an absolute thriller. United was short-handed with injuries that plagued its backline, leaving the Brazilian Kala, Milan's amazing attacking midfielder, able to ravish his opponents with his power and speed.
He scored two incredible goals in the first half. One left two Manchester defenders helpless after they collided into each other in an attempt to stop kaka's breakaway.
As they converged, Kaka headed the ball through a tiny space between them, giving him a relatively easy finish once they were on the ground and embarrassed. He owned them both.
As it turned out, England's Wayne Roney scored two second-half goals — one with only seconds remaining in the match
Manchester's Christiano Ronaldo, the upstart 22-year-old superstar from Portugal, had an early first-half goal that left Milan up only 2-1 at the half. With two away goals already, Milan sat pretty. If the score remained the same, Manchester would need two away goals and a victory during the next leg to even think about advancing to the final.
Who will advance to Athens, Greece, for the final? Only time will tell. It's anybody's game.
— to lead his team to a clutch victory. Rooney's late-game heroics have forced Milan to win at home on Wednesday. If he hadn't scored, Manchester would have been in Milan's situation, forced to win in Italy in order to advance. What a difference one goal can make.
The other semi-final features two English squads: Chelsea and Liverpool. The first leg saw Chelsea victorious, as Englishman Joe Cole's goal (set up by a gorgeous run from Ivory Coast native Didier Drogbä) was the difference in the 1-0 match. They play again today at 1:30 p.m.
Without an away goal, all the pressure is on Liverpool's defense to perform at home. If Chelsea scores even once, Liverpool would need three goals to overcome the tiebreaker.
Robinettis an Austin, Texas senior in journalism.
》 NASCAR
— Edited by Darla Slipke
BY JENNA FRYER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gordon may fill void left by'The Intimidator'
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Accept it,
race fans: Dale Earnhardt and Jeff
Gordon were buddies.
The old man respected the kid and took time to help him adjust to NASCAR's politics. Earnhardt recognized Gordon as a huge talent and cherished their on-track battles, knowing each victory was a win against a driver destined to go down as one of the best.
It's fact, yet many Earnhardt fans choose to ignore it.
They pretend the two drivers were bitter rivals, two very different men with nothing in common. No matter how hard he tries or what he accomplishes, Earnhardt fans are adamant that Gordon simply does not stack up against The Intimidator.
Turns out, though, that Gordon is a whole lot more like Earnhadt than anyone imagined.
Gordon proved it Sunday with career victory No. 77, which pushed him past Earnhardt for sixth placeon
The feat was met with a shower of beer cans thrown from the stands.
NASCAR's list. It came at Taladega Superseedway, where the crowd is virtually all pro-Earnhardt, and on the day Earnhardt would have celebrated his 56th birthday.
The record book will show that Gordon took the lead with three laps to go and then won under caution during overtime. But the victory seemed destined hours earlier when he made an Earnhardtes quest in the preace drivers' meeting.
NASCAR warned the drivers that there's a fine line between skillfully bump drafting and aggressive driving. Gordon respectfully disagreed. In a room packed with his peers, he spoke with NASCAR president Mike Helton about the dangers the drivers were about to face.
"I absolutely don't think here is a fine line," he began. "We're not able to mandate it ourselves. You guys have to mandate it because we've got the adrenaline flowing. We're competitors out there trying to win. And we see one guy push another guy, it
allows us each to continue to do it more and more.
"And, yeah, obviously, you can't do it in the corners, but we still do it. Even on the straightways, it's about judging the speed and were still wrecking on the straightways. I don't think that should be happening at all. We can make a great, exciting race out there. And no offense to your warning, but when you drop the green, I guarantee we're going to be doing it."
And that, Tony Stewart, is how to make a point.
Days after Stewart exposed the sport to ridicule by comparing it to professional wrestling on his national radio show, Gordon calmly made a point to NASCAR that benefited all 43 drivers in the field.
For a guy who has resisted replacing the voice that was lost when Earnhardt died in 2001, Gordon certainly appeared a perfect fit for the role Sunday.
He insisted after his victory that too much was being made of his stand.