28 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
JULY 13-JULY 19,2005
COLLEGE BASEBALL
WSU coach resigns, returns
Doug Hoke/The Oklahomaan New Oklahoma head baseball coach Gene Stephenson addresses the media July 11, in Norman, Okla. Not long after he was announced Oklahoma's new baseball coach, Stephenson decided to go back to the Wichita State Shockers.
BY JEFF LATZKE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
Gene Stephenson had the one job he'd always wanted. It lasted less than a day.
Just hours after he was introduced as Oklahoma's new baseball coach July 11, Stephenson pulled a shocking turnabout by heading back to the Wichita State program he built from the ground up.
Stephenson issued a statement through the Wichita State athletic department July 11 saying that he would return to the Shockers, who he'd led to more than 1,500 wins, 23 NCAA tournament appearances and a College World Series title in 28 seasons. He blamed "unresolvable" scholarship issues for his decision to leave Oklahoma.
"We are very appreciative for the opportunity to coach at the University of Oklahoma," Stephenson said. "... We have worked over the years at Wichita State in order to use our scholarships and to plan for the use of our future scholarships.
"As we assessed the Oklahoma baseball scholarship situation, we would be too limited in our ability to take the program in the direction that we think it should go."
Stephenson gave up the job at Oklahoma even quicker than he had taken it, only four days after he'd entered athletic director Joe Castiglione's picture as a candidate and less than 12 hours after he was introduced as the new skipper.
"Joe knows I would have liked to have had a few more days to think about it, but this program needs to move on and I felt like this was the right move," Stephenson said at a news conference July 11, where he tried on an Oklahoma jersey and cap and repeatedly fought off tears while lamenting the tough choice to leave Wichita State. "I hope it's the right time."
It turned out it wasn't.
Oklahoma officials, including
Castiglione, said Stephenson was aware of the Sooners' situation before he accepted the job
"Gene Stephenson is a very fine person and a fine coach and we have to respect his decision and move on with our selection process expeditiously." Castiglione said in a statement.
Stephenson was to replace Sunny Golloway, who took over on an interim basis when Larry Cochell resigned May 1 after using a racial slur during interviews with two ESPN reporters.
It also wasn't the first time Stephenson, a Sooners assistant from 1972 to 1977, was considered a candidate at Oklahoma. Stephenson was up for the job in 1990, after he had led Wichita State to the College World Series title, but he stayed with the Shockers.
At his introduction July 11, Stephenson called the Oklahoma job "la lifelong dream" and proclaimed that the Sooners could do all he'd done at Wichita State and more.
COLUMN
Gamblers test their luck in World Poker
BY TIM DAHLBERG
AP SPORTS COLUMNIST
LAS VEGAS — Elvis was in the building, though the King would have been horrified to have this kind of entourage in his prime. There were cheerleaders, too, 10 in all, dressed in little black skirts and plunging orange tops.
This week the Rio hotel-casino, a carnival-themed resort, is in the midst of hosting a real car
nival called the World Series of Poker, the richest poker tournament ever. Here, the believers are all trying to cash in on the pokercraze in one way or another.
Some lucky — and, yes, most of it is luck — player will walk away next week with more than $7 million for outlasting some 6,000 others in a tournament that owes much of its popularity to online gambling sites of dubious legality and reality television.
Eight or nine others at the final
table will earn at least $1 million.
That's 10 people. Left unsaid is that everyone else will be donating their $10,000 buy-in.
The eventual champion may be an old pro like Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson or have a good nickname like Jesus or Fossilman. Better yet, he may be an online player who doesn't need a nickname like Chris Moneymaker, an accountant who invested 40 bucks in an Internet tournament two years ago and
No matter how much players try to convince themselves otherwise, winning at Texas Hold 'Em really is mostly luck.
They're crafty, quick thinkers playing for big money.
won $2.5 million.
"I'd say it's 98 percent luck and a half percent skill," said Walter Clyde
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press.
ROYAL RESULTS
At the All-Star break the Royals were still in the cellar of the American League Central division with a .345 winning percentage.
Team W L PCT. GB
White Sox 57 29 .663 -
Twins 48 38 .558 - 9.
Indians 47 41 .534 11.0.
Tigers 42 44 .488 15.0.
Royals 30 57 .345 27.5
Recent results
Royals vs. Angels
July 1 — Loss 0-5
July 2 — Loss 3-5
July 3 — Loss 0-5
Royals at Mariners
July 4 — Loss 0-6
July 5 — Win 8-6
July 6 — Win 5-1
Royals at Twins
July 7 — Win 8-5
July 8 — Loss 4-5
July 9 — Win 12-8
July 10 — Loss 2-3
Upcoming games
Upcoming games
Royals at Tigers
July 14, 6:05 p.m.
July 15, 6:05 p.m.
July 16, 6:05 p.m.
July 17, 12:05 p.m.
Royals vs. White Sox
July 25, 7:10 p.m.
July 26, 7:10 p.m.
July 27, 1:10 p.m.
Royals at Indians
July 18, 6:05 p.m.
July 19, 6:05 p.m.
July 20, 6:05 p.m.
July 21, 11:05 a.m.
Royals vs. Blue Jays
July 22, 7:10 p.m.
July 23, 6:10 p.m.
July 24, 1:10 p.m.
Source: kcroyals.com
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