UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, April 9, 1997
5B
Softball games canceled
Wintry weather strikes out two doubleheaders
By Matt Woodruff
Kansan sportswriter
Perhaps the biggest obstacle in the Kansas softball team's 26-12 season has been uncooperative weather.
Cold temperatures forced the cancellation of the team's doubleheaders against Drake yesterday and Creighton today.
"The high in Omaha, Neb., was to be 32 degrees with 20
mile-per-hour wind gusts," said Kansas coach Tracy Bunge. "Since it was non-conference and didn't count in the official standings, the coaches decided it
Tracy Bunge
would be stupid to play in those conditions."
The team was scheduled to travel to Des Moines, Iowa, yesterday and to play in Omaha today. Now the team will be home until Friday, when it will leave for Stillwater, Okla., to play No. 17 Oklahoma
Coach Bunge said this was a good time to have a break, because the team has two tough conference opponents this weekend.
State on Saturday. The team will play No. 7 Oklahoma on Sunday.
"This is great timing," she said. "We still would have liked to play because there was a good possibility of us winning all four games. Obviously, that would have helped our record and regional standings."
Assistant coach Marla Looper agreed that it was a good time to have a week off from competition.
"It will give us a chance to rest up and get some people healthy," she said.
Bunge said that the worst injuries on the team were those of third
baseman Sarah McCann, who is hitting .333, and pitcher Sarah Workman, who is 19-10 with a 1.87 ERA.
"Sarah McCann's shoulder is just hanging on by a thread," Bunge said. "It's the type of injury that she's going to have to have surgery for after the season and the cold really bothers it.
"Sarah Workman had a blister that cracked and I'm really surprised that the ball wasn't covered with blood on Sunday," she said. "It has done that several times, and this week will give it some time to heal. This might actually be a blessing in disguise for us."
The team will play two doubleheaders this weekend. Both first games will start at noon.
Punk image may hamper rookie Iverson
CHICAGO — It's fashionable to tour Minnesota's Stephon Marbury, Vancouver's Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Boston's Antoine Walker for NBA Rookie of the Year honors.
The Associated Press
Philadelphia's Allen Iverson? He's a punk. A trash-talker. A ball hog. A brash kid who even dismeed Michael Jordan early this season.
He's also the best choice for top rookie. At least, that's what Jordan thinks.
"Because of the excitement that he brings, he's the leading candidate without a doubt," the Chicago Bulls star said.
Jordan even compared Iverson to himself Monday night in the closing minutes of the Bulls' 128-102 victory against the 76ers.
After Iverson sliced through four
Bulls to score two of his career-high 44 points, Jordan turned to press row and said: "Was I a one-man offense like that when I was a rookie? I just wanted to know because it was so long ago."
Jordan, the NBA's all-time leader in scoring average and the 1985 Rookie of the Year, later said he could play alongside Iverson even though each likes to look for his own shot first.
"If he's hot, we to feed it to him," Jordan said. "If we win, great. If we're losing, we're going to have to compete for those shots."
It's interesting that Jordan has so many nice things to say about Iverson because the rookie's image took a tumble early this season after the two got into a disagreement on the court. Among other things, Iverson said he didn't have to respect Jordan.
"I feel like I deserve it, and I want the
award," Iverson said.
"But ever since that incident, the media has been on me. It's like, 'He said something to Michael Jordan, so let's dog him.' If something like that can cost me the award, then the award is not worth getting."
Many voting members
of the media have said they were leaning toward Marbury, who has helped turn Minnesota from perennial doormat into a contender. Others like Abdur-Rahim or Walker.
But Iverson's 22-point average leads all first-year players by far. And he has performed under an intense spotlight because of his perceived cockiness.
Even NBA bad boys Charles Barkley and Dennis Rodman have
taken shots at Iverson, who has been called the poster child for everything that's wrong with today's young players.
"I don't care what somebody says about me off the court," Iverson said. "Those guys don't know me. They just judge me from what is in the paper and what they hear on the street. I think it's unfair, but that's life."
"At Georgetown, I was used to scoring. Whenever my team needed a basket, they went to me," he said. "Now, we've got guys like Derrick Coleman, Clarence Weatherspoon and Jerry Stackhouse. I'll keep trying to get assists, but I always look for my baskets. That's what got me into the NBA."
Iverson, similar to Jordan years ago, has been accused of being a selfish gunner. He took 32 shots Monday, making 16. He also had eight assists.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods was back home in Florida last week getting in some extra work for the Masters. He tightened up his swing for those critical iron shots at Augusta National. He dabbled with the putter to prepare himself for those treacherous greens.
The Associated Press
Tiger Woods seeks practice before challenge of Masters
During this period of self-analysis and introspection, Woods found time to play a practice round with his good friend, Mark O'Meara. When the day was done, Woods had dispensed only 59 shots to work his way around his home course.
"It was actually pretty easy," Woods said with a shrug yesterday. "I hit some bad shots, yes, but they were only tee shots, so I could salvage them."
"You know what? Physically, yes, you can do it," Woods said earnestly. "Whether it's realistic or not remains to be seen in tournament play. It all depends on if you're hot and you get all the right breaks."
Just another day at the course, another 59. And because the subject is Tiger Woods, that begs the obvious question: Can this wondrous 21-year-old, who has been to the Masters twice as an amateur, shoot such a ridiculously low score in his first appearance as a professional?
When it comes to Woods, the scope of what can and can't be done on the golf course — even a course like Augusta National, which extracted a 78 out of Greg Norman in last year's final round — has broadened considerably.
toward the latter.
"I think there's a learning curve of playing Augusta and the discipline of playing the golf course, when to hit the ball, when not, when it's great, when to make that par and walk," defending champion Nick Faldo said. "It's not impossible (for Woods to win), but I think that experience does help here."
Of course, Tiger doesn't mind being called a favorite. For him, winning is the only thing that matters each tournament, so it's quite natural that on Sunday, he expects to be wearing a green jacket, the traditional victor's attire. He's a professional now, not some schoolboy from Stanford.
"I didn't take finals last week. I didn't write papers," he said. "I was able to practice getting ready for a tournament like I normally do."
Woods made the transition to the pros with remarkable ease, though he did run into a setback during his last event, The Players Championship. Going against the strongest field he has faced since leaving college, Woods finished tied for 31st with a 1-over-par 289.
"I could feel what I was doing wrong, especially at TPC," Woods said. "So I just went back home, worked on a couple of key things that Butch (Harmon, his instructor) and I have worked on over the years, and the swing came back."
Woods is having more trouble coping with all the hoopla that goes along with being a one-man marketing and social phenomenon. Everyone wants a piece of Tiger, but there's not enough to go around.
"There were a few times when it became almost a mob scene at times," he said. "Security broke down and people were trampled. One little kid got knocked down and started crying. That's pretty scary."
Palmer leaves cancer behind and prepares for another Masters
The Associated Press
Arnie?
AUGUSTA, Ga. — He's here again, launching drives with his familiar but peculiar lurching swing.
He's hitching up his britches, signing autographs, smiling and waving, and making eye contact with the gallery.
He's brought numerous putters trying to find one that works. It doesn't matter that by all odds he shouldn't be here. At the age of 67, he still thinks he can win.
Was there ever any doubt Arnold Daniel Palmer would whip cancer and play in his 43rd consecutive Masters?
There wasn't any doubt was there.
Palmer underwent prostate cancer surgery Jan. 15. Forty-three days later, he swung a club. Almost two months later, Palmer played his first competitive round in his Bay Hill Invitational.
"I was concerned," he said. "I had time to look at some old Masters films. You can't help but think about the highlights of your life. Being here and playing is important to me."
Forget that he shot 81. What he did was shoot cancer down.
Club is an annual spring rite of renewal.
A Masters without Palmer would be unthinkable. Only Palmer thinks he can win. But just to see him play on the grounds of Augusta National Golf
He owns four Masters jackets and the hearts of the fans.
"I want to play good," he said. "My goal is to win. I never came here without that thought."
But what if he couldn't have played? What if he couldn't have strolled among the azaleas and the dogwoods?
"I would have missed the walk up No. 1 fairway," Palmer said. "I would have gone anyway and enjoyed the championship dinner."
For Palmer to have almost missed the Masters made yesterday's gal-
lieries realize what they almost missed.
They turned out by the thousands to watch him play a practice round.
Palmer invited U.S. Mid-Amateur champion John Miller, a beer salesman, to play along in his foursome with Fuzzy Zoeller and Tom Watson.
Palmer made a nice 10-footer on the ninth green and turned to the crowd and said: "Who said I can't putt? Maybe I've found it."
As he walked along the ropes fans slapped his back and shook his hand.
Later, he would confess that he and Watson skinned Zoeller and "Spider" Miller for a few bucks.
"We won a little money on ruzy and Spider," Palmer said. "I really enjoyed it. I made it all 18 holes then felt good enough to hit a bucket of balls afterward. That pleased me."
His tee shot on the devilish, Par-3 No.12 was particularly impressive.
Palmer's 8-iron over the water finished a few feet from the hole, and he made the putt for a birdie deuce.
"It reminded me of an 8-iron I hit in a playoff with Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald in 1962," Palmer said. "I had a little flashback. I hit it close and made a 2. That was 35 years ago."
And he's still hitting the same club.
"My goal is to win.I never came here without that thought."
Arnold Palmer Professional Golfer