2B
SPORTS TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I never keep a scorecard or the batting averages. I hate statistics. What I got to know, I keep in my head."
— Dizzy Dean, the last national league pitcher to win 30 games
FACT OF THE DAY
With 43 RBI, Jimmy Waters ranks third in the Big 12 conference, behind Adam Bailey of Nebraska and Scott LeJeune of Texas Tech.
Big 12 Sports
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Where does second baseman Robby Price rank among the conference in batting average?
A: Tied for sixth. Price is batting .382 in 144 at bats. He has the most runs scored for anyone in the top 15 batting average leaders.
Big 12 Sports
SCORES
NBA Basketball:
NBA Basketball:
Chicago 102, Cleveland 112
Cleveland leads series 1-0
Utah, Denver — LATE
Denver leads series 1-0
MLB Baseball:
MLB Baseball:
Tampa Bay 2, Boston 8
Colorado 2, Washington 5
Chicago (NL) 1, New York (NL) 6
St. Louis, Arizona — LATE
Detroit, Los Angeles (AL)
San Francisco, San Diego — LATE
Baltimore, Seattle — LATE
NHL Hockey:
Buffalo 1, Boston 2
Series tied at 1-1
Washington 5, Montreal 1 Series tied at 1-1
Vancouver, Los Angeles — LATE Series tied at 1-1
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Meier's brother dies in hiking accident
Dylan Meier, former Kansas State quarterback and brother of former Kansas wide receiver Kerry Meier, has reportedly died in a hiking accident.
GoPowercat.com broke the story Monday night. Dylan, 26, was believed to be with his family, including his brothers Kerry and Shad.
The website also reported that Kansas State is not confirming this information.
Dylan played at Kansas State from 2003-2006. Kerry is preparing for the NFL Draft on Thursday Both are from Pittsburg.
Clark Goble
National Champ of baristas
MORNING BREW
For the second year in a row, Mike Phillips of Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago has been crowned the best barista in America.
Oh what, you didn't know that there was such a thing as a barista competition? You thought that any old fast food hack could step behind a coffee bar and steam milk to a velvety sheen? Maybe you even thought that "coffee just tastes like coffee."
For those of you mired in such ignorance, I offer a brief education.
The United States Barista Championship is put on every year by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. It pits competitors from each of the SCAAs 10 geographical regions against one another (all of whom have earned this right by strong showings in smaller regional contests) to decide who will represent the United States at the World Championships.
In short, they are allotted 15 minutes to prepare and serve drinks to seven judges. Think Iron Chef, only with coffee instead of food, and a distinct lack of dubbed dialogue.
So what, exactly, does a barista have to do in such a competition?
The competitors must serve each judge an espresso, a cappuccino and a signature drink.
Sounds simple enough. So what are
BY ALEX BEECHER abeecher@kansan.com
these judges looking for?
First of all, they grade the competitors on the cleanliness and neatness of their work station, both before and after the performance.
But the drinks really are the focus. The espresso is graded on both its taste and body. That is, how it balances different flavors and how it feels in the mouth.
A good espresso should begin with a caramel-esque sweet top layer called crema, then follow with a bite that is just on the pleasant side of bitter. This feeling should linger.
Next up is the capuccino, which is nothing like the drinks you get from gas station machines claiming to offer them. It is one shot of espresso served in six ounces of milk. If steamed properly, this milk should be both creamy and light — with no arid bubbles or textureless hot milk.
The final challenge facing the would be barista champion is the signature
drink, which is a challenge of their own design. The only requirements are that it be a drink, and that no alcohol be used. At this stage, competitors let their culinary imagination run wild, doing things like serving the crema of an espresso on seltzer water. Of course, whatever they come up with, the judges will end up drinking it — so it better taste good too.
At the end of all this, the scores are added up, and a champion is named.
TUESDAY YOUTUBE SESH
As much as I might try, there's nothing I can say that will illustrate the skill that champion baristas possess quite as well as a quick YouTube search for the term "latte art" will. Yes, people can draw that in coffee.
- Edited by Cory Bunting
Draft expands from two days to three
NFL
Insiders express mixed feelings about change
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
the new for-
mat that will
spread
the draft's seven
rounds over
three days.
"It just gives us more time to overanalyze what we have already overanalyzed, basically," Reese said.
the first time in history, they get not one, but two overnight breaks during the draft, which, also for the first time in history, will feature the first three rounds in prime time.
The first round will be conducted on Thursday evening. Then everybody will theoretically go to bed, wake up, have breakfast, drive the kids to school, spend some quality time with Mrs. Coach/GM, then go back to
"It just gives us more time to overanalyze what we have already overanalzyed, basically."
JERRY REESE New York Giants general manager
Nobody does overanalysis better than the NFL. It spends millions of dollars and countless man hours scouting prospects, then allows itself to be swayed by how a kid looks without a shirt on or how many times he bench-presses 225 pounds at his Pro Day workout.
The NFL is the only league where coaches feel the need to work 18-hour days and sleep on their office couch preparing for a game, then lose track of how many timeouts they've got left or what down it is.
This week, Reese and the rest of the league's GMs and coaches will have another golden opportunity to overanalyze when, for
the office and start planning for the second and third rounds, which will be held Friday evening. Then, another overnight break before completing the final four
rounds on Saturday
The obvious motivation for spreading the draft over three days and conducting the first three rounds in prime time is to get even more eyeballs watching what already has become the second biggest event on the Goodellian calendar to the Super Bowl.
Opinions around the league on the new format are mixed. Some are intrigued by the overnight break after the first round and think it will give teams an opportunity to recalibrate their draft boards and plot a better second-round strategy. Others, like Reese, think it will just give teams more time to screw up.
"Instead of rolling into the
second round like we usually do, we'll have a lot of time on our hands to sit there and look and say. I can't believe that so-and-so is still on the board right now," Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said. "There's probably going to be a couple of those players for each team.
"I think we're all going to be sitting there looking at that late that first night, saying, 'Is this something that we want to consider doing because we can't believe that guy is still on the board?' I think time is always something that makes people think a little bit more about what's left. There are quite a few teams, including us, that have multiple second-round selections. So it will be interesting to see what happens and how flexible other people want to be as far as moving down or moving up."
The Broncos are one of five teams with multiple picks in the second round (Nos. 43, 45). The other four are the Patriots, who have three (Nos. 44, 47, 53); the
It is inevitable that there will be at least a few of those "I can't believe he's
Certainly, you would think the Rams and the Lions, who own the first two picks in the second round, will be getting a lot of phone calls on Friday. But will the overnight break really prompt any more second-round trades than last year when there were seven different deals made in the second round on draft day?
"Normally, when guys have a lot of time at the end of the first day of the draft, they'll go back and have a meeting, take a look at what happened, and see what they can do to climb up in the next round and get back in it," said former Raiders and Bucs coach and current ESPN "Monday Night Football" analyst Jon Gruden. "I think you'll see a little bit more aggressiveness, possibly more trades, at the start of the second and third day."
still on the board" players still unclaimed after Thursday night's first round, particularly if the Raiders' Al Davis does his traditional swan dive into the insanity pool and drafts a 13-year-old middle school spinner or something just as idiotic.
"I think you'll see a little bit more aggressiveness, possibly more trades..."
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Last year, when the second day of the draft began with the third round, the jets traded up to the top of the third round and grabbed Iowa running back Shonn Greene. Turned out to
more splash less cash
Eagles (Nos,
37, 55); the
Bucs (Nos. 35,
42); and the
Chiefs (Nos.
36, 50).
JON GRUDEN ESPN football analyst
With a night to think about those gems still available at the top of the second round, will it spawn a flurry of trade-ups? We'll see.
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"It'll be interesting to see what happens in the second round," said Patriots coach Bill Belichick. "I can see it being approached more like the first round. In the past, you kind of rolled into that round. Now, to actually stop and have the whole night to sit there and think about it and talk to other teams and develop a new strategy, everybody did that in the past after the second round."
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY No events scheduled
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
Baseball
vs. Missouri at Kauffman
Stadium, Kansas City,
Mo., 7 p.m.
THURSDAY
Track & Field
at Drake Relays/Penn
Relays, TBA
Softball at Nebraska, 5 p.m.
FRIDAY
Tennis vs. Texas Tech, 2 p.m.
Women's golf
at Big 12
Championships,
Norman, Okla., all day
Baseball vs. Texas Tech, 7 p.m.
Men's Golf
at Big 12
Championship, Trinity,
Texas, all day
Track & Field
at Drake Relays/Penn
Relays, TBA
SATURDAY
Women's soccer at Minnesota, 11:15 a.m.
Football at Spring Game, 1 p.m.
Women's soccer
vs. Iowa in Minneapolis,
Minn., 2 p.m.
Baseball vs. Texas Tech, 6 p.m.
Women's golf at Big 12
Championships,
Norman, Okla., TBA
Women's rowing at Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn. TBA
Softball vs. Texas Tech, 6 p.m.
Men's golf
at Big 12
championships, Trinity,
Texas, TBA
Women's tennis at Minnesota, 11:15 a.m.
Baseball vs. Texas Tech, 1 p.m.
Softball vs. Texas Tech, 12 p.m.
SUNDAY
Men's golf
at Big 12
championships, Trinity,
Texas, TBA
NFL
Women's golf at Big 12 Championships, Norman, Okla., TBA
Drafting styles create differences
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
In the weeks leading up the NFL Draft, and especially on the three days teams make their selections this week, most coaching staffs and scouting departments will have many disagreements.
There are usually two camps debating — and sometimes arguing about the best way to build a team during draft meetings.
"Coaches think about immediacy. General managers and scouting departments are looking long term," Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. "Coaches don't look
long term because long term can get you fired."
The coaches, who are responsible for developing talent and winning on Sundays, usually want to address position needs because their job security is at stake. By that line of thinking, the Miami Dolphins should make selecting a nose tackle, pass-rushing linebacker and free safety their highest priorities.
Executives and their scouts, who are responsible for building the team's talent base, are usually thinking long term, fortifying the foundation by drafting the best
Most NFL teams believe the best way is an approach that encompasses both strategies. But a marriage of those two philosophies — need-based and best player available — is a difficult balancing act
player available and thinking two to three years ahead.
"It's best to evaluate players on their merit." Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "But if you already have a quarterback and you need a running back, does it make any sense to stack the quarterback above the running back if they have similar grades."
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