monday, april 26, 2004
the university daily kansan
news
7A
Manning becomes a Giant after NFL draft maneuvering
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — After a tense hour in which Eli Manning was a prospective law student, the NFLs first family of quarterbacks got what it wanted.
Fli is a New York Giant.
In one of the more bizarre first hours in recent NFL draft history, Manning was taken with the first pick Saturday by the San Diego Chargers, for whom he announced he wouldn't play.
Manning then appeared on the stage at The Theatre of Madison Square Garden with his parents, Archie and Olivia, looking as glum as any No.1 pick ever has as commissioner Paul Tagliabue held up a Chargers jersey with "17" on it. He didn't put on the Chargers hat and boos cascaded down from the galleries.
An hour later, as Manning walked away from the podium at a press conference in which he insisted he would go to law school, someone rushed into the room to say the Giants just obtained him for another quarterback, Philip Rivers, whom they had taken with the fourth overall pick.
"I'm a lot happier now than I was 10 minutes ago," Manning
said, jumping back on the podium. He then returned to the main room for a much happier picture, this one including brother Peyton and agent Tom Condon, the man behind the maneuvering.
With the second pick, Oakland took offensive tackle Robert Gallery of Iowa, and with the third Arizona chose wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh, a ball boy for Cardinals coach Dennis Green when he coached in Minnesota.
Washington then chose safety Sean Taylor of Miami, the first of six Hurricanes taken in the opening round, a record.
Cleveland paid a high price simply to move up one spot for Miami tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. Detroit got the Browns' firstround pick and their second.
The Lions then took Texas wide receiver Roy Williams, who like Taylor and Winslow ranked as players with long-term star potential. And they used a second-round pick to move up late in the first to choose Kevin Jones of Virginia Tech, considered by some the best running back in the draft.
Browns coach Butch Davis said of the deal that brought him Winslow, whom he recruited for Miami. "He's going to bring a lot of energy and help this offense. He's lightning rod."
"We felt the second round was a pretty good price to pay."
Five wide receivers went in the first 15 picks and six players from Miami in the first 21: Taylor, Winslow; linebackers Jonathan Vilma by the New York Jets and D.J. Williams by Denver; guard Vernon Carey by Miami and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork by New England.
The Miami picks broke a record for most selections from one school in the entire first round, set by Southern California in 1968 and tied by the Hurricanes in 2002.
The seven wide receivers chosen in the first round set a draft record.
The Giants seemed delighted, implying that Eli could be as good as Peyton, the NFL's co-MVP last season for Indianapolis.
"we all had the unanimous opinion this was a special quarterback," general manager Ernie Accorsi said. "And you don't get a
chance very many times, for decades, to select someone like him."
But the Chargers made out wonderfully.
Not only did they get Rivers, who completed 72 percent of his passes last season at North Carolina State, but they also got the Giants' third-round pick this year and their first and fifth next season.
son.
The third quarterback considered on a par with Manning and Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger of Miami of Ohio, ended up going to Pittsburgh with the 11th overall choice.
"We selected Eli and we were prepared to deal with that." San Diego general manager A.J. Smith said, bringing up the comparison to John Elway, who in 1983 forced a trade to Denver after being chosen by Baltimore with the first pick. "When the New York Giants selected Philip Rivers, some dialogue took place: Let's just leave it at that. Obviously we know how materialized."
ized.
One startling deal was Buffalo acquiring Dallas' first-round pick, 22nd overall, to take the fourth quarterback of the round.
J. P. Losman of Tulane. In return, the Bills surrendered their first-round pick next year and a second and fifth-round this year.
Like the Giants and Brown in their deals, the Bills gave up more than the going rate hoping for a player who will have a huge impact.
Philadelphia moved up 12 spots to 16 to take offensive tackle Shawn Andrews of Arkansas, who is even bigger than coach Andy Reid.
Andrews has weighed as much as 400 pounds and is now listed at 366.
Minnesota and Miami swapped picks at 19 and 20, the Dolphins moving up one spot to take Carey and the Vikings choosing Southern Cal defensive end Kenechi Udeze with the next choice.
Then ST. Louis moved up two spots to take running back Steven Jackson of Oregon State, dealing their own pick at 26 to Cincinnati. The Bengals chose Michigan running back Chris Perry with that choice.
Houston acquired the 27th overall pick from Tennessee and used it to take defensive end Jason Babin of Western Michigan. In return, the Titans got Hou-
stom's second, third, and fourth- round picks.
In a deep draft, the second round was full of players who might normally be first-rounders
One team that might have been hurt by a trade was Dallas, which coveted defensive tackle Igor Olshansky of Oregon. He was gone to San Diego, however, when the Cowboys made their pick — running back Julius Jones of Notre Dame, who has speed but might not be the durable back the Cowboys need.
Before the start of the draft,
Tagilabue paid tribute to Pat Tillman,
the former Arizona Cardinals safety who gave up his NFL career to serve as an Army Ranger and was killed last week in Afghanistan.
"Pat Tillman personified the best values of America and of the National Football League."Tagliabue said, flanked by five Marines. "Like other men and women protecting our freedom around the globe, he made the ultimate sacrifice and gave his life for his country."
A moment of silence then was held in Tillman's honor, after which the crowd at Madison Square Garden chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A."
Leah Mountain, senior firstbaseman, tags out Oklahoma's Kristin Veseley at first base after grounding a short hit. The game concluded in a Jayhawk defeat of 10-1
SOFTBALL: Pitching problems bring two game loss
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
That quiet has been erased lately, as she has gotten hits in each of the last four games, including runs in two.
In Saturday's game one, Kansas notched five hits but was unable to produce more than one run. That one run came on a line-driven horse to left field by sophomore left fielder Heather Stanley. Stanley had not hit a homer this season until that game.
If game one had a bright spot, it was the pitching of sophomore Serena Settlemier. Senior Kara Pierce started the game, however, and after allowing six hits and nine runs, Bunge made the decision to go with Settlemier.
In practice Friday, Settlemier
pitched to batters in warm-up.
"I thought she did a solid job coming in relief." Bunge said.
In 2.1 innings of work, Settlemier gave up just one run on one hit in what was one of Settlemier's strongest outings of the season.
Kansas 'record has now fallen to 27-25-1 and just 3-10 in the Big 12 Conference, while Oklahoma has climbed to 35-16-1 and 9-6 in conference play.
The Jayhawks will next be in action on Wednesday when they will face the Cornhuskers at Nebraska. The teams have met three times this season, with Nebraska leading the season series 2-1. Last time, Nebraska won 3-0 in a game that was ended because of darkness.
Edited by Meghan Brune
Rain suspends play at Houston Open
The Associated Press
HUMBLE, Texas — Vijay Singh chipped in for eagle just before play was suspended yesterday to move into a three-way tie for the lead at the rain-delayed Houston Open.
He was tied with John Huston and Joe Ogilvie at 7 under when play was halted yet again at the Redstone Golf Club. The tournament was interrupted by bad weather for the third straight day. PGA Tour officials hoped to complete all 72 holes today, when more favorable weather is forecast.
"It finally got to a point late in the afternoon where the golf course, the fairways just were under water." said PGA Tour tournament director Mark Russell.
Only 15 players completed their third round, which had been halted by thunderstorms on Saturday.
Rory Sabbatini shot a 3-under 69 and D.J. Brigman had a 70 and were the leaders in the clubhouse after three rounds with a 3-under 213.
Singh continued his rebound from an opening 2-over 74. His second-round 66 matched the low round of the tournament and was the best of the second round. He had eight pars to open the third
But 14 other players still on the course, led by Huston, Ogilvie and Singh, had better scores midway through their rounds when play was suspended. Huston and Ogilvie had three holes remaining in their third round. Singh had just made eagle at No. 12 when play was stopped.
round before making a birdie at No. 9. He eagled the par-5 12th hole by chipping in from 88 feet.
Singh, who won earlier this year at Pebble Beach, won the Houston event two years ago.
Argentina's Jose Coceres, Patrick Sheehan and Australia's Geoff Ogilvy were another shot back at 6 under. Mark Calcavechia and Dudley Hart were at 5 under. John Daly, at 5 under for the round through 10 holes, was in a group at 4 under for the tournament.
"Nobody likes sitting around, but at least we got in a few more holes than I think we expected to," said the 42-year-old Huston, who won last fall at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic for his 7th victory on the tour.
Ogilvie started the back nine with three straight birdies to move into contention. He moved into a tie for the lead with another birdie at No. 15.
"We've got 21-odd holes tomorrow," Ogilvie said. "We'll see what happens."
The 50-year-old Ogilvie had two wins and was second on the money list last year on the Nationwide Tour. He's 147th in earnings on the PGA Tour so far this year, with his best finish a tie for 30th at the Bob Hope.
This tournament, first played in 1946, making it the 10th-oldest on the PGA Tour, last finished on a Monday in 1972, when Bruce Devlin collected the $25,000 first price. This year's winner gets $900,000.
The last time a tour event finished on a Monday was in September at the John Deere Classic in Illinois.
Four-run 3rd inning all Twins need for victory
Twins' third baseman Corey Koskie makes the stop and then throws out Baltimore's Jay Gibbons at first base in the first inning of their game at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Aug. 6, 2003.
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Torii Hunter is used to covering centerfield for the Minnesota Twins, not starting as the designated hitter.
"This is the worst job a man can have—DH," said Hunter, who was out since April 7 with a strained right hamstring. "I don't want to do it again, though I think I'll have to do it tomorrow. You hit a home run and you have to do it the next day."
But that was his assignment yesterday, his first game back from an injury, and Hunter came through big, hitting a three-run home run in Minnesota's 4-2 victory against the Kansas City Royals.
"I didn't want to be too anxious coming off the disabled list. You want to hit a five-run home run with nobody on."
In his second at-bat, Hunter hit a 1-2 pitch off Brian Anderson 390 feet over the left-field fence to a four-run third inning.
"Toril brings a lot to the table, not just as a player but as a person. He did what stars are supposed to do," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.
The Twins scored all their runs in the third inning with two outs. Lew Ford walked and advanced to second on Jose Offerman's single. Corey Koskie followed with an RBI single to center, and Hunter capped the rally with his first homer of the season.
"It was just far enough away, and he's a guy who's off the plate anyway." Anderson said. "Giving up four runs when you have two outs and nobody on is a killer. You just can't let that inning get away from you. It's just inexcusable."
Anderson allowed four runs and nine hits in 7.2-3 innings, walking one and hitting another batter. He struck out one.
Carlos Silva gave up one run and nine hits in seven innings. He struck out two and walked none, and lowered his ERA from 5.82 to 4.50.
"I felt good," Silva said. "I got a couple of double plays that helped us out."
With the Twins up 4-1, he worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam with one out in the fourth by getting David Dejesus to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.
I. C. Romero pitched the eighth
but was removed after walking Matt Stairs to lead off the ninth.
Joe Nathan entered and got an out before loading the bases by hitting Aa on Guiel with a pitch and giving up a single to DeJesus.
Nathan then walked Mendy Lopez to make it 4-2 before inducing Joe Randa to foul out to the catcher and striking out Tony Graffanino for his sixth save.
you're going to have to see with Graffano up, you had (Carlos) Beltran on deck," Gardenhire said. "That wasn't very pretty. If he had faced Beltran, I was just going to take off."
"That's as much pressure as
In the top of the sixth third baseman Travis Metcalf hit his team leading 16th home run of the season to extend the lead to 5-1.
BASEBALL:
Jayhawks lose after Bears score 3 in the eighth
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12A
Kansas scored three runs in the top of the fifth with RBI for Matt Baty and a two run home run for Sean Richardson to take a 4-1 lead.
Baylor tied the game in the bottom half of the inning as the Bears scored four runs on Knippschild.
The 'Hawks took the lead back in the top of the eighth with an RBI triple from senior Matt Tribble and another RBI from Metcalf.
This gave the Hawks a 7-5 lead going into the bottom of the inning where the Bears scored three runs to take the victory.
Kansas will take on Southwest Missouri State on Wednesday in Springfield, Mo.
Edited by Cindy Yeo