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SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY. MAY 3. 1995
Punk writer says 'bye
If you liked it, thanks;
if you didn't, tough ass
To whom it may concern:
There will be no more PowerBar columns. I will no longer confess that I like Jerod Haase. My stint as sports columnist and sports editor is done. But I will take a great amount of knowledge with me from my two years on the sports desk — things I didn't
SECTION B
know and things I didn't want to know.
I realized that Roy Williams is a great basketball coach, but he is not God.
He is subject to the same pressures as any other major college coach and sometimes does things that the media and those outside of athletics don't like.
As a sportswriter, images of athletes and coaches sometimes are shattered. Athletics is not always like the Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial where the football player gives up his jersey for a fan. Hell, sometimes athletes won't even give up five minutes for a reporter, even one from a tame college paper that never had the balls to be nasty.
People don't have to look in awe at Woodberry and other basketball players. They could hate or scorn them. And players always should remember that the admiration and fame that they receive is not a right, it is a privilege. That means returning the admiration back to the public—the ones that blindly cheer and give energy to a team down 10 points, whether the 'Hawks have lost one or 21 in a row.
Kansas junior pitcher Clay Baird delivers a pitch against Missouri. Baird started the game but didn't last through the second inning. Kansas senior Dan Rude picked up the victory.
I realized that the real heroes and superstars are not the high-profile student-athletes. Rather, it is the student-athletes with partial scholarships who demand and deserve our respect.
I don't think he is obligated to do it because of his scholarship. However, he does owe it to his admirers to at least sign an autograph or two and maybe give a reporter three minutes of his time.
They have no fame, few see them perform and still fewer know their names. And yet, these athletes always are willing to sign a program or answer a few quick questions.
These athletes put as much time and hard work into their sports as any football or basketball player, but they receive none of the benefits.
I realized that athletes are not always what they seem on the court or field.
I realized the large amount of money this University makes from athletics and how crudely unfair it is to the student-athlete who sees none of the navback.
Sure, many say that the full scholarship is payment enough, and maybe it should be in an idealistic world. But aside from financial compensation, something is wrong about the current exploitation of student-athletes as money-making bystanders. The business-like attitude in revenue-producing sports makes me sick and angry.
Athletes, remember where your admiration and school pride come from, because there will come a time when it is not there for you.
Stayin' alive: Kansas holds that Tiger
Sure, former Jayhawk guard Steve Woodberry was a great — no, an unbelievable — player on the court last year. He generally was unapproachable to fans or the media. He was shy, but that was no excuse. He didn't want to deal with the media and chose not to. This is not sour grapes for being unable to interview him.
And finally, I learned that for highprofile Division I sports, college newspapers take a backseat.
Even the Kansan, an award-winning paper, must bow down to the bigwigs that come into Allen Field
Kansas IP H R ER BB SC
Baird 1.2 4 6 6 5 1
Rude 5.0 1 1 1 7 7
Keens 2.1 4 1 2 1 3
Milesour IP H R ER BB SC
Guliani 3.0 9 9 7 2 1
Lindstrom 1.2 3 3 .0 1 2
Hunt 2.2 4 1 1 1 2
See BYE-BYE, Page 2B.
Lindstrom 2, Nivens, DeMarco 2, Meadow
E DP Missouri 1, LDB Kansas 8, Missouri
15-28 Chamberlain, Byrd, DeMarco,
26, Chamberlain, 2, Kiner 28, Terrell,
DeMarco
Kansas outfielder Isaac Byrd slides safely into third base as Kansas coach Dave Bingham looks on. Kansas beat Missouri 13-9.
Sean R. Crosier / KANSAN
TIGERS (17-31) ab r h rbl
2b Niyens 5 0 0 0
of Fullerton 3 3 0 0
1b White 5 2 2 1
c Buchman 4 0 1 2
dh Chamberlain 5 2 2 0
if Terrell 4 1 2 2
rt Fry 4 1 2 1
rf Soymour 1 0 1 0
3b Jongensen 3 0 0 1
sa Tyson 2 0 0 0
ph/ss Towne 2 1 1 0
Totals 36 9 9 7
MAWKS (19-31) ab r h rb l
sa DeMerco 4 3 2 0
2b Kilner 5 2 2 2
cf Byrd 5 2 1 2
dh English 5 1 1 0
rf Igou 5 2 1 1
3b Wilhelm 5 1 2 1
1b Headley 5 1 2 1
if Tuney 5 0 1 2
c Wiltim 3 1 1 0
ph Dimmck 1 0 0 0
c Meadows 0 0 0 0
Totals 41 13 16 9
Kansas 13, Missouri 9
With no time to talk postseason in reach
By Tom Erickson
Kansan sportswriter
One down. one to go.
Kansas still controls its own postseason destiny following a 13-9 victory against Missouri last night at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
The Jayhawks, 19-31 overall and 1-9 in the Big Eight Conference, can clinch sixth place and a trip to the conference tournament in Oklahoma City with a victory in the second game at 3 this afternoon.
If the Tigers (17-31, 5-17) manage a victory, then Kansas will need help from Iowa State to make the tournament.
Missouri will conclude its Big Eight schedule with five games against the Cyclones, and with a victory today would need to win four of those games to finish sixth.
But the Tigers weren't about to hand the first game away.
Missouri scored four times in the first inning off Kansas junior starter Clair Baye. The Jayhawks stormed right back with four runs of their own to tie the game.
Missouri then added two more runs in the second inning to take a 6-4 lead. Kansas coach Dave Bingham then brought in senior pitcher Dan Rude (4-2) to relieve Baird, who walked five batters in 1 2/3 innings.
"I felt like we needed to have one to stay alive," he said. "We got the game we needed tonight, and hopefully we can get the second one tomorrow.
Rude responded well, allowing one run
Rude then got into trouble in the seventh inning and was replaced with freshman Robert Keens, who struck out three and earned his fourth save.
on one hit in five innings. The righthander struck out seven, though he also walked seven.
Bingham said getting the first win in the series was important.
The game was put out of reach when the Jayhawks scored four in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth to take a 12-6 lead
"Coming out of the bullpen, you have to inherit the situation that the last guy set up," Rude said. "Having the game tied back up at four means a lot, though, because you get to start the ballgame over. To have them come out and do that was a real pick-me-up."
While Rude shut the Tigers down, Kansas added two runs in the third inning, tying the game again at six.
Igou gets 200th hit gaining confidence
By Jenn Carson Kansan sportswriter
Josh Igou and the Kansas baseball team still have some fight left.
Last night the Jayhawks defeated the Missouri Tigers 13-9, and a victory today would clinch a Big Eight Conference tournament spot.
"We're a lot more relaxed, and it shows," Igou said. "If I can just uphold my part, then everybody else will try to do their part."
Igou definitely did his part against the Tigers.
He was 4-for-5, and his second hit marked the 200th of his career. The senior right fielder became the sixth Jajawk to surpass that milestone. Igou's teammate, senior Brent Wilhelm, recorded his 200th hit earlier this season.
"That's a pretty good thing to say I've done in my four years here." Igou said.
During his career, Igou said three hits particularly stuck out in his mind: his first hit, and two in the Jayhawks' regional victory against Ohio State last season in which he hit a home run from each side of the plate.
But Igou has slumped at the plate this year. His average has hovered around .200 throughout most of the season.
Relaxing as of late has built Igou's confidence at the
olate. His average has improved to .280.
"He has been really hot lately," Kansas coach Dave Bingham said. "It's been a tough year for Josh. But he looks confident at the plate."
Igou's batting improvement has led Bingham to move him up in the batting order. He batted fifth last night, following Isaac Byrd and Brandon English.
"I like batting behind those guys," Igou said. "And plus, with Brent Wilhelm behind me, they're throwing me better pitches."
Robert Moczydlowsky / KANSAN
Kansas men's tennis coach Michael Center instructs senior Manny Ortiz and Junior Victor Fimbres between games at the Big Eight tournament.
Tennis readies for postseason
Men regionals-bound; women hope for best
By Robert Moczydlowsky Kansan sportswriter
The class is National Title 101, and the No. 20 Jayhawks have been busy studying. They'll get their chance to show what they've learned Saturday, when they will be the host team for the Region V NCAA Qualifying tournament at the Allen Field House courts.
It's final exam time for the Kansas men's tennis team.
The winner of each Regional tournament is awarded an invitation to the NCAA Team Championships held May 13-21, in Athens, Ga.
The six-team Region V field features Kansas, No. 21 Arizona State, Colorado, Oklahoma, Tulsa and Indiana State. Arizona State, a team that boasts national No. 1 Sargis Sargisian, has been awarded the tournament's No.1 seed.
"Right now we don't really have a specific game plan," Kansas sophomore Tim Radogna said. "We just plan to play with a lot of confidence and fight as hard as we can."
Kansas' road to the regional final starts at 2 p.m. Saturday when it will
16
A potential battle with No. 1 Sargesian and the top-seeded Sun Devils has the Jayhawks excited.
face the winner of Friday's Tulsa vs. Indiana State match. Arizona State will play the Oklahoma vs. Colorado winner Saturday morning. The final will be at 1 p.m. Sunday.
"The committee decided that they would be No. 16 and we were No. 17," Radogna said, referring to the national seedings. "That makes us want to play well and face the higher-seeded team. Arizona State was the school I considered before Kansas, so personally, I have something to prove to their coach."
If the lineup remains unchanged, freshman Enrique Abaroa will battle Sargisian at the No. 1 singles spot.
The Jayhawks finished the season with a conference title and an overall record of 18-11. But tough road losses to top 25 competition will likely cost the team an NCAA bid.
"Right now I'm very envious of the
For the No. 27-ranked women's team, the post-season has brought sighs of disappointment and questions of what could've been. The women's tournament does not have regional qualifying, thus regular season records become yardsticks of tournament worth.
Merzbacher won't stay down for long. He will lose just one senior from this year's squad, No. 11 Nora Koves, and he has signed Kris Cell, a No. 59-ranked junior player from Morrisstown, N.J.
men's regionalization." Kansas women's coach Chuck Merbacher said. "Regionalization rewards the teams that are playing well at the end of the season. If we had a regional system, I'd say we would be right in it. But you have to qualify by the standards and rules that we have now."
"We have the depth, and we have the talent," Mierzbacher said. "What we need to do is make some adjustments in our games and in our attitudes that will allow us to continue to be an elite tennis program."
In the postseason Big Eight Conference awards, several Jayhawks were honored. Men's coach Michael Center again was named Coach of the Year, and Enrique Abaroa won the league's Newcomer of the Year award. Reid Slattery and Victor Fimbres were named to the All-Conference team.
For the women's team, Koves was named Player of the Year and All Conference. Sophomore Jenny Atkerson joined Koves on the All-Conference team.