THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
TUESDAY, MAY 2, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
▼ HORN BORN. 'HAWK BRED | ▼ BASERA11
PAGE 12A
Gordon goofed when he left early
TRAVIS ROBINETT
trobinett@kansan.com
Shockingly, not a single member of Kansas' dominant defense was drafted last weekend in the NFL Draft. Not Big 12 Defensive player of the year Nick Reid, not super athlete Charlton Keith, and the most surprising name not called was Char-les Gor-don.
Gordon left school after his
Gordon tel junior year with plans to play at the next level, only to go undrafted and sign as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings. His future has no guarantees now.
Senior shortstop Ritchie Price waits to tag out Oklahoma sophomore Aaron Reza as Reza tries to steal base in the sixth inning at Hoglund Ballpark on April 12. Price and the Jayhawks will take on St. Mary (Kan.) at 7 tonight at Hoglund Ballpark.
He was a star in college and should have milked that stardom for all it was worth.
As a KU
As a KU fan favorite, Gordon could have stayed at Kansas and heard his name chanted from the student section in Memorial Stadium on Saturday. He was a star in college and should have milked that stardom for all it was worth.
NFL.com agreed when it wrote in his scouting report, "Gordon is a player who came out early for the 2006 NFL Draft, but would have been better suited to stay at Kansas for his senior season because he has yet to prove he can consistently produce at the level he is capable of."
NFL.com's main problem with Gordon is that inconsistency. The Web site pointed out that, defensively, his backpedal was raw, which hindered his ability to transition out of it quickly and stay with opposing receivers.
"More than anything." the site wrote, "he does not stay focused and use good technique/footwork, which leads to him allowing catches way too often."
After reading this, I wondered why Gordon left in the first place. Shouldn't he have wanted to sure up his cornerback skills with one more year of college competition?
But come on. Couldn't he have reasoned with Kansas coach Mark Mangino? I'm sure Mangino would have wanted to do the best thing for Gordon's future by letting him play cornerback full time. Kansas' defense could have used his experience after losing seven seniors including starting cornerback Theo Baines. Mangino would have had to be crazy to refuse another year of Gordon's services, even if it was on Gordon's terms.
Gordon knew Kansas would have wanted him to help the team offensively, like he had during his previous three years. Apparently Gordon thought his draft status as a cornerback was as high as it would ever be and didn't want to hurt that status by coming back to play wide receiver.
Even though it may have been a big mistake, what's done is done, and Gordon has an NFL contract for now. Hopefully, KU fans will be able to see him play on Sundays.
Hobbett is an Austin, Texas
Junior in journalism.
Game changes up season
BY ALISSA BAUER
ibauer@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Sandwiched between a three-game set against No. 11 Oklahoma and a road trip to visit defending College World Series champs Texas is a midweek match-up with University of St. Mary (Kan.) at 7 tonight.
Although coach Ritch Price liked the midweek games as an opportunity to give his younger non-starters some game experience, never before have they fit in a midweek game this season with as much disparity between their weekend and midweek opponents. Because St. Mary is a private school, it is in the NAIA conference.
The Jayhawks know things will be different, especially when it comes to the speed coming from the mound
"We're going to go from 90-92 to 80-82. You've just got to stay back and hit the ball the other way and play every team the same way pretty much," freshman catcher Andrew Spitzfaden said. Spitzfaden hit .375 in his three starts against Oklahoma, including a pair of triples. His status for tonight's lineup is unknown.
Pulling together after the Sooners had outscored them by 17 runs in the first two games, Kansas (32-18, 10-11) avoided being swept for the first time of the season and came up with a 7-5 victory on Sunday.
"We had our backs to the wall. The ball was flying out of here today," Price said on Sunday. "So it was tremendous pitching by Kodiak to put those six zeros up and Donnie was able to close it out at the end."
The victory, which Price said saved the team's season, all but sealed the deal for a NCAA tournament berth in June — despite falling to less than .500 in conference play.
Much like the NCAA Basketball Tournament, teams are not required to win their conference title or tournament championship to earn the bid.
The string of ranked opponents, which at one point was a 17 consecutive games, has Kansas sitting at No.38 RPI ranking. That high of a nod combined with more than 30 victories will all but lock up Kansas' postseason.
Scheduled to play at Friends last Friday night, the weather affected the Spires as well as the Jayhawks this weekend and
Tonight the focus sets on the
St. Mary Spires who sit at third place in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 24-20, 13-9 KCAC record.
the game was rescheduled for a doubleheader tonight.
Sophomore catcher Cody Newman leads the Spires, hitting 444 with seven home runs and 35 RBI.
SEE GAME ON PAGE 7A
CLUB SPORTS
Frisbee team headed to nationals
HorrorZontals overcome mudfest in 5-1 weekend, make tournament
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
mphillips@kansan.com
KANSAAN STAFF WRITER
TULSA, Okla. — Monday was laundry day for the Horror-Zontals.
Kansas' club ultimate frisbee team slopped through six games last weekend on fields that were half-mud, half-puddle.
The team finished the weekend's regional tournament second of 16 teams with a record of 5-1, good enough to earn a bid to the national championships, which will be played in Columbus. Ohio, at the end of May.
For the first time this year, two teams from the South region were awarded spots at the national tournament. Traditionally, Kansas and Texas have been the region's two powerhouse schools, but have fought for a single bid. Texas received it in 2005 and Kansas received it in 2004.
Michael Phillips/KANSAN
On Saturday, the two schools were set to play in the day's final game. Because of the doubleelimination format, the losing team would have to play three games on Sunday, but the winning team would have only one.
HorrorZontal Joey Huegerich fights off North Texas' Pete Palacios for the disc while a teammate gets airborne to help. The HorrorZontals finished the weekend with a 5-1 record, including a victory over North Texas.
Right before the game was supposed to start, what had been a steady rain turned into a full-blown thunderstorm. The teams waited out the lightning. Because of the significance of the tournament, they had no choice but to play through the weather. Team captain Joey Huegerich said ultimate frisbee could be especially
An ultimate field is slightly larger than a football field. The playing zone is slightly smaller but the endzones are two-and-a-half times as big. A game is played to 15 points, but can be cut short at a pre-set time limit.
"We'll tear up a field so bad there's no grass left," the senior said. "The game slows down, the disc is slipping out of people's hands, and you can't get traction, so everyone is falling down."
When the Kansas-Texas game was finally played, the Horror-Zontals jumped out to an 11-7 lead, but watched it slip away in the final minutes, losing 15-13 and setting up a long Sunday.
brutal on a field.
After early-morning victories against Texas A&M and North Texas, Kansas took on Arkansas in the final game of the day, with the teams playing for the final spot at the championships. It was an intense back-and-forth game until Kansas broke open a 5-5 tie, never trailing for the rest of the game and finishing with a 15-12 victory.
Kansas and Texas will advance to the national tournament, but the players don't have unrealistic expectations. East and west coast teams often dominate the event.
"Every team at nationals is as good us or Texas," Huegerich said. "It used to be all small schools from New England, now it's more west coast teams, too."
Last year Brown defeated Colorado to win the championship.
The Kansas women's ultimate team, the Bettys, also played at the tournament. The women's teams played a round-robin format on Saturday to set up an elimination tournament on Sunday.
After going 2-2 in pool play, the
team finished in 6th place on Sunday out of 10 teams. Texas won the women's tournament also, getting the only available invitation to the national championship.
- Edited by Frank Tankard
This is the way sports should be played
MICHAEL PHILLIPS
mphillips@kansan.com
TULSA, Okla. — The first thing you notice at an ultimate frisbee tournament is that it's not like any other sport.
The second thing you notice is what a good thing that is.
The best teams in the South region were vying for one of two spots at the national championships, but there were no NCAA suits, no coaches, no concession stands, and most shocking of all, no referees.
Ultimate players rely on something they call the "spirit of the game." They call their own fools, sometimes resulting in two players making their case to each other about what a call should have been.
Imagine Julian Wright and Brad Buckman standing on the court debating whether a collision was charging or a foul.
The system, for the most part, works. If a call ends up with both sides still disagreeing, the disc goes back to the thrower and the point is replaced.
"It's nice because it's just between the players on the field," senior Meghan Herndon said.
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