8B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
BASEBALL
TUESDAY. FEBRUARY 28, 2006
Spring training 2006 round-up
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Roger Clemens was sched- tled to throw pitches at Houston's spring training camp, even though he's not a member of the Astros' staff.
In Scottsdale, Ariz., Giants manager Felipe Alou says Barry Bonds could play his first spring training game in two years Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Steven Sonne/THE ASSDCIATED PRESS
In Surprise, Ariz., Kansas City Royals right-hander Zack Greinke left camp for undisclosed personal reasons.
Also at Orioles camp, AllStar Melvin Mora pulled out of the World Baseball Classic after being asked to play center field for Venezuela, rather than third base.
Milwaukee Brewers In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the Baltimore Orioles signed veteran free agent outfielder Richard Hidalgo to a minor league contract.
In Kissimmee, Fla., Brian Jordan fielded ground balls at first base as he attempted to improve his chances of making the Atlanta Braves' roster as a utility player.
Steven Sonne/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Roger Clemens, right, delivers a pitch as his son Koby Clemens looks on during a Houston Astros minor league baseball mini camp in Kissimmee, Fla., Monday.
In Bradenton, Fla., the
Pittsburgh Pirates are worried that a blood clot close to starter Kip Wells' right arm could jeopardize his season.
In Port St. Lucie, Fla., Mets reliever Jorge Julio threw from a mound during a practice cut short by rain.
Ball's up, and it's, it's ... incomplete
short by train. Julio, signed from the Baltimore Orioles in the offseason, spent the first two weeks of spring training stuck in his native Venezuela, waiting for his visa to clear.
Trey Kunz, Fort Worth, Texas, freshman, attempts to block Kellen Brittingham, Overland Park freshman, from catching the football Monday afternoon behind Hoglund Ballpark. Brittingham said they tried to play football when it was warm outside and hoped football coach Mark Mangino would stop by sometime to recruit them.
Olympics excitement already surrounds Beijing
Now that the winter Olympians have stolen away from Italy with their skis, skates and polished granite curling stones, the eyes of the sports world turn with rising excitement to the 2008 summer games in Beijing
BY JOHN RODERICK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The excitement has been stirred by an irony of history. It
follows the Athens games, site of both the ancient and modern Olympics, and comes for the first time to a vast and fast-growing Asian nation which got seriously involved in Olympic sports less than 25 years ago.
After the less than thrilling winter Olympics staged in a country familiar to millions of Americans, the Beijing games promise all the elements of an
international thriller: mystery, money, controversy and pageantry. It will offer to the West a glimpse, through press and television, into a little-known country whose old civilization is colored by two very different philosophers, Confucius and Karl Marx.
Although it is regarded as one of the cradles of human civilization, its interest in organized
sports during its Confucian era, which lasted until 1949, was minimal. Sports were the individual diversions of a highlyborn few.
During the 1980s and 1990s, when Deng shook up China, mass sports had their golden age. The women's volleyball team made the breakthrough in 1981: It defeated Japan for the first time to win a world championship, then after grabbing five consecutive world titles won an Olympic gold.
Before that, during the nationalist republican era, China competed in three Olympic games but never won a medal. Since Deng's day, it has won hundreds. In the 2004 Athens Olympics it took 23 golds, only three behind the leader, the United States.
NCAA BASKETBALL
Duke remains at top of poll
BY JIM O'CONNELL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
It's back to a familiar pair at the top of The Associated Press' college basketball poll.
Memphis (26-2) extended its winning streak to 15 games with victories over Texas-El Paso and Tulsa last week and moved up one spot to No. 3, matching its highest ranking this season. The Tigers received the other first-place vote.
Duke was No. 1 for the second straight week Monday, and Connecticut moved up one spot to No. 2. The teams held those two spots for eight of the previous 11 polls, each on top for four weeks.
place vote. Villanova (22-3) dropped from second to fourth after beating Cincinnati 74-72 and losing at Connecticut.
Tennessee was 11th followed by Boston College, North Carolina, Washington, UCLA, West Virginia, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma and Georgetown.
The last five ranked teams were LSU, North Carolina State, Iowa, Nevada and Michigan State.
Gonzaga held fifth place in the next-to-last poll of the season, while Texas and George Washington switched spots at sixth and seventh.
Pittsburgh moved up one place to No.8, while Ohio State and Illinois were ninth and 10th.
Pittsburgh was at West Virginia on Monday night in the first of four double-ranked games this week. On Saturday, North Carolina is at Duke and Illinois visits Michigan State. Oklahoma is at Texas on Sunday.
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