KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2010 / SPORTS / 9^
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"At one point in your life, you either have the thing you want or the reasons why you don't."
Andy Roddick
FACT OF THE DAY
This is Kansas football's 20th straight television appearance.
— Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: When was the last time Kansas had a losing record during its non-conference schedule?
A: 1993 when the Jayhawks were 1-3.
Kansas Athletics
ATHLETICS
Lester to be guest on KJHK show todav
Interim athletics director Sean Lester will be a guest on "Jayhawk Happy Hour" today on KJHK, 90.7 FM. The show, which runs from
Lester
6 to 7 p.m., is hosted by Jay Ingber, Peter Knutson and Matt Bauer. Lester will join the trio at approximately 6:10 p.m. via phone.
The group will discuss Lester's role as interim director, his future after that role and the University's search for a permanent replacement for Lew Perkins.
Fans are encouraged to call in to the show at (785) 864-4044.The hosts will relay the questions to Lester.
Tim Dwyer
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Team to sign items in Hy-Vee Hawk Zone
The men's basketball team will participate in pregame festivities Saturday at the Hy-Vee Hawk Zone, which is south of Memorial Stadium and east of the practice fields.
The team will sign autographs from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.The football game is scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m.
The entire team will be present, including all 12 returning letter winners. Fans are asked to bring just one item per person.
Tim Dwyer
Crazy? Not in the sports world
ESPN has been pretty good about coming up with clever commercials. Its latest humorous ads use the theme, "It's not crazy. It's sports."
I particularly like the commercial that opens with a group of jocks sitting around a table, over-analyzing baseball statistics for fantasy baseball. Then, some stereotypical nerds are seen walking up. Kids with glasses, weirdly shaped bodies — you know, the type of kids who are always seen getting a swirly in the movies. They stop, call the jocks nerds, laugh and walk off. The commercial finishes by saying, "It's not crazy. It's sports."
MORNING BREW
This motto definitely applies to the sporting world. Just look around. A couple of things jump to mind that are crazy, but somehow happen because "It's sports"
Most people would be happy to have any type of job after spending 18 months in jail. Michael Vick didn't just find any job, he found a spot on the roster of a professional football team.
Many scoffed at the Philadelphia Eagles when they signed Vick and figured he wouldn't last that long, playing a backup role to Donovan McNabb at best. However, after the Eagles traded McNabb during the offseason and Kevin Kolb was injured in their first game, Vick had an opportunity. He took that opportunity and played so well that coach Andy Reid had to give him the starting job. The former
BY JACKSON DELAY jdelay@kansan.com
first round pick has done his time and is now back with a second chance to prove himself.
Another ridiculous incident in sports involves the Oregon State football team. On Saturday, No. 24 Oregon State will travel to No. 3 Boise State to take on the Broncos on their infamous blue turf. But, for once, the visiting team won't be awed by the abnormal playing surface. Oregon State painted its practice field blue this week to get ready for the Boise State game. This may seem foolish, but I don't blame Oregon State for trying anything to prepareeto break Boise's 56-game winning streak at home.
My final example is one that most people know about. A 40-year-old man fake-retiring every year, only to skip training camp and still somehow start on an NFL team is amazing. Whether you are a Brett Favre fan or not, you have to admit
you don't see something like this very often. I would like to see how Brett Favre walks when he is 60 years old. By then he will probably be tearing up the wheelchair league with an insane passing rating. Favre is a grandfather and a starting quarterback in the NFL — try to figure that one out.
My point in saying all this is that you can't try to rationalize events that happen in sports; they are too spontaneous and sometimes defy common sense. So the next time you see a mascot fight, or hear of a player allegedly shooting himself in the foot at a strip club, just remember: "It's not crazy. It's sports."
Edited by Dana Meredith
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The Panthers went 9-1 last season and won the SWAC with their only defeat a 21-18 non-
Rebuilt team shocked by recent loss
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas There was a time in the notso-distant past when handling defeat was like rolling out of bed to the Prairie View A&M football team.
It was routine,rote,all too regular.
Holders of the NCAA record for consecutive losses at a mindboggling 80 from 1989 to 1998, the Panthers did not post a winning season from 1976 through 2006.
Rebuilt into one of the top black college programs in the nation. Prairie View A&M no longer takes losing in stride.
Yet there was nothing been there, done-that about their latest loss.
A last-minute 47-yard field goal by Alabama State resulted in an 18-15 defeat Saturday in front of a shocked crowd at Blackshear Stadium. Walking off the field with a 15-game Southwestern Athletic Conference winning streak in tatters, players sank into an abyss of remorse and pain.
"This is awful," said senior receiver Shaun Stephens. "We just don't do this."
Not anymore, anyway.
did sort
to take all of us
by surprise",
Panters
coach Henry
Frazier III
said Monday.
"Our players
felt like it was
the end of the
world . . . and
it's not. That's
a lesson right
there that we
"Grambling is a great team and we can't afford another loss. We have to win. No excuses."
conference loss to New Mexico State. Two seasons ago, they also went 9-1, losing only to Grambling State in the State Fair Classic. Saturday, they will return to the Cotton Bowl for the State Fair Classic against Grambling, which last year lost to the Prairie View for the first time since 1986.
Prairie View, located northwest of Houston, has historically been a strong academic school that produced engineers, teachers and nurses. Once a powerhouse in the 1950s and '60s, it produced NFI Hall of Famers Kenny Houston and Otis Taylor. But things started to slip in the 1970s and '80s, and the school finally shut the program down for a year in 1990 after
"Id forgotten what it was like to handle a loss, and it really
K. J. BLACK Prairie View A&M quarterback
need to learn. We have a big game this week, and we need to learn how to bounce back and how to respond to a loss."
Frazier could write a book on lessons. Taking over in 2004 at Prairie View A&M, he has changed not only the structure of the program but the feel. Bringing in coaches he knew from Maryland, where he was first a successful player at Bowie State and then a successful coach, he has constructed a staff that simply gets the job done.
coach Haney
Catchings pleaded guilty to expense report fraud.
But instead of rebuilding, the football team limped back with no scholarships. The Panthers were outscored 617-48 that first season back, which included a 92-6 loss to Alabama State. A decade later, coach Greg Johnson led the team to a 14-12 win over Langston to end the 80-game losing streak and started the ball rolling.
When Dr. George C. Wright was named president in 2003, he dedicated funding to shore up outdated facilities and hired Frazier away from Bowie State. Slowly, things changed. In 2007, the Panthers went 7-3 and lost to Grambling, 17-14, at the State
Fair Classic.
"I think we really felt the pride of the program and understood we could do anything," said senior punter Pedro Ventura. "All of the coaches are very positive and they push you to believe, to have pride, to put the work in. And we believe."
Quarterback K.J. Black transferred from Western Kentucky two years ago and said he doesn't look at the past.
"We do have high expectations, but we think we've earned it." Black said. "We want that pressure to win every game, because we know it will drive us. As good as last year was, it was last year. We have new goals for this year."
Black missed the first two games of the season with a knee injury and is still shaking the rust off. The defending SWAC Offensive Player of the Year said that with one conference loss already, the pressure will intensify.
"Grambling is a great team and we can't afford another loss," he said. "We have to win. No excuses."
That's a sign that the program is exactly where it needs to be. When players pick up the expectations and push each other, that's when tradition and consistency can take over.
Football New Mexico State K-Club Weekend 6 p.m. Lawrence
Swimming Alumni Meet 4 p.m. Lawrence
Soccer Missouri 6:30 p.m. Columbia, Mo.
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
SATURDAY
Volleyball
Colorado
TBA
Boulder, Colo
SUNDAY
Tennis
KU Tournament
All Day
Lawrence
MONDAY
Men's Golf Colorado Invitational All Day Erie, Colo.
Women's Golf
2010 Marilynn Smith
Sunflower Invitational
All Day
Lawrence
TUESDAY
Men's Golf
Colorado Invitational
All Day
Erie, Colo.
WEDNESDAY
Softball
Baker
6 p.m.
Lawrence
**Women's Golf**
2010 Marilynn Smith
Sunflower Invitational
All Day
Lawrence
Volleyball
Missouri
6:30 p.m.
Lawrence
MLB
Cardinals kill Pirates' season-high streak
PITTSBURGH — Albert Pujols hit his 40th and 41st home runs and Matt Holliday reached the 100-RBI mark, leading the slumping St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-2 victory Thursday over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Cardinals snapped a threegame losing streak and won for just the 13th time in 38 games since Aug. 14, the last day they were in first place in the NL Central.
St. Louis' chances of defending its division title remain slim. The Cardinals trail idle Cincinnati by 71/2 games with only 10 games left.
Pittsburgh had its season-high five-game winning streak come to an end. The Pirates are one defeat short of their first 100-loss season since 2001.
Pujols got three hits, drove in three runs and scored three times. Cardinals rookie Daniel Descalso had four hits, including a double, in his second major league start. Holliday and Nick Stavinoha each had two of the Cardinals' 15 hits.
Jeff Suppan (2-7) won for just the second time in 13 starts this season, allowing one run and four hits in five innings. Both of Suppan's victories have come against the Pirates and he is 16-3 against them in his career, including winning his last nine decisions.
Brian Burres (3-4) was tagged for four runs and six hits in 2 1-3 innings.
Associated Press