/ SPORTS / THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I think the environment that we're going to play in Cedar Falls is going to be much more of a hostile environment than Memorial Stadium in Kansas. That was pretty docile. And the type of team that we're going to be playing is going to be a much more physical, aggressive football team than KU. And quite frankly I think we're going to be playing a better opponent. I know one school is in the Big 12 and the other one is in the Missouri Valley. I think gives an indication on how we see Missouri Valley play and the respect we give Northern Iowa."
—North Dakota State coach Craig Bohl preparing his team for its next game against ...
Northern Iowa.
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas is 25-140-2 all-time vs AP-ranked teams.
Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who was the last ranked non-Big 12 team to play in Memorial Stadium?
A: No.14 UCLA in 2001. The Bruins won 41-17.
-Kansas Athletics
Soccer team celebrates in style
MORNING BREW
Kansas football games would be a lot more entertaining if the layhawks were more like Icelandic soccer
players
Stirnan FC, a professional soccer team from the small European island, has earned international recognition not for how many goals they score, but instead for what they do after scoring. They've invented such elaborate goal celebrations as a human toilet, a Rambo re-enactment, and (my personal favorite) a forward giving birth to a soccer ball.
We're not talking amateur, Terrell-Owens-with-a-sharpie-in-his-sock sort of stuff. This is high-quality, well-choreographed, on-field sports theater at its finest. Stjarnan's elaborate post-goal performances have earned hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and even a spot on ESPN's weekly Top 10 plays.
Stiarnan isn't the most talented team around. In fact, they're currently the seventh-best team in Iceland's mediocre professional soccer league. But that's not important. This team is leaving its mark on the sports world because some eccentric player had the brilliant idea to spend less time practicing actual soccer and more time designing mini-skits to perform on the rare occasion that his team puts the ball in the net.
There's no denying it has paid off.
BY JOEL PETTERSON jpetterson@kansan.com
There is no denying it has paid off.
After all, can I name one player from the entire Icelandic league? No. Do I have Stjarnan's human fish celebration memorized? Of course. They may be the most popular group of soccer players Iceland has
ever produced.
Here's where the Jayhawks could learn a few things. Stjarnan's inventiveness, creativity, and knack for mining skyrocketed the team's entertainment value far beyond soccer's average appeal. They know they're not in the running for a Urvaldsdeild championship (the catchy name of Iceland's professional soccer league), but that's not going to keep them from entertaining the dedicated Icelanders who show up to their games.
I'm not saying the Jayhawks are a terrible football team. I sincerely hope Kansas can turn this season around and pull off some wins before it finds itself trapped in the Big 12 North's cellar. But a 6-3 loss to an FCS school from Fargo just doesn't inspire confidence that this will be a wildly successful season.
If this year's team wants to become a consistent future on Sports Center – and, let's be honest, if that's not your top priority, why are you playing sports in the first place? – then they may just have to follow Stjarnan's lead and start drawing up some
show-stopping touchdown celebrations.
It doesn't have to be anything fancy at first; they could even borrow from the Icelanders' vast repertoire of celebrations. I haven't even mentioned the parade, the human bicycle or the soccer-field-breast-stroke celebration that they performed.
Eventually, though, it'd be nice to see some Kansas original celebrations. Maybe some wheat harvesting or some homage to the state bird. The sky's the limit. With their athleticism, I'd expect to see something even surpassing Stjarnan, like a human Kansas twister. If touchdowns continue to be a scarcity, we could even settle for elaborate field goal celebrations. I would love nothing more than seeing Jacob Branstetter become an internet sensation for a dramatic postfield goal performance.
Edited by Tim Dwyer
KU ATHLETICS
Two men request sentence delays
Jason Jeffries and Brandon Simmons, the two former Kansas Athletics employees that admitted to stealing tickets, have asked for their sentencing to be delayed for six months.
They are asking that the sen-
tencings, scheduled for Sept. 29, be delayed so they can further help federal prosecutors build cases against other suspects.
Jeffries and Simmons, both guilty of misprision, are cooperating with authorities in an effort to get reduced sentences. Their maximum sentence is three years in prison, $250,000 in fines
and a year of supervised release.
They are among six people that were implicated in the scandal, which cost the athletics department between $1 and $3 million dollars.
— by Tim Dwyer
Spain erased an eight-point deficit in the final 4 minutes
1 of 7 on 3-pointers at that point
to tie it on Marc Gasol's basket with 25 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Serbia patiently ran its offense until Teodosic
ISTANBUL — Serbia knocked defending champ Spain out of the world championship Wednesday when Milos Teodoric made a long 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds left for a 92-89 quarterfinal victory.
Serbia triumphs over Spaniards
ASSOCIATED PRESS
FIBA
"I think it was a very,very tough game. Maybe the best one until now in Istanbul."
Marko
Keselj and
Novic a
DUSAN IVKOVIC Serbia coach
"I think it was a very, very tough game. Maybe the best one until now in Istanbul," Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic said.
Avenging a loss in last year's European championship game, Serbia advanced to face Turkey or Slovenia in a semifinal game Saturday.
It's very difficult to forget this kind of game, but we have to
pulled up from straightaway well beyond the arc.
try to forget everything that happened tonight because in two days we will play in the semifinals," Teodori said.
The Spaniards couldn't get a final shot off, with Jorge Garbajosa losing the ball after a timeout. Serbia's players celebrated at midcourt as Spain's Sergio Llull kicked the ball deep into the stands.
"He's a great player and he has a great feeling for the big shot." Spain coach Sergio Scioriola said.
Velickovic scored 17 points apiece for Serbia, while Dusko Savanovic added 15. The Serbians were 15 of 30 from 3-point range, exploiting the zone seemingly every time Spain used it.
"We were not able to stop them on the long shots," Spain guard Juan Carlos Navarro said. "That's why we lost and I believe that's why they deserved to win."
Navarro scored 27 points and Garbaijo, the former Toronto
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
No Events Scheduled
TODAY
FRIDAY
Volleyball vs. Winthrop 12:00 p.m.
Soccer
at Cal State Northridge
6:30 p.m.
Las Vegas, Nev.
Volleyball Northern Iowa 7:00 p.m.
SATURDAY
RDAY
Football
vs. Georgia Tech
11:00 a.m.
Volleyball vs. Arkansas-Little Rock 4:00 p.m.
Cross Country
Missouri Cross Country
Challenge
TBA
Columbia, Mo.
SUNDAY
Soccer
Oregon
12:30 p.m.
Las Vegas, Nev.
MONDAY
Women's Golf Chip N Club Invitational All Day Lincoln. Neb.
Fairway Club Invitational All Day Nebraska City, Neb.
Men's Golf
TUESDAY Women's Golf
Chip N Club Invitational All Day Lincoln, Neb.
Men's Golf
Club Invitational
All Day
Nebraska City, Neb.
Raptors forward who recovered from a severe leg injury, added 18.
But the Spaniards, considered the co-favorites along with the United States coming into the tournament, lost for the third time in Turkey. They were without their best player, Lakers All-Star Pau Gasol, then lost point guard Jose Calderon of the Raptors shortly before the tournament.
The champions in Japan four years ago now will be forced to qualify for the 2012 Olympics at next year's European championship.
Teodosic, one of the two Serbia players suspended for a brawl in an exhibition game against Greece, finished with 12 points. Center Nenad Kristic of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the other suspended Serb, finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.