**COMMENTS**
KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 / SPORTS
9A
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I would like for them to be making sure to wear blue, making sure they come to the game energized and be ready to go with some enthusiasm."
Football coach Turner Gill to the fans
FACT OF THE DAY
The Big 12 leads all conferences with seven appearances in the BCS National Championship Game.
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Big12sports.com
Q: What Big 12 team leads the nation in consecutive home victories?
A: Oklahoma with 30.
— Big12sports.com
BIG 12 SPORTS
Recruit fails to meet academic standards
Prized Missouri basketball recruit Tony Mitchell has been ruled academically ineligible for the 2010-2011 season, Rivals.com's Jerry Meyer reported Wednesday.
Mitchell did not meet Missouri's academic standards in time to enroll at the school, ending his freshman campaign before it could begin. Mitchell was the 12th-ranked recruit in the country, according to Rivals, and would likely have started as a small forward for the Tigers in 2010.
He will likely play overseas in Europe for a season before taking his game to the NBA.
Mizzou RB officially removed from squad
Missouri announced Wednesday that starting tailback Derrick Washington was "permanently suspended" after allegedly sexually assaulting his tutor.
Washington has been Missouri's feature back since the graduation of Tony Temple prior to his sophomore season. He exploded onto the scene as a sophomore, running for 1,078 yards and 17 touchdowns, earning second-team all-conference honors. He regressed a bit in his junior year, running for 865 yards and 10 touchdowns, but was still expected to be one of the top runners in the Big 12.
Without Washington, the Tigers are untested at running back, with sophomore Kendial Lawrence jumping to the top spot and DeVion Moore — currently on the disabled list — listed as the primary backup. Freshmen Henry Josey and Marcus Murphy — both undersized at 180 pounds — will fill the gaps.
Washington's scholarship will not be terminated for as long as he stays at Mizzou.
Tim Dwyer
MORNING BREW
Allow players to keep their own styles
really enjoy when professional athletes express themselves through unique hairstyles or by
through unique hairstyles or by reaching out to their fans in clever and funny ways. That is why I always find it disheartening whenever I hear of a team asking its newest member to trim his signature hairstyle.
The most recent example of this is the Chicago White Sox having Manny Ramirez cut down his dreadlocks. For as long as I can remember watching him, Manny's dreads have been a symbol of his happ-go-lucky lifestyle.
Manny is not the first example of this happening. For most of his career Randy Johnson looked like he had just stepped out of some kind of time machine, with a mullet and mustache combo that would make Hulk Hogan burst with pride. In 2005 he joined the New York Yankees and was told to clean up, and the mullet was no more. The next year the Evil Empire struck again. This time
BY ETHAN PADWAY
epadway@kansan.com
Johnny Damon, known to Red Sox fans as Jesus or Captain Caveman because of his long brown hair and beard, showed up in a Yankees uniform looking like a typical Manhattan metrosexual.
I see no point in management telling players what they can and can't do. These athletes are, at their most basic levels, entertainers. When I watch a sporting event I do it because I enjoy it. It is entertaining. I don't want owners driving up ticket prices on me and simultaneously taking the fun out of it.
This is why I love what Chad Ochocinco represents. He may be considered a distraction by purists, but he does what he does for his fans. At the end of last season, Ochocinco started to talk about how he wanted to change his name again. This time to Chad Hachi Go (85 in Japanese) to honor his Japanese fans.
Then there are athletes like Troy Polamalu, the Pittsburgh Steelers' safety. Polamalu grows out his hair to honor his Samoan heritage. But he also has fun with it. Last year he starred in commercials for Head & Shoulders Shampoo. In the commercial, he was being interviewed about the game but would always answer attributing his success to the shampoo products. Recently he insured his hair for one million dollars in case anything should happen to it.
When athletes go out of their way to entertain us, it reminds us that they are not robots but people, too. Honestly.
doesn't everyone (except Giants fans) like Peyton Manning more than his little brother Eli because Peyton puts out funny commercials and hosts SNL while Eli always comes off as awkward in interviews? I take comfort in knowing the superstar I am watching on TV has at least some semblance of a personality, even if it's just for show.
USA BASKETBALL
United States defeats Iran 88-51 in an apolitical matchup
— Edited by David Cawthon
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In a basketball arena, not so much.
"For me, it's a normal game," Iran captain Mahdi Kamrany said.
The United States won it easily, earning a top seed in the knockout round of the world championship with an 88-51 victory Wednesday in the first meeting between the countries with a history of contentious relations.
"We just respected their basketball team and we just played a basketball game," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "There's no political aspect in my mind in the ballgame."
The U.S. team, which downplayed the political aspect of the game, methodically pulled away in the first half, wearing down the Asian champions with its depth and athleticism.
Kevin Love scored 13 points and Kevin Durant 12 for the Americans (4-0),who will meet the fourth-place team from Group A in the round of 16.
After playing his starters for most of the second half of a 70-68 victory over Brazil on Monday, Krzyzewski went to the bench early in this one, with the Americans shooting 58 percent and scoring 23 points off turnovers in the easy victory.
Hamed Haddadi scored 19 points for Iran (1-3) and Arsalan Kazemi had 14.
"I'm very happy, I played against the best team in the world." Kamrany said.
The tensions between the nations' governments provided the backdrop off the court, with a group of fans sitting near mid-court before the game holding U.S. and Iran flags and a sign reading "PEACE" in between.
The countries have feuded for decades and their relations have deteriorated in recent years, with the United States supporting sanctions against Iran for continuing with programs it believes could be used to create nuclear weapons.
The only sparring on the floor was a playful bump between Haddadi and U.S. forward Rudy Gay, teammates with the NBAs Memphis Grizzlies.
"We should leave politics to the politicians," U.S. center Tyson Chandler said. "We're here to play basketball."
The U.S. team tried to keep the focus on the floor, with Krzyzewski saying he had played in Iran in the 1970s with an Armed Forces team and had great respect for the country.
Krzyzewski was answering a question about turnovers in the postgame news conference when he noticed Iran coach Veselin Matic to his left nodding in agreement.
"That's the first level of diplomacy. That's one thing we're in agreement with," Krzyzewski joked.
There's no rivalry on the basketball court, where the nations had never met in Olympic or world championship play. The Iranian national team even came to Utah two years ago at the invitation of the NBA to play in a summer league as preparation for
the 2008 Olympics.
"That's one of the beautiful things about sports," U.S. center Lamar Odom said. "If you think about the history of sports, you take people from different cultures, from different beliefs and bring them together. Sports is the one thing that can kind of bring people together and have a great atmosphere. It was great playing a game like this."
MLB
And in a nod to the Iranian supporters in Istanbul — which included minister of sports Ali Saeedlou earlier in the tournament — dancers were ordered to cover up for their performances during the game. Islam prohibits women from exposing their skin in public, and Iranian officials had turned their backs when the dancers performed in earlier games.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Phillies take Dodgers, 5-1
LOS ANGELES — Roy Oswalt pitched one-hit ball into the seventh and the Philadelphia Phillies used leadoff homers by Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino in the first two innings to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 on Wednesday.
The Dodgers managed only three hits in support of Clayton Kershaw and didn't put up much of a struggle against Oswalt (10-13), who has been a valuable pennant-drive pickup for Philadelphia
The right-hander, who turned 33 on Sunday, held Los Angeles hitless until Casey Blake lined a clean single to right field with two outs in the sixth after Oswaltd issued the fifth of his six walks. Two nights earlier, Dodgers
pitcher Hiroki Kuroda no-hit the Phillies until Victorino got a one-out single in the eighth.
Oswalt threw 115 pitches and struck out six. The three-time All-Star is 4-1 with a 1.90 ERA in seven starts since the Phillies acquired him in a trade with Houston on July 29 — including a 2-0 win over Los Angeles in which he pitched seven innings in his second start with Philadelphia.
The last time he pitched at Dodger Stadium on July 17,
2009. Oswalt threw a four-hitter on six days' rest and won 8+1.
The Dodgers got an unearned run in the eighth off Ryan Madson on James Loney's RBI single. But Madson minimized the damage by retiring Blake on an inning-ending, double-play.
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