6B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2007
Arkansas cheer squad dances on dugouts
Shawn Shrover/KANSAN
The Arkansas Razorback RBI Girls cheer on top of Kansai dugout between innings during Saturday's game. The RBI Girls are members of Arkansas Pum Squail and cheer at home football and basketball games in the fall, but enjoy the close interaction with baseball fans in Baum Stadium the most.
BY SHAWN SHROYER
FAYETTEVILLE. Ark. — Not only did Kansas play one of the top teams in the country over the weekend, it also played in one of the best college baseball venues in America.
Arkansas Baum Stadium was voted the best collegiate baseball facility in the nation by Baseball America in 1998 and was the runner up in 2003.
The luscious field surface, massive scoreboard in right field and numerous luxury boxes certainly add to the stadium's reputation. However, what pushes the Razorbacks' home digs to the top are the women who make up the Razorback Diamond Dolls and RBI Girls squads.
The Diamond Dolls squad is made up of 20 young women who serve as liaisons between the baseball program and the team. They work in the baseball office and help with baseball camps. At home games they sell media guides and programs and also serve as bat girls.
Sara jackson, a fourth-year Diamond Doll, said making the squid comes with many responsibilities. Every year, 80 applicants go through a rigorous interview process to make sure they can handle the responsibilities — and that they know a ball or two about baseball.
"We do put a couple baseball questions in there," Jackson said. "We want to make sure they are serious about it and not just here to meet the players. It's not a dating service."
Since becoming a Diamond Doll, Jackson has developed a deep relationship with the diehard fans who pass through the gates of Baum Stadium.
Halway through her final semester as a Diamond Doll, Jackson can't say enough about the Razorback faithful.
"I'm from Idaho and I never experienced something like this before," Jackson said. "Come out here and 'Calling the Hogs,' it feels like you in a Major League stadium and that's what's wonderful. These people live and breath Razorbacks and it's very rare to see such passion for baseball."
For Diamond Doils like Jackson,
the joy of interacting with the fans
and the team are basically all they get in return as they aren't paid for their services. Nevertheless, jackson put off graduating just to be a Diamond Doll one last time.
"I was supposed to graduate a semester early, but I stretched it out an extra semester for my last baseball season," Jackson said. "I've done this for three years and I wasn't going to miss my fourth year."
are two members of the RBI Girls who learned what it meant to be an RBI Girl in different ways. Smithson grew up in Arkansas and always wanted to make the squad. "That's why I came here," Smithson said.
Unlike the Diamond Dolls, the RBI Girls are members of the Pom Squad. In the fall, they cheer at football and basketball games, but in the spring, the 14-member team can be seen between innings dancing on top of the dugouts.
Schiff learned what it meant to be an RBI Girl on the run.
"I'm from Texas, so I really didn't know what I was in for, but the first year that I did it, it was like the coolest thing," Schiff said. "I think it's cool, the fact that we are pretty much one of the only schools that has the RBI Girls. It's a privilege to be a part of this program."
Smithson and Schiff said they, too, needed to be baseball savvy to make the squad and insisted their interview process was even more strenuous than that of the Diamond Dolls because they had to display knowledge of multiple sports.
"We have interviews for our tryouts, but we're also asked questions about baseball, football and even basketball," Smithson said.
One thing the RBI Girls could agree with the Diamond Dolls on was their admiration for the fans at Baum Stadium.
And in addition to their interaction with the fans, Jackson said both squads get a kick out of how visiting teams react to the RBI Girls cheering on their dugouts.
“it's interesting to see the visiting teams come in,” she said, “because they've never been around anything like this before and they've never had girls dancing on the dugout."
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@kansan.com.
Edited by Joe Caponio
Rachel Smithson and Erika Schiff
Boeheim, a longtime proponent of including more teams in the field, was flabbergasted Sunday when the Orange were snubbed by the selection committee. That brought another round of calls from coaches on Monday to expand the tournament to at least 68 teams, if not more.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has plenty of support from Big 12 coaches for expanding the NCAA tournament.
Coaches want to increase tournament team numbers
"If the field is designed to get the best 64 teams in — if that was the design — then from that standpoint you think it needs to be modified," said Kansas coach Bill Self, tiguring a handful of automatic bids go each year to teams that otherwise would not make the cut.
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Expanding the tournament has become a hot-button conversation piece that regularly bridges the gap between selection Sunday and the start of the NCAA tournament Thursday. It's the rallying cry of every fan whose team was passed over and every coach whose job security is measured by postseason appearances.
The last major tournament expansion came in 1985, which increased the field from 53 to 64 teams. The NCAA added a play-in game in 2001, when the number of automatic bids increased from 30 to 31.
BY DAVE SKRETTA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Since 1985, the number of Division I programs has ballooned from 282 to 336. Expanding the field would need more than the approval of coaches and administrators.
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