2B
SPORTS / WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein."
-Joe Theismann
FACT OF THE DAY
Houston's Case Keenum, who threw for 5,671 yards last season, needs just 1,546 yards to become the NCAA's all-time leader.
ESPN.com
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who is the oldest living Hall of Famer? Hint: He hit a home run in his first at bat.
A: Trick question. Ace Parker, 98 is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the oldest living Hall of Famer. Parker also played baseball and homered in his first career at bat in 1937, but did not make the Baseball Hall of Fame.
—Sl.com's Joe Posnanski
ICE SKATING
Olympic skater leaves coach behind
SEOUL, South Korea — Olympic champion Kim Yu-na cut ties with coach Brian Orser.
Orser's agency IMG said in a statement Tuesday that Kim's mother Park Mi-hee informed the coach on Aug. 2 that "he would no longer be retained" to coach the 19-year-old skater. IMG said "no reason was given for the sudden and unexpected decision."
Kim's management company later released a statement saying relations between the skater and coach have been "uncomfortable" since May.
"I am honored to have worked with such a talented and gifted skater," Orser said.
Associated Press
The difficulty of sleeper picks
MORNING BREW
As a child, my family and another family routinely
Aily and another family routinely went boating in Missouri for vacation. One of my favorite parts of the trip was when my friend and I would go tubing. The driver of the boat would take us on what he called "the circle of death."
He would drive the boat in a circle until the tube hit all of the wakes and launched us into the air multiple times. This thrilling ride normally ended disastrously when we fell from the tube in midair, awkwardly crashing into the water below. But, on select occasions, we would somehow hang on for our lives and conquer the circle of death
The moral of the story is that finding a sleeper pick in your upcoming fantasy football draft is about as hard as overcoming the circle of death. Offentimes your sleeper picks will crash in front of your eyes. However, it
BY JACKSON DELAY
jardelay@kansan.com
is possible, and the benefits are great if you are lucky enough to snag the right players.
This will be my third season managing DeLay of Game, my fantasy team, and I am here to share some of my wisdom that might help you gain an advantage others won't have in your league. Snagging picks such as Cedric Benson in the 13th round (see DeLay of Game's 2009 draft) will be crucial if you want to outthink your opponents. After knowing nothing going into my first fantasy draft and finishing last in the league, I have been determined ever since to finish on top, and a good draft is a major
part of that.
Here are a few players on my sleeper watch. With offensive coordinator Mike Martz leading the pass-heavy offensive attack for the Chicago Bears, Devin Aromashodu will look to carry his momentum from last year when he accumulated 22 catches, 282 yards and four touchdowns, all in the last four games of the year. This 6'2" sleeper will be a big target in the end zone and a nice compliment to Devin Hester and Johnny Knox, who both have speed and big-play ability.
In today's era of teams using two running backs to share the load, Ryan Grant is the lone workhorse in Green Bay, with elite fantasy quarterback Aaron Rodgers handing him the ball. Another running back to keep an eye on is San Diego's Ryan Mathews, who could be this year's version of Ray Rice.
If you are looking for a quarterback in later rounds, look no further than Vince
Young. After gaining the starting job following the bye week, Young went on to score only 17 fantasy points less than Tom Brady in weeks 9-17. Vincent Jackson's possible six-game suspension brings out another sleeper in Malcolm Floyd, who will replace Jackson as the No. 1 receiver for the Chargers. If Floyd can even get close to Jackson's success, it is worth having him on your roster.
On Sunday, I will use this selection of sleepers and more to hopefully master the circle of death. Wish me luck.
Edited by Alex Tretbar
MLB
Brewers will honor Selig with statue
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MILWAUKEE — Bud Selig makes no secret of the high regard in which he holds both Hank Aaron and Robin Yount.
"They are two of the people I've been closest to, as far as former players go," said Selig. "My admiration for both is enormous.
"Their greatness on the field was obvious. But they're such wonderful human beings off the field, which is why Hank became an American icon and Robin around here is a legend."
The commissioner of baseball and founding father of th
Milwaukee Brewers took his place between Aaron and Yount for the rest of time - or however long bronze statues last - Tuesday afternoon at Miller Park.
In a ceremony open to the public yesterday, a statue of Selig was dedicated on the plaza between those already in place of the two Hall of Famers.
The statue honors Selig, 76, for his role in bringing the club to Milwaukee in 1970 and helping keep it there by leading the charge to get Miller Park built some 30 years later.
If not for Selig's passion for baseball and determination to return the game to Milwaukee after the Braves bolted for Atlanta following the 1965 season, there probably would be no Brewers or Miller Park.
GET AN ADDITIONAL
25%
OFF
ALL CLEARANCE ITEMS
"I always tell people that a thin line it was," said Selig, recalling the five years his group, known as Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club Inc., tried everything it could to secure a major-league franchise.
"This is his passion, always has been," said Brewers Hall of Fame radio voice Bob Uecker, a long-time friend and associate of Selig's who will serve as master of ceremonies for the statue unveiling.
"He's an emotional guy when it comes to baseball. I don't think he ever showed any emotions when he was financing an automobile. That's a whole different story. When you talk about what baseball has meant to Bud, it's a great game that he loves."
offer only available at the Kansas Union location.
"I was crushed," recalled Selig, who tried to keep the game alive in Milwaukee by having the Chicago White Sox play selected games there.
At ownership meetings in May 1968 in Chicago, Selig slumped in his chair as San Diego and Montreal were awarded franchises.
"That was it, I thought," he said. "Our group wasn't going to stay together. It had been 5 years of heartache. There was no expansion planned, and we wouldn't have gotten that anyway. It looked like it was over."
long before his group bought the Seattle Pilots out of bankruptcy only days before the start of the 1970 season.
Three months later, Selig had a verbal agreement with White Sox co-owner Art Allyn to buy the club and move it to Milwaukee. But Allyn's brother stepped in at the last moment and demanded to buy the team and keep it in Chicago.
"I walked the streets of Chicago all night. I couldn't sleep. We were fighting for our lives."
This time, Selig figured he was done.
Without that devotion to baseball, Selig might have given up
The following March, Selig's telephone rang. Much to his surprise, it was American League president Joe Cronin.
bowie Kuhn stopped the transaction, wanting to keep the fledgling franchise in the Great Northwest.
Shortly afterward, Selig read where the Seattle club was in financial jeopardy and possibly headed for bankruptcy. He contacted Dewey Soriano, part-owner of the Pilots with his brother Max, and arranged a meeting. Selig and a leading partner in his group, Ed Fitzgerald, went to Seattle to talk about the situation.
"He hadn't returned my phone calls for four years," said Selig, who had bugged so many baseball executives in his voracious quest to get a team that most of them tuned him out. "I knew something was different."
"I said, 'Art, we had a deal," Selig said. "He said, "There's nothing I can do."
Cronin gave Selig the green light to buy the club. Local court actions blocked the deal, prompting team officials to file for bankruptcy. The Milwaukee group made its move, offering to buy the Pilots in bankruptcy court.
While attending the 1969 World Series in Baltimore, Selig struck a deal with Dewey Soriano to buy the club. But Commissioner
"I said afterward,'Here's another wild goose chase," recalled Selig.
Selig was pacing back and forth at his home in Milwaukee when the telephone rang at 10:15 p.m. On the other end of the line was Milwaukee Sentinel sports editor Lloyd Larson.
"We got it," Larson told Selig over the phone.
Emotionally wrought after years of wrangling, pleading and cajoling to get a team, Selig collapsed into a chair and cried. No longer tears of frustration, these were tears of absolute joy.
TODAY No events scheduled
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
Volleyball
vs Lipscomb
4:30 p.m. at Omaha, Neb
Soccer
vs Eastern Kentucky
5:00 p.m. in Lawrence
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Volleyball vs San Francisco 10:00 a.m. at Omaha, Neb.
Volleyball
vs Creighton
7:30 p.m. at Omaha, Nebu
MEN'S BASKETBALI
Xavier at KU during NBA contract issues
Former Jayhawk Xavier Henry was seen on campus Tuesday despite — or perhaps because of an ongoing contract dispute with the Memphis Grizzlies, who selected him with the 12th pick in the NBA draft.
The Grizzlies are requesting that Henry accept performance-
Henry
multiple trade offers for the rights to Henry.
based benefits in his contract; rather than guaranteeeing him the money he and agent Arn Tellem feel he deserve. The team has received
Bob Myers, with Tellem an agent at the Wasserman Media Group, confirmed that Henry has been working out with the Jayhawks through the contract negotiations.
"Yes," Myers said via a text message Tuesday afternoon. "Xavier has been working out with the team on campus."
Tim Dwyer
Yankees crush Blue Jays in 11-5 victory
TORONTO — Curtis Granderson hit a three-run homer, Marcus Thames added a two-run drive and three other Yankees hit solo blasts as New York pounded the Toronto Blue Jays 11-5 on Tuesday night.
MLB
Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mark Teixeira also connected as the Yankees won for the sixth time in eight games.
Teixeira and Posada both went 4 for 5 with two RBIs, while Thames and Granderson both had three hits. New York's 17 hits were one shy of its season high.
Right-hander Dustin Moseley (4-2) allowed two runs and five hits in six innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season. He walked four and struck out four.
New York got its offensive barrage started early, with Teixeira hitting an RBI single in the first and Eduardo Nunez driving in a run with a fielder's choice grounder in the second.
The Yankees chased Blue Jays left-hander Marc Rzepczynski (1-2) with a four-run, three-homer third. Teixeira was the first to go deep, hitting a one-out drive into the second deck in left, his 28th. Robinson Cano walked and Thames blasted his fifth, a shot to left, before Posada followed with his 16th, also to left.
Toronto got one back on Vernon Wells' run-scoring single in the fourth, his first RBI since Aug. 8, but the Yankees responded with a four-run fifth off reliever Brian Tallet. Granderson homered to right, his 14th, and Jeter ended a 131 at-bat homerless streak with a shot to left, giving him 15 consecutive seasons with at least 10 homers.
Associated Press