tuesday, february 24, 2004
sports
the university daily kansan 5F
5B
ELIGIBILITY: Commission suggests freshmen sit out
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He also speculated that any such proposal would run into considerable opposition from the student-athletes, a point seconded by senior volleyball player Maggie Mason.
Mason is the vice-president of the Big 12 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the organization that represents Big 12 athletes in the NCAA.
Mason said athletes adjusted to college life in different ways, and it was wrong to assume that they all needed a year off from competition to get used to school. She said athletes always had the opportunity to redshirt if they weren't adjusting well, and so a blanket reform making all freshman ineligible wasn't needed.
She also criticized graduation rate statistics as being biased against athletes and unfair indicators of an athletics program's academic success. Since there are such a small number of athletes compared to the rest of the student body, she said, when a few of them failed to graduate it affected the graduation rate a lot more than when non-athletes left early.
"A team brings in three people in a year, one leaves. All of a sudden, they're down to 66 percent."
Mason said.
Hemenway said it could be viewed as a double standard if an athlete's leaving college early was seen as being somehow worse than when a regular student leaves. The graduation rate for athletes at the University is actually higher than that of other University students. Sixty-eight percent of scholarship athletes who were freshmen in the fall of 1996 had graduated by last year. For the student body, the same figure sat at lower than 60 percent.
The Knight Commission is considering Smith's and Holland's proposals, and if it finds them to feasible, it will submit recommendations to the NCAA, said Larry Myer, vice-president of communications for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which oversees the Knight Commission.
Historically, he said, the commission has had some clout in pushing NCAA reforms, and if it picks up the freshman eligibility issue, he expects the NCAA to take it seriously.
"The fact that the Knight Commission is looking at it may suggest that there may be movement and momentum behind this proposal," Myer said.
The Knight Commission formed in 1989 to initiate reforms
"The fact that the Knight Commission is looking at it may suggest that there may be movement and momentum behind this proposal,"
Larry Myer
ince-president of communications for the John S. and James L. Knight foundation
in intercollegiate athletics. The commission has successfully pushed through multiple reforms, including the recommendation to give more control of athletics programs to university presidents.
Myer said the commission was considering a number of possibilities concerning freshman ineligibility. These range from making all freshmen athletes ineligible, to making only football and basketball players ineligible, to allowing freshmen to play home games but not away games.
Myer said the commission would determine which, if any of these, were feasible and report back to the NCAA.
- Edited by Danielle Hillix
Slimmer Giambi testifies against steroid usage
BASEBALL
TAMPA, Fla. — Noticeably trimmer to Joe Torre and most everyone else at Yankees camp, Jason Giambi explained that better eating habits and hard workouts had left him leaner.
He emphasized one more thing: Steroids had never been a part of his diet.
Giambi said he'd lost four pounds, down to 228, during the offseason by cutting back on fast foods and doing extensive rehab from knee surgery. His chest, biceps and legs appeared smaller — enough so that many people did a double take when they first saw him walk through the clubhouse.
Giambi and new New York teammate Gary Sheffield both testified Dec. 11 before a grand jury probing the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, a company accused of providing steroids to sports stars. Being subpoenaed did not mean an athlete was a target of the investigation, which was focused on possible drug and tax violations by BALCO.
The Associated Press
BASEBALL: Jayhawks defeat Grizzlies with the help of strong hitting
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"I thought he was outstanding and obviously the game was on the line when he came out of the bullpen today," coach Ritch Price said. "That is a quality effort from him and we think he has really made progress from his freshman year."
The 'Hawks got two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI double by Matt Baty and a RBI single by sophomore Ritchie Price. Senior Chris Smart closed out the game, working the top of the ninth.
The loss moved Oakland to 0-1 on the year. It was the Grizzlies first game of the season and the team had yet to practice outside all year.
The series continues at 3 p.m.
tonorrow at Hoglund Ballpark.
"That is the best I have seen a team walk out of the field house and play their opening game," Price said.
- Edited by Danielle Hillix
Jared Soares/Kansan
Junior pitcher Scott Sharpe hurled a heater during the fifth inning against Oakland. Sharpe pitched six innings, giving up three runs.
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