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SPORTS / THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
TRADITION
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Baby Jay cheers along with the cheerleaders during Traditions Night on Monday. There were appearances by Big and B:by Jay, Bill Self and Turner Gill.
Coaches speak at Traditions Night
BY MIKE LAVIERI
mlavieri@kansan.com
The University of Kansas held its annual Traditions Night on Monday and basketball coach Bill Self is jealous.
If he could, he would change places with any freshman.
"You're getting ready to have the best time of your life coming up here in the next four years," Self said.
He told students to be smart and go to class.
"There's a direct correlation to going to class and making good grades," Self said. "Get your butts to class."
"Jump in head first," Self said. "Take advantage of your resources, of the faculty, of the athletic events, and the social events."
Students learned the Rock Chalk chant, how to wave the wheat, the Alma Mater and the claps to "I'm a Jayhawk," which Self said he just learned.
"It was awesome hearing our new football coach talk to us and it was cool seeing the family member of the man who created the Rock Chalk Chant there as well," said Lawrence junior Brett Phillippe.
Football coach Turner Gill was also in attendance and spoke to
students. He said he is excited about this upcoming season and wants students to show support and be loud before the game, during the game and after the game.
"This will probably be the only time you'll ever see me wave the wheat in the stands," Gill said, "otherwise I'll be on the sideline helping our outstanding football team bring you and build you a dynasty."
Edited by Tim Dwyer
HEALTH
Head injuries remain a concern in football
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
MADISON. Wis. — The stunning revelation by doctors in the wake of the death of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry offered a cautionary tale for all football players.
Henry, who died last December after falling out of the back of a moving truck, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), degenerative brain damage as the result of multiple blows to the head.
What surprised doctors was that Henry had CTE despite never being diagnosed with a concussion in three years at West Virginia and five years with the Bengals.
Wisconsin wide receiver Nick Toon didn't follow Henry's case closely. But Toon, who suffered his first concussion during practice last spring, has intimate knowledge of the debilitating effects concussions can cause.
His father, former Wisconsin wide receiver Al Toon, saw his NFL career cut short after eight seasons because of multiple concussions.
"I remember quite a bit," said Nick Toon, a fourth-year junior who graduated from Middleton High School. "Toward the end of his career, I remember specifically after his last concussion he was not himself.
Nick Toon's concussion, suffered when the back of his head hit the Camp Randall Stadium turf, was diagnosed as mild.
"He was in a dark bedroom with sunglasses on for like a week. It took him a long time to get back to normal."
"It messed me up for a while," he acknowledged. "It took me a long time to feel I was able to process things the way I was before and be fast mentally. . ."
"I didn't suffer memory loss like some people. . . . I popped up right away, but once I got to
the sideline I got super dizzy and didn't feel like myself. I went to the training room and did all the tests and they concluded I had a concussion."
Nick Toon was not cleared by the UW medical staff to play in the spring game. He acknowledged, however, had it been a regular-season game he would have lobbed to play.
"You've got to listen to the medical staff, but I would have done everything I could have to get onto the field," he said. "You prepare all year to play 12 and hopefully 13 games. You don't want to miss one opportunity during the year.
"But my dad probably would have tried to keep me from playing. He always tells me you only get one brain and you've still got to live your life after football."
Concussions are not to be treated lightly.
In April the NCAA Executive Committee adopted a policy requiring schools in all divisions to institute a concussion management plan that mandates the removal of a player who exhibits signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with a concussion during practice or games.
In May, the Big Ten Conference Sports Medicine Committee developed a concussion management plan to serve as a guideline for all league schools. As part of that plan, head coaches and players sign a form that stipulates they are responsible for reporting any symptoms.
UW athletes before each season are given a test called "ImpACT" to collect baseline data on their cognitive skills. If an athlete suffers a concussion, the pre-injury data can be compared with the post-injury data to provide doctors with an objective measure to determine whether the athlete is ready to resume play.
According to UW officials