Tuesday, February 13, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Section A • Page 7
KANSAS TENNIS
Women's tennis team unbeaten in Classic
The women's tennis team completed an unbeaten tear through the Jayhawk Classic on Sunday afternoon, defeating St. Louis, 4-0, at Alvamar Racquet Club.
After defeat Louisiana Monroe and Drake on Saturday, Kansas was the only team
KANSAS TENNIS
at the Classic to win all three of its matches. In action against the Billikens, senior Monica Sekulov led the way for the Jayhawks, breezing to a 6-0, 6-1 victory against St. Louis' Jayasree Kunvilla, Court Neinckbock and Lisa Malliahl also won singles matches for Kansas.
The Jayhawks will return to action Saturday in the opener of Big 12 Conference play, as Kansas plays host to Texas at Alavamar Racquet Club. The match starts at noon.
BIG 12 BASKETBALL
Oklahoma, Texas A&M players earn honors
DALLAS — Oklahoma senior guard Nolan Johnson averaged 19 points in two victories last week. Johnson scored a career-high 23 points in a 75-54 win at Texas and is the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Player of the Week. Texas A&M freshman forward Nick Anderson led the Aggies to two straight victories. Anderson averaged 16 points and shot 62.5 percent from the field and is the Phillips 66 Big 12 Rookie of the Week. Both honors are selected by
Johnson opened the week scor
ing 15 points in the 80-72 win
a media panel.
against Texas Tech. The Brooklyn, N.Y., guard answered that with a 23-point performance at Texas. He also pulled down a
game-high nine rebounds against the Longhorns. For the week he averaged eight rebounds and shot 42.9 percent from the field.
Johnson also went 14-for-16 (87,5 percent) from the free-throw line in the two-game span. Johnson has scored in double figures in six straight games and is averaging 7.1 rebounds during Oklahoma's seven-game winning streak. Johnson won the honor in a split vote against Iowa State senior guard Jamaal Tinsley, who averaged 18 points in two Big 12 wins.
Anderson scored 14 points with three assists and two steals in the 73-69 win against Baylor. The Baton Rouge, La., forward scored 18 points in 16 minutes with five rebounds, two blocked shots and two assists in the 72-70 win at Texas Tech. The preseason Big 12 freshman of the year, Anderson shot eight-for-11 from the field against Texas Tech and was 15-for-24 (62.5 percent) for the week. Anderson is averaging 9.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and leads A&M with 18 blocked shots this season.
NBA
Vancouver Grizzlies look for a new home
permission by the NBA to explore moving to another city next season.
St. Louis, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Nashville, Tenn., have been mentioned as possible destinations for the struggling team.
Owner Michael Heisley, a Chicago businessman who paid $160 million to buy the Grizzlies in 1999, met with commissioner
David Stern and deputy commissioner Russ Granik yesterday at a Washington hotel to discuss the team's future.
Vancouver will lose at least $40 million this year and even more next year. Stern said.
"We agreed to assist Michael Heisley in exploring other North American cities which may be appropriate for Vancouver to look into," he said in a statement.
If the team wants to move by the start of next season, it would have to submit an application to the NBA by March 1, the league said.
Heisley told the Vancouver Sun there is a $200-million-plus offer from a party wishing to buy the team and move it to the United States.
Heisley, who bought the team from Seattle businessman John McCaw, has a history of turning underperforming companies into profitable operations.
But despite consistently high draft picks, the team is 91-336 (.213) in its 5 1/2 years, including 13-36 this season.
Vancouver's losing record, coupled with high Canadian taxes, has resulted in some players refusing to play for the club.
Last year, Stern helped block Bill Laurie's attempt to buy the
team when it became clear the Missouri businessman wanted to move the franchise to St. Louis. Stern, however, says it "may have been a mistake" to leave the Grizzlies in Vancouver.
NBA All-Star game ratinas fall to new low
NEW YORK — NBC's ratings for the NBA All-Star game are headed for a record low.
The East's 111-110 win Sunday night got a 6.9 overnight rating and an 11 share, Nielsen Media Research said yesterday. That was down 17 percent from the 8.3 overnight rating and 13 share for last year's game, which the West won. 137-126.
The national rating, to be released today, figures to be even lower. Last year's game finished with a 6.9 national rating and 12 share, down 35 percent from the previous All-Star game, which got a 10.6/17 in 1998. (There was no All-Star game in 1999 because of an owner's 'lockout').
The rating is the percentage of 102.2 million television households in the United States tuned to a program. The share is the percentage watching a broadcast among those televisions on at the time.
Overnight ratings are based on 49 major markets.
Tyson, Lewis match-up might become reality
The fight still faces huge hurdles before it could be made, but Tyson and Lewis are now both on the record as saying they want to fight sometime this year.
LAS VEGAS — Mike Tyson said yesterday he was ready to fight heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis this summer.
BOXING
for a fight that could be the richest ever.
Tyson told his manager to start negotiations as soon as possible
"Mike would love to have this fight as his birthday gift," manager Shelly Finkel said of the former heavyweight champion, who turns 35 on June 30. "If Lennox is serious about making this fight, there's nothing avoiding it happening on our end."
Lewis' business manager, Adrian Ogun, said on Sunday he was ready to begin talks for the fight, but said he wasn't sure if Tyson's camp wanted the fight.
"Let's get it on," Finkel quoted Tyson as saving.
Tyson; wants to fight Lennox Lewis this summer
The fight could surpass the second Tyson-Evander
Holyfield fight as the richest ever, with revenues of more than $100 million and purses of $30 million for each fighter
Lewis is under contract to HBO, while Tyson has a contract with Showtime, and unless the cable channels can come to an agreement, there will be no fight.
In addition, the two camps would have to agree on purses, with both fighters feeling they should get the bigger payday.
Lewis has said all along he wants to fight Tyson, but Tyson has been reluctant in his latest comeback to commit himself to a challenge for the WBC and IBF titles.
TENNIS
E-mail virus disguised as photo of tennis star
NEW YORK — A computer virus purported to be an electronic photo of Anna Kournikova overwhelmed e-mail servers throughout Europe and North America yesterday.
The virus slowed down e-mail systems and forced some companies to shut down their e-mail altogether while they cleaned out the rogue program. Security experts said the virus does not permanently damage computers.
Within a few hours, the virus had managed to spread almost as rapidly as last May's "I Love You" virus, which caused tens of millions of dollars in damage worldwide. More computers could be infected today in Asia.
"Everybody and their brother and sister-in-law are infected with this thing," said David Perry, director of public education at Trend Micro Inc. "Last year, everybody wanted to be loved. Apparently many people want to see a JPEG (picture) of Anna Koumikova."
The virus, which appears to have originated in Europe, comes as an attachment named
"AnnaKoimikova.jpg.vbs" and carries the message "Hi; Check This!" But it does not actually contain a photo of the tennis star.
The virus can automatically send copies of itself to everyone on a recipient's address book. It spreads primarily through Microsoft Outlook e-mail software on Windows computers.
Sports Calendar
Men's golf at Rice/Meadowbrook Farms Intercollegiate
Women's basketball vs. Texas Tech
Diving at Big 12 Diving Championships
Baseball at Rawlings Tournament
Swimming & diving at Big 12
Women's Championships
Diving at Big 12 Diving
Championships
Men's tennis at National Team
Indoors
Pitchers carry team to win in tournament
Baseball at Rawlings Tournament
Swimming & diving at Big 12
Women's Championships
Diving at Big 12 Diving
Championships
Men's tennis at National Team
Indoors
Softball at UNLV Classic
Men's basketball at Iowa State Women's basketball vs. Iowa State Baseball at Rawlings Tournament Swimming & diving at Big 12 Women's Championships Diving at Big 12 Diving Championships Men's tennis at National Team Indoors Women's tennis in Texas
Women's tennis vs. Texas Softball at UNLV Classic
By Ryan Malashock
sports@kanson.com
Kanson sportswriter
The Kansas baseball team's pitching staff grew up much faster than expected last weekend at the Round Rock Express College Classic in Round Rock, Texas.
Entering this season, senior Pete Smart was the only Jayhawk with extensive starting experience. Kansas coach Bobby Randall said that Smart performed as expected, but the rest of the staff's performance was a bit shocking for the 3-0 Jayhawks.
"We were not surprised by Pete because he's proven himself," Randall said. "But our new guys gave us the kind of production we needed to win, and it was a little surprising."
The "new guys" were juniors Justin Wilcher, Jake Wright and Doug Lantz.
Wilcher, Wright, and Lantz all made their Kansas debuts in Round Rock last weekend and had breakout outings.
Wilcher earned the win in Kansas' 9-3 victory against previously undefeated Southwest Texas State on Saturday. The Garden City Community College transfer went six innings and only gave up one earned run.
Wilcher is just one of the many key junior college recruits Randall signed last year. Randall said he had expected big
things out of Wilcher this year, but not quite this quickly.
"Justin gave us six strong innings on Saturday and pitched well," Randall said. "He threw a lot of strikes and had a lot of confidence."
Wright clinched his first Jayhawk victory, as well as the Round Rock Classic championship, in Kansas' 5-2 victory against Charlotte on Sunday. The Baldwin native went seven innings and surrendered two earned runs.
Wright redshirted last season after transferring from Allen County Community College. Randall said Wright showed promise during his redshirt season and displayed that progress against Charlotte.
"We waited all last year to see Jake pitch like he did," Randall said. "He pitched a great game, and I'm happy for Jake."
Randall said the pitching staff as a whole could not have performed much better. In the three weekend games, Kansas gave up eight runs, and Randall said good pitching made other aspects of the game better.
"Our good pitching this weekland keyed our good defense," Randall said. "When our pitchers are throwing lots of strikes, our defense shows confidence in them."
"I just want to pitch as much as I can," Lantz said. "I'm going to want the ball in any situation. I want the pressure."
NASCAR confronts Fox about coverage of sponsors' logos
On Sunday's broadcast, Fox
While Wilcher and Wright paced the starters in Round Rock, Kansas may have found a closer in Lantz. Lantz earned his first two collegiate saves by closing out the victories against Texas Christian on Friday and against Charlotte.
The Associated Press
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR was surprised with Fox's first weekend coverage of the Budweiser Shootout because the network showed some race cars with sponsors' logos missing.
Fox broadcast its first event Sunday as part of a new, $2.8 billion contract, but the network spent yesterday in meetings with executives of the racing circuit who were concerned about the sponsorship.
Neither Lou D'Ermilio, Fox's vice president of communications, nor John Griffin, NASCAR's public relations director, would comment on specifics of yesterday's talks. But D'Ermilio said the network would not ignore the complaints.
"We are very mindful of the
— Edited by Jason McKee
showed accurate graphic depictions of cars sponsored by Budweiser, The Home Depot, Havoline, Dodge and other network clients. The cars of those companies who didn't buy sponsorship on Fox were depicted without logos.
industry's concerns," he said. "NASCAR came to us today with those concerns, relating to our graphics. We're going to discuss it internally and get back to NASCAR as soon as we can."
the sanctioning body, however, apparently is not prepared to order changes in Fox's coverage.
"I can't stress enough that it's a partnership, and we're going to regroup with them tomorrow," Griffin said. "We knew there would be changes in the way they sold and the enhancements they would add to the teacast.
This probably caught us off guard."
D'Ermilio said Fox had no plans to back off agreements with its sponsors, but would not say changes wouldn't be made. The goal, he said, was to be responsive to NASCAR and its fans.
"Obviously, it's a factor because we are rethinking our position," D'Ermilio said.
He refused to say how much the contracted advertisers had paid.
"The bottom line for us with viewers is how we cover the races, and none of this had any
The flap with Fox was the second this year for NASCAR, which had a dispute last week with ESPN about the use of materials for its RPM2Nite magazine show.
NASCAR said interviews and images shot at the speedway could be used on ESPN's SportsCenter but not on RPM2Nite.
In response, ESPN, which was part of the NASCAR coverage prior to the new contract, decided to turn down credentials for the Daytona 500.
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Universal Day of Prayer for Students
All students, faculty & staff welcome
Tuesday, February 13 12:30pm Danforth Chapel (KU Campus) Community Prayer Service
Sponsored by : Canterbury House (Episcopal), Lutheran Campus Ministry (ELCA), ECM (Prescbyrian Church, United Church of Christ, Quaker, Church of the Brethren). University Christian Fellowship, and United Methodist Campus Ministry.