Section:
B
Trivia question
What team was the victor in Super Bowl IV and was noted for its "Doomsday Defense?"
The University Daily Kansan
Sports
SEE PAGE 2B
Inside: Former Jayhawk Paul Pierce hit the game-winning shot in Boston's victory Sunday against Denver and Raef LaFrentz.
SEE PAGE 7B
TUESDAY. DECEMBER 12, 2000
Inside: Kansas rodeo studs showcased their talents this weekend in Lawrence.
For comments contact Melinda Weaver or Jason Walker at 864-4858 or e-mail sports@kansan.com WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
SEE PAGE 8B
Sports Columnist
Derek Prater
sports@kansan.com
Kansas looks to exorcise demons
Athletes and writers share many hidden characteristics
Larry Smith was irate, somewhat like a lover scorned.
Smith's Missouri football team was struggling, his job was slipping away and the sportswriters wanted to know how it felt. So he gave them what they wanted.
"You may be a sportswriter, but it's like me trying to do your job for you.
... You have no idea, but you still try to write about it. You try to evaluate it. And you try to judge it. And it's strictly opinion. Who cares about your opinion because it's not right. It's not founded. And it's not factual."
Ouch.
Ouch.
But that's how break-ups go. And as it turned out, Smith's tempestuous affair with the Missouri media was just about finished — he was canned several days later.
Another messy end to a messy relationship.
But messy seems to be the norm when locks and hacks hook up.
when you look even the normally genial Roy Williams and Terry Allen sometimes want to shove the tape recorder down some pesky reporter's throat, Ike Turner-style.
We reporters think we need to ask the probing questions. Jocks just want a little respect.
So even though we both need one another — us for content, them for publicity — we almost always end up bickering.
Forgive the gender stereotyping, but we media types are like the sensitive girlfriend, always wanting our boyfriend to share his innermost feelings. And occasionally we woke his ego, just to get an emotional response.
The athlete types are like the recalcitrant boyfriend, scared to show his true feelings because dad never hugged him. When pushed to the edge, he lashes out in anger.
It's a shame we just can't seem to get along — we really have a lot in common.
Hacks and jocks both work in collaborative, competitive jobs with plenty of pressure and criticism. Familiar personality types emerge in both the locker room and the newsroom.
Just like any athletic team, newsrooms have their prima donnas — usually sports columnists or raven-haired senior staff reporters who whine and moan when their copy gets changed.
Every player is important in these environments because it all comes down to competition.
We also have our role players — the copy editors and designers who get little credit but are invaluable to putting out the paper. They are the Jeff Careys of the news world.
Jocks work hard, pushing their bodies to the limit. Every minute counts when they're between the lines and the clock is ticking down.
Say, for example, a writer takes a dig at Eric Chenowith. Maybe he implies that despite all of Chenowith's off-season work, the senior center still stinks. Chances are, that writer is going to receive some criticism of his own — perhaps in the form of an e-mail detailing the extent of his ignorance (a la Larry Smith).
Writers strive to get the exclusive story and the most readers. The daily deadline is always on our heels, pushing us on.
Kansas senior forward Kenny Gregory and coach Roy Williams look on during Kansas' 84-53 defeat at Wake Forest. As in that game on Thursday, Gregory will not play in tonight's game against DePaul. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN
When the competition gets the best of either of us, people let us hear about it.
One would think that the sportswriter would have a little more sympathy for Chenowith. After all, he should know how that kind of criticism feels.
'Hawks want turnaround against DePaul
By Michael Rigg
sports@kansas.com
Kansas sportswriter
But some people just aren't happy without a little turbulence in their lives.
Bv Michael Riaa
To Kansas, the college basketball season is a 28-round fight. After coasting through the first seven rounds, the Jayhawks finally were knocked down by No. 6 Wake Forest 84-53 on Thursday.
And now, with their backs against the ropes, the Jayhawks know they have to come out swinging when they play DePaul at 8 tonight on ESPN. After the embarrassing loss to the Demon Deacons, Kansas players insist that they don't have much of a choice.
Prater is a Lawrence graduate student in journalism.
"We'll see if we have any toughness," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "We didn't show much toughness out there in the game against Wake Forest. If we do, we'll do some good things, and if we don't, then we won't have any good things happen all year."
The Jayhawks will hit the road for their second straight contest tonight, in a place — Chicago's United Center — that they have
lost three straight games.
"We need to work on things defensively," junior guard Jeff Boschee said.
Demons with 16.7 points per game.
But a defensive message is not the only kind that Kansas will try to send tonight. The Jayhawks will try to tell the country that they can bounce back from a tough loss, and that they were deserving of that No. 2 national ranking they received two weeks ago.
If Kansas wants to send a defensive message, then tonight would be a good night. The Jayhawks are back on ESPN, the same network that televised the Wake Forest game.
"We've got a lot of things to work on," Boschee said. "We just need to concentrate and do the things that we need to do. It's not the end of the world right now. The basketball season isn't over. We still have 20 games to play."
More information Additional information on the Kansas men's basketball team See page 3B
■ Senior guard Luke Axtell is listed as questionable for tonight's game after reinjuring his right ankle in practice.
straight games.
To break the road woes, the Jayhawks must overcome a tough Blue Demon team that took Kansas to overtime in the
Axtell missed four games after spraining the ankle Nov. 7. He made his first start in last week's loss to
Kansas basketball notes:
KANSAS AT DEPAUL
Wake Forest in place of senior forward Kenny Gregory, who is nursing a bad ankle and a bad back. Gregory won't play in tonight's game.
When: 8 tonight
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV/Radio: ESPN (Channel 48);
KLZR 105.9
Latest Line: Kansas by 5.
To prepare for DePaul, Kansas worked hard on its defense in practice the last few days. The Jayhawks were atrocious against the Demon Deacons on defense — Wake Forest shot 68 percent in the second half — and will be facing a team tonight that is averaging 83 points per game. DePaul also features high-scoring forward Bobby Simmons, who leads the Blue
- Former Jayhawk guard Marlon London, who transferred to DePaul after last season, is expected to be on the Blue Demon bench tonight. London, who attended Kansas' game against Washburn earlier this season, is sitting out the season in accordance with the NCAA's transfer guidelines.
Kansas will try to remain undefeated against DePaul tonight. The Jayhawks are 6-0 all-time against the Blue Demons, including last season's 81-77 overtime thriller in the NCAA Tournament.
irst round of last year's NCAA Tournament. While DePaul lost leading scorer and former Kansas recruit Quentin Richardson from that team, the Blue Demons are still dangerous.
Edited by Erin Adamson
'Hawks face tough road
Kansas women must overcome several injuries
By Zac Hunter
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
From here on out, it gets a lot tougher for the Kansas women's basketball team.
senior Jaclyn Johnson had 12 points in last year's 55-54 loss and said she knew Creighton would come to Lawrence ready to upset the 'Hawks again. Kansas has come out flat several times this season, and the Jayhawks know they can't afford to do that against the Blue Jays.
After a mid-season hiatus against Washburn in Saturday's exhibition game, the Jayhawks have four more games until Big 12 Conference play starts, the first of which is Saturday against a Creighton team that beat Kansas in Omaha, Neb., last season.
Senior forward Brooke Reves echoed Johnson's thoughts and said if the 'Hawks didn't start playing better in the first half, they would have a tough time coming back against high-caliber
"Definitely we're going to have to come out a lot harder," Johnson said. "They beat us (last year), so we have to take care of business here at home."
teams.
"Your initial start in the game sets the tone for the rest of the game," Reves said.
Taking care of business might be more difficult than it sounds because of the multitude of injuries plaguing the Javhawks.
first on the list is their leading scorer, Johnson. She is fourth in the Big 12, averaging just less than 20 points per game, but she might see her minutes cut down because of a stress fracture to the right tibia.
Johnson suffered the injury in the season opener against Grambling when she was knocked down hard twice. But you would never know she was hurting from her performance.
"I'm going to play through it." Johnson said. "I'm not going to miss any games because of this."
Kansas junior center Nikki white shoots over a Washburn defender. The Jayhawks face a tough Creighton team on Saturday. Kansas file photo
She has scored more than 20 points four times this season and is second on the team in rebounding.
While Johnson is hampered by one stress fracture, junior guard Selena Scott is hampered by a couple. She has nagging fractures in both legs but continues to play.
"They don't complain." Kansas coach Marian Washington said. "I have to kind of let up in practice, but both of them are pretty tough people. They work real hard."
As if that weren't enough, junior center Nikki White is still having problems with her broken nose. White has to
wear a mask to protect the nose and is having problems adapting to it.
"She's able to do some good things with the ball, but it's really hard for her to adjust to the frame," Washington said. "T'll just be really happy when she finally gets that thing corrected and gets a chance to play without it. Until that gets corrected, she's really going to struggle."
— Edited by Melissa Cooley
Rodriguez inks with Texas in $252 million contract
The Associated Press
DALLAS — A-Rod has a new nickname: A-Lot.
That's what Alex Rodriguez is getting from the Texas Rangers — a quarter-billion dollars in a deal that doubles the previous-richest contract in sports history.
The Rangers lured the four-time All-Star shortstop from the Seattle Mariners with a $252 million, 10-year contract yesterday.
"Alex is the player we believe will allow this franchise to fulfill its dream of continuing on its path to becoming a World Series champion," Rangers owner Tom Hicks said.
Hicks paid $250 million to buy the entire franchise three years ago from the group headed by George W. Bush and Rusty Rose. Now the Rangers have A-Rod and I-Rod — catcher Ivan Rodriguez, the 1999 American League MVP.
"The Rangers are serious about winning," Texas general manager Doug Melvin said. "I know know expectations will be high. We're ready for that challenge."
three franchises or so at the bottom end of market value," said Sandy Alderson, an executive vice president in the commissioner's office.
"This amount of money spread out over 10 years could probably buy
The free-agent contract calls for a $10 million signing bonus paid during the next five years and salaries of $21 million in each of the first four years — far more than the $1.58 million Minnesota paid its entire team this season.
The 25-year-old Rodriguez gets $25 million a year in 2005 and 2006, and $27 million in each of the final four seasons, said a baseball source familiar with the deal.
It is exactly double the previous record for a sports contract: a $126 million, six-year agreement in October 1977 between forward Kevin Garnett and the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves.
Rodriguez: Signed record deal with Texas Rangers
And it was finalized 11 days shy of the 25th anniversary of an arbitra-
tor's decision that ended the reserve clause and led to free agency in the A n d y Messersmith-Dave McNally case.
Back then, the average baseball salary was about $45,000. This year, it was about $1.8 million, leading some owners to
call for another overhaul of the sport's economic structure — which could lead to another work stoppage after next season.
The previous high for a baseball player was set just Saturday: the $121 million, eight-year contract between left-hander Mike Hampton and the Colorado Rockies.
College Rockets
Until then, baseball's largest deal had been a $116.5 million, nine-year contract agreed to in February by Ken Griffey Jr. and the Cincinnati Reds when Seattle traded the center fielder last February.
Y