2B
SPORTS / TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
now, it's almost like our offense needs to bail our defense out. We need to do a role reversal."
—Bill Self
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas is 0-2 in the Jimmy V Classic, an event that raises funds and awareness for cancer research. No.4 Kansas will play No.14 Memphis in the Jimmy V Classic tonight on ESPN.
— Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: How many of the six games against Memphis have been within five points or decided in overtime?
A: All but one.
-KUathletics.com
Game provides useful lessons
MORNING BREW
As if I need another distraction from schoolwork in these last few weeks before break, I have recently taken up yet another hobby courtesy of ESPN. After spending hours honing my fantasy football team, I thought nothing could come close to rivaling that.
That is when I learned of ESPN's Beat the Streak. This game doesn't have an entry fee, but offers one lucky/wise sports fan a chance to win $100,000 each month. The game is easy; make the right picks regarding different sporting events and accumulate the longest streak of correct picks. At the end of the月 $100,000 is given to the player who had the longest win streak at any point in the month. (For more rules check out streak.espn.go.com)
BY JACKSON DELAY
jdelay@kansan.com
I realize that the chance of me having the longest streak is slim to none. However, the prize is so enticing that I stay glued to ESPN, checking the scores of games I would never have known about had it not been for this fantasy game. How many other people knew of Sunday's soccer game in which Newcastle United lost 3-1 to West Bromwich? I know, I didn't think West Bromwich had it in them either.
Since the game makes me focus more on
sports, I wonder if I would pay more attention to certain things in my life if there was a Streak for Cash everyday edition.
Items up for bet will include things such as how many phones my journalism teacher will take from students in class today. Or perhaps how many times my friend Kevin twitches and falls; or barely avoids injury.
I could even bet on things that involved me, such as my performance on tests.
I have found it true that turning sports into fantasy games makes them even more exciting to watch. Why wouldn't this be true in life as well?
The other night I was watching the game cast of the Detroit Red Wings overtime
period. I am not a hockey fan and I can't even remember ever watching it on TV. If a fantasy game makes hockey interesting to me, then what could it do for my math class?
Some will study like crazy in order to do well on their finals. For me, I have my goal in mind to finish off the semester strong: beat the streak.
— Edited by Michael Bednar
NFL
Cowboys legend dies of brain hemorrhage
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Don Meredith, both an original Dallas Cowboy and an original member of the "Monday Night Football" cast, died Sunday at 72 after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
"He was the best there was" his wife, Susan, told The Associated Press. "We lost a good one."
Many fans of the old Monday night telecast would agree. Meredith was the funny, folksy counterpoint to brash New Yorker Howard Cosell on a show that became a pop culture phenomenon.
The two began with play-by-play man Keith Jackson in 1970, then were joined by Frank Gifford from 1971-73. Meredith left for three years but returned from 1977-84, retiring one year after Cosell did.
In the quarter century since, Meredith had maintained a low public profile, rarely granting interviews and living in Santa Fe, N.M.
But he never was forgotten by football fans who grew up with a telecast that was unlike anything that had been seen before on sports television.
As ESPN's Chris Berman put
it in a statement issued by the network Monday: "Don Meredith was a television pioneer who made pro football real, even for non-football fans."
Steve Hirdt, executive vice president of Elias Sports Bureau, worked with Meredith in the early 1980s and said, "I had enjoyed him as a viewer for years, but it wasn't until I started working on the show that I learned that he was a whole lot smarter than he liked to portray himself on television."
Meredith, widely known as "Dandy Don," was a key figure in the development of two iconic brands of his era, because he was
an early star of the Cowboys, even though he never led them to a championship and was booed at times.
Craig James, a fellow Texan and fellow former SMU star, said Monday, "He was a guy I grew up idolizing as a Cowboys fan."
Meredith abruptly retired before the 1969 season despite being only 31 and coming off three straight Pro Bowl seasons. (He was the losing quarterback in the 1967 "Ice Bowl" NFL Championship Game against the Packers.) Frank Gifford suggested he speak to ABC Sports' Roone Arledge about a new prime-time football series
set to debut in 1970.
By 1971, Meredith and Gifford were in the booth together, helping remake sports TV history.
"He occasionally would try his hand as an actor," Gifford said in a statement issued by the Giants, "but it wasn't long before he realized that for millions of football fans, he would always be the one who 'topped' Howard Cosell with one-liners or a simple, 'Come on, Howard.'
Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote on his Twitter page, "Don Meredith was one of the most colorful characters in NFL history."
COLLEGE B BASKETBALL
Duke remains on top after series of victories
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Another Duke victory over a top 10 team and the Blue Devils' win in a rematch of last season's
national championship game had them a unanimous No.1 for a second straight week.
The Blue Devils capped a tough two-week stretch by beating Michigan State and Butler, and
that meant they again got all 65 first-place votes from the national media panel on Monday.
Duke (8-0) was No.1 in the preseason poll and has stayed there for the first four polls of the regular season.
lar season.
Ohio State, Pittsburgh,
Kansas and Kansas State, which
also lost to Duke, were second
through fifth for the second
week in a row.
Connecticut, which went from unranked to seventh last week in the second-best inseason poll jump ever, moved up one place to sixth.
Michigan State, Syracuse, Getorgetown and Baylor rounded out the top 10.
It is the first-ever appearance in the top 10 for Baylor, which was 11th last week and moved up with wins over Prairie View
Washington Minnesota Notre Dame Louisville and Texas rounded out the Top 25.
Florida (6-2) lost to Central Florida last week and dropped out from 18th. The Gators, whose other loss was to Ohio State, were No. 9 in the preseason poll.
final poll.
Louisville (6-0) moved into the rankings for the first
they are the first member of that top 10 to fall out of the rankings.
A&M and Arizona State.
Tennessee jumped two spots to lead the second 10 and was followed by Villanova, Memphis, San Diego State, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, BYU, Purdue and UNLV.
Another Duke victory... had them a unanimous No.1 for a second straight week.
time this season. The Cardinals' biggest win was over then—No. 16 Butler in the opening game at their new downtown arena. In 2008-09 they were in the Top 25 all season, reaching No. 1 for the first time in school history in the
Louisville is the seventh Big East team in the rankings, while the Big Ten and
Big 12 have five each. The Big East has four of the top 10 Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Syracuse, Georgetown — and the Big 12 has three — Kansas, Kansas State and Baylor.
Georgetown moved into the top 10 for the first time this season, making the week's biggest jump from 16th to No. 9. Kentucky, which lost to North Carolina, and Minnesota, which lost to Virginia, had the week's biggest drops falling seven places to 17th and 22nd, respectively.
The Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday will have Kansas facing Memphis and Syracuse against Michigan State.
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
TUESDAY
Men's Basketball
Memphis
6 p.m.
Madison Square Garden,
New York, N.Y.
THURSDAY
Women's Basketball
Michigan
6 p.m.
Ann Arbor, Mich.
SATURDAY
FRIDAY
Volleyball NCAA Regional TBA Campus Sites
Men's Basketball
Colorado State
5:30 p.m.
Sprint Center,
Kansas City, Mo.
Volleyball NCAA Regional TBA Campus Sites
SUNDAY
Women's Basketball
Alabama
2 p.m.
Lawrence
The Heat went through the early stages of the season torched by opposing point guards; the Lakers remain unable to contain dribble penetration.
The Heat had LeBron James bemoaning his big minutes early; Lakers coach Phil Jackson is now lamenting the big minutes being force fed to forward-turned-center Gasol.
For weeks this past summer, there was no shortage when it came to comparing the Miami Heat to the Los Angeles Lakers. The reigning champions and the would-be champions.
The Heat has had Erik Spoelstra feverishly waving his arms as his players all too often walk the ball up court; Bryant has said of his Lakers, "It looks like we're running in quicksand."
The Heat went into the season lacking quality front-line bulks the Lakers joined the Heat in that predicament with Theo Ratliff joining Andrew Bynum on the sidelines.
Then something rather curious happened last week. Comparisons began in the other direction, with the Lakers emulating the Heat's mid-November slide by coming up with their own losses to the Utah Jazz, Indiana Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies.
L.A. Lakers struggle to stay afloat
The Heat, amid their struggles, all too often relied on James and Dwyane Wade forcing the action, running little in the way of a system; the Lakers have become less triangle and more high-volume Kobe.
When the Heat slipped to 8-7 a week ago in Orlando, forward Chris Bosh spoke of how the truest lessons come through failure, and that it was better than opening 15-0 but with a flawed approach that would be exposed later in the season.