KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2010 /
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot."
—Bill Russell, former Boston Celtics player
9A
FACT OF THE DAY
Cole Aldrich led the team with
125 blocks last season.
KU Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who leads the team in blocks this year and how many are the Jayhawks on pace for?
SPORTS
A: Jeff Withey, whose 11 blocks put him on pace to finish with 49.
— KU Athletics
PGA
Woods loses during tournament playoff
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Tiger Woods delivered a vintage moment, dropping an 8-iron from the sky on the final hole Sunday inside 3 feet for what looked to be a sure victory.
The clutch shots and happy endings belonged to U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.
Just not this year.
McDowell capped off his greatest season with the biggest comeback ever against Woods. He rallied from a four-shot deficit in the Chevron World Challenge, then staged Woods at his own tournament.
McDowell holed a 20-foot birdie putt to force a playoff, then beat Woods on the first extra hole with another birdie from a little bit longer.
Woods might have known what to expect, considering how his year has gone.
Without a trophy for the first time since he can remember, Woods appeared ready to embark on a new chapter after a year of personal turmoil and shocking scores. A four-shot lead turned into a two-shot deficit. He rallied to tie McDowell, then watched the U.S. Open champion deliver the winning shots.
And it was the first time anyone could recall Woods feeling good after a loss.
It was the first time Woods has lost a tournament when leading by at least three shots going into the final round.
"It was a great week, even though I didn't win." Woods said.
Woods lost his big lead with a pair of three-putt bogeys, imploded with a double bogey on the par-5 13th to see his one-shot lead turn into a two-shot deficit, then got new life when McDowell made a couple of mistakes down the stretch.
McDowell won with two birdies on the 18th, but he might have won the tournament with a bogey. With a one-shot lead on the par-3 17th, he pulled his 8-iron into grass so high that he took a penalty drop on the 18th tee and pitched over the trees to 7 feet. Woods missed his birdie putt, and McDowell made his putt to stay even with Woods going to the final hole.
It was only the fourth time in 15 years that Woods has lost in a playoff.
Associated Press
MORNING BREW
Everything I need to know about geography, I learned from sports. It's why I know that Ohio — with Xavier and Dayton in the Atlantic 10 and Cincinnati in the Big East — is somewhere on the Eastern seaboard. Columbus, the capital city, is a big time port, I think. That's why the airport is called Port Columbus International, right? Of course, with Ohio University in the Mid-American conference, you can't discount the Midwestern presence of the state. The breadth of the state makes it the largest in the United States, I'm pretty sure. But don't quote me on that.
Sports map of U.S. a bit flawed
Sports also recently taught me that Texas could basically decide where it wants to be in the country, Strange. I thought moving landmasses were strictly the stuff of Emmy-winning television shows (I'm looking at you, "Lost"). But the Longhorns and Aggies were this close to joining the Pac-10 and sending the Lone Star State to the Left Coast, and Texas Christian has now accepted a bid to join the Big East, Maybe Texas will share a border with Ohio. At least we can all take comfort in the fact that, with Houston in Conference USA, there's no real chance of Texas seceding from the union any time soon.
Perhaps most impressive is the scale of Chicago, which by all accounts is the
BYTIM DWYER
Eighth-grade Geography Bee
Champion
largest city in the world. After all, DePaul University in Chicago is in the Big East, while Chicago State University is in the Great West Conference. And that's just a city! I wonder what the commute is like for people that live near Chicago State but work near DePaul. Must be a bitch.
Also in the Great West Conference is New Jersey Institute of Technology, which decided that the Jersey Coast wasn't nerdy enough and annexed San Diego, home of Comic-Con, and moved out to what was once one of California's finest cities. Or something like that.
Of course, the Pacific coast has seen some serious upheaval. Or will soon. I always thought the only states bordering the Pacific Ocean were California, Oregon, Washington and, of course, Arizona. In 2011, Utah and Colorado will
join the 12-Pac, and presumably find their way to the coast. So will the states get smaller or the coast get bigger? Politicians, you've got some work to do before this conference madness is settled
I don't know where Kansas City, Mo., is. I thought I'd been there several times, but apparently it's in the mountains. Thanks for that lesson, Summit League member UMKC.
But my geographical education isn't complete without knowing where the heroes are. Army and Navy, fittingly, reside in the Patriot League.
And so does American University.
Edited by Emily McCoy
Rams give Cardinals eighth-straight loss
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NFL
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The St. Louis Rams didn't need a great offensive performance to end their eight-game losing streak to Arizona.
Not against a Cardinals team that can't muster a touchdown.
Steven Jackson rushed for 102 yards, including 27 on the game's lone TD, and St. Louis sent Arizona to its seventh loss in a row 19-6 on Sunday.
The Rams (6-6) won consecutive road games for the first time since Nov.18,2007,and remained in a first-place tie with Seattle in the weak NFC West.
Josh Brown kicked four field
goals for St. Louis.
Rookie quarterback John Skelton made his NFL debut for Arizona (3-9) in the fourth quarter after Derek Anderson was benched and backup Max Hall went out with a dislocated left shoulder.
After the game, coach Ken Whisenhunt said Anderson "didn't seem right" after taking several hard hits in the first half. He said Anderson would be checked out for a possible concussion.
The Cardinals didn't score a touchdown for the second game in a row and have just one in their last three contests — on the final play of a 31-13 loss at
St. Louis scored 19 consecutive points after Jay Feely's first-quarter field goals of 45 and 41 yards put Arizona up 6-0.
Arizona's Tim Hightower gained 81 yards in 15 carries, but had just 14 yards in six attempts in the second half. Anderson completed seven of 20 passes for 93 yards with one interception.
Kansas City.
Brown's field goals of 28 and 52 yards tied it at 6, and the Cardinals had third-and-10 at the St. Louis 31 when Anderson's pass over the middle went right
into the arms of safety Craig Dahl. He returned the interception 23 yards to the Rams 33. St. Louis drove to the Arizona 2, but the Cardinals, whose red-zone defense has been one of the few bright spots for the team, held the Rams out.
St. Louis went 85 yards in 10 plays in the third quarter for the game's lone TD.
The Rams went without a huddle and Jackson broke free down the sidelines for the 27-yard score that made it 16-6.
Brown's 20-yard field goal with 4 seconds left put the Rams up 9-6 at the half.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — Tony Parker scored 19 points and the San Antonio Spurs beat the sliding New Orleans Hornets for the second time in a week, 109-84 on Sundav night.
NBA
Spurs win second match v. Hornets
Matt Bonner added 14 points, hitting four of five 3-point attempts, and the Spurs improved their NBA-best record to 17-3 and matched their best start through 20 games since the 2007-08 season.
First-year Hornets coach Monty Williams said before the game that the potential sale wouldn't be a distraction.
Chris Paul had 16 points for the Hornets, who have lost four of five and were blown out from the start. They trailed by 38 and lately look nothing like the team that opened 8-0.
But this pummeling will likely be overshadowed by news Sunday that Hornets owner George Shinn has agreed to sell the club to the NBA. A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press the deal could be completed within days.
Not only did the Hornets never lead Sunday, they were never within double-digits after the first 17 seconds of the second quarter.
The Hornets are 2-6 in their last eight games, spoiling what had been a record start for the franchise. Facing the Spurs a week ago at home, the Hornets were up by 17 in the third and coasting toward a win yet still wound up losing 109-95.
After a loss like this, New Orleans has plenty else to worry about.
New Orleans gave up season highs for points allowed, opponent field-goal percentage (58.6 percent), opponent assists (29) and set a season low for
The league has lined up New Orleans-born sports attorney Jac Sperling, vice chairman of the NHL's Minnesota Wild, to be the NBA's administrator of the team and oversee its sale to a more permanent owner, the person told AP on condition of anonymity because the move has not been publicly announced.
David West scored 13 points for the Hornets after coming back from a stomach bug that kept him out on Friday night. West was 6 of 11 from the field and played 30 minutes.
Williams said he's heard speculation about the potential sale since arriving in New Orleans but that didn't know any details.
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"There's a number of distractions we have in our lives," Williams said. "It's not a big deal to us."
Tim Duncan had 11 points and nine rebounds before sitting for nearly the entire second half. Richard Jefferson scored 13 points, and George Hill and Gary Neal had 11 apiece.
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Trevor Ariza also scored 13 points for New Orleans.
Shinn has been in negotiations to sell the team to minority owner and Louisiana native
Gary Chouest since last spring, but talks have been stalled.
rebounds (30). At one point midway through the second quarter, the Spurs were still shooting 74 percent as a team.
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
No events today.
FRIDAY Volleyball NCAA Regional TBA Campus Sites
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
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
NFL
Falcons earn their 6th straight victory
TAMPA, Fla. — Matty ice came to the rescue again.
Matt Ryan threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins with 4:31 remaining Sunday as the Atlanta Falcons put together another fourth-quarter rally to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28-24 on Sunday for their sixth straight victory.
The Falcons have won five straight in the intense division rivalry, with four of the games decided by six points or less. Atlanta won an earlier meeting this season 27-21.
Eric Weems got the comeback from a 10-point deficit started by scoring on a 102-yard kickoff return. Brent Grimes sealed the win with an interception that stopped Tampa Bay's final possession deep in Falcons territory.
Associated Press