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KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2010 / SPORTS
9A
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period."
— Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas has two players in the top 20 in fouls drawn per 40 minutes in the Big 12. Both Cole Aldrich and Marcus Morris have drawn 5.2 fouls per 40 minutes so far this season.
Source: kenpom.com
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who leads the league in fouls drawn per 40 minutes in the Big 12 this season?
A: Kansas State's Jamar Samuels. He draws 8 fouls per 40 minutes.
Kansas Athletics
NCAA Men's Basketball:
No. 6 Texas 72, Oklahoma State 60
No. 19 Connecticut 69, Louisville 82
NCAA Women's Basketball: No. 3
Notre Dame 75, Rutgers 63
No. 13 North Carolina 73, No. 14
Florida State 83
NBA Basketball:
Boston 99, Washington 88
Milwaukee 97, Miami 81
Phoenix 109, New Orleans 100
LA Lakers 93, Memphis 95
BASEBALL
SCORES
Jayhawks to play televised game
The Jayhawks will be featured in one of the six games in the package when they travel to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State on Saturday, May 1 at 2 p.m.
Yesterday, the Big 12 announced its 2010 television schedule, which will air nationally on Fox Sports Net.
The game marks the fourth straight year that Kansas will make an appearance on national television.
Team ranked in preseason polls
The baseball team has already begun to garner some national attention, earning a ranking from two publications and being selected for a national television appearance.
Rivals.com lists the Jayhawks at No.25 in their preseason top 25, while the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA) ranks them at No.33 in their own preseason poll.
- Kansas joins Texas at the only other Big 12 team ranked by the Rivals poll; the Longhorns tabbed as No. 1 in the nation. In the NCBWA poll, the Jayhawks were slotted behind three other conference opponents: Texas (No.1). Oklahoma (No.25) and Texas A&M (No.28).
Ben Ward
Pro Bowl flawed,but still fun
MORNING BREW
As a junkie of all things NFL, I usually find my passion for football at odds with the Pro Bowl.
BY BEN WARD
bward@kansan.com
twitter.com/bm_dub
This year's game had me less enthusiastic than ever. Everything about it had me moaning and groaning, even going as far to question whether the star-studded contest should cease to exist. Both the experimental move from Honolulu to Miami, and the League's decision to play it a week before (as opposed to a week after) the Super Bowl seemed like desperate attempts to increase viewership.
In the MLB, of course, the game actually has a distinct
And no, we're not quite talking Shane Falco-esque substitutes, but there were seemingly far too many participants who weren't voted in. Because their teams will play in the Super Bowl next weekend, none of the 14 Colts or Saints Pro Bowlers took part in the game; meaning Drew Brees and Peyton Manning in street clothes as spectators. And due to injuries and other reasons, many more players stayed home, including (gasp!) Brett Favre.
Oh, and let's not forget about all the replacement players.
As the list of players dropping out of the game continued to grow, fans were left to wonder - does the Pro Bowl even matter anymore?
impact on the season, as the winning league earns home field advantage in the World Series. In the NBA, while their contest doesn't carry the same reward, fans can still rejoice at the bevy of alley-oops and behind the back passes. Same for the NHL, where seeing the best scorers in the league glide up and down the ice is a treat all its own.
Arguably, the style of play in the NFL is least translatable to the All-Star Game format; football is a brutal, hard-hitting sport. Guys aren't trying to blow out a knee in an exhibition contest, so vital elements of the game are missing; for example, offensive and defensive line-play is virtually non-existent, and defensive backs aren't allowed to press coverage
check that, enjoyable.
In spite of my cynicism, I decided to flip on Sunday night's Pro Bowl anyway. And to my surprise, it was watchable —
Without the laundry list of elite quarterbacks, guys like Matt Schaub and David Garrard stepped up and delivered strikes down the field for huge touchdown passes. Many players were mid-up (perhaps my favorite technological inclusion to the NFL), allowing viewers to listen in on the huddle, or stare in amazement as defensive signal-callers like Ray Lewis barked out orders.
Most of all, the game showed fans that the players still care. Cameras captured guys on the sidelines laughing and joking with one another, and replacement or not, they were all simply happy to be there. And as long as it matters to them, it's still of value to us fans.
Edited by Cory Bunting
TODAY
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
No events scheduled
WEDNESDAY
Men's basketball at Colorado, 8 p.m.
THURSDAY No events scheduled
FRIDAY
Tennis vs. Notre Dame, 3 p.m.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Women's swimming at Iowa State, 6 p.m.
Track at Husker Invitational, all day
SATURDAY
Bowled over
Swimming at Iowa State, 10 a.m.
Men's basketball vs. Nebraska, 5 p.m.
Track at Husker Invitational, all day
SUNDAY
Women's basketball vs. Kansas State, 1 p.m.
Tennessee Titans' Chris Johnson looks for room to run during the first half of the NFL football Pro Bowl on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010, in Miami. The AFC won the name, 41-34.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Aldrich wins Big 12 player of the week
Junior center Cole Aldrich was announced Big 12 Player of the Week on Monday thanks to big double-doubles in his last few outings.
Aldrich had monster performances against Missouri and Kansas State, averaging 15 points.
NFL
13. 5 rebounds and five blocks in those games.
"It's pretty cool," he said of the award. "It definitely helps. The guys on the team have helped me obtain that achievement. It just finally nice to start playing better."
On the season, Aldrich is averaging 11.6 points and 10.3 rebounds with 3.6 blocks. He has nine double-doubles on the season, including three in his past three games.
Church competes for Super Bowl ad
"I started out real slow for quite a while," Aldrich said. "But now I'm starting to get my feet back under me and starting to get more confidence."
— Corey Thibodeaux
BY GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Pastors have long competed with the NFL on Sundays, but this season a hipster megachurch is turning the tables with a 30-second ad that could muscle its way into that all holiest of sporting events: the Super Bowl.
Mosaic, a 3,000-member mega-church, is one of six finalists in the Doritos" Crash the Super Bowl" challenge with a lighthearted spoof that plays off the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If the church's ad, titled "Casket," is among the top three vote-getters in an online playoff, it will air on Feb 7 during the Super Bowl. If the commercial ranks in the top three most-popular ads among viewers, it could win its creators either $400,000, $600,000 or $1 million.
Another more serious religious message planned during the game has caused a stir: A pro-life ad paid for by the conservative group Focus on the Family is expected to feature University of Florida football star Tim Tebow speaking about how his
For Erwin McManus, Mosaic's lead pastor, the ad competition represents a chance to make his faith relevant to one of the largest TV audiences in the nation when viewers least expect it — and are least likely to tune out.
mother gave birth to him despite doctor's recommendations that she should have an abortion.
"We're not trying to use Doritos to propagate a message, but I think we want people to know that we have a sense of humor, that it's OK to laugh," McManus said. "So much of what comes out of the faith community seems so dour and somber and we want to say, 'Hey, we're real people. You can be a person of faith and really enjoy life and laugh."
But the LA church, a congregation full of hip twenty-somethings who mostly work in the film industry and make short films for a hobby, is taking a different tack. They were careful to stick to the quirky, slapstick-style humor that's expected by Super Bowl fans.
With its talent base in entertainment, the church is at the vanguard of a growing Christian movement focused on injecting faith-based themes into the plot lines of mainstream TV shows, Hollywood movies and video games that aren't explicitly Christian, or advertised as such.
Movies like "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Chronicles of Narnia" several years ago marked early successes, but the recent blockbuster "The Blind Side" — which wasn't perceived as an overtly Christian film — really made Hollywood take note, said Phil
Cooke, a Christian producer, film-maker and author.
The Doritos spot, while just 30 seconds, is part of that bigger push, Cooke said.
The tongue-in-cheek ad opens on a funeral scene and then cuts to a young man alive in a closed casket. His body is covered in Doritos and he is watching the Super Bowl on a tiny TV while chomping on chips as mourners sob outside. Two friends, who are in on the prank, snicker that by faking his death, their friend will get a week off work and an endless supply of his favorite snack.
But the man gets excited when his team makes a big play and jostles the casket, which tips over to reveal him inside with a pile of crushed chips.
After an awkward pause, his buddy jumps up and nervously exclaims to the shocked assemblage: "Aaaah! It's a miracle!"
If it wins, Mosaic's ad could do more for the church after Super Bowl Sunday than it does in the 30 seconds of air time. Fans remember and recount their favorite commercials long after the clock runs out and the buzz around Mosaic's ad could amp up because of its genesis, said Mark Labberton, a professor of preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.