AP829439690878.jpg

One of the most interesting things about coming home from an event like Big 12 Media Days is logging onto the Internet the following day and doing a simple search for all of the stories about Kansas.

Although there are times and places built into the media days schedule for reporters to gather a little exclusive information, the majority of the week is spent with the same several hundred reporters hearing the same soundbites from the same coaches.

Depending on your angle — and your agenda — different things stand out to different people and what’s written typically falls in line with that concept.

Take this week’s KU team, for example. While many wanted to chronicle their first encounter with new KU coach Charlie Weis, others focused on quarterback Dayne Crist and still others on the low times that have plagued the Jayhawks in recent years.

Many of the topics the local media has written about for months is fresh meat for the rest of the reporters who cover the Big 12, so, with nearly five hours of interview opportunities packed into a single day for each team, there’s plenty to go around.

Being the local beat guy, it was my goal to track how KU was received this year, while also making sure to pick out whatever newsy items might have popped up.

During the past couple of years, because of the way the things have played out on the field, the rest of the working press generally regarded KU as a joke. Sure, they listened and, yeah, they were courteous, but the Jayhawks did not make the top of anyone’s priority list.

That wasn’t the case this year, a likely sign of what’s to come as the fall arrives and the wins and losses start mounting.

With that in mind, here’s a quick look around the web at some of the initial reactions to the new-look Jayhawks.

Here’s the Associated Press’ KU story from Tuesday’s Big 12 media days:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/07/24/big-12-media-days-notebook.ap/index.html

Here’s ESPN.com blogger David Ubben’s quick-hit wrap up of Day 2 of Media Days in Dallas, which includes a couple of KU mentions:
http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/52199/best-of-big-12-media-days-day-2

KU grad Mac Engel, who blogs for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, had this reaction:
http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/mac-engel/2012/07/add-kansas-coach-charlie-weis-to-the-list-of-coaches-i-dont-believe.html

John Hoover, columnist for the Tulsa World, was disturbed by Weis linking KU and Notre Dame:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/sportspost.aspx?Weis_Kansas_football_is_virtually_the_same_as_Notre_Dame/54-16188

Hoover’s colleague, Guerin Emig, appreciated Weis’ forthcoming nature:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=231&articleid=20120724_231_0_DALLAS224211

Those are just a few of the stories that were out there, and, again, since the Jayhawks are picked to finish last in the league this season, it’s not as if every reporter there was racing to file his or her story on Kansas.

There surely will be some more that come out during the next couple of weeks, but, by then, we’ll have moved on and will be tracking the changes to the depth chart and the daily happenings around Memorial Stadium.

Ready or not, it’s football season, folks!