Hopscotching the sports xorld for headlines xhile xondering xho stole the dubya from my keyboard
Item: Missouri will honor former men’s basketball coach Norm Stewart during a ceremony in conjunction with Monday night’s game against Kansas.
Comment: You were expecting maybe they would honor Stewart in conjunction with the Texas A&M game? Meanwhile, Kansas fans will face a second straight year of being unable to yell “Sit down, Norm” when the Tigers visit Lawrence for the regular-season finale on March 4.
Item: Former Kansas University offensive lineman Christopher Perez becomes the first former Jayhawk to sign to play in the XFL. Perez, a suburban Chicago native, signs with his hometown Chicago Enforcers.
Comment: Perez made the All-CFL team while playing for the B.C. Lions last season, but he told me he felt six years of playing football in Canada was long enough. I would suspect that also means the fledgling XFL will pay better than the CFL.
Item: Oklahoma senior linebacker Torrance Marshall, one of the standouts on the Sooners’ national championship team, spent two years at Kemper Military Academy in Boonville, Mo., then tried to transfer to Miami University in his hometown, but was rejected for failure to meet the Hurricanes’ academic requirements.
Comment: Marshall picked Oklahoma over Kansas State which makes you wonder if Miami’s scholastic standards have skyrocketed or OU’s and KSU’s have nose-dived.
Item: Kansas is the only men’s basketball team in the Big 12 Conference that hasn’t played an overtime game this season.
Comment: Those of us who write on tight deadlines and those with short fingernails owe a debt of gratitude to the Jayhawks. (If KU and K-State go into overtime on Saturday, please do not consider this foreshadowing).
Item: Kansas University’s women’s basketball team appears headed for its first losing season since 1988-89 (13-14).
Comment: You can’t win without the fillies.
Item: Chiefs’ officials announce a ticket price increase of about $5 per ticket and a $2 to $5 boost in the cost of parking.
Comment: Chiefs’ GM Carl Peterson didn’t write the book, but he read the chapter in the NFL GM Manual that suggests raising ticket prices soon after the acquisition of a “name” player or coach. Dick Vermeil is the latest in the succession of names that has included Marcus Allen, Joe Montana and Elvis Grbac.
Item: Big 12 Conference baseball coaches pick Nebraska to win their league championship in their preseason poll.
Comment: Seems to me that Nebraska is the preseason choice to win every league title except men’s basketball and skiing. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Huskers built a mountain in south Lincoln and started a ski team.
Item: Baltimore’s Brian Billick and the Giants’ Jim Fassel are the head coaches of the two Super Bowl teams.
Comment: It’s not exactly like Vince Lombardi tangling with Tom Landry, is it?
Item: Kansas University men’s basketball fans drool about the prospect of the Jayhawks earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and an assignment to Kansas City for the first and second rounds.
Comment: While Kansas can be sent to Kansas City KU isn’t the host; the Big 12 Conference is it is folly to expect the NCAA tourney committee to send the Jayhawks to KC when majestic, beautiful Dayton beckons as the other Midwest early-round site.
Item: The Royals trade Johnny Damon to Oakland in a three-way deal that nets them aging closer Roberto Hernandez.
Comment: It’s sort of like trading Julia Roberts for Glenn Close. Both are talented actresses, but which one would you pay to see?
