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(02/10/08 6:25pm)
The Hoosiers may have had to travel nearly 200 miles to compete this weekend, but with their outstanding performances it would seem it was worth it.\nThe track and field team traveled to South Bend for the Meyo Invite.\nSchool Records were set in the Distance Medley Relay and in the women's pole vault competition.\n6 athletes on the women's team also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships.\nFor more coverage of the meet see the IDS on Tuesday.
(02/06/08 4:59am)
SPENCER, Ind. – Hundreds of panels of southern Indiana limestone have been making their way to New York, where they are forming the new Yankee Stadium’s outer facade.\nIndiana Limestone Fabricators has already shipped more than 600 stone panels, each 5 feet-by-3 feet, to the Bronx for the new $800 million stadium, set to open for the 2009 season.\nPreparing the stadium’s 93,000 square feet of limestone continues from Empire Quarry in Oolitic, about 20 miles south of Bloomington. The stadium’s stone is coming just a few hundred yards from that quarried for the Empire State Building in 1931.\nAmong the company’s work is carving the words Yankee Stadium in letters 4 feet high into the stone to go above three entrances. A computer-controlled machine carves the letters, which are later embossed in gold leaf, company President Brad Mobley said while standing almost ankle deep in limestone dust at his shop.\n“The letters are cleaned up and finished by hand, but this process has saved a ton of manual labor hours,” Mobley said.\nThe Yankee Stadium work is a more than $1 million project for Mobley’s company, which he started in Bedford in 1995. It is among the signs that business has improved in recent years for southern Indiana’s limestone industry. Several new buildings going up on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington have helped business as well.\n“One of our main strong points has been and is the education market,” said Jim Owens, executive director of the Indiana Limestone Institute of America. “We’re also seeing a lot of business in housing ... with high-end residential building using limestone, a lot of it out East and down South.”\nMobley said his father and uncle both worked at limestone quarries before business faded in the 1970s as more glass and precast concrete were used in construction.\n“But those glass and concrete buildings didn’t end up performing as well as the architects had hoped,” Mobley said. “There were leaks and structural problems. And they’d look across the street and see the older limestone buildings doing just fine.”\nWhile Mobley’s baseball allegiances have been with the Cincinnati Reds and later the Chicago Cubs, “I’m going to have to root for the Yankees, too.”
(02/05/08 5:20am)
Somebody pinch me.\nIs it real? Did this actually happen? The answer to both of those questions is quite possibly the most depressing “yes” of my life.\nI sat in my room, staring at the ceiling, wondering how in the world my beloved Patriots could lose 17-14 to the Giants in the Super Bowl. \nNo title for Randy Moss. No Super Bowl parade through the streets of Boston. No perfect season.\nInstead, the Patriots lost to Eli “Bleeping” Manning.\nIt took awhile to find the words to describe how excruciating this loss is. While most Hoosiers on campus rejoiced, knowing the team they viewed as evil choked on the world’s biggest stage, I felt sick — an indescribable emptiness. It’s not that we lost — it’s how New England’s run at a perfect season was ruined. After the game ended, I had to take a long walk to sort out everything that transpired. In the end, it still didn’t make sense.\nThroughout the year, the Pats blew out opponent after opponent, all the while deflecting accusations of Spygate and running up the score. These guys didn’t care. They were on a mission. That mission failed.\nEven Mr. Cool, the unflappable Tom Brady, couldn’t orchestrate a last-minute comeback. Instead, he watched Manning — a quarterback known more for his brother than his playoff heroics — lead the Giants on an 83-yard drive, capped by a Plaxico Burress touchdown.\nAnd for two years in a row, a Manning was named the Super Bowl MVP.\nWhen you experience a loss like this, you try to reach out to anyone and everyone who will help console you. Colts fans can relate — it’s the same thing they suffered through before Peyton clutched the Lombardi Trophy. Only that consolation isn’t there. Everywhere you turn it’s all the same. For the next week, ESPN will replay highlights, debate how the Giants won and force the entire New England area to ignore SportsCenter.\nThanks to the writers’ strike, there goes 95 percent of my regular programming.\nWhile I listen to the most depressing songs on my iPod (“Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” “Ain’t no Sunshine,” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” come to mind), my Giant-loving fraternity brothers are rocking out to “Celebration” and “We Are The Champions.”\nBut as hard as it may for Patriots fans to accept the loss, you have to feel some sort of happiness for New York and its fans.\nOnly let me state for the record that never in my life did I envision typing the previous line.\nLike everyone says, we love the underdog. It’s the foundation America was built on. Unless the opposing team is your rival, how could you not take pleasure out of an upset? How could you not feel good when the 1969 New York Jets (17-point underdogs) roughed up Johnny Unitas and the Colts? Or when the 2001 Pats knocked off the “Greatest Show on Turf?” What about the “Miracle on Ice” at Lake Placid in the 1980 Olympics?\nOf course I’m hurt. I’m in pain. It’s like the Beatles broke up all over again (Except now I’m alive.) But as the cliche goes, there is always next year and maybe 365 days from now, Mercury Morris and Don Shula will be throwing bottles of champagne across the room instead of getting sloshed off the bubbly. \nUntil then, I’ll just have to regroup and wait for August, knowing that so many key guys on this team will be gone. One of the greatest teams assembled, all but a memory.\nAll I have to say is kudos to the Giants — America’s underdog. It’s what we all love to see.\nAnd what I hated to watch.
(02/05/08 1:09am)
LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech coach Bob Knight resigned Monday and his son Pat will take over the program.\nChris Cook, a spokesman for athletic director Gerald Myers confirmed the resignation, which was first reported by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.\nBob Knight has 902 career wins, more than any coach in the history of Division I men's basketball. Win No. 900 came last month against Texas A&M. The Red Raiders are 12-8 this season.\nThe 67-year-old Knight has been a head coach for 42 years at three Division I schools. He got his 100th victory at Army, then moved to Indiana, where his Hoosiers went 662-239 and won three national championships from 1971-2000.\nHis first NCAA title came in 1976 when Indiana went undefeated, a feat no team has done since. In 1984, he coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in Los Angeles.\nKnight, known as much for his fiery temper as his coaching brilliance, came to Texas Tech in March 2001, six months after being fired by Indiana for what school officials there called a "pattern of unacceptable behavior."\nHe began his coaching career in 1965 at Army, where at 24 he was the youngest-ever Division I coach.
(02/04/08 8:11pm)
Oh well, nobody’s perfect. Except maybe Eli Manning.\nA masterful magician when the stakes were highest, Manning engineered one of the best drives in Super Bowl history Sunday to help the New York Giants squash the New England Patriots’ run at history-making perfection with a 17-14 victory.\nIn a game, and a finish, that showed precisely how the Super Bowl has become America’s favorite spectacle, Manning led the Giants 83 yards in just more than two minutes. He capped it with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left, to win what easily could go down as the best Super Bowl ever.\n“The greatest victory in the history of this franchise, without a question,” said owner John Mara.\nIt was a scintillating closing chapter to a crazy week that seemed to have everything: the perfect team; the upstart underdogs; the cover boy quarterback; the kid brother in Manning.\nAmerica loves an underdog, and the Giants, with their stirring victory, etched themselves as one of the best this game– or any sport – has ever seen.\nThe star was Manning, the scruffy younger brother of Peyton, who won his own Super Bowl last year, and sat in the corner of a skybox for this one, squirming and agonizing over every play.\nNow both Mannings have a championship and Tom Brady — well, he’s still got the looks, the supermodel girlfriend, Gisele Bundchen, and three Super Bowl titles of his own, even though he didn’t come out on top this time.\nIt means New England finishes 18-1 and the 1972 Miami Dolphins remain the only team to go undefeated from the start of the season through the Super Bowl.\nFormer Dolphins coach, Don Shula, was on hand, ready to congratulate the Patriots had they finished 19-0. Instead, he figured to be sipping champagne, continuing a tradition the Dolphins have enjoyed every year when the last undefeated team finally gets its first loss.\nThey remain alone thanks to Manning, whose 13-yard game-winner came four plays after he somehow escaped a cadre of Patriots engulfing him, threw the ball up for grabs and watched receiver David Tyree somehow pin it between his hands and his helmet for the 32-yard reception.\nThat kept the drive going, and it will be Manning’s mastery that everyone remembers – not the coolly efficient 80-yard touchdown drive that Brady had completed only moments earlier.\nThis game was such a back-and-forth stomach-turner that it seems a sure bet to break the record for Super Bowl viewership (94.08 million) and give the advertisers their money’s worth on the $2.7 million they spent for each 30-second spot.\nIt might even force the watercooler conversation Monday to be about football, not commercials or halftime shows.\nIt was a tight, taut defensive battle for three-plus quarters – yet anything but boring.\nThen it was taken over by two quarterbacks – one already a star, the other yearning to escape the shadow his big brother has cast over the family, and the sport, for many years now.\nEli said it was flattering being compared to his older brother Peyton because “he’s at the top of his game, and I’m still trying to get my game up to his level.”\nHe’s there now, capping a four-week stretch of nearly flawless playoff football during which the Giants were underdogs in every game they played, but won them all.
(02/04/08 6:10am)
The IU women’s basketball team traveled to Iowa City on Sunday afternoon with an opportunity to continue its rise up the Big Ten standings, but the Hoosiers suffered an 81-65 setback at the hands of Iowa. \nComing into the game, Iowa (15-7, 8-3) sat in a three-way tie for first place in the Big Ten conference standings, with IU (13-9, 6-4) only a half game behind.\nThe Hawkeyes used strong rebounding and 3-point shooting to distance themselves from the Hoosiers in the Big Ten standings.\nIowa scorched the nets all game long, shooting 10-20 from 3-point range. The Hawkeyes also outrebounded the Hoosiers 44-26, including an impressive 15 offensive rebounds. \nSophomore guard Jamie Braun led the way for IU, scoring 26 points. Junior forward Whitney Thomas recorded a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Junior forward Amber Jackson added 11 points for the Hoosiers.\nKristi Smith scored 17 points to lead four Hawkeyes in double figures. Wendy Ausdemore and Megan Skouby scored 16 points each and JoAnn Hamlin added 12 points. \nIowa led by as many as 10 points in the first half, but a 14-5 IU run in the final five minutes cut the Hawkeye’s halftime lead to three points at the half, 36-33. \nThe Hawkeyes were hot from beyond the arc at the beginning of the game, shooting 7-13 from 3-point range in the first half. Iowa reversed any momentum the Hoosiers had before halftime, recording a 7-0 run to start the second half. \nA jumper by Braun cut the Hawkeye lead to 54-47 with 11:53 left in the game, but the Hawkeyes regained a 10-point advantage at 63-53 with 7:46 left to play. The Hoosiers could not chip away at the lead any further. \nIU forced Iowa into 18 turnovers but committed 16 turnovers of its own. \nThe Hoosiers will look to rebound in Big Ten action when they face Northwestern at 7 p.m. Thursday at Assembly Hall.
(02/04/08 6:07am)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Tiger Woods birdied his last two holes Sunday to rally from a four-shot deficit and win the Dubai Desert Classic, starting his season with two victories that looked nothing alike.\nOne week after winning the Buick Invitational by eight shots, Woods had to birdie five of his last seven holes for a 7-under 65, then wait to see if Ernie Els could catch him.\nNeeding a birdie on the par-5 18th to force a playoff, Els hit his second shot into the water and made bogey.\n“To go 2-for-2, it’s a pretty good start, isn’t it?” Woods said.\nThis is the third time he has started a season with two straight victories, and it was another sign that the world’s No. 1 player could be headed for a big year. Woods now has won his last four official tournaments, and six of his last seven dating to the Bridgestone Invitational in early \nAugust.\nHe also won his unofficial Target World Challenge by seven shots in December.\nWoods holed a 25-foot birdie on the last hole for a 14-under 274 and a one-shot victory over Martin Kaymer of Germany. Woods had already finished when Kaymer, who won the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship two weeks ago, closed with a birdie-birdie-eagle for a 66.\nIt was a devastating blow to Els.\nThe 38-year-old South African, who has finished runner-up to Woods more times (seven) than any other player, is in the middle of his three-year plan to become No. 1 in the world. He said recently he needed to start winning, and this was the perfect occasion.\nInstead, Els closed with a 71 and tied for third at 276 with fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen. It was the second time in three years that Els hit into the water on the 18th at Dubai and lost to Woods. In 2006, it happened during a sudden-death playoff.\nWoods lost momentum with bogeys on the sixth and ninth holes, but he poured it on along the back nine with seven birdies to capture the Dubai Desert Classic for the second time.\nIt was his 72nd career victory, 62 of those on the \nPGA Tour.
(02/01/08 6:09am)
The Big Ten season is as much about wins as it is endurance. IU has one, Northwestern the other. \nThe No. 11 Hoosiers host Northwestern on Sunday in a battle of the conference’s first–place team and the conference’s last–place team. Going into their conference showdown with the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers Thursday night, the Hoosiers were 6-0 in conference play, while the Wildcats (7-11, 0-7) had yet to win a game in the Big Ten.\nBut Northwestern’s record isn’t a result of a lack of effort. Freshman guard Michael Thompson and junior guard Craig Moore rank first and fourth, respectively, in the Big Ten for most minutes played per game (35.9 and 34.6 minutes). \n“I wish they didn’t have to play so many minutes, to tell you the truth,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said during a teleconference with reporters Monday. “They’re pretty good together.”\nAnd it’s their intelligence that Carmody likes as much as their prowess on the court. \n“They both think the game, or they think they know,” Carmody said. “Usually they’re right. They think what will work, what won’t work. They have coaches’ heads.”\nFor the second consecutive week, Northwestern plays a Sunday game, which Carmody said affects the endurance of his players. After last Sunday’s game, the team took Monday off, but with classes his players did not get a day to sleep in, Carmody said. \nThe Wildcats are 7-11 on the season, and Wednesday they beat Texas–Pan American in their last non-conference game of the season.\nHistory may be against Northwestern if it is looking to extend its winning streak to two.\nThe Wildcats have never made the NCAA Tournament and haven’t beaten the Hoosiers in Bloomington since an 86-81 win on Jan. 13, 1968.\nIU star freshman Eric Gordon will most likely still be battling an injury to his non-shooting left wrist on Sunday. Gordon leads the Hoosiers and the conference in scoring. \nSunday’s game (Noon, Big Ten Network) will be the first at home against Northwestern for IU coach Kelvin Sampson. Sampson and the Hoosiers knocked off the Wildcats in Evanston, Ill., last year, and the teams played just once, in Bloomington, during Mike Davis’ last season as coach. \nThe two teams will meet again in Evanston on Feb. 23.
(01/30/08 4:14pm)
Check out the first edition of our new sports podcast.
Hear today's top stories on the Hoosier Headlines podcast.
PODCAST: That's What He Said
(01/30/08 5:53am)
Today mark’s the launch of the Indiana Daily Student’s new sports podcast “That’s What He Said.”\nThe podcast, hosted by IDS sports editors Matt Dollinger and Lee Hurwitz focuses on the top sports stories from the week. Below are some highlights from an interview with the podcast’s first guest, CBS’s Gus Johnson.Visit idsnews.com to listen to the rest of the interview.\nQ: What are your initial impressions of the Hoosiers?\nA: “I think this Indiana team has great balance. They have leadership, and it looks like they have great chemistry on their team and they are really fun to watch. I’m happy that Indiana University is having so much success under Coach this year.”\nQ: How do you compare Gordon to some of the other freshmen across the country?\n“Well, Beasley, Mayo, Gordon, the kid at Memphis, just some terrific talented basketball players who will not only come into their college teams with unbelievable amounts of raw abilities, but it looks like all these young men know how to play the game. I love the way that Gordon is able to set people up. He’s probably the most dynamic scorer in the nation. He knows how to make other players better.”\nQ: How do you think IU comes out of the conference?\n“I think they’re going to play well. Right now, rankings-wise, they’re the best team in the conference. Obviously, Indiana is going to hit some speed bumps. There are going to be some tough games, but like I said, Indiana has great balance. It looks like their fundamentals and their principals are really solid, especially on the defensive end. And when you have a cat like Gordon, and D.J. White who can score the basketball, you always know you’re going to be in games whether you’re at home or on the road.”
(01/30/08 5:50am)
The image of Barbaro blazing down the stretch at Churchill Downs, all four hooves off the ground as the powerful bay colt crushed the field in the 2006 Kentucky Derby, is seared in Roy Jackson’s memory.\nIt’s the way Jackson prefers to think of Barbaro, whose thunderous surge left a field of 19 fellow 3-year-olds in his wake and whose courage after a breakdown at the Preakness two weeks later made him an icon.\nWhen it came time to decide how best to honor the horse, who was euthanized on Jan. 29, 2007 from complications of the breakdown, there was only one place Roy Jackson and wife Gretchen felt Barbaro would feel at home: a short gallop from the site of his greatest triumph.\nBarbaro’s ashes and a bronze statue will be placed in front of an entrance gate at Churchill Downs sometime in 2009. The Jacksons announced plans for the memorial on the one-year anniversary of Barbaro’s death, a day they called one of the most difficult of their lives.\nYet there was no sadness on Tuesday, only relief and joy.\nThe Jacksons agonized for months on where to place his ashes, which are currently in a closet in the family’s Pennsylvania home. Ultimately, they chose a place where the public that inundated Barbaro’s stall at the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., with get-well cards, candy and gifts during his rehabilitation could pay tribute whenever they wanted.\n“After the Derby and then when he got injured, he really became America’s horse,” Roy Jackson said. “We sort of felt an obligation that his remains and statue be erected some place where the general public could pay their respects.”\nAs spectacular as the colt’s career was — his 6½-length win in the Derby was the widest margin of victory in 60 years — it was Barbaro’s battle to survive following the breakdown that made him an emotional touchstone for so many.\n“His accomplishments as a racehorse are certainly rivaled by the courage and resolve he displayed after his injury,” Churchill Downs president Steve Sexton said.\nThe Jacksons say they continue to be amazed at the outpouring of support for Barbaro, much of it from non-racing fans who were captivated by images of him wincing on the track at Pimlico Race Course following the injury and his heroic attempts to deal with the myriad of setbacks that ultimately proved too much.\n“I don’t think any of us know how widespread the interest was,” Roy Jackson said. “We’ve gotten a tremendous amount of response and we continue on almost a daily basis to get some correspondence and very articulate art on what he meant.”\nAs painful as Barbaro’s battle was, the Jacksons say it was not in vain. His plight drew attention to the laminitis, an often-fatal hoof disease that Barbaro contracted in both rear hooves before his death.\nMore than $2.7 million has been raised for the Laminitis Research Fund. The laminitis initiative will foster training programs and studies for new treatments of equine diseases. The fund includes a $7,000 donation received Monday from the Fans of Barbaro, a group of people spread across the country who met over the internet in support of the colt.\nIt’s a fund that grows a little bit each day. Jennifer Campbell of Louisville stuffed $20 into a donation box for the fund on Tuesday while the Jacksons autographed pictures of jockey Edgar Prado urging Barbaro across the finish line at the Derby.\n“You just see how they persevered under those circumstances, and how the horse persevered,” said Campbell, who was wearing a green Barbaro hat. “He’s an inspiration and I think it’s great that they chose to share him with us.”
(01/30/08 5:47am)
The Minnesota Twins reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to trade Johan Santana to the New York Mets.\nAfter months of deliberation, the Twins agreed part with two-time Cy Young Award winner to the Mets for outfielder Carlos Gomez, and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey, two people familiar with the deal said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.\n“If it’s true, obviously, you’re getting arguably the best pitcher in the game,” Mets third baseman David Wright said.\nThe next step is for the Mets to negotiate a contract extension with Santana, who is eligible for free agency after this season. Santana is owed $13.25 million this year and likely will seek an extension of at least five years worth $20 million annually.\nTeams are given 72-hour windows to reach agreements on contracts in tentative trades. If the Mets and Santana reach an agreement, the players being traded would have to pass physicals.\nThe Mets emerged as the top candidate for a trade after the winter meetings, when the New York Yankees withdrew their offer, which included pitchers Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, and the Red Sox refused to improve their proposals, which included pitcher Jon Lester or outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and prospects.\nTwins general manager Bill Smith called teams last weekend and asked them to make their best offers. Smith informed the Mets on Tuesday that he was accepting their proposal.\nA left-hander who turns 29 in March, Santana gives the Mets a replacement for Tom Glavine, who left New York to return to the Atlanta Braves. New York’s rotation also includes Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Orlando Hernandez and Oliver Perez.\nSantana is 93-44 with a 3.22 ERA in eight major league seasons, winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006. He has been less successful in the playoffs, going 1-3 with a 3.97 ERA.\n“For our younger pitchers to develop under a guy like Pedro, a guy like Johan, you can’t ask for any better situation,” Wright said. “He’s going to go out there and he’s going to give you seven or eight innings every five days and he’s going to get you a win. That’s just what it comes down to. I’ve gotten a chance to get to know him a little bit the past couple years. He seems like a great clubhouse guy. He’s going to fit in perfectly with the chemistry that we have.”\nWith Santana gone, there is a big opening in the Twins’ rotation. Francisco Liriano is on track to return after missing last season following elbow surgery, but Carlos Silva signed with Seattle as a free agent, leaving youngsters Scott Baker, Boof Bonser and Kevin Slowey as the starters with the most experience.\nHumber, a 25-year-old right-hander, has made one start and four relief appearances for the Mets during the past two years, and went 11-9 with a 4.27 ERA last season for Triple-A New Orleans. The 22-year-old Gomez batted .232 in 125 at-bats with New York last year and .275 with 19 steals in the minors.\nThe tentative agreement was first reported by USA Today on its Web site.
(01/30/08 5:46am)
PHOENIX – Routed. Romped. Annihilated.\nThese are all common descriptions for the way the New England Patriots handled the first half of their 2007 schedule,\nnot to mention dismantled, demolished and pulverized.\nBut in the season’s second half, those words were replaced by squeezed past, edged, even survived in five subsequent games, plus two close, if not suspenseful, playoff victories.\nSure, the Patriots are the only 18-0 team in NFL history, and a win over the New York Giants in the Super Bowl on Sunday will give them the first perfect season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and a fair claim on “Best Team Ever.”\nBut they sure haven’t been accused of piling on the points lately. Even some of the weaker opponents on the second-half schedule tested them, most notably the Ravens. New England needed a last-ditch drive aided by Baltimore penalties, and a dying-seconds touchdown pass by Tom Brady to win 27-24 early last month.\n“The one real scare where I thought it might have been over was Baltimore,” defensive end Ty Warren said. “Those couple of penalties that happened, I was like, ‘Here we go again.’ I felt like we had a chance after those penalties. With those penalties, they let us back in the game. It gave you a chance to go down and do what we did.”\nBut they didn’t have to do much of anything except run out the clock with their backups for so many games on the way to 10-0. Such as victory margins of 24, 24, 31, 21, 17, 21, 21, 45 and 46.\nSo what happened to the routs? Why have opponents led the mighty Pats in each of their last three games, including the Giants by 12 points in the third quarter of the season finale? And both the Jaguars and Chargers in the playoffs?\n“We can’t control who we play or who is on our schedule,” veteran safety Rodney Harrison said. “We go out there and try to win a football game. At first it was, ‘You guys are putting up too many points.’ Now, it’s come around where we are only winning games by three points, and you guys started complaining about that. We are just happy to be here.”\nStill, for a team with a whopping zero on the right side of the win-loss column, the Patriots have displayed certain vulnerabilities recently.\nThe Giants exposed the defense somewhat in that 38-35 loss to end the season. The Chargers showed that a physical approach at least gives an opponent a chance, and they also forced league MVP Tom Brady into some poor decisions and three interceptions.\nNot to mention spraining \nhis ankle.\nBrady practiced Monday and has no doubt he’ll play Sunday. The Giants have no doubt they can play with the Patriots — and avoid all those descriptive verbs applied to those early-season romps.\n“You know they are here to make history and for us to be the first team to beat them ... I think it would be one of the most entertaining games and the best scenarios you could have for a Super Bowl,” Giants receiver Amani Toomer said. “I thought we felt we could beat them in Week 17, so this is a chance to reassure the fact that if we cut down on the mistakes in the fourth quarter, we’ll have a great chance to win. But that game is dead. We have another game to play, and hopefully, we’ll keep the same type of fire and be able to compete the same way.”\nThat’s exactly what it will take, of course, to beat the unbeaten.
(01/28/08 5:33am)
James Hardy isn’t the only Hoosier jumping to the NFL this spring. \nThis past weekend, IU assistant head coach Gerald Brown accepted a job to become the Atlanta Falcon’s running backs coach.\nIn addition to being assistant head coach for the Hoosiers, Brown also served as running backs coach and special teams co-coordinator. The decision to join the Falcons ends his five-year tenure with IU.\n“When I got into coaching, I had a lifetime goal of coaching in the NFL,” Brown said in a press release. “I was offered a job by a good friend of mine and it is an opportunity I could not pass up at this time.”\nBrown will join the Falcons staff immediately, which is led by recently-hired head coach Mike Smith. Smith coached the Jacksonville Jaguars last season where he served as the team’s defensive coordinator. \nSmith and Brown join a franchise that was left in disarray this offseason after a tumultuous year that saw their former coach Bobby Petrino quit with three games left and quarterback Michael Vick in prison for his involvement in dog fighting. Atlanta finished in last place in the NFC South with a record of 4-12. \n“This is a great opportunity for him and his family,” IU coach Bill Lynch said in a statement. “His knowledge, experience and loyalty to Indiana University were instrumental in the growth of our program.”\nLast season, the Hoosiers averaged 157.4 yards per game on the ground and recorded 18 rushing touchdowns, both bests since the 2001 season. The Hoosiers also had three players who averaged more than four yards per carry, junior Marcus Thigpen, sophomore Bryan Payton and quarterback Kellen Lewis.\nIn 2006, Thigpen led the nation with a 30.1 kick return average and three touchdowns as a sophomore. The Hoosiers also held opponents to less than 20 yards per kickoff return in 2006.\nLast season Brown coached junior Austin Starr, who converted 21 of 23 field goals and was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, which is given to the nation’s top kicker.\n“It was outstanding to finish my career at Indiana by going to a bowl game,” Brown said. “The program has come a long way, has great leadership and many great things to come.”
(01/25/08 5:32am)
The IU women’s basketball team (12-8, 5-3) saw its three-game winning streak snapped on the road at Michigan (12-6, 5-3) Thursday night in a 65-54 defeat. \nPoor shooting from the field hurt IU, as the Hoosiers only managed to shoot 21-61 from the field – good for 34.4 percent.\nIU trailed by double-digits for much of the game, but cut the Michigan lead to five points at 36-31 with 16:28 left in the game. But IU was never able to cut into the lead any further, and Michigan quickly pushed the lead back to nine points at 40-31.\nThe Wolverines scored first on a layup from Krista Phillips less than a minute into the game. IU tied the lead three times early on, but never led. The game was tied 7-7 with 16:13 to play in the first half, but Michigan outscored IU 23-13 to close out the half and the Hoosiers trailed the Wolverines 30-20 at halftime. Both teams suffered through sloppy play in the first half, each committing 12 turnovers.\nOnly four players scored for the Hoosiers, with sophomore guard Jamie Braun leading the way with 20 points and added four assists. Junior forward Whitney Thomas recorded her fourth-consecutive double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Junior guard/forward Kim Roberson added 10 points and junior Amber Jackson scored eight. The remaining four Hoosiers who played a combined total of 56 minutes shot 0-3 from the field.\nCarly Benson led four Wolverines in double-figures, scoring a game-high 22 points. Phillips added 16 points, Jessica Minnfield scored 13 points and Janelle Cooper added 11 points.\nMichigan held a slight advantage in the battle of the boards and outrebounded IU 36-32, but the Hoosiers forced the Wolverines into 19 turnovers to IU’s 15. The Wolverines also earned more trips to the free-throw line to shoot 10-15, while the Hoosiers were 6-8. \nIU will return to action Thursday, Jan. 31 against Wisconsin at Assembly Hall.
(01/23/08 5:06am)
Bummed football season is over? Enjoy watching organized violence? Looking for hard-hitting action? \nNo, this isn’t another “Priceless Pep Talk” with Peyton Manning. IU has all of the above covered for your winter viewing pleasure. And no, I’m not talking about Kilroy’s at 2:30 a.m. on a Saturday night.\nI’m talking about the IU wrestling team. After seeing them in person for the first time last Saturday at the Hoosier Quad, I realized college wrestling arouses everything I love about sports. I watched for only three hours and witnessed up close a fantastic blend of America’s modern pastimes – football and Mixed Martial Arts.\nThe sport is like football in a sense that it is a more traditional means of violence. For example, 197-pound freshman Joe Fagiano was able to engage his opponent in a headlock and proceeded to pummel him to the ground. Fagiano then executed a quick and painful pin, as if committing a holding penalty worthy of a 10-yard flag, all while giving the Hoosiers \nsix points. \nThe Mixed Martial Arts portion of the sport was exposed best in the 174-pound match featuring IU sophomore Trevor Perry. Attempting to stand, Perry was kicked and kneed in the face by his opponent. In response, Perry clapped his hands in the wrestler’s face and proceeded to unintentionally gauge the poor kid in the eye. Later, Perry brought the gym to silence with a maneuver that caused his opponent to scream in agony as he grabbed his shoulder in pain. Perry is not a dirty wrestler by any means. It is just the violent nature of the sport.\nFor the Hoosiers, Saturday was more of a coronation than a competition. The wrestlers squared off against three inferior schools at the University Gymnasium. Three hundred fans occupied the stands, cheering for the IU wrestlers to dominate on the mat.\nThe men responded in ass-kicking fashion. \nMy only beef on Saturday was with the lackluster attendance. These wrestlers are out there representing the Hoosiers, and they are doing a damn good job at it, too, ranking No. 17 in the country. \nLuckily for the remaining 38,000 or so students who missed it, the most critical match of the young season is 7 p.m. Friday night against Wisconsin. IU coach Duane Goldman will be shooting for the 200th win of his illustrious career. And in the 149-pound weight class, freshman and Bloomington native Kurt Kinser will attempt to inch closer to an all-time school record of 20 pins in a season.\nIf that wasn’t enough, IU is home to Angel Escobedo, the No. 2 125-pound wrestler in the country. Escobedo handles his business like a pro both on and off the mat. Saturday, he had three pins in the first round of all of his matches. Afterwards, \nEscobedo remained calm \nand collected.\nIf you’re looking to sample an IU sport you haven’t witnessed, Hoosier wrestling should be first on your list. It is a very entertaining and action-packed product where athletes show off their competitive spirit with reckless abandon. The casual IU sports fan should add wrestling to his regimen, right next to basketball and the occasional football game. \nI just did.
(01/23/08 5:06am)
If you’re a passionate fan and you’ve attended a men’s basketball game since Kelvin Sampson was given the keys to the program, you’ve probably experienced a smorgasbord of sensations from your Assembly Hall perch.\nMaybe your palms became sweat-soaked with nervousness whenever the Hoosiers were down at halftime. Maybe your eyes lit up with excitement whenever you noticed an open cream-clad player in the corner. Maybe your heart skipped a beat during that instant between a referee’s blown whistle and the signaled call.\nWhatever you’ve felt during a game, the final, overriding sensation has been a given the last two seasons: the unalterable joy of victory.\nThat’s because the Hoosiers have won their last 28 contests at home, a streak that dates back to the final hours of the Mike Davis era. IU currently holds the fourth-longest home-court winning streak in the nation behind Notre Dame (31), Brigham Young (40) and Memphis (41).\nSunday’s win against Penn State marked Sampson’s 26th-straight home win, a stat that pushes the IU coach ahead of the legendary Branch McCracken for most consecutive home wins to begin a career at IU.\nWhatever criticisms have been made about Sampson’s coaching tenure, establishing a home-court advantage has not been one of them. Last season, the Hoosiers went 15-0 in Assembly Hall and even garnered a memorable 71-66 upset of No. 2 Wisconsin. \nSampson credited the fans for creating a winning atmosphere in his first year at Assembly Hall.\n“The fans got us through some of those games,” Sampson said. “We were not a great team last year. We were a team that played with some great emotion, we played hard and these fans really appreciated it.”\nThis season, the streak has appeared in danger of being snapped on several occasions. IU has rallied from small second-half deficits in its last two home games, versus Illinois and Penn State. And who can say they were really that surprised?\n“We just believe every time that we step on the court we should win – that’s protecting our home,” senior forward D.J. White said. “There’s a sense of pride that we have.”\nSampson said he has the feeling that Hoosier fans expect to win. It would be wise, however, for IU fanatics to avoid taking home wins for granted. \nIU regularly lost at home during the years leading up to Sampson’s arrival – sometimes to clearly inferior teams. Does Charlotte ring a bell, anyone? And however intimidating a venue like Assembly Hall might be for the opposing team, the story of the against-all-odds underdog has been written over and over in college basketball. Over the weekend, No. 1 North Carolina, a team that had scored at least 90 points in 12 of its 18 wins, fell to Maryland on its own court. You can bet unalterable joy was the last thing Tar Heels fans were feeling afterward.\nThe Hoosiers have several intriguing home games remaining on their schedule, including today’s game against Iowa. If Penn State proved anything, it’s that you should think twice before chalking up a sure “W” on the schedule against any Big Ten opponent (except maybe Northwestern). As Sampson said, though: The fans expect to win.\nThus far, he’s been happy to oblige. \nHines’ Prediction - \nIU: 77, Iowa: 63
(01/23/08 5:03am)
A few locations come to mind when thinking of basketball towns: Chapel Hill, Durham and of course, Bloomington.\nThe success of the IU men’s basketball team has trickled into the minds of the 40,000 students on the Bloomington campus. Four hundred twenty-four teams signed up for intramural basketball this season, up from 412 last year. Last year’s Division II tournament champions Rule XXIX, headed by captain Donovan Garletts, is one team looking to repeat their trip to Assembly Hall this semester. However, Rule XXIX is taking a rather unorthodox approach to reclaiming the title.\nThe team moved up from Men’s Division II to Men’s Division I after some pressure was unleashed upon Garletts by his friends from several Men’s Division I squads. Moving to the upper echelon of teams will be quite an adjustment, but Garletts is confident that a few new players in addition to his full-court press defense will bode well in Division I.\n“It’s still our core five,” Garletts said, “but we picked up a few new players who played on Bloomington South’s final four teams in high school – including Kyle Walters and Ryan Woolery. Division II was a walk in the park for us. We were beating everyone by 20 – no one could compete.”\nThe team that will be giving Rule XXIX the most trouble will be reigning Men’s Division I champion UMAD. UMAD is off to a solid 1-0 start after an impressive opening game over Fort Wayne’s Finest, 70-52.\nAlongside the basketball tournament, the annual ISC 3-point shootout will take place Wednesday, Feb. 20. Students involved will have the opportunity to shoot five basketballs from five racks and will have two opportunities to shoot. The top eight men and top six women will go on to participate in the playoffs during the Intramural Basketball Championships, also to be held at Assembly Hall.
(01/23/08 5:02am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Jim Caldwell is the perfect transitional figure.\nQuiet and unassuming, he lacks the big ego of most NFL head coaches. He rarely becomes rattled, has a life outside of football and isn’t prone to making power plays, even if he is ready to become an NFL head coach.\nSound familiar? It should. Caldwell’s personality is a virtual carbon copy of Tony Dungy, which is one reason the Indianapolis Colts designated Dungy’s top assistant as their new head coach-in-waiting Monday.\n“Without question, he was the person we felt was best qualified to succeed Tony,” team president Bill Polian said in announcing the decision.\nCaldwell couldn’t have created a better script.\nHe gets to apprentice under one of his most trusted friends, Dungy, and with team officials, notably Polian and owner Jim Irsay. Someday, he has been assured, he will take over as coach of the only franchise in league history with three straight 7-0 starts and five straight seasons with at least 12 wins.\nThere’s the added bonus of working with two-time league MVP Peyton Manning and 2007 NFL defensive player of the year Bob Sanders for many more years, as well as having most of the other Colts’ key players – Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Dwight Freeney among them – locked up with long-term contracts.\n“It’s not very often you get an opportunity to take over and be involved with an organization that has been as successful as this one,” Caldwell said. “Typically, you go into a situation where you have to restructure, rebuild.”\nHad Caldwell gotten a head coaching job with Arizona, Atlanta or Baltimore, all teams that have interviewed him over the past year, that’s precisely the predicament he would have faced.\nThose who know Caldwell best believe the transition will work because of Caldwell’s disciplined nature.\n“I think he’s a lot like Tony,” Colts receivers coach Clyde Christensen said. “He has a very quiet demeanor with a very funny personality. They’re both men of few words, but they’re great listeners and both have a certain playfulness about them.”\nIrsay and Polian saw the same traits, which was enough to persuade them to take a chance on Caldwell.\nThis season, Caldwell will become more involved in the team’s decision-making by participating in salary cap meetings, draft consultations and the like. It does not mean, however, his vote will carry as much weight as, say, Dungy’s.\nClearly, there will be questions about Caldwell’s limited head-coaching experience.\nIn eight seasons at Wake Forest, his only other head coaching job at the pro or college level, Caldwell was a dismal 26-63. He also lost 28-13 in the only Colts game he coached, while filling in for Dungy at Seattle in December 2005.\nOf course, Wake Forest has hardly been a traditional college power, and the 2005 loss came during a week in which the Colts were emotionally reeling from the death of Dungy’s 18-year-old son, James, and playing primarily backups after wrapping up the AFC’s top seed.\nIf the Colts learned anything over Dungy’s first six seasons, it’s that hires are about more than wins and losses.\n“We had an opening for a quarterbacks coach (in Tampa Bay), and it took 15 minutes for me to figure out he was that special person,” Dungy said. “I wanted him to come here with me in ‘02 when we came, and he’s just continued to grow. I think he’s going to be a great leader for this organization at some point.”\nManning and Dungy both offered strong endorsements for Caldwell when he was doing the interview rounds this month, and Manning’s father, Archie, has raved about how much his son likes working with Caldwell.\nThat part of it is not expected to change in 2008.\n“In terms of my duties, they will not change,” Caldwell said. “I’m still going to be working with the quarterbacks like I’ve always done, and I’m certainly here to do anything that my boss asks me to do.”\nIt’s also unlikely the 53-year-old native of Beloit, Wis., will change his approach.\n“I have a unique opportunity to learn from men that know this business inside and out,” Caldwell said. “As a head coach, there’s probably no better example in this country than the man I work for and support. It’s going to be a real pleasure to hang around here for an extended period of time.”
(01/18/08 5:08pm)
Fresh off a marathon 80-77 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the IU women’s basketball team will leave the chilly confines of Bloomington for even cooler pastures in East Lansing, Mich.\nOn Sunday, the Hoosiers will look to match blows with Michigan State, a team once recognized as one of the conference’s toughest.\nThis year, however, “parity” is the word in the Big Ten, with four teams bunched together with four conference wins and only Ohio State in the top 25.\nFacing the Spartans, IU will have to find a way to stop sophomore center Alyssa DeHaan, who at 6-foot-9 registers as the tallest player in the Big Ten. She also leads her team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game going into Thursday night’s action. \nFreshman forward Kalisha Keane is second in both categories, scoring 13.2 points per game while grabbing 6.9 boards each contest.\nThe Spartans youth doesn’t stop on the stat sheet. Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant is in her first year at East Lansing. \nThat apparent lack of experience hasn’t boded well for the Spartans this season, as they stand at just 10-8 and 2-4 in the Big Ten. \nLeading the attack for the Hoosiers will be sophomore guard Jamie Braun, who continues this season to do a little bit of everything for IU. Braun averages 14.4 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game. She also dishes out 3.5 assists per game from her starting point guard slot, and ranked third on the team in steals with 37.\nJunior forward Whitney Thomas has been a force inside for the Hoosiers as well this year. The Bloomington native is averaging 12 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and was tied for the team lead in steals with 39. She ranked third in the Big Ten in rebounding coming into Thursday’s action, and she posted one of her best performances of the year in the Hoosiers’ Jan. 14 win over rival Purdue, finishing with 17 points and grabbing 18 boards, half the total of Purdue’s entire team. She also snagged 17 rebounds in the double-overtime win against Minnesota.
