CU's Dan Hawkins on booing

Asked this week about his reaction to home fans at Nebraska and Arkansas booing their teams, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins had a interesting take.

While Hawkins said he could certainly understand the argument that if someone pays for a ticket, they can say or do about anything they want inside the stadium, he doesn't neccessarily agree with that.

"At some point, we have to have a little poise," Hawkins said during Monday's Big 12 Conference coaches' media call. "At some point, we have to have a little class and remember what the whole thing's about,” Hawkins said. “It's probably part of the nature of the whole beast, but shoot, if you're not happy with what's going on, don't come to the game or leave.
“I understand that sometimes that those values are a little old-fashioned and people don't take those to the ballpark anymore."

Around Big 12 volleyball

Around the Big 12

@Senior Emily Brown recorded her third career triple-double to help the University of Kansas volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep over Texas Tech Saturday afternoon at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. Freshman Karina Garlington and junior Savannah Noyes also recorded double-digit kills to help lift the Jayhawks over the Red Raiders 30-27, 30-24 and 30-25 in their second straight Big 12 victory.

@ Lauren Cummings had a career-high 18 kills and sophomore Kaylee Manns had 63 set assists as Iowa State downed Missouri 30-27, 24-30, 26-30, 30-26, 16-14.

@ WACO, Texas - For the third time this season the Oklahoma volleyball team rallied from a 0-1 deficit as the Sooners topped Baylor, 3-1 (27-30, 30-26, 30-22, 30-23), in Waco Saturday night.

@ Alex Buth tied her career high in kills with 21 and hit .486, but Colorado dropped a 30-24, 24-30, 27-30, 30-27, 15-12 decision to Kansas State.

@ Amanda Gates started in place of the ailing Kori Cooper and had eight kills in Nebraska's 30-14, 30-20, 30-25 victory over Texas A&M.

Around Big 12 volleyball

& Kansas downed Missouri 3-2 Wednesday behind Brittany Williams’ 15 kills for its first Big 12 victory since Oct. 14 of last year. It was also KU’s first conference road win since Nov. 9, 2005 and snaps a 12-match conference losing streak.

& Texas freshman Juliann Faucette slammed 23 kills and hit .583 in the Longhorns’ three-game sweep of Iowa State. Faucette had just two errors in 36 swings.

& Baylor overcame a 10-4 deficit in the fifth game to down Colorado 30-26, 30-32, 27-30, 30-26, 16-14. It was the third straight match between the teams that went to five games.

& Sarah Ammerman and Mary Batis tallied 21 kills apiece and Kelly Stanton and Jillian Phillips added 10 kills each to help Texas A&M hold off Texas Tech, 30-27, 30-21, 21-30, 27-30, 15-10 in front of 1,897at G. Rollie White Coliseum.

The Aggies (11-2, 1-2 Big 12) earn their first Big 12 victory and snap a two-match losing skid, which included a conference-opening five-game home loss to Oklahoma after taking a two-game lead.

& For the second straight week the Oklahoma volleyball team knocked off a top-25 team on the road as the Sooners edged No. 16 Kansas State, 3-2 (16-30, 30-28, 30-26, 16-30, 15-13) behind Anna Stadel’s 15 kills.

Mangino's outburst

If you haven't seen Kansas coach Mark Mangino's outburst, it's available on YouTube. Mangino was upset after a Kansas player dove into the end zone head first drawing a 15-yard unsportsman like conduct penalty.

Mangino has taken a lot of heat for this incident. I say good for him. If it was my son who had drawn the penalty, I would expect the coach to set him straight. Some are concerned with his language. Mangino dropped several F-bombs during the tirade. He could have omitted those and it wouldn't have been so bad, but Bobby Knight didn't seem to get criticized too much for doing the same thing. I think it's great that Mangino sent a message to not only this player but his whole team that hotdogging won't be tolerated. I wish more coaches would do the same thing.

It's also unfortunate that some people criticize Mangino because of his weight. Yes, I'm sure he'd be better off health-wise if he wasn't so heavy, but that in no way diminishes his ability as a coach or of course as a human being.

High School Football Week 3

The regular season is one quarter of the way through, and of the 44 teams in The Independent's coverage area, only 14 remain undefeated. Twelve remain in search of their first win. I guess that's what you call parity.
Of the undefeated teams, only three are paired up against other perfect teams this week. In Class C-2, Ravenna is at Heartland. In Class D-1, High Plains is at Humphrey.
The battle of area undefeateds in C-2 is an interesting one. Both Ravenna and Heartland could have been excused for slow starts. Both had talent back from playoff teams last year but had some key positions to fill with new faces. Ravenna responded by beating Amherst and Centura by a combined 90-6, while Heartland scored 24 points in wins over Doniphan-Trumbull and Osceola. This should be a good battle that tells more about how good each team really is, and I'm looking forward to it.

GICC spikers get big win

It's always a big win for Grand Island Central Catholic when the Crusaders can beat rival Columbus Scotus. GICC got the job done Thursday night, but it wasn't a typical GICC/Scotus match as we've seen in recent years.

This one wasn't a classic by any means. Both teams struggled somewhat, but that shouldn't be too surprising. Both teams are very young. The Crusaders start two freshmen and had a couple others who saw varsity action. The Shamrocks started several sophomores, including a setter who had never set a match before Thursday in her entire career.

Both teams are talented and will be extremely tough down the road. At this point, it would seem though that the Shamrocks have further to go than the Crusaders. It will be interesting to see what happens if these two teams meet again in the Centennial Conference Tournament in October.

Cubs in first

It's Sept. 3 and the Cubs are still in first place. Jason Stark was on ESPN Radio today saying he thinks the Cubs have what it takes to make it to the World Series - but then again, they are the Cubs.

The Cubs have no huge weaknesses. The starting pitching is solid as is the relief corp, including closer Ryan Dempster. The offense has been productive even without hitting a lot of home runs. The manager is a proven winner, and everybody in Chicago loves Lou. You add it all up and wonder, why is this team only five games above .500? Well, they are the Cubs.