1000 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(12/01/06 5:00am)
A ring commemorating IU's 1976 NCAA basketball championship is up for auction on eBay.\nThe anonymous seller said Thursday he obtained the ring through the estate of the late Harold Andreas, one of Bob Knight's assistant coaches in 1976, the last time a Division I team finished a season unbeaten.\n"I am the only one to have owned the ring other than Andreas," the seller said in reply to an e-mail from The Associated Press. "I am not a sports collector, nor an eBay-selling freak. In fact, this is the only item I have tried to sell on eBay."\nThe bidding, which ends Sunday, started at $2,500 Nov. 23 and was up to $33,300 by Thursday evening.\n"My decision to attempt to sell the ring was based on two factors," he wrote. "This is the 30th anniversary of the perfect season, and it's also the season in which Knight will no doubt eclipse Dean Smith's record for all-time wins. The timing seems right to try and figure out what the ring might command."\nAccording to the listing on eBay, the seller lives in Austin, Texas. Knight, fired by IU in 2000, is now the coach at Texas Tech.\nThe seller said he has not been in contact with Knight about the ring "nor do I plan on contacting him."\n"It's my hope that the ring lands in the hands of someone associated with IU," he said.
(12/01/06 4:57am)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Stopping Peyton Manning might be impossible, but the Titans have proved they could at least slow him down.\nManning and the Colts scored only 14 points, their fewest this season, against the Titans Oct. 8, even though Indianapolis still won 14-13 for its seventh straight victory in this series.\nAny chance Tennessee could put the brakes on Manning twice in one season?\nTitans coach Jeff Fisher said Manning's too good for his defense to simply duplicate what worked in the first game. He said the Titans (4-7) are going to devise something different for Manning to pick apart Sunday when the Colts (10-1) visit.\n"We've got some things on the shelf we're going to break out and hope that they work," Fisher said.\nThe Colts don't even need to win against the Titans to clinch the AFC South title for a fourth straight year. A Jacksonville loss at Miami will do it too, but Indianapolis wants its seventh playoff berth in eight years in winning style.\n"It would be great, especially when you have so many milestones to get," Colts receiver Reggie Wayne said. "You can get one out of the way and focus on the next goal. We're all excited, and hopefully we can go to Tennessee and have a great outing."\nThe Titans come into this game looking for a third straight victory, and they have some momentum after turning in the second-best comeback in NFL history in the final 10 minutes after rallying to beat the New York Giants 24-21 last week.\nColts coach Tony Dungy has some personal experience with that. His Colts rallied from 21 down in Tampa Bay back in 2003.\n"It just made us feel like we could win anywhere and anytime. It didn't really matter what the situation was. It really helped us. These guys are playing very well. Since they left us, they've won four out of six. They're playing with a lot more confidence," Dungy said.\nThe Titans know stumbling against Indianapolis would tarnish that incredible comeback victory. This franchise hasn't won three straight games since the end of the 2003 season, when it went 12-4.\n"If we can keep this going and put our best foot forward against the Colts ... I think we'll be on a roll," Titans receiver Bobby Wade said.\nOn paper, it's no contest.\nIndianapolis should win its 13th straight divisional game. Manning leads the NFL in yards passing with 2,964 and needs only 36 more to tie Dan Marino with his ninth straight season with 3,000 yards passing.\nThe Colts won't have tight end Dallas Clark (knee). They signed 17-year veteran Ricky Proehl, and receiver Brandon Stokley (knee) might play for the first time in seven weeks.\nThat would allow Manning to use some of the three-receiver sets that helped him rally the Colts against the Titans earlier this year.\n"We always like to be mixed and like to have a mix of formations and personnel groupings," Manning said. "So it would be great to get both of those guys out there this Sunday, if possible."\nPart of Tennessee's plan is to stop the run and put the pressure on Manning. Joseph Addai is coming off a four-TD performance in the Colts' 45-21 victory against Philadelphia and leads all rookies with 798 yards rushing.\n"That sounds crazy to say, but we do need to make it one-dimensional," Titans defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. "We do need to stop the run. If we can't stop the run, you can't stop that offense."\nWhen Vince Young started in Indianapolis, it was his first road game and only his second game as the starter. Now he is coming off his best game as a pro, throwing for 249 yards and running for 69 more and looking much more comfortable.\n"He's making a lot of plays right now," Manning said.\nBoth teams will run Sunday -- a lot.\nEach has one of the NFL's worst defenses against the run, with the Colts giving up 154.5 yards per game and the Titans 147.7. Tackle Albert Haynesworth will start for Tennessee after missing the October game during his five-game suspension from the NFL.\nTitans running back Travis Henry averaged 6.5 yards per carry against Indy, and he needs 60 yards to become the 100th player in NFL history with 5,000 career yards. Young is getting better at picking his own spots to scramble as well.\nBut the Colts are focused on home-field advantage in the playoffs.\n"We have two teams right behind us with two losses," Dungy said. "So, we want to stay ahead of them"
(12/01/06 4:27am)
A little more than 2 1/2 months ago (on Sept. 11), the IDS editorial board reacted to the outcry against the new Facebook news feed by saying: "Forget about war, helping fight hunger or actually communicating with your friends in person. Facebook is all that really matters, right? If you were to create a Facebook group that dealt with issues such as protecting free speech or keeping the government out of religion, would it have 740,000 members? Not likely. But if a new policy is introduced on Facebook that you don't like, then join the revolution!"\nBut while we reacted to a false revolution, the real one was occurring under our noses.\nOn Nov. 20, the Indiana Daily Student ran a story about students at IUPUI criticizing the Indianapolis Black Student Union's demands for a multicultural center and other diversity initiatives on the basis that the student community had not been consulted. This manifested itself in a Facebook group called "IUPUI, We Want Our Money Back!!" -- which, as of Thursday, had 940 members.\nMeanwhile, the Students' Smokefree Coalition began as the Facebook group "PLEASE ban smoking on IU's campus" and has since managed to convene a University task force to examine its proposed smoking ban. This might not have happened if not for the Facebook group's 1,190-plus members. \nWe admire these groups' initiative in employing Facebook to combat the pervasive apathy plaguing college campuses. Facebook is evolving from a means for hookups to a place where students can discuss ideas, rally support and get their beliefs into the public domain. Even the news-feed we once so harshly scorned is proving itself to be a very useful tool: When a friend joins a group, you are alerted and therefore might be informed of the fact that some are taking a stance on some issue (depending on the nature of the group). Friends of friends hear about it and join groups, and you realize you are not the only person who believes what you do. Joining a Facebook group also enables students to hold virtual public forums that increase civic participation in certain cases. While many students don't have the time or inclination to attend meetings, they are still able to voice their opinions from the comfort of their own homes. Facebook is providing students with a way to protest in their pajamas. \nIncredibly, campus politics is alive. It's just on Facebook.\nOK, it's not marching in Dunn Meadow. But Facebook is supplying students -- even the lazy ones -- with a way to get involved. Peer pressure may be a factor of the rapid succession of students joining groups that their friends are in, but at least they are joining. By being a part of these groups, students might become more interested, more involved and ultimately more active.\nFacebook is becoming an important part of the social sphere, and we are grateful. Now, we can stalk and flock.
(12/01/06 4:22am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana would pay an IBM-led team $1.16 billion over 10 years for help upgrading programs for food stamps, Medicaid and welfare but would retain state control over eligibility decisions under a reform plan made public by Gov. Mitch Daniels on Wednesday.\nIBM also would create 1,000 new jobs in Indiana over four years -- including 850 in the first two years -- and provide more than $8 million in computer equipment and services to the state.\nThe Family and Social Services Administration also would spend $500 million internally on the plan.\nThe Daniels plan envisions improving the delivery of the public safety-net benefits system received by one in six Hoosiers by making it easier to apply through the Internet and telephone call centers. It also aims to use computers to drive the process with self-surveys instead of time-consuming interviews to ease case workers' paperwork and reduce error and fraud.\nIBM also would provide hardware, software and three researchers to upgrade a supercomputer on the IU-Bloomington campus. Purdue would share ownership of the upgraded supercomputer, which would also serve Indiana's life sciences industry. IBM also would establish a $2 million technology center on the Bloomington campus that could foster Indiana economic development and would provide up to 400 hours of free consulting services to the Indiana Economic Development Corp.\nThe proposal still needs approval from federal officials who oversee the benefits distributed to about 1 million children and needy, elderly and disabled Indiana residents. However, administration officials were confident they would gain that approval and begin the changes by late spring in a phased rollout expected to cover the entire state by late 2008.\nThe plan addresses the administration's desire to reform an increasingly expensive and error-riddled benefits system while trying to avoid pitfalls encountered by other states and guaranteeing jobs to FSSA workers whose duties are being outsourced.\n"There isn't going to be a perfect system, but this can only be dramatically better than what's going on," Daniels said in an interview with The Associated Press, which was given a copy of the plan before Wednesday's announcement.\nThe IBM contract would be one of the most expensive in state history.\nBut state officials said outsourcing improvements to the public benefits system would save Indiana $490.8 million compared with the estimated $2.1 billion cost of the upgrades. It would also save $341.6 million from what FSSA would spend by 2017 if it retained its current system, they said.\n"Saving taxpayers a half-billion dollars and cleaning up America's worst welfare system have to be number one," Daniels said when asked to assess the plan's benefits. "Bringing a thousand new jobs to the state of Indiana is a great event anytime it happens."\nFSSA's plan to outsource processing of benefits to private companies, first made public a year ago, has sparked concerns that Indiana might encounter some of the privatization problems as other states, including Texas, where some applicants' benefits have been delayed.\nResponding to those concerns, Daniels six months ago appointed a team of aides from outside FSSA to review the agency's plans. The team, led by Daniels' chief of staff, Earl Goode, examined problems in Texas and Florida, made significant changes to the FSSA plan and helped negotiate the contract with the consortium led by IBM.\nThat group also includes Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc., which employed FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob as a vice president before he took over the state's largest agency nearly two years ago.\n"This will be, I can assure, the best-maintained, the best-complied-with contract in state history," Goode said.\nUnder the plan, state employees would retain decision-making over eligibility for not only food stamps and Medicaid, but also welfare benefits, subsidized child care and non-Medicaid-related Hoosier Healthwise insurance benefits for needy families.\nAlso, out of about 2,200 current FSSA employees now performing the benefits work, the revised plan doubled the number that would be retained by the agency to about 700. The remaining 1,500 FSSA employees were essentially guaranteed jobs with the consortium for two years at no less than equal pay and benefits.\nEach of Indiana's 92 counties would retain an office where people could apply in person for benefits under the plan. The Internet, e-mail and telephone call centers would create greater access for benefit applicants and recipients.\nThe phased rollout would begin by late spring with 10 percent of the state's caseload centered on Grant County in north central Indiana, then in southern Indiana (25 percent), northwest Indiana (25 percent) and finally central Indiana (40 percent). No new phase would begin before the previous one was complete.\nThe 1,000 new jobs would be created by IBM at an Indiana customer service center whose location has not been determined yet.
(12/01/06 4:21am)
TERRE HAUTE -- A murder defendant handed out a statement to media members in the courtroom that said he was dissatisfied with his attorney's handling of the case and wanted someone else to represent him.\nKevin Hampton, 43, of Terre Haute is on trial in Vigo Superior Court for the May 19, 2000, slaying of 18-year-old Dianna Lehman. He is also charged with rape and criminal deviate conduct.\nHe said in the statement Wednesday that he had asked for a change of venue because of the publicity of the case in Vigo County, but his attorney, Dan Weber, would not request the move. Hampton also said he has tried to have Weber dismissed for ineffective assistance of counsel, but his requests have been denied.\nThe court shows no record of any motions filed. Weber would not comment on his client's statement.\nIn the statement, Hampton wrote, "We are not going to talk about in court things that I no (sic) can help my case like where I was living at the time all this took place, where I was that day, the people that was at the house next door the night all this took place."\nHampton also is charged with the 2004 murders of Tanette Dickison, 18, and Cassie Harris, 48, of Terre Haute. His trial in those deaths is scheduled for Jan. 22.\nA document filed with the court Wednesday morning from Weber states the defense "intends to call no witnesses" other than those listed by the prosecution.\nHowever, Hampton wrote in the statement, "(Weber) is telling me not to take the stan (sic) and I was feeling it was the best thing to do."\nWhen Weber learned Hampton handed out the statement, he warned him not to talk to the media.\n"I'm about to go crazy sitting here," Hampton replied. "(Weber's) not asking the right questions. It's easier to speak now than try to win on appeal."\nHampton is accused of raping and strangling Lehman in her bedroom. The prosecution's case is based largely on DNA evidence yet to be presented.\nWeber said in opening statements that five to 20 people could have had a motive to kill Lehman and directed his questions Wednesday to Lehman's estranged boyfriend, Bradley Akers, the father of her now-8-year-old son.\nAkers, 25, and Lehman had been living together, but Akers said he moved out about a week before her murder because she "was partying all the time, leaving me at the house with the baby and no diapers, no formula."\nAkers told the jury he went back to the house two days before Lehman was killed to retrieve his son's clothing. He entered through an already-damaged window because he did not have a key, he said. For spite, he took the battery out of a cordless phone in the living room.\nAkers admitted during testimony that initially he lied to investigators about entering the home through the window and about taking the battery. He said he was scared because he knew he was probably a suspect in the murder.
(12/01/06 3:58am)
CHICAGO -- A T-Rex skull, two stuffed elephants and a meteorite from Australia are among the more than 20 popular exhibits included in an adopt-an-artifact program started this month by Chicago's Field Museum.\nMoney raised by individuals or corporations participating in the program will go toward the museum's endowment fund, now around $290 million, said Sheila Cawley, the museum's official in charge of the new sponsorship program.\nDonors get their names placed near the exhibit, a meeting with a scientist linked to it, an original work of art and mention on the museum's Web site, Cawley said.\nThe sponsorships start at $25,000 and run as high as $2.5 million for exclusive association with the two African elephants acquired by the museum in 1909.\nSponsoring Bushman the gorilla will cost $1 million. The now-stuffed animal was a big draw at Lincoln Park Zoo until his death in 1951. The body of the 550-pound lowland gorilla was donated to the museum and became a permanent exhibit in 1952.\nThe skull of Sue the T-Rex, one of the Field Museum's best known pieces, and two man-eating Tsavo lions will also cost sponsors $1 million.\nLess expensive sponsorships include the Gladstone meteorite from Australia and a Tibetan statue with multiple arms, which each cost $25,000.\nThe values are roughly linked to an object's fame and size, Cawley said.\nThe Field Museum has more than 23 million artifacts, and the museum could expand the sponsorship program later to include more objects, Cawley said.
(12/01/06 2:13am)
There are a number of things that can set people's tempers blaring here at IU.\nSome people get behind the wheel of car and begin displaying obscene cases of road rage. Perfectly understandable at times, especially here in Bloomington -- like when certain people can't get their Ugg(ly)-boot-encased lead feet to function properly while simultaneously driving, attempting to see over their sunglasses and talking to their best friends on their cell phones about how they hope that frat boy they slept with last week didn't give them herpes. It's quite normal to experience some road rage in such conditions, as long as you don't go around shooting people in Bryan Park over it or something. \nOr sometimes the geeky quiet kid in the corner of your classroom gets on his bike and develops a serious case of bike rage. That's just too bad; maybe bikers shouldn't be biking directly in front of cars, backing up traffic on Third Street from Indiana to Jordan when I'm -- er, people -- are trying to get to class. They really should knock it off. Sometimes "accidents" can happen. (Insert maniacal laughter here.) \nJoking, joking, I'm not that pissed off at campus bikers. \nHowever, I am a unique breed. I suffer from computer-lab rage. Yes, indeedy. \nI'm sitting in my room typing this right now when I could be in the computer lab at the Indiana Memorial Union. But I'm not at the computer lab at the IMU. Want to know why?\nBecause the computer lab is full of those very same girls who can't drive, in their pretty pastel North Face fleeces discussing their latest jungle-juice chugging and table-dancing exploits. And want to know what they're doing? \nThey're on Facebook. Constantly. One time, I finished a five-page paper in approximately an hour and a half while sitting next to some idiot who thought the lights in the IMU posed enough of a glare threat for her to wear her bug-eye sunglasses inside while on her cell phone and browsing through her friend's skankylicious Facebook albums. \nEither these people can't read the signs that say "Academic Work Only" or they think they and their friends' latest party pictures are more important than the 27 people waiting outside in line to do legitimate schoolwork. I really don't see how the pictures are that important anyway. Oh look, here's your fake-baked orange friend holding a can of beer. Oh look, here's your fake-baked orange friend taking a shot. Oh look, here's your fake-baked orange friend drinking something pink with an umbrella in it. Like, OMG, OMG, it's like, so cute. So hot. Yeah, baby. \nDo they not realize how incredibly pathetic they look sitting in the middle of a room where people are sitting quietly doing things that require brain power instead of applying lip gloss? \nI guess they truly don't. \nI'm not saying that the worst thing in the world you could do is take up other people's time and resources in an IU computer lab looking at people's Facebook pictures. \nAt least it's not MySpace.
(11/30/06 4:56am)
WASHINGTON -- A record 7 million people -- or one in every 32 American adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department.\nOf those, 2,193,798 were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year.\nEven though data show more prison releases, the report said, admissions still exceed releases. More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005.\nMen still far outnumber women in prisons and jails, but the female population is growing faster. Over the past year, the population of females in state or federal prison increased 2.6 percent while the number of male inmates rose 1.9 percent. By year's end, 7 percent of all inmates were women.\n"Today's figures fail to capture incarceration's impact on the thousands of children left behind by mothers in prison," Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group supporting criminal justice reform, said in a statement. "Misguided policies that create harsher sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are disproportionately responsible for the increasing rates of women in prisons and jails."\nFrom 1995 until 2003, inmates in federal prisons for drug offenses have accounted for 49 percent of total prison population growth.\nRacial disparities among prisoners persist. In the 25-29 age group, 8.1 percent -- about one in every 13 -- of black men are incarcerated, compared with 2.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.1 percent of white men. And it's not much different among women. By the end of 2005, black women were more than twice as likely as Hispanics and more than three times as likely as white women to be in prison.\nCertain states saw more significant changes in prison population. In South Dakota, the number of inmates increased 11 percent over the past year, more than any other state. Montana and Kentucky were next in line with increases of 10.4 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively. Georgia had the biggest decrease, dropping 4.6 percent, followed by Maryland with a 2.4 percent decrease and Louisiana with a 2.3 percent drop.
(11/30/06 4:32am)
The Grammy-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will perform at 8 p.m. Dec. 3 at the IU Auditorium. The orchestra will also present a seminar on its copyrighted and highly acclaimed "Orpheus Process" at 11 a.m. Dec. 4 in the foyer of the IU Auditorium.\nThe Orpheus Chamber Orchestra began 34 years ago and has been playing at New York's Carnegie Hall for 26 seasons. It has collaborated with many famous artists including Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma and Dawn Upshaw. \nOrpheus is unique because the group does not have a conductor; the members of the orchestra share and rotate leadership roles. This is known as the "Orpheus Process." Business schools at Harvard, Columbia and Yale, as well as corporations including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, have incorporated the group's philosophy on self-government into their own business outlooks.\nAccording to its Web site, "For every work, the members of the orchestra select the concertmaster and the principal players for each section. These players constitute the core group, whose role is to form the initial concept of the piece and to shape the rehearsal process. In the final rehearsals, all members of the orchestra participate in refining the interpretation and execution, with members taking turns listening from the auditorium for balance, blend, articulation, dynamic range and clarity of expression."\nTickets to the performance are $15 and can be purchased from the IU Auditorium Box Office. The seminar and included lunch are free, but reservations are required. To RSVP, e-mail jelbaxte@indiana.edu no later than Dec. 1.
(11/30/06 4:26am)
BOSTON -- The Red Sox aren't waiting until they get to Florida next week to start plugging the holes in their roster.\n"We might have something done before the winter meetings with one free agent," General Manager Theo Epstein said.\nAlthough Epstein declined to identify the player, the Red Sox are known to be pursuing former Dodgers outfielder J.D. Drew. Drew's agent, Scott Boras, said he expects to wrap up negotiations for a deal by the end of the week.\nBoston again is expected to be one of the more active teams when the meetings start Monday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The Red Sox are shopping outfielder Manny Ramirez, and they are also negotiating with Boras for Japanese star Daisuke Matsuzaka; Boston already bid $51,111,111 for the right to negotiate with Matsuzaka.\n"We have made an offer. I don't want to go too much more into it," Epstein said. "It is important to maintain a quiet and calm environment, if possible. That's to the benefit of both parties."\nEpstein also sidestepped questions about Ramirez, but the GM did say the team's biggest hole as he approached the meetings was the bullpen. Jonathan Papelbon, who saved 35 games last season before shutting down with shoulder problems, will move to the rotation in an effort to stay healthy.\nThat leaves Boston looking for a closer.\n"We've had a lot of talks about trades for a closer," Epstein said during a conference call. "We've dabbled in free agency but haven't gotten anything done yet. Our bullpen will look a lot different on opening day than it does now."\nThe GM relayed reports from Papelbon that the pitcher's recovery is going well.\n"All the reports from him are that his shoulder feels terrific," Epstein said. "He feels strong and is speaking in superlatives about his shoulder."\nEpstein missed last year's meetings during his six-week hiatus from the Boston front office. He's back now and looking forward to the trip.\n"Being a general manager isn't always about sitting back and being able to find players to make up your team," he said. "It's almost refreshing when you get to a venue where you know you can get things done. It's an exciting time, something we work all year in anticipation of."\nThe Red Sox also announced Wednesday that David Ortiz won his third consecutive Thomas A. Yawkey Award as the team's Most Valuable Player, as voted on by the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Ortiz is to receive his award Jan. 11 at the 68th Boston BBWAA Awards Dinner.\nOrtiz led the AL with 54 home runs, breaking Jimmie Foxx's franchise record, and 137 RBIs. Mo Vaughn (1993-96) and Roger Clemens (1990-92) were also Red Sox MVPs for three or more straight seasons.\nAlso Wednesday, the Red Sox announced that former second baseman Luis Alicea will be the first base coach. Alicea, 40, managed in the Class A level of Boston's minor league system for three seasons and worked in the Arizona Fall League this year.\nAlicea played 13 seasons in the majors with St. Louis, Boston, Anaheim, Texas and Kansas City, batting .260 with 47 homers and 422 RBIs.\n"He's really developed himself as a staff member during his three years," Epstein said. "He's an ideal fit with what we were looking for with a first-base and infield coach"
(11/30/06 4:26am)
IRVING, Texas -- Terrell Owens isn't just sorry to see his pal Mike Vanderjagt go. He thinks the Dallas Cowboys made a mistake by releasing the wayward kicker.\n"I don't see what he did wrong to warrant him being cut," Owens said Wednesday. "I hope it doesn't come back to haunt us. Whoever made that decision, I'm pretty sure they're hoping the same thing."\nVanderjagt was released Monday, only 11 games into a three-year, $5.4 million contract.\nHe was 13-of-18 on field goals, a 72.2 percent success rate that was the lowest of his nine-year career. However, he's still the most accurate kicker in league history (86.5 percent) and only one of his misses was completely botched; three hit the right upright and another was blocked.\nThe final straw was missing two kicks against his former team, Indianapolis, then barely making a 22-yarder against Tampa Bay. Coach Bill Parcells had lost confidence in Vanderjagt heading into the last month with the Cowboys (7-4) holding first place in the NFC East. Martin Gramatica was signed to take his place, despite his own struggles the last few years.\nIn their brief time as teammates, Owens and the "idiot kicker," as Peyton Manning once called Vanderjagt, really hit it off. Owens said he's spoken with Vanderjagt since he was cut.\n"Going into the Colts game, the guy was 12-of-15. That's still a high kicking percentage," Owens said. "He didn't lose any games for us. If I had to put myself in the mix, I feel like I lost some games and I'm still here, so it's just unfortunate."\nOwens dropped a sure touchdown pass that would've broken open a game at Washington. Instead, Vanderjagt had a chance to win it with a last-second field goal, but a missed assignment by a lineman led to the kick being blocked, and the Redskins wound up kicking the winning field goal. It was the only game Dallas lost when Vanderjagt missed a kick.
(11/30/06 4:25am)
Dear Harlan,\nNot only am I a freshman in college experiencing all these new experiences, but I'm totally, completely in love with this guy who is six years older than me and who I won't see until September. He's deployed in Kosovo. Don't get me wrong; I am very proud of him, but I know it is going to be hard. I want to wait for him. I want to be here when he comes back because I am in love with him, but I know how hard it's going to be. I've also had a real hard time making friends in college. Luckily, I love my roommate, but I'm having a hard time really fitting in with a group. Any advice?\nA Little Confused \n_________________________
(11/30/06 4:24am)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- It won't be the "Thrilla in Manila," but Mayor Willie Herenton promises a good show when he steps into the ring with former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier.\nThe mayor, a 66-year-old former amateur boxer, and 62-year-old "Smokin' Joe" will fight a three-round exhibition bout Thursday for charity.\nMore than 30 years removed from his legendary 1975 battle against Muhammad Ali in the Philippines, Frazier said he had no intention "to do too much damage on the mayor."\n"He don't play too rough, then I won't play too rough," he told WMC-TV as he arrived at the Memphis airport Tuesday night.\nFrazier, who held the heavyweight title from 1968 to 1973 and retired from boxing in 1976, runs a gym in Philadelphia and stages occasional exhibition bouts.\nThe exhibition at the Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis will raise money for the city's drug court, which offers rehabilitation services to drug abusers as an alternative to jail.\nHerenton turned to boxing while growing up in poverty in Memphis and credits the sport with building the self-confidence that helped him become the city's first black mayor. He's now in his fourth term.\nThe mayor, who helped bring the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson heavyweight title fight to Memphis in 2002, has been having fun promoting Thursday's match and talking about his accomplishments as an amateur boxer.\n"If they can see me at this age, can they imagine what I was like in my teens? I was awesome," he said with a laugh.
(11/30/06 4:22am)
Sex appeal: the supposed trademark of Rex Grossman, as his nickname, Sexy Rexy would suggest. It's safe to say, now, that Rexy ain't so sexy anymore. \nSomething made the Bloomington native move from the gunslinging, confident quarterback we saw in the first five games of this season to another inconsistent, Steve Spurrier-defunct quarterback. Something we see now was masked by optimism in the Windy City.\nRexy embodied everything Chicago wanted in a quarterback, in part because he was everything the other guys weren't: a raw, young arm commanding a potent offensive attack with the anchoring of the league's toughest defense. Simply put, he could have been the final piece to a puzzle that's been 21 years in the making.\nWell, Chicago, pull back on the reins of that horse jettisoning toward the postseason. You've got a serious red flag in No. 8. \nRexy plays with a reckless abandon, and he doesn't seem to minimize his mistakes. Of course, this isn't news to Bears fans, especially as of late. However, it's hard to win with a quarterback who garners a 43.1 completion percentage in the fourth quarter this season, which accompanies a lifeless 35.7 quarterback rating.\nHis 18 touchdowns are offset by 14 bleak interceptions and seven fumbles -- turnover totals that rank in the top five among quarterbacks. While completing a little more than 55 percent of his passes, his best games statistically have come against defenses in the lower tier of the league in both points allowed and yards allowed. \nFor Sexy Rexy, his greatest hindrance affecting both his play on the field and the results on the stat sheet is his height.\nRex Grossman is trying to battle his way through an extreme height disadvantage at the line of scrimmage, and the result is poor mechanics and turnovers. If anyone else watches any sporting event with an objective eye like I do, then you should be able to couple the evidence.\nRexy is listed as 6-foot-1 (in women's heels maybe) on every Web site that Google could produce, including NFL.com. However, common sense tells me otherwise. For a quarterback, Rexy's listed height is still manageably small, but it's safe to assume he is a lot closer to 5-foot-11. \nHis height restricts his vision on the field, plain and simple. \nI've long believed Rexy is not performing on a consistent basis because he cannot see past the line of scrimmage and read the defense while the play is unfolding. He constantly takes a seven-step drop and less frequently steps up into the pocket. If he were to scoot up into the pocket as the trenches mold into a shape of a horseshoe around the quarterback, the big bodies at the line would impede his downfield vision.\nWith that said, Rexy continues to maneuver as far away from the line as he can to avoid the obstructions. What is interesting is his tendency to throw off his back foot, a trademark of the gunslinging Brett Favre, Rexy's favorite quarterback growing up. Ironically enough, it's not his emulation of Favre that brews a back-shifting, heel-weighted Grossman. It's overcompensation.\nRexy seems to constantly throw off his back foot to compensate for his relatively low release point (in relation to his height). He needs to step into his throws, as he needs a more dynamic trajectory. The result is an inaccurate pass roughly 45 percent of the time by a player thought to be revitalized by a clean bill of health.\nSmaller athletes need compensatory attributes to counteract their height limitations. Doug Flutie and Michael Vick use mobility to expose their arms. MLB pitcher Pedro Martinez uses the torque he gets as he twists his upper body at the waist. Horse jockeys straddle and whip the likes of Seabiscuit, Butter Cup, Butter Stuff and Butter Nuts en route to eternal undersized-athlete glory.\nNot many things can help Sexy Rexy in his height issue -- I'd recommend testosterone shots to help him in ways puberty couldn't, but he might start growing hair where hair shouldn't grow.\nSooner or later, defenses will pick up on this obstruction, if they haven't already, and send seven guys to clog the line every time Rexy wants to throw.\nIf his height is truly the problem, which I think it is, maybe Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner and the rest of the coaching staff should devise an offense that fits Grossman better. Or maybe da Bears should start warming up "da backups" before season's end.
(11/30/06 3:42am)
Iraq war damages U.S. reputation
(11/30/06 3:34am)
Sex and meat metaphors. \nFor whatever reason, all of my columns seem to involve these two subjects. They are the essential elements of my writing: the sandwich and juice box of each journalistic sack lunch.\nLooking back, it's astounding how many times I've referred to male phalluses as "hickory-smoked bacon," women's hindquarters as "yum-yum tenderloins" and the act of sexual intercourse itself as "crunching the dirty tacos of desire."\nSome say I'm sexually frustrated. \nHowever, considering my recent sexual proclivity, I sincerely doubt it. A recent study conducted by The New York Times, in fact, concluded that there's a 68.7 percent chance that I'm a dirty whore. \nAnd if you round up, the number speaks for itself. \n(WARNING -- Grandma, the aforementioned joke might have caused irregular heart murmurs. Take your blood pressure medication, and call that number I wrote on the fridge.)\nActually, the truth is: I'm all talk. The last person to enter my bed, in fact, was a man by the name of "stats homework" and trust me ... he wasn't very good. \nI fell asleep while doing him.\nHence, my nymphomania is exercised solely in the bedroom of journalism, which is why I will utilize such scandalous meat metaphors yet again to discuss another prevalent, sexual issue: male bisexuality. \n"What's bisexuality?" asks "Dancing With The Stars" runner-up Mario Lopez. "Honestly, I have little to no idea."\nWell, Mario, allow me to explain in restaurant terminology. If sexuality were a Don Pablo's, where only crotch burritos are served, bisexuals would get theirs with both meat and vegetables. However, unlike food omnivores, sexual omnivores are viewed as abnormal. \nIn fact, of all versions of diverse sexuality, bisexuality seems to be one of the hardest to accept. Even the notion of homosexuality seems more universally embraced. Why?\nAs Americans, we tend to compartmentalize every aspect of living, generally into culturally established binaries (meaning things are either one thing or another, leaving no room for middle ground). \nSomething is either ON or OFF. Hot or cold. Republican or Democrat. Gay or straight. \nIn an article titled "Myths/realities of bisexuality," author Sharon Sumpter challenges the popularized myth that bisexuality simply does not exist. Truly, bisexuals are often regarded as fictitious creatures, as if from C.S. Lewis's "The Lion, The Witch and Anne Heche."\nIt is a common belief that bisexuals are just plain gay. People who hold this belief disassociate the possibility of dual sexuality, splitting the Venn diagram of gender preference into two, distinct circles. \nHowever, Alfred Kinsey theorized that there is, in fact, an overlap. According to the Kinsey Institute Web site, "Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual." Instead, Kinsey established a six-point sexuality scale, where zero is complete heterosexuality and six is Clay Aiken (any day now). \nBy researching the Kinsey information and looking at the continuum of male sexuality, it becomes apparent that these omnivores do, in fact, exist. Perhaps carnivores and herbivores are simply too picky of eaters.\nAfter all, as Mama says, it's important to have a well-balanced diet.
(11/30/06 3:33am)
OXFORD, England -- Tradition is an intrinsic good at Oxford University. The reverence for tradition includes not only scholars wearing black gowns to and from exams and lectures, but also the tendency to demean women's role in academia. The notorious Old Boys network, the successful English men who strengthen their upper-class ties in secondary school and university, is still present on this campus. Many Oxford networks and traditions center around the male student population, leaving some women struggling to assert themselves in academic relationships and leadership positions. \nRecently in Cherwell, Oxford's independent student newspaper, Hannah Roe and Samir Deger Sen discussed "Oxford's subconscious sexism" as a tradition that extends deeper than blatantly discriminatory rules or policies. The article notes that student media portrays different versions of success for men and women. In a recent ranking of 50 prominent students, those few women who made the cut were described solely in terms of their physical appearances. If beauty alone is sufficient for female success, women uncomfortable with asserting their talents have little incentive to push their intellectual limits. \nThe recent experience of Oxford finalist Rebecca Lindhout further illustrates this problem. During an interview for a university telethon to commission donations from alumni, interviewers asked Lindhout what experiences she could emphasize to make alumni excited about giving. Lindhout began to enthusiastically describe her success in raising the standard of the netball team before the interviewer cut her off. "He told me: 'The alumni won't be interested in netball. Have you got anything else?'" Lindhout said. Netball is a women's sport. Lindhout is also president of the Corpus Christi College Boat Club and so will have plenty to talk about with Oxford's mostly-male alumni when the telethon starts next week. But boat club coxswain and finalist Katie Howe and finalist Bettina Reitz said that some alumni rowers visiting Corpus Christi have made offensive comments about women, suggesting that the college was better off without them. (Many other alumni, however, have been very kind and supportive of women's increasingly important role in the university.) \nIt's ironic that an institution so renowned for intellectual exploration still finds itself bound by sexism. IU became one of the first state institutions to accept women in 1867, 53 years before Oxford began conferring degrees to female undergraduates. IU was the first to establish a gender studies Ph.D., as well. At Oxford only nine out of 39 colleges have women Junior Common Room presidents (the rough equivalent of a student-body or dorm president). In contrast, two of the three top executives on the IU Union Board are women. \nAt the same time, many students, both male and female, do support equity between genders. To many others, feminism has become a dirty word, in many academic and social circles in and beyond Oxford. Women who highlight the importance of gender equity need only earn the label "feminist" before their ideas become fodder for jokes rather than worthy of serious consideration. Thinking about gender issues isn't merely a feminist activity; rather, it should be a human activity.
(11/30/06 3:32am)
What do you call a comedian who tells a couple of black men in an audience, "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a ... fork up your ass!"?\nApparently not a racist, at least if we are to believe Michael Richards (a.k.a. Kramer from "Seinfeld"). In a comedy routine at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, Richards verbally attacked a group of men with racist statements and repeatedly called them racist names. The two men appeared on "The Today Show" Nov. 22 and reported that he continued with even more attacks that weren't caught on film. For example: "When I wake up in the morning, I'll still be rich. When you wake up, you'll still be a nigger." \nSince his on-stage meltdown and tirade, Richards has blitzed the media with apologies. He appeared on David Letterman a few days later to say he was "deeply sorry" for the hurt he caused. He spoke to Rev. Al Sharpton and offered yet another apology on Rev. Jesse Jackson's radio show last Sunday. He has called his outburst crap, horrible and disgusting. He described the rage that lives within him and claimed he's going to see a psychiatrist to work on it.\nIt's wonderful that Michael Richards embraced some accountability for his racist tirade (that's better than the "I was drunk, and I'm going to rehab" dismissal). Now if only he would also own up to the racism that he's internalized by living in a society where the pervasive racism of the past still very much lingers in the present.\nUnfortunately, despite all his apologies and atonement, Richards remains adamant: "I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this." On his radio show, Jesse Jackson asked Richards again, "Do you consider yourself a racist?" Michael Richards firmly replied again: "No."\nFunny how that works. Richards spewed more than two-and-a-half minutes of racist epithets and degrading comments at black men in the audience, but don't dare imply he's a racist.\nWe saw the same thing during election season. The recently ousted Sen. George Allen from Virginia -- the one who was photographed with the segregationist Council of Conservative Citizens, flew Confederate flags and derisively welcomed to America an Indian American he nicknamed "Macaca" -- also was very quick to explain that he was not a racist.\n"Racist" is about as ugly and unspeakable to most white people as the n-word is to black Americans. But just because we don't like to hear it, much less recognize how racism touches each of our lives in some ugly way, doesn't mean it's not present.\nIn the end, I suppose it matters little whether we label Michael Richards a racist, a bigot or a fool. Rather, it's important to let his horrifying racial tirade point to the fact that there's probably a little racism that lives in all of us. Time to start owning that fact and, like Richards, do some soul-searching as to how to correct the problem that we find all to easy to ignore.
(11/30/06 3:32am)
At about 11:30 p.m. Nov. 14, campus police officers at the University of California, Los Angeles brutally attacked an Iranian-American student studying in the library. An internal police review and an independent investigation are simultaneously underway. \nThese are the details compiled from eyewitness testimony, the police report, various news outlets and a cell phone video available on YouTube: 23-year-old Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a senior, was asked to produce his student ID card as per UCLA policy. It's not clear whether Tabatabainejad failed or refused to do so, but he was accosted by UCPD either as he was leaving or refusing to leave the library. The victim demanded the police remove their hands, at which point Officer Terrence Duren proceeded to taser Tabatabainejad. When Tabatabainejad still refused to leave the library (because of incapacitation or resistance), Duren continued to taser Tabatabainejad up to five more times (the exact number is unclear) before taking the student into custody.\nIncredibly, UCPD's criminally vague policy on taser use absolves Duren of any breach in protocol. Officers are actually allowed to use the weapons as "a pain compliance technique," Assistant UCPD Chief Jeff Young said.\nMore disturbing than Duren's entirely unwarranted response to a nonthreatening situation is UCPD's complete inability to properly train its officers. In 1990, Duren was suspended for 90 days after he choked a student with his nightstick outside a fraternity; in 2003, the officer shot a homeless man discovered in a university building. God only knows what would have happened to Tabatabainejad had Duren been wielding a standard issue 9-mm instead of a miniature cattle prod. \nLast week's events bring to the forefront the dangerously taboo issue of police professionalism, especially that of campus police. Just last year IUPD detained innocent black students on suspicion of concealing weapons at an Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity event being held at the Union. The students were released at the scene when the officers failed to find the alleged firearms. At the time, IUPD spokesman Capt. Jerry Minger defended the officers' decision based on standard operating procedure, but one could ask whether such measures would have been applied to white students.\nHope is not lost for the cause of advancement of racial diversity and acceptance at IU. Right here on campus we have several student groups primarily concerned with diversity, including the Black Student Union, La Casa, the Hoosier Rights Campaign and more. Of course, we also have IU's own Commission On Multicultural Understanding, whose stated goals include to "gather information and encourage activities that increase awareness and understanding of racism and other forms of oppression." \nWe are lucky at IU to have such organizations concerned with the well-being and diversity of IU's campus. It is with these organizations' assistance and with the continued demand from students that diversity and acceptance be the priority of this institution that IU will, we hope, avoid incidents like that at UCLA and deal constructively with those that do occur.
(11/30/06 3:04am)
A fire that forced a man to jump from a second-story window while carrying his 10-month-old daughter was arson, authorities said.\nInvestigators found an irregular burn pattern on the kitchen floor, indicating arson, said Andy Zirkle, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security's Division of Fire and Building Safety.\nDennis Sizemore, 47, remained in critical but stable condition in Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis after being severely injured Thursday, when he jumped from the window of his house near Martinsville, about 20 miles southwest of Indianapolis.\nSizemore's daughter, Maryann Sizemore, was not seriously injured.\nHer mother, Doreen Streeval, said she was at a loss to explain the fire.\n"I wonder who or why?" said Streeval, who was at work when the fire occurred. "I'm upset to think that somebody would try to take the life of a baby."\nBecause of his condition, investigators have not been able to interview Dennis Sizemore to get his account.\nNo suspects have been identified, said Morgan County Sheriff's Detective Larry Sanders.