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Brent Vaughn is out to win the Big 12 Championships 10,000-meter run for the second time in his career this weekend.
Welcome to a notes and comment column in its eighth year penned by CU Associate Athletic Director David Plati, who is finishing up his 24th year as the Buffaloes director of sports information:

It’s 3 a.m.; who do you want in the White House to answer this question: what time is CU’s game against West Virginia on September 18? Okay, I’m not running, just dreading five months of political commercials like most of you probably are as well... The athletic year is wrapping up, just men’s golf and men’s and women’s track and field remaining. Hope to see all of you out at Potts Field for the Big 12 Track & Field Championships May 16-18!

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Trivia Questions

The standard P-?Tudes mind teasers:

CU?Colorado last won a conference outdoor track championship in 1996 (the women won the Big 8); the last men’s outdoor title was a run of eight in a row in the 1940’s in Mountain States Conference competition. CU last hosted the meet in 1993 (upper division finishes for the men, third, and women, fourth). But what was especially significant about the Buffalo women’s ’93 win in Lincoln?

Who Am I??I lettered in track & field at Colorado in the early 1970s... I helped CU finish fourth in the Big 8 Outdoor Championships which we hosted n Boulder in ’72... I participated in field events... Only recently did someone also achieve a certain length I won the long jump with 36 years go. Who am I?

Music?Folsom Field used to host the old “Sun Day” series of concerts, one of which set the stadium attendance record (May 1, 1977: Fleetwood Mac, Bob Seger, Firefall and John Sebastian). The last of the series of concerts with multiple name groups was in October 1982. What three acts played Folsom that day?

Name That Tune?What song is this lyric from: “My mother was a tailor ... She sewed my new blue jeans.”

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Quick Hits


Eric Bieniemy

Former Buff Eric Bieniemy, now an assistant coach with the Minnesota Vikings, was the featured alumni speaker to the team during this year’s spring game weekend, and he was truly classic EB; one story he relayed was a bet he had with Viking rookie running back and former Oklahoma Sooner Adrian Petersen last fall. Yes, it was over the CU-OU game, where the loser would have to wear a the shirt of the winner; Bieniemy said Petersen looked good wearing CU stuff after the Buffs’ 27-24 win over the No. 3 Sooner ... Is anyone else wondering this like me: not that the writers who have replaced Rick Reilly on the back page of Sports Illustrated haven’t done a decent job, but I always went to that page for entertainment. So with that in mind, how long will it be until Dan Patrick’s “Just My Type” column is moved there? If you haven’t read it, he’s done a great job week-in and week-out to date. And it is entertaining! ... CU is 52nd in the NACDA Director’s Cup Standings through the winter sports season, ninth among Big 12 schools. The only points the Buffs earned in the winter were the 90 picked up by the ski team for second in the NCAA. The usual schools with 22 or more sports are on top of the standings, as I’ve said before, that needs to figure in somehow ... Former golfer Kenny Coakley recently qualified for the South Georgia Classic on the Nationwide Tour, doing so with a 67 in the Monday qualifying round; he shot a pair of 73s in the tournament and missed the cut by a single stroke ... Speaking of former golfers, Jonathan Kaye has healed from a foot injury and is back playing on the PGA Tour (he opened with a 66 in the AT&T Classic in Duluth, Ga., on May 15). Unfortunately, Steve Jones is still sidelined, as he has been idle since last August while trying to mend a tennis elbow ... Great feature on Ralphie in The Sporting News by Matt Hayes; click here: http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=413485.

 

LAST MINUTE RSVPS ALLOWED: This Monday, May 19, the Colorado Coaches For Charity have their fundraising event at the Denver City Center Marriott. Dan Hawkins (Colorado), Troy Calhoun and Fisher DeBerry (Air Force), Sonny Lubick (Colorado State) and Scott Downing (Northern Colorado) will all be in attendance at the function; for more information, visit coloradocoachesforcharity.com.

 

Quite The Accomplishment

Upon further review, CU accomplished some history at the NCAA Ski Championships, even though the Buffaloes had to settle for a second place finish. Maria Grevsgaard swept the Nordic events (classical, freestyle), and Lucie Zikova the alpine races (giant slalom, slalom). It marked the first time since the sport went coed in 1983 that athletes, male or female, from the same school swept their disciplines by gender. There has been just one other time where there was a sweep of the events in the same year, but the athletes were from different school. That occurred in 1990, when Utah’s Anke Friedrich won the GS and the slalom while Vermont’s Laura Wilson won both the classic and freestyle cross country races. Way to go, ladies!

 

Coach Mac Challenge

Most Buff followers know that former coach Bill McCartney challenged those in attendance at the Football Recruiting Luncheon (February 7) to fill Folsom Field for the spring game. He would not relent until a thousand people stood and accepted his challenge for each to bring 50 people. We didn’t fill Folsom, but the 17,800 in attendance (estimated, likely within a couple of hundred either way) did set a spring record. CU has now had 10,000 or more fans four times attend its final spring scrimmage/game, with the previous best prior to this year of 13,642 in 1989 when many came out to honor Sal Aunese, the CU quarterback stricken with stomach cancer the previous month. The next two games drew 11,336 and 10,382 respectively. The Buffs were one of the last schools to play an alumni game, the last of which was in 1992 though some alumni appeared periodically in the game through 1996.

This caused me to do a national survey of spring game attendance; I heard back from almost everyone, including eight schools that didn’t have a formal spring game for the public for multiple reasons. Of the 108 schools that supplied me an attendance number, the national average worked to 12,996; take out the top 10 and the bottom 10, the 88 in the middle averaged 9,589. Forty-two schools drew 10,000-plus, with 66 under that figure, and the median number 6,000. Our crowd ranked 26th in the nation, as just over 1.4 million fans turned out to watch football in the spring.

 

Who Says Athletes Never Give Back?
Former CU golfer Erin Kerr, now playing professionally on the Cactus Tour in the southwest, recently donated her winnings from the Queen Creek, Ariz., event to Tim Horton. Tim, a long-time athletic department employee who has worked in both the equipment and business offices, got to know Erin when he handled all the equipment needs for the women’s golf team. He recently was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer of the blood and is undergoing treatment, and of course the bills are mounting. Erin told CU coach Anne Kelly (her college coach in Boulder) before the tournament she would be donating whatever she won to Tim; she went out and finished fifth, 1-over par including the best final round in the field (a 4-under 67) and earned $800. As she promised, all of it was donated to Tim. (Gail Pederson, assistant to AD Mike Bohn, was in Arizona with the women’s golf team at their tournament and snapped the picture.)

Anyone out there interested in helping Tim’s cause can do so at any e Compass Bank location (there's one in Boulder at 3000 Arapahoe or in Lafayette at 1200 West S. Boulder Road), write the account number 2510141418 on the slip and the customer’s name ? Tammy Horton ? on the left side of the slip. You can pick up deposit slips and/or drop off a check in the Athletic Business office (made payable to Tammy Horton).

 

Hawkins' Mask Up For Bid
Dan and Cody Hawkins recently teamed up to produce a mask that is now up for bid, with all proceeds to benefit The Denver Hospice. Those interested in bidding on it, or any of the masks up for auction, can visit the Hospice’s home page at http://www.thedenverhospice.org/index.php and click on the link to the Mask Project; The Hawkins’ mask can be found directly at: http://www.cmarket.com/auction/item/Item.action?browse=&_sourcePage=%2Fitem%2FbrowseList.jsp&id=66844624.

The Mask Project, a collection of hundreds of masks by artists, celebrities, musicians, chefs, sports figures, authors, community & political leaders -- is now open in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. You can visit the masks in person at the shopping center and/or go online at www.themaskproject.org and bid on them in the online auction which closes May 30. All donations are tax deductable. There are masks by celebrities such as Miley Cyrus (a.k.a. Hannah Montana), Denver DA Mitch Morrissey, which comes with a tour of the Denver Crime Lab, and a Yoko Ono mask that comes with a night's stay in the Beatles Suite, compliments of the Brown Palace Hotel.

 

Hawk Talk Tour An Early Success
Hawk’s tour got off to a successful start at Sierra Vista Elementary School in Pueblo on April 30. He spoke about healthy choices and took questions for the better part of an hour, entertaining upwards of 500 K-through-5th graders in the process. Principal Susan Bernal shared this comment from a first grade student’s mother:

She said her son went home Wednesday and told his dad that he “had a GREAT day at school. First of all he got a good grade on his paper, then he got to listen to Coach Hawkins from CU talk and he even got to ask a question. Then he got to answer a question and when he answered the question right he got a T-shirt, and then he even got Coach Hawkins to autograph his t-shirt. He told his dad, ?IT WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! I feel so lucky we should go get a lottery ticket!’" (Which they did and he won $15.)

 

One-of-a-Kind Helmet To Be Up For Auction

The annual golf tournament fundraiser for Gary Barnett’s Foundation is coming up (June 13-14), with a Foundation Frolic set for Friday and a shotgun start to the tournament Saturday morning, both at Legacy Ridge Golf Course in Westminster. The former CU head football coach’s foundation is dedicated to the support of educational programs for economically disadvantaged and at-risk youth, and particularly to suicide prevention. One of the items at this year’s auction will be a CU football helmet signed by the last nine Buffalo head coaches, from the late Sonny Grandelius through Dan Hawkins; it is the only one in existence, which is for certain. CU celebrities scheduled to play in the golf tournament include Barnett, Bill McCartney, Kordell Stewart, Bobby Pesavento, Darian Hagan, Joel Klatt, Charles Johnson, Matt Russell and Jeremy Bloom. The helmet will be up for auction on e-bay, starting about 10 days ahead of the golf tournament through the outing on the 14th.  To bid on the hemlet, go to this Ebay link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270245100285; f

or more information on the tournament, go to www.garybarnettfoundation.org.

 

Always Something New


Jay Leeuwenburg

I had cause the other day to pop in the tape of the “Fifth Down” game as Mark Collins dropped by to do some fact checking for Tales of Colorado Football by Jay Leeuwenburg. All of you know it, CU’s 33-31 win over Missouri in Columbia on Oct. 6, 1990. I’ve always said the down marker never changed from 2 to 3 when it became third down; BUT guess what? I was wrong (kind of feels like My Cousin Vinny: No, the defense is wrong!) In looking at the tape, it never changed to 2 to 3 on the next play either (what was fourth down). So the down marker went 1, 2, 2, 2, 4; kind of makes one wonder if it is was a deliberate attempt on someone’s part to add confusion to the final seconds.

By the way, a video shot by KCNC-TV’s photog at the game from the end zone leaves no doubt that Charles Johnson did in fact score. That was included in the Bill McCartney Show that aired the next night; in the show, Mac went over with the official when he came over and discussed with him after CU took its last time out what the plan would be: run it into the line, then spike the ball to set up a final play. No mention of, “Coach, can’t do that. It’s third down.”

On his show, Mac said it was not a fair test of football that day, with Missouri’s embarrassment for a field (a documented 92 slips by CU players). MU had that old Omni-Turf field which when it became worn, or wasn’t properly prepped in pregame (satisfactorily watered) turned into an ice rink. Colorado had the wrong cleated shoe; Missouri was wearing shoes suited for rain on a perfect day, which caught the CU coaches’ eye early on. But CU didn’t have that type of shoe on the trip. Once again, confirmation that CU had no business giving this game to Mizzou.

 

Tis' The Season To Poll
I annually poll the team on the overall opinion of if we need a playoff or not, and for the sixth straight year, the players prefer either the current BCS system or a tweak such as a plus-one playoff. Of the 83 players who answered the question on our photo day, 26 say the BCS is fine as is, 30 say it is basically fine but could be modified a bit, and 27 would like to see a playoff. That works to 67.5 percent favoring the BCS or some form of it, and 32.5 percent wanting a playoff.

This being a presidential election year, I thought I would also poll the team on the choice for president. The question simply read, “McCain, Obama, Clinton or ?None of the Above.’” The results: Obama 38, McCain 23, None of the Above 15, Undecided/No Opinion 7, Clinton 0 (yes, that was a zero for Mrs. C). One player wrote in, “What’s the difference?” and one crazy guy even voted for me (I will refrain from pursuing the highest office in the land until, oh, 2020. How’s that?).

 

BCS Remains Status Quo
There were no changes made in the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) at its recent annual meeting. That was to the displeasure of some, but certainly not to all and not many here at CU (see above players’ poll). I had a couple of emails from fans who want a playoff, and they certainly aren’t alone, but here’s why I am against an extended playoff.

Let me state right now I have no issue with the plus-one format. Play them as part of the current BCS structure on January 1 or 2, and come back with the title game around the 10th. And the only schools that seem to push for it on a changing annual basis are those who feel jilted, like Georgia and Hawaii this year. (UGA, you had two losses, not one. Sorry, you’re out. And the rest of the country is no longer buying the SEC is almost as tough as the NFL argument. When we had two losses in 2001 and got edged out by Nebraska for the title game, you only heard our people talk about a conference champion component, and Gary Barnett at the time said he felt conference champions like Oregon (Pac 10) and Illinois (Big 10) deserved consideration for the game. But we knew we had two losses and never complained we weren’t in the title game.

But here’s what I firmly believe would happen within five or so years after a playoff (either 8 or 16 teams) would come to be.

Most, if not all, of the other bowls would dry up and cease to exist. With the national media in a frenzy pumping a playoff, sponsors and advertisers would gravitate toward those nine or 15 playoff games with their bucks. The bowls are unique, this past winter, 32 teams went home winners, 64 got extra practices, received perks that go with being invited to a bowl, see part of the country they may never have seen before and maybe never would had, and TV ratings show America is watching.

Go to a playoff, you know what happens? Same as in basketball: one or two new schools may crack the top 16 each year, but by and large, the same schools annually will dominate. How often do you think schools like Florida, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Tennessee, and gulp, Notre Dame (they’ll probably get in with 8 wins) won’t participate?

Schools that could crack a 16-team playoff once every 25 years could easily go to 15 or more bowl games in the same period. What do those schools really want? If the other bowls go away, we’ll be faced with an elitist group headed to the playoffs and most of the same teams sitting at home.

Now I love college basketball, and while I disagree with some that the regular season is meaningless in relation to the tournament, not many are paying attention to it until January. The TV ratings prove such. The reality is that college football, along with the NFL, have the two most important regular seasons going. You can’t lose more than once in college, and if you open 0-2 or for sure 0-3 in the pros, chances are you’re not headed to the postseason. So I ask, what is wrong with a regular season that means something week-in and week-out.

 

Enjoy Retirement Doc; Thanks For Those 6 Seconds!

Former long-time CU team physician Dr. Peter Ewing is retiring this June 30 from private practice; Doc has been the PCP for many of us connected with athletics for years, and we all wish him well in his new endeavors. Very few publicly knew this, and I didn’t until recently myself: if you recall, the clock at Michigan kept running long after plays were over in the final 2 minutes, sometimes due to timer error, other times due to the officials with the penalties Michigan was racking up. On one of those occasions, Ewing pointed out to the ref that at least six seconds had run off the clock when it should have been stopped. The officials huddled and added back the six seconds. The time remaining when Kordell Stewart heaved the ball some 72 yards to Michael Westbrook via Blake Anderson tip? Six second. Thanks Doc!

 

Alfred Williams And The HOF

Alfred did not make it in the College Football Hall of Fame the first time he was on the ballot, but as it turned out, that’s okay; I was informed by National Football Foundation officials that less than five percent make it into the Hall on their first try. Alfred made it on to the national ballot on his first try, which we have to realize is a nice accomplishment in its own right; there are over 2,100 player eligible for the HOF, but only 70 or so are on the ballot in a given year; thus A-Dub squeezed into one of 13 available spots on his first try. All I can say is, “Alfred in ’09!”

 

Check The Facts Why Don't Ya

Due to failure to pick up the phone and call any number of us at CU-Boulder on March 25, rumors were abound that we were rebranding the school and were going to dump Ralphie. The rumor, attributed to anonymous sources of course, first appeared in some on-line blog. Then they were picked up by Denver Post columnist Bill Husted. Several of us had some irate e-mails and calls, but it was quickly squelched. I mean, c’mon, getting rid of Ralphie would be a bigger blunder than new Coke or the VW Thing (remember that car?!).

 

Where Are They Now


John Lindberg

Received an e-mail from former golfer John Lindberg (’89) recently; John is arguably one of the top five golfers in CU history, joining the likes of Hale Irwin, Dale Douglass, Steve Jones and Jonathan Kaye. Here’s what John has been up to: he is still working as the sponsor manager for the Swedish Golf Federation, living in Stockholm, married (Helena) with three kids, Oscar (13), Niclas (11) and Victor (5). “I am having a great life, with trips to some foreign countries, still playing some golf and I’m now focusing and practicing for the club championship, in June, at Royal Dornoch in Scotland. I also engage in ice hockey with the kids and also playing twice a week (sometimes). In other words, a good middle-upper class life with its positive and negative sides (95% positive)!” Any former teammates wanting to get in touch with John can find him via E-mail at john.lindberg@sgf.golf.se.

Gabe Nyenhuis (Football ’03) is enjoying a fine season in the Arena Football League. A lineman for the Philadelphia Soul, through all games in March, he was leading the league in sacks (5.0) and was tied for the lead in fumbles forced with three. He also has a blocked field goal to his credit. Damen Wheeler (’99, Los Angeles Avengers) continues to shine in the AFL as well. Congrats, guys!

I bumped, almost literally, into Phil Jackson (Football ’03) on Rockies’ opening day; crossing Park Avenue heading back to my car, there he was managing traffic. He is now a police officer in Denver’s District 4.

 

Smith vs. Smith
One of the most enjoyable feature ideas we’ve had here in sports info was the “Josh Smith (football) meet Josh Smith (skiing)” we produced with 9News (KUSA-TV). If you missed it, click here for a story on CUBuffs.com and also for a link to the piece that 9News aired: http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3843&SPID=255&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=1416812. I must admit, this turned out better than I ever could have imagined, and the really neat this is that the two Josh’s became fast friends. Football Josh had no real plans for spring break, and Ski Josh invited him up to Vail to stay at his parent’s house for four days. And yes, they went skiing. Every day. Here’s the sick thing for those of us not overly gifted in athletic ability: on his third day on the slopes, Football Josh was already skiing black diamond runs. Wow.

Now I had a couple of nasty e-mails about how we could work with the station that did the most damage to us locally during the “ordeal” earlier this decade. Well, first of all, remember 9’s sports department had nothing to do with it, but second and most important of all, that’s all water under the bridge and we’re pretty excited about our new partnership with them. It will be a win-win for both sides, and look for increased coverage of CU in year two of our agreement.

 

Book Update
Colorado Vault, a coffee table type book on the history of CU football that I was charged with authoring, is finished and has headed to the printer. I had a 24,000 word limit, but they let me squeeze it to about 25,500. It sounds like a lot of words, but it’s really not: try summing up the McCartney Era (1982-94) in 4,000 words. Can’t do it; I asked for 1,000 more, and still turned in 6,200. They trimmed it back themselves, which is unfortunate but understandable, they can’t add pages as printing is a formula of pages and profit margin. I’ve seen the galleys, and thanks to my predecessors in this office and to two great archive sources on campus (the Heritage Center and the Western Archives in Norlin), the photography in the book is magnificent. The book is due out by the end of June and currently lists for $49.95 (plus taxes) on Amazon.com.

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The P-'Tudes Mailbag

The usual grab-bag of questions fired my way by P-?Tudes readers and others that I thought others would be interested in:

Q: Are fewer Buffs being selected in the NFL Draft or is it just me?

A: Colorado has had 25 players drafted this decade (2000-2008), which is tied for 27th nationally with UCLA. That’s not too bad, most schools aren’t even sniffing 20. We have some great periods throughout are history where the numbers our higher, and we should return there once again pretty soon I would think. The 25 are the sixth most in the Big 12 (Nebraska leads with 38, Oklahoma’s right there with 37).

Q: I saw a piece recently in the Birmingham News on SEC schools and NCAA violations; a chart listed the Big 12 as the leader among the BCS conferences with 55 infractions? Is this true?

A: It should have read infraction cases where schools were penalized, but yes, the current members of the Big 12 Conference have been penalized on 55 occasions since 1953. It’s on the www.ncaa.org site but is kind of tough to find; navigate through legislation and governance and click on LSDBi. So here are the number of times for each school in the Big 12 (includes all sports): Oklahoma 7, Texas A&M 7, Kansas 6, Kansas State 6, Baylor 5, Colorado 5, Missouri 4, Nebraska 4, Oklahoma State 4, Texas 4, Texas Tech 2, Iowa State 1. There is no way of telling how many of these grew out of self-reporting, which was the case for CU last year when we realized we weren’t charging walk-on student-athletes enough for meals (which recent legislation no longer makes what happened here a violation).

Q:

Is it true you and/or people in your profession work football season with no days off with 16 hour work days? I want to get into your business but it doesn’t sound fun.

A: Fun is what you make of it... there might be an occasional day off here or there, but by and large, it’s August 1 through two days after a bowl game with seldom a day off, and that includes holidays and weekends (we can come in later on some days, though). Some days are longer than 16 hours, I must confess that as well. But if you have passion, you often don’t notice the long hours. And it’s not just sports info people, we take a cue from how long the coaches work, as their day is often 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; me, I like 9 a.m. to 3 a.m., I am a night owl. And as most know, I am a republican as well, so I just laughed off Howard Dean’s comment a few years ago that republicans haven’t worked a hard days work in their lives. What a windbag; I guarantee that guy hasn’t worked a single day in his life as hard as I have (and I haven’t worked a day as hard as a farmer, rancher, construction worker, etc.).

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Website(s) of the 'Tude

My dad either had this sent to him or he found it on his own: www.hulu.com. It has tons of clips from old Saturday Night Lives, from the 70s through the present, including many of the classic fake commercials aired through the years on SNL. It also features many of today’s shows like The Office, House, 30 Rock, The Simpson’s and Family Guy (often the entire episode).

 

Congrats Shouts


Jackson Lew

? To long-time CU associate SID Lindsay (Anhold) Lew and husband Jason, who welcomed baby Jackson into the world at 5:38 p.m. on May 2. The kid checked in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Lindsay recently left sports information and shifted into the position of director of strategic sales & communication, better utilizing her graduate degree and creative mind!

? To former CU tight end Mike Kerin (’76) has been promoted to Assistant Athletics Director for Football Operations at West Virginia. One of the original directors of football operations in college football, and a member of the AFCA’s DOFO task force since its inception, Kerin joined WVU as a member of Don Nehlen’s original staff in 1980, working since then for Nehlen, Rich Rodriguez and now Bill Stewart.

? To former CU offensive tackle Victor Rogers (’01), who recently was hired At Right of Passage, where he will work helping troubled youth become productive and successful young men. Don’t know if you’ve caught Vic doing a couple of TV analysis gigs on cable, but he’s quite good and may have broadcasting in his future as well.

? And to former CU quarterback Walker Fletcher (’99), who recently was named Manager for Marketing Partnerships for the International Speedway Corporation.

? To former Buff Brent Cannon (’84) who won a third straight regional Emmy for his morning show on NBC-11 in San Jose, as well as one for a special assignment feature.


Parker Keller

And best wishes to former tight end Tom Stone (’88) who is currently fighting a successful battle against brain cancer; he is back at his job in Illinois and had what the family hopes is the final surgical procedure on May 1 to remove what they hope is the last cancerous area from his scalp (he successfully underwent radiation and subsequent surgery to remove a brain tumor). Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Tom!

Speaking of young Buffs, James (’97) and Teri (’99) Keller 1-year old son Parker recently ogled for the camera wearing some Buff gear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things That Make You Go Hmmm....
Did anyone else see this quote from an April 21 story entitled “Who Owns Sports Coverage?” in the New York Times (it was sent to me; most know I don’t regularly peruse the NYT because I like my news fair and balanced). The story had to do with pro and college teams pulling in the reins on their own product in limiting use of photographs and video, bloggers, etc. The quote: "I think we're hitting the ridiculous button here," said John Cherwa, chair of the legal affairs committee for the Associated Press Sports Editors and the sports projects editor at The Orlando Sentinel. "We're getting tired of everyone trying to tell us how to do our business." Now how laughable is that? The ultimate glass house situation, as who tells everyone else how to do their business? The media, of course.

Hmmmm Part II. Count me among those who have about had it with the NBA; if the league wanted the Lakers to advance that bad, why even play the games against Denver. Granted, the Nuggets whined about the officiating and needed the coaches to complain more, but sooner or later, a group of season ticket holders somewhere will compile a lot of video clips of calls that go one team’s way and not the other’s and sue; juries don’t like selective enforcement, which is what is obviously going on. The officials at that level are not incompetent, so it’s either an integrity issue or they’re under orders (or there are many more gambling that we’re led to believe). And get rid of the floppers! ... Speaking of which, I am indifferent to Kobe Bryant, but was he really the MVP? The Lakers opened the year 29-16, and then went 28-9 after trading for Pau Gasol; if I had a vote, it would have went to Chris Paul on New Orleans.

 

Club Sports To Have Presence On CUBuffs.com

Starting this summer, we will have a link to the Club Sports programs on campus via CUBuffs.com; most of the teams have their own home pages, but we will provide links as well as an outlet for a few of their releases to be posted. We have excellent club teams at CU, three of which have won national championships this year: freestyle skiing, snowboarding and swimming. The rugby team recently finished third in the nation (lost in the semifinals to national runner-up Cal). Now it won’t be like we cover a varsity program, as we’re spread thin enough doing that, but we’ll try this out and see if we can get the club teams an added outlet for some pub.

 

This Week's Number: 17-5

That is the record of the CU women’s tennis team in Big 12 Conference play the last two seasons, the best two-season mark in league play since a similar run over the 1998 and 1998 seasons; both represent the best in school history. The 1980 and 1981 teams went 15-7 in the old Intermountain Conference.

 

Trivia Answers
CU?Colorado's win in the women's competition snapped a 16-year winning streak by Nebraska in the women’s meet.

Who Am I??Kingsley Adams. Adams was the 1972 Big Eight champion in the log jump with a 25-foot, 1-inch leap. The only other Buff to ever reach 25 feet or longer was Hugh Charles, who did so in 2006 and again this year.

Music?John Cougar Mellenkamp (who quit after 20 minutes because he felt no one was into his music), Jethro Tull and The Who.

Name That Tune?House of the Rising Sun, by the Animals.

“Plati-?Tudes” features notes and stories that may not get much play from the mainstream media; offers CU’s take on issues raised by those who have an interest in the program; answers questions and concerns; and provides CU’s point of view if we should disagree with what may have been written or broadcast. Have a question or want to know CU’s take on something? E-mail Dave at david.plati@colorado.edu, and the subject may appear in the next Plati-?Tudes.