The Kansas Pregame—a football preview guide that covers just about every high school and college football team in Kansas—is sitting on my desk, and that can only mean one thing: it's just about time for my fantasy football draft! Wait... no... what I meant to say is... it's just about time for real life football!
(Before the writer flies off into the dark nebula of fantasy football draft choices, he should mention that the Free Press has about 20 copies of the Kansas Pregame to distribute—so if you'd like one, call, email
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or stop by. We'll be glad to give you a copy, but when they're gone, they're gone.)
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Watching NFL preseason games is brutal. I'd much rather watch the news, an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond and a couple Seinfeld reruns than the second half of any preseason game. Watching the Chiefs get their hip pads handed to them by Miami was especially brutal—though perhaps not for Phins Phan-slash-First Mennonite Church pastor Randy Smith, who is probably the owner of the only Dolphins mug in the county.
Shockingly, the pounding by the Dolphins was not enough stop Sterling Sharpe from predicting that Kansas City would win the AFC West.
Granted, the AFC West is going to be among the worst divisions in the league when it comes to stopping the run, so there's a good chance Larry Johnson will run wild enough to win the four games against the Broncos and Raiders.
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It’s the “other” AFC West running back that has everyone in my fantasy league drooling over a possible No. 1 pick.
But when it comes time to make that first pick, more than a few fantasy football types will take Adrian Peterson or Steven Jackson ahead of LaDainian Tomlinson.
Neither has Tomlinson’s track record, but if I end up with a top-3 pick, I’d have a tough decision. But if I miss out on one of those guys, I’ll take the best available QB or WR and look for Larry Johnson in a later round. I really do think LJ is going to have a fantastic season.
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Meanwhile, in real life, it looks like the Giants will not be repeating as Super Bowl champions. There’s a good chance they’ll make the playoffs, but I’m having a hard time imagining how the G-men would actually beat the better teams in the NFC. But let’s not forget, that’s pretty much exactly what I thought before the playoffs last year.
Without Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan carving up the opposing offensive lines, the Giants will be much less effective defending against the pass.
Regardless, I’m rooting for Green Bay this year. I think they’ve got all the talent needed to win, and I hope that their decision to cut loose of Favre gets vindicated in a huge way.
In the AFC, would anyone dare pick against the Patriots? They have a few tough road games on their schedule, but their opponents won’t be much better than they were last year.
This New England defense might actually be better than last year’s and, barring an injury to Brady or Randy Moss, the Patriot offense will be just as potent. The only thing that can slow those guys down is whether or not they commit to giving Lawrence Maroney 20 carries per game.
If they decide to run the football that much, they won’t score nearly as many touchdowns, but it would make them better prepared for the playoffs.
Tabor College reported Aug. 20 that it has hired former Wichita State All-American Mark Standiford to coach baseball at Tabor College.
“We are honored to have Mark Standiford join the Tabor athletic department,” President Jules Glanzer said. “He is a person of impeccable character who knows baseball and what it takes to produce a winner. God has provided an outstanding man to lead our program.”
Rusty Allen, vice president of athletics, added, “We could not be more excited about welcoming Mark to Tabor College. Coach Standiford has an outstanding baseball background, a strong faith, and an entrepreneurial spirit.
The four soon-to-be towering steel poles that Tabor College ordered to replace the wooden poles downed during a windstorm in May arrived on campus bright and early Monday morning as contractors worked at Reimer Field, setting the concrete feet on which the new arrivals will sit. Each pole will suspend 18 lights 90 feet above ground. The poles weigh roughly 3,700 pounds apiece.
Tabor was ranked third with three first-place votes in the KCAC preseason volleyball poll last week.
The conference coaches anticpate a logjam at the top, awarding multiple first-place votes to Bethel (first place, 85 total points), Kansas Wesleyan (second, 84), Tabor (third, 80) and Bethany (fourth, 76).
The 20-point gap between Bethany and fifth-place Friends suggests the final standings may be as top-heavy as any in the past four years.
In 2007, the top four teams went 58-32 against the conference while the bottom four went 33-57.
But as disparate as the 2007 final standings were, the conference has in recent seasons showed more parity than 2005, when Tabor and Bethel were at the pinnacle of dominance. Both went 17-1, and four teams won 60 conference matches combined.
Among the indications that some of the lower-tier teams are increasingly competitive is the emergence of Bethany, which broke into the conference’s elite group last season. The Swedes placed second after being picked seventh.
But for some at the bottom, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Southwestern has not beaten a conference opponent since 2004, and predictably, was picked last.
The Tabor College men’s soccer team was picked seventh in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll Aug. 12.
The women’s team was picked 10th with 20 points, two points behind Bethel and 22 behind eighth-ranked Saint Mary. The low selection comes as no surprise, given the women’s team has won only once in its last 18 conference games.
Women’s powerhouse Kansas Wesleyan, winners of 26 of 27 conference games since the 2005 season, was picked first.
The men’s team was picked a spot lower than it finished in 2007—sixth place with a 5-12 record that includes a loss to Bethel on the opening night of the playoffs. The team had placed sixth with a 4-5 conference record in 2006.
But by holding position during coach Grant Brubacher’s first season at the helm, the Bluejays gained a measure of respect around the KCAC, improving two positions over last year’s poll.
Part of Tabor’s rise comes at Bethel’s expense—the Threshers were picked ninth.
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