Kansas Jayhawks

April 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The moment you see a crimson and blue mythical bird, you will surely think of the Kansas Jayhawks, as it is the symbol for the University of Kansas (KU). But chances are, you do not have any idea what a Jayhawk is and how it came to be the mascot for the university. In 1848, the Jayhawk, which is a combination of the blue jay and the sparrow hawk, was used to represent the struggles that the settlers of Kansas were facing at that time. For a long while, a Jayhawk was a thug known for looting and attacking the settlements. But the meaning of the word Jayhawk changed when Kansas Governor Charles Robinson used the Independent Mounted Kansas Jayhawks to name a regiment that fought during the civil war. Surely enough, by the end of the conflict Jayhawk became Kansas’ symbol of honor, courage, and a Free State. In 1890, the first KU football players were called the Jayhawkers.

 

Another trivia that Kansas Jayhawks fans may not be aware of is the original school colors of the University of Kansas. For the longest time, crimson and blue are the colors that the Jayhawks used. But did you know that maize and sky blue, which are the state colors of Michigan, were the original colors picked by the Board of Regents in 1860 to represent the university? However, in mid 1880s, the crimson color, which is the color of Harvard, was adopted as an athletic color to honor Col John J Cook, who graduated from Harvard, because of his substantial donation for the creation of the athletic field at Kansas University. The sky blue, on the other hand, was changed to Yale blue because the KU faculty members that came from Yale did not want to be outdone by Harvard, so they insisted on changing the KU’s shade of blue. Hence, in 1896 the Athletic Board of the University of Kansas adopted the crimson and blue as the official athletic colors of the university.

 

Aside from the university colors, the mascot of the Kansas Jayhawks also underwent so many changes throughout the years. Henry Maloy, the student paper’s cartoonist, was the one who gave the mascot shoes and created the first memorable representation of the Jayhawk in 1912. According to him, the Jayhawk should wear shoes in order to “kick” the opponents of KU. The Jayhawk also changed from looking somber to vicious, complete with sharp talons in the next 20 to 30 years. However, in 1946 the smiling Jayhawk created by Harold D Sandy became the official mascot of the KU. In fact, this design was copyrighted in 1947.

 

As many people know, the University of Kansas is home to many popular athletes in various fields for decades. Among the most popular Kansas Jayhawkers that made it to the KU hall of fame include Al Oerter, who won a gold medal for discus throwing event in four consecutive Olympic games; John Riggins, an NFL running back hall –of- famer and a Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XVII; and Steve Renko, a California Angels Major League Baseball pitcher.

For the second day in a row, the No. 7 California baseball team fell to No. 6-ranked Arizona State by the score of 11-7 at Packard Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. On Saturday, the Golden Bears had tied the game, 7-7, on Dylan Tonneson’s three-run homer in the sixth inning, only to see Cal give up four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Cal dropped to 27-12-2 overall and 7-7 in the Pac-10.

The Sun Devils improved to 34-7 and 9-5 in league play.

The losing pitcher for the Bears was junior left-hander Craig Benningson, who replaced freshman starter Kevin Miller in the sixth inning. The winning pitcher for ASU was closer Tommy Rafferty, who improved his record to 8-0 by throwing the final 3 innings with two hits, no runs, one walk and four strikeouts.

Cal had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the third inning on an RBI single by sophomore center fielder Brett Jackson, an RBI single by Tonneson and a sacrifice fly by junior shortstop Michael Brady. The Sun Devils scored twice in the bottom of the third to take a 4-3 advantage. The Bears came back to tie the game, 4-4, on sophomore designated hitter Rich Gorman’s  RBI single to right field in the fifth, only to see ASU score three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning for a 7-4 lead.

Cal mustered another comeback in the top of the sixth inning when Tonneson hit his three-run shot off of the Sun Devil’s Seth Blair, but ASU controlled the game for good by scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh when Mike Leake hit a three-run triple off of Blake Smith and then scored on Smith’s wild pitch.

Tonneson was the top hitter for the Bears, going 2-for-4 with four RBI. He also was the only player to hit a 3-run homer . Junior first baseman David Cooper went 3-for-6; and Gorman, Brady and sophomore third baseman Jeff Kobernus had two hits apiece for Cal. The Bears out-hit ASU, 14-9.

Cal will next play the third game of the three-game series at ASU, Sunday, Apr. 27 at 1 p.m. at Packard Stadium. There is expected to be a big crowd on hand for ASU to get the sweep. Their fans will have on their Arizona State Sun Devils merchandise on.

Michigan’s baseball program overpowered Eastern Michigan, 20-5, Wednesday. The Wolverines are now 24-8 and 11-1 in the Big Ten.

They had two big innings. They scored eight runs in the second and four in the third and this led to Michigan’s biggest margin of victory all season. 

Third baseman Adam Abraham went 3-for-5, knocking in four runs and scoring two of his own. Designated hitter Zach Putnam contributed three RBI and scored one run off of two doubles. 

Eastern Michigan, Michigan’s opponent, led this game in the first inning. However, that lead did not for even a whole inning. The Wolverines erased the first inning deficit, tallying the equalizer in the home team’s first at-bat. Derek VanBuskirk hit a lead-off single and stole second base for his fifth stolen base of the season. He advanced to third on a base hit by Nate Recknagel, placing him in position to score on Putnam’s sacrifice fly for the 1-1 tie.

The University of Michigan loves their Wolverines, so it makes sense that they buy their Michigan Wolverines merchandise and make lots of noise to make sure playing at the Big Blue really is a home field advantage.

One of the greatest gifts an Auburn tiger fan can get another Tiger fan is Auburn money clip. An LSU graduate can make lots of money working in Alabama. One of the best ways to carry money is a money clip in a person’s front pocket. It is very easy to get to your money when you carry the money in your front pocket.

The Alabama Crimson Tide will be playing at the Tennessee Volunteers this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tennessee has a slightly better record than Alabama. Also, Tennessee is one of the best home teams in the SEC, so that should be very helpful to them.

Today, Austin Hyatt (right handed) will be pitching for the Crimson Tide and Nick Hernandez (left handed) will be pitching for the Volunteers.

Alabama is playing its second straight Southeastern Conference road series this weekend when they travel to Tennessee.

The Crimson Tide simply do not play good on the road and that is not helpful when they are playing at a good home team.

The Tide’s faithful hopes that will change as they bring their Alabama Crimson Tide merchandise to the games, in a hope that they can turn their season around so they can make the playoffs.

The Volunteers are 5-1 in SEC home games and 16-3 overall at home this season.

Alabama will be returning to play Tennessee for the first time since they won the 2006 SEC game that went down to the wire on the last day of the regular season. Also, they had to have Georgia beat Kentucky (which they did in 2 of the last 3 games) to get the crown.

Well both teams know that they have similar records. Alabama know they do not have a good road record. Tennessee know they have a good home record. Something has to give. Who will win this 3 game series in Knoxville? I guess we have to wait and find out.

crock-belt.jpgGeorgia Bulldog Fans can find a great looking leather belt to wear at this online store. Bulldog Fans like to dress up for the game and if I am not mistaken this is the same company that Coach Riche gets his belts from. The belts come from Enmon Accessories out of Texas. This Great looking Georgia Bulldog Belt has 4 conchos evenly spaced around the belt. I think this particular belt runs $59.95 but they have them in all price ranges.

Well the game between Memphis and UCLA didn’t go quite as expected. For starters, the score was predicted to be much closer than what the final one was.

Also, Memphis was expected to miss crucial free throws. They made the ones that counted. Actually, they shot from the line a percent that was one of their highest of the season. They hit their last 11 free throws.

The final score was 78 to 63 in favor of the Tigers from Memphis. The UCLA Bruins didn’t just give the game to Memphis either. It was more of the fact that Memphis just took it away from them.

Memphis seemed like they wanted it more, and to be honest, they never looked like they would lose the game. Even when the game was close, Memphis still ran their offense and played solid defense.

Several critics talked about how good UCLA was and their defense, holding teams to just under 60 points a game. Memphis, on the other hand, scores an average of 80 points. This game was supposed to be about offense vs. defense. Memphis scored about their season average. UCLA gave up 20 points more than their season average.

Well. since UCLA lost by 15 points, all Bruins fans can do is hold up their UCLA Bruins merchandise proudly and say “At least we made it to the Final Four.” They had a good season, losing 4 games total.

Memphis will take on Kansas in the NCAA Championship Game on Monday night.

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