THE MAG: Out of Bounds - Painful scalp condition
Scoring tickets to a Jayhawks/Sooners game proves difficult for columnist
By Seth Jones There's always karma. Sometimes I forget that.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - Unlimited access
Having a press pass in the sports world is almost as good as real credibility
By Seth Jones It's amazing the places a press pass can get you. People don't know who you are; all they know is that you have this little red card attached by a string hanging around your neck. Throw in a bad attitude and you're suddenly an authority that can travel anywhere.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - The future is now
Mag columnist's projections help clarify 2002's impact on the sporting world
By Seth Jones Last week, we looked at the year in review. This week, I predict the future. Previously, I called Miss Cleo's Psychic Network for a glimpse into the mysteries of tomorrow. But the only thing I got was an $80 charge on my phone bill for my "psychic" to tell me that I should eat a healthy meal and get plenty of rest before I gamble in Las Vegas.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - Worthy winners and sore losers
The past year's sporting events earn their fair share of Joneseys and Wojos
By Seth Jones Because two people asked for it, I present the 2001 Jonesey Awards. The awards are named after me because they're mine. Mr. Oscar and Ms. Emmy would be so proud. Awards of shame are called the Wojos, named after former Duke point guard Steve Wojciechowski just because I don't like that guy.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - All I wanted for Christmas
Even though the holidays are over, there is still time to buy presents for Seth
By Seth Jones I'm spoiled. Two weeks before Christmas my folks gave me a big-screen TV. And here I am bitching about what I didn't get for Christmas.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - The thrilla in a manila
By Seth Jones Dear Mr. Ali, What's up, champ?
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - Dude, what's this car?
Test driving a 'space-age' vehicle is one of many perks in the sporting world
By Seth Jones Sometimes, I wonder how I find myself in such situations. I was flying back from Fort Myers, Fla., after a two-day midweek business trip. I was exhausted and just about to fall asleep when the pilot announced that in 15 minutes, the Endeavor was going to launch, and we'd be able to see it. By "see it" I thought it would be a million miles away and we'd barely be able to tell what it was. Then launch time came, and I'll be darned, it must have only been 100 miles away, and I had the rare opportunity to witness the shuttle take off from 30,000 feet in the air.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - Rid me of this curse
Cover subjects of Sports Illustrated often plague columnist on a personal level
By Seth Jones Sports Illustrated has again struck out against the sporting world. You've heard of the curse of the Sports Illustrated cover, right? No matter how huge a favorite a team is, as soon as the magazine puts that team or athlete on its cover, they're bound to lose the next week or suffer some kind of perverse decline.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - War of the weekend wrestlers
Members of the Central States Wrestling league strive for competition on their own terms
By Seth Jones It's relatively quiet in Lenexa for a Saturday night. Of course, I am on a secluded back road. I pull my car up to the Amos Family Funeral Home. Surely I'm not in the right place, but there's a ton of vehicles parked here, as if someone really important died.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - Child's play
Mag columnist gets elementary lessons in the youthful sport of Putt-Putt golf
By Seth Jones Maybe it's this weather, or maybe it's "The Facts of Life" reunion, but something's got me in a nostalgic mood. It's a feeling compounded by my recent return to the sixth grade.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - Austin's power
A 12-year-old driver takes on the racing world
By Seth Jones Pull up at Chase Austin's house in Eudora, and you'll have to park in the driveway. No room in the garage for cars; it's already full of racing trophies. Seeing people that can't park their cars in their garage because they have too much junk is typical. But to have this much hardware in a space designed for two vehicles now that's unusual.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - For fun and prophet
Miss Cleo's psychics predict success of Jayhawks' basketball, football coaching
By Seth Jones I could have sat here and started writing about how good I think the Kansas University men's basketball team will do this year. But that's been done a million times by a million sports columnists. I required something different, something readers would take more seriously. For a true prediction, I needed to consult a psychic.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - (Your company name here)
Corporate sponsorship means that sports venues are starting to get a bad name
By Seth Jones Great news. This column, formerly known as "Out of Bounds," has undergone a significant name change. We ask that you now refer to it only as "Amy's Golden Tan Shop's Out of Bounds."
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - Tapped out
Columnist wrestles with newly patriotic WWF
By Seth Jones By Sept.13, 2001, there was still nothing on TV to allow an escape from reality. Even ESPN was showing coverage of the World Trade Center. The NFL canceled its games. College football followed suit. What do you think was the first live "sporting event" to be broadcast on TV after the tragedy? WWF Smackdown was aired live from Dallas on the 13th. I sat there and watched the whole show just to avoid the image of the World Trade Centers blowing up. I already was haunted by enough nightmares, and that thunderstorm the previous night had me climbing up and down the walls already.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds - Better late than never
KU's quaint basketball tradition Late Night with Roy improving
By Seth Jones One small step in the right direction for Late Night with Roy Williams, and a giant leap for Squatch, the dunking Seattle SuperSonics mascot. Last year, Late Night was mesmerizingly awful. Fans packed Allen Fieldhouse and witnessed forward/center Jeff Carey getting a haircut.
THE MAG: Out of Bounds -- Deciphering the Formula
Columnist's first auto race leaves him confused
By Seth Jones They say that people fear what they don't understand. So I must have been horrified as I sat at the Brickyard 500 in Indianapolis and watched my first Formula One race. But more than horrified, I was mystified. Almost 200,000 people were in attendance witnessing these cars shoot by them, yet I couldn't make heads or tails of the blurs.
Out of Bounds: Fish hooked
Tortured worms, evil stickfish and bad karma can't spoil writer's day on quiet Kansas lake
By Seth Jones There's something about hunting that just isn't very sporting. A man takes a squirt bottle of deer urine and sprays it on himself. Then he waits in a tree for an unsuspecting deer to trot by, intending on blasting the placid "beast" with a shotgun.
Out of Bounds: Fill in the blanks
The sports week that never happened offers readers at home a chance to play
By Seth Jones Although the games last weekend were canceled, that doesn't mean we're about to let terrorists spoil our fun. But the dilemma is that there were really no games to report on or talk about.
Out of Bounds: Tailgating after prohibition
By Seth Jones And after 10 years, Al Bohl said let there be beer at the tailgating parties, and it shall benefit the KU band. And it was good.
Out of Bounds: Secret society of speed
'The Fast and the Furious' inspires columnist to challenge Lawrence motorists
By Seth Jones I know they're out there. I just need to find them. But these street-racing gangs, man, they're sneaky.
Out of Bounds: Sentimental journey
Lawrence friends complete bike trek across America to honor slain colleague
By Seth Jone Four months ago, I wrote about Casey Beaver. On Aug. 4, 2000, Beaver was struck head-on by a drunken driver and killed. The driver had eight previous driving-while-intoxicated tickets.
Out of Bounds: Football fantasies
Game plan allows fans to enter Bizarro World
By Seth Jones Every once in a while I wake up and it seems like I'm in Bizarro World. You know Bizarro World Superman's enemy's home planet. On Bizarro World, you say goodbye when you'd normally say hello. You use incorrect pronouns whenever possible. Everything is bizarre and backward.
Out of Bounds: Doing the heatstroke
Lawrence residents have yet to figure out that it's too hot to exercise outdoors
By Seth Jones Driving around Lawrence the other day, I saw a sign that made me want to pull my truck off the road and run over it time and again.
Out of Bounds: Get rich with sports junk
Could the Internet auction site eBay offer a way to make your first million?
By Seth Jones I'm going to strike it rich, folks. My latest get-rich-quick plot? This one's practically guaranteed. It's much better than my previous idea, the "Robert Downey Jr. is my co-pilot" bumper sticker.
Out of Bounds: If you build it, they will come
Lawrence park gives daredevil skateboarders a cement place to call their own
By Seth Jones I must be getting old.
Out of Bounds: Everybody loves a winner?
The Wizards may be the last hope for a KC team to ever repeat a championship
By Seth Jones Quick quiz: What was the last professional Kansas City sports franchise to win its respective championship? Extra credit, what is the name of that championship event?
Out of Bounds: You could put an eye out
By Seth Jones The heat index is climbing to 110 degrees. Our host for the afternoon, Scott, has thrice told us a story about an eyeball bursting as a result of what we're about to do. Even though I know it'll dehydrate me, I have my fifth beer because it's cold and it's wet. Obviously, my common sense isn't very common.
Out of Bounds: There's no place like home court
The annual Roy Williams Basketball Camp adds a little purpose to a lazy summer
By Seth Jones Three days into camp, and Steyr Stubenrauch is showing some signs of wear. Yeah, Roy Williams' Basketball Camp is about having fun, but it's also for learning the ropes of hardcore hardwood, Kansas Jayhawk style. The 8-year-old sees his father, Darrell, and sits on his lap to take a quick breather. On his right shoulder, a cherry the size of a silver dollar. On his left bicep, a two-inch scratch.
Out of Bounds: All-star boredom
The worst week of the year for sports television tries the patience of a loyal fan
By Seth Jones It's times like these that I realize there is some cosmic balance, that everything works out. It's a brilliance based on math or on the alignment of the stars or maybe Miss Cleo is the mastermind of it all.
Out of Bounds: Carolina on my mind
Journey uncovers differences and similarities between KU and North Carolina
By Seth Jones I came to Chapel Hill, N.C., to see if Roy Williams made the right decision staying in Lawrence. Instead, I think I found God. Or, at least, the identity of God, according to the sidewalk in front of the student union at the University of North Carolina.
Out of Bounds: Scoring a Royals feast
By Seth Jones I hate it when people tell me I can't do something. In a casual conversation the other day, I revealed to someone that I was looking forward to catching a Royals game soon, and that I would write a column about it.
Out of Bounds: One more barrier
By Seth Jones It was April 15, 1947, when the first African-American professional baseball player, Jackie Robinson, ran from the dugout onto a major-league field. Since that momentous moment in sports history, all types of minorities have been welcomed into major-league baseball.
Out of Bounds: Final flight
Columnist and loyal Kansans lose their Wings
By Seth Jones If the longest-running indoor soccer team fell off the face of the earth, would it make a sound?
Out of Bounds: Riding the life cycle
Swedish racing phenomenon Nathalie Visser rediscovers her calling in Lawrence
By Seth Jones It's amazing where life takes us. I wonder if Nathalie Visser ever imagined life would lead her to the Hy-Vee parking lot in Lawrence.
Out of Bounds: Barber shop talk
Sports conversation and cutting remarks mean more than a routine haircut
By Seth Jones Direct deposit. Do-it-yourself check-out lines at Dillons. Gas stations without attendants. Some people call it progress; I call it another way to avoid talking to people.
Out of Bounds: Jayhawks today, Jazz tomorrow
Ex-KU players stuck with few post-season options in the NBA
By Seth Jones Is it just me, or do the Kansas basketball players who don't fade away to work regular jobs in Lawrence go play for the Utah Jazz?
Out of Bounds: Up for the cup
Arrowhead turns into a World Cup qualifying combat zone
By Seth Jones God Bless the U.S.A. I'm proud to be an American. Buy American made goods. Why am I so proud of my country? I just finished watching the U.S.A. soccer team defeat Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier match at Arrowhead Stadium. Myself and 37,000 people went crazy when Josh Wolff touched in a ball to give our boys in red, white and blue a 1-0 victory and another 3 points to put our team in the driver's seat to qualify for the World Cup.
Out of Bounds: No X-citement from XFL
By Seth Jones It wasn't but a couple months ago that people were actually beginning to become excited about the XFL. After all, there would be no fair catches, cameras could be allowed inside the locker rooms and cheerleaders were encouraged to date players. Just the last two made people think that the "X" in XFL possibly stood for X-rated. Maybe in our mind's eye that locker room camera would X-pose something extra sexy with our football like players and cheerleaders sharing the same showers.
Ride of a lifetime
Lawrence students bike across America to honor victim of drunken driving accident
By Seth Jones In two weeks Casey Beaver was leaving Kansas for Illinois. He had finished his undergraduate degree and was ready to continue his schooling in the optometry field. But on Aug. 4, 2000, he met Vencen Gilmete head on in a car accident that killed both of them. Before I tell you about Beaver, I'd like to share a little bit of what I know about Gilmete.
Out of Bounds: Golden Tee junkies
Players need constant hits off popular game
By Seth Jones It's Monday night at Rick's Place, there's a full bar top, and the biggest game in college basketball is about to start. The NCAA championship game between Duke and Arizona is set, for all the marbles. But the big news hasn't got a thing to do with the hoops game.
Out of Bounds: School of hard knocks
KU women's rugby team travels to U.K. to rough up the natives
By Seth Jones You may have noticed about two weeks ago that it was suddenly easier to get from point A to point B in Lawrence. The usual line during the lunch hour at the fast-food burger place was non-existent. The movie theater was empty and the good seats still were available five minutes before the start. The reason for this sudden calm in the usual storm of action in Lawrence was due to spring break at Kansas University. Some 25,000 students took the week off from classes and went either home or to the beach or sometimes both.
Out Of Bounds: Soccer moms we're not
Road tripping for your team can be painful, but 'Net can help
By Seth Jones Sometimes, I think it'd be easier to be a soccer mom. After all, if I drove 1,600 miles to see little Seth Jr. run around on the soccer field and he sucked well, he'd still be little Seth Jr. and I'd still love him, even if he missed three penalty kick attempts and lost the game for his team.
Muscling up for Lent
Fear of God leads writer to sweat, tears, healthier lifestyle
By Seth Jones It's like a New Year's resolution with much, much more at stake. It's called Lent, and while I don't totally understand it, I'm sure I'm not the only person struggling with it.
Out Of Bounds: Earning his stripes
A Lawrence City League referee deals with the drunk, belligerent and untalented
By Seth Jones They say bad men wear black.
Out Of Bounds: Lonely Knights
By Seth Jones If I told you I had 10th row mid-court tickets for a basketball game and was looking forward to seeing Ryan Robertson play, what would you think I was talking about?
Out Of Bounds: Smackdown! a letdown
Ringside seat at the WWF confirms there is little magic left in the 'sport'
By Seth Jones Sometime, somewhere, professional wrestling went horribly wrong. And the people who witnessed the World Wrestling Federation's Smackdown! at Kemper Arena last week know exactly what I'm talking about. Attending the professional wrestling event was like sitting in the studio audience of a bad sitcom. A four-hour taping of a bad sitcom. "The Geena Davis Show" comes to mind.
The Best of Lawrence
Ah, Lawrence. Larryville. Law-City. L-Town. We loved it, at times we loathed it, but we all called it home. It was another year of evolution Darwinian and otherwise for our fair city. As the debate over natural selection raged across Kansas, Lawrence remained one of the best little towns in the state, home to a diverse and eclectic blend of people and ideas.
