Sports
John Gaskins
Iron Mike’s
ring return
loopy show
He’s back.
One of the great sports eye-pop
pers of the century, Mike Tyson,
returns to the ring Saturday night.
He makes his return after being
out of boxing for 18 months, after
making part of Evander Holyfield’s
ear his late-night snack in the heavy
weight championship, a scene that
shocked the world and gave big-time
boxing a moral, business and popu
larity blow.
Things changed after that night.
Millionaire promoter and Afro Whiz
Don Kang, who made Tyson his meal
ticket for years, dumped him.
Everyone thought Mike was gone for
good.
Yet, here he is. Back on Pay-Per
View. He’s ready to take on the world.
Question is, is the world ready for
him ... again? I don’t know if the
world is, but I’m betting boxing is.
It's no coincidence that Tyson
returns with a license to fight and a
million-dollar contract at a time
when the sport is losing money, cred
ibility, appeal and, most of all, rat
ings.
Pay-Per-View's boxing ratings
have decreased 82 percent since last
we saw Mike. Media experts point
specifically to Tyson’s absence as the
reason.
So, Pay-Per-View boxing has
called upon Tyson to bring it out of its
drought. Nothing wrong with that.
The entertainment value is certainly
there.
But the question remains: Will
people want to see Tyson again after
the Holyfield fiasco?
In an attempt to rectify Tyson’s
image, Pay-Per-View has constantly
run commercials advertising
Saturday’s fight with Tyson working
out, a sappy announcer saying this is
a troubled man’s second chance, and
most hilariously of all, Iron Mike eat
u‘5 aim oil lulu 1^ a i me caiiicia
as if he were some innocent, sheepish
All-American schoolboy who got a
Tickle Me Elmo doll for Christmas.
I fell out of my recliner bursting
with laughter after seeing this ad.
Thought it was some of the best pro
paganda since the Nazi era. And they
don’t need it.
Do you really think boxing fans
and America believe Tyson is any dif
ferent than the poster child for
moronic meathead criminal athletes
that he has been? After being jailed
for rape? After going Van Gogh on
Holyfield? Of course not.
But I don’t think Pay-Per-View
needs this wholesome image to sell
the fight. Ethics will be shoved aside
by millions to see what will happen.
Will he win? Will he go nuts?
Call it greedy or call it forgive
ness on both boxing and the v iewers’
part. But I know I’ll be throwing
down a little dough to see what this
phenomenon will do next. People
love a show, especially a sideshow.
John Gaskins is a sophomore
broadcasting major and Daily
Nebraskan staff writer.
Jordan makes retirement official
CHICAGO (AP) - The NBA’s
greatest player made it official today
Michael Jordan retired from the
Chicago Bulls after 13 seasons, six
championships and countless soaring
dunks. j
“Mentally, I’m exhausted. I don’t
feel I have a challenge,” Jordan said at a
packed news conference at the United
Center, where a bronze statue of him
stands outside. “Physically, I feel great.
“This is a perfect time for me to
walk away from the game. I’m at peace
with that.”
Word of Jordan’s retirement broke
late Monday night, but he had refused to
comment until today. After leading the
Bulls to their sixth championship in
June, Jordan said he would make an
announcement on his future only after
the NBA lockout ended
The players and the owners reached
a deal last week to save what’s left of the
season. Once that happened, everyone’s
next question was whether Jordan
would return.
He answered that today with a
a
I tried to be the best basketball player
I could be. I’ve had a great time!’
Michael Jordan
former Chicago Bulls player
resounding “No.”
Jordan leaves as a five-time league
MVP, 10-time league scoring champion
and the No. 1 per-game scorer in NBA
history.
“I tried to be the best basketball
player I could be,” said Jordan, who was
joined by his wife, Juanita, Bulls chair
man Jerry' Reinsdorf and NBA commis
sioner David Stern. “I’ve had a great
time.
“I’m just going to enjoy life and do
things I’ve never done before.”
During the news conference, the
Bulls unveiled a banner in the rafters
from Jordan’s first retirement. It said
“Jordan 1984-1993” but will now have
to be updated.
Jordan alluded to his first retirement
in 1993, when he briefly pursued a pro
fessional baseball career before return
ing late in the 1994-95 season.
“Well, we do this again, a second
time,” he said to open the news confer
ence.
Jordan said he was “99.9 percent”
sure he would never return to the NBA
and added, “You can read that for what
it’s worth.... I’m very secure in my deci
sion.”
Asked if he had lost his desire to
play, Jordan said: “The desire is always
going to be there.”
But he said he wanted to make sure
that the desire was there “not one-fourth
of the time I step onto the court, but
every time.” »
“I thought about saying just two
words, ‘I’m gone,’ but I thought I owed
my fans a lot more than that,” he said,
Jordan had a bandage on his right
index finger and said he severed a ten
don while trying to cut a cigar and
would need surgery. But he said he had
decided to retire before the accident.
He said he looked forward to being
a parent and would “live vicariously
through my kids,” whether or not they
played basketball.
“My life will take a change,” Jordan
said.
His wife added: “I see Michael
doing a lot more carpooling.”
Reinsdorf called Jordan’s
announcement “a tough day for basket
ball fans all over the world.”
“This is a day I hoped for,” Johnny
Bach, an assistant coach on three of the
Bulls’ championship teams, said prais
ing Jordan for not only his skill, but for
the joy he brought to the game.
Mike Warren/DN
NEBRASKA’S SENIOR CENTER Venson Hamilton looks for an open shot against Wildcats
forward, Manny Dies, in the first half of Wednesday’s game at the Devaney Center. The
Nebraska men held the lead at the half and defeated Kansas State 70-61.
NU gets back on track with win,
By Adam Klinker
Senior staff writer
It was considered a
must-win situation all week
for the Nebraska men’s bas
ketball team.
After Wednesday's game
against Kansas State, it
looked like they must have
won.
The Cornhuskers broke
into the Big 12 Conference
Nebraska 70
Kansas State 61
victory column Wednesday
night with a 70-61 win over
Kansas State in front of
8,029 fans at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
After the game, NU for
ward Venson Hamilton and
guard Cookie Belcher
answered reporters’ ques
tions over shouts of joy and
celebration in the locker
room next door.
“We’re supposed to win
at home; we’re defending
our home court,” Hamilton
said. “But this is just the first
step. We’ve got to keep
going”
Belcher agreed.
“We focused on motiva
tion this week as a keyword,”
he said. “Venson and I came
Please see HOOPS on 13
Husker offense
goes kaput in
loss to Wildcats
■ A seven-minute drought kills Nebraska
in a 79-67 setback to KSU, the second
straight Big 12 Conference loss for NU.
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
MANHATTAN, Kan. - It wasn’t any secret - the Kansas
State women’s basketball team knew it what was gomg to face
when it played host to No. 19 Nebraska.
Before the game, NU Coach Paul Sanderford gladly
offered his defensive game plan against the Wildcats - full
court pressure from the
KUnSaS 51316 /SI opening tip.
Nebraska 67 That pressure had caused
several opponents fits. KSU
beat it early and often in a 79-67 win in front of
Bramlage Coliseum.
“You have to be more than your press,” Sanderford said.
“(Kansas State) executed better in the half-court offense, and
they rebounded better.”
NU (13-4 overall a
and 2-2 in the Big 12
u°unf5r,e,n?e)A fel1 We could never
behind 11 -3 after a bar
rage of 3-point field establish any kind
goals from KSU guard
Kristen Rethman. Of rhythm. It S
Rethman came into the J J
matchup averaging much easier tO
only 3.7 points per
game. press when you re
But against the
Comhuskers, Rethman YlOt pi (lying
lit the nets for a team- , f
high 22 points. For C(ltch-Up.
most of the first half,
NU trailed a K-State Paul SANDERFORD
team (9-5 and 2-2) that NU coach
was averaging 69 _____
points a game. &
KSU Coach Deb Patterson said it was important to jump
on Nebraska’s press early especially after losing a game early
at Texas Tech, where she said the Red Raiders' pressure was
the difference.
“We had individual players willing to step up and do then
job,” Patterson said. “That helped get off to a good start.”
That good start carried into a 38-33 halftime lead.
Coming out of the locker room, fortunes reversed.
Junior Brooke Schwartz scored 9 of her 16 points in the
first six minutes of the second half, helping NU take a 44-42
lead.
Just when it looked like Nebraska was going to maintain
another second-half comeback, the bottom fell out of the
Please see BASKETBALL on 13
