Message-ID: <2745855.1075854723563.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 05:45:00 -0700 (PDT) From: eric.bass@enron.com To: mballases@hotmail.com Subject: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ANSI_X3.4-1968 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-From: Eric Bass X-To: mballases@hotmail.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Eric_Bass_Dec2000\Notes Folders\'sent mail X-Origin: Bass-E X-FileName: ebass.nsf Check out the part about Simms weight. =20 Big 12: Applewhite eager to reclaim his job By Mark Wangrin Express-News Staff Writer AUSTIN =01* It runs up and down the inside of Major Applewhite's left knee,= a=20 four-inch shiny pink speed bump of a scar.=20 If it could talk, it would tell of how the anterior cruciate ligament buckl= ed=20 as its owner planted while trying to avoid a relentless Arkansas pass rush = at=20 the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1. It would tell of the reconstructive surgery by team orthopedist Dr. Carey= =20 Windler, how the joint was whipped back into shape with hours of work and= =20 carefully tended with ice bags and heat and extra stretching and anything= =20 else Applewhite had read, heard or seen that would help keep his return on= =20 pace. If the joint could talk, it would tell people how everything's fine inside,= =20 how Applewhite could drop back and plant, set up or scramble, in a real liv= e=20 game today if one was scheduled.=20 If it could talk ... well, Applewhite might well be the happiest guy on the= =20 planet. Being a quarterback, team guy and newly inaugurated Student Government=20 representative, Applewhite tries to be diplomatic, but part of him wishes h= e=20 wouldn't have to answer a steady barrage of questions about his knee, no=20 matter how well-meaning the fans might be. "I don't want to be rude," he said last week. "I just wish they'd stop=20 asking. I love them, appreciate them, but it's getting a little ..." Got the picture. OK. So here's the word: Applewhite is 100 percent =01* even ahead of schedu= le. Ready to take on the challenge to his starting job from sophomore quarterba= ck=20 Chris Simms, who with only one career start has graced the cover of The=20 Sporting News football preview and had an ESPN Magazine cover shoot last we= ek This word on Applewhite's fitness comes not just from the junior player, bu= t=20 from the man who's worked most closely with him, physical therapist Allen= =20 Hardin. Applewhite, Hardin stresses unequivocally, is ready to play now. Hardin said Applewhite has tested 5 to 10 percent above the expected range= =20 when he's had periodic strength and flexibility tests on the injured leg.= =20 During rehab, Hardin ditched the pool work, concentrating instead on=20 sport-specific movements, shortly after Applewhite observed that very few= =20 football games are played under water. One of the most effective of the workouts involved pulling on Applewhite wi= th=20 rubber tubing as the quarterback moved, cut and set up, strengthening his= =20 supporting muscles and improving his balance. "If I came in and told him to do what he did yesterday, he wasn't happy,=20 because he wanted to be challenged," Hardin said. "It was a challenge to co= me=20 up with things to challenge him." "The only difference I can tell about the knee is it takes longer to warm= =20 up," Applewhite said. "I'll jog for four minutes instead of two, stretch fo= r=20 six minutes instead of five." After workouts, Applewhite dutifully ices his knee, though he does so based= =20 more on conventional wisdom than necessity. "I've always heard you can get tendinitis, so I ice it," he said. "I don't= =20 have any of the symptoms, so it feels like I'm icing it for no reason." In some ways, Applewhite feels he's better for the injury, not the least of= =20 which being a renewed appreciation for the game. "So what if I'm tired?" he said. "I can rest when I die." Resting now isn't a bad thing, either. Applewhite said missing spring drill= s=20 was a boon for his arm. "I was throwing so much during the spring (of 1999), summer and season that= =20 it felt like my arm was run ragged," he said. Of course, the knee questions will be answered the first time Applewhite=20 takes a hit in the fall. The other question, the one that he can't shake,= =20 will take a little longer. Who's the starter going to be =01* Applewhite or Simms? "I'd be quick to drop in comments about Chris," Hardin said of his=20 occasional, and apparently unnecessary, mention of Simms as a motivational= =20 ploy. "But I think internally, he'd have worked that hard whatever." "It's remarkable the way he's come back," said sophomore cornerback Roderic= k=20 Babers, noting that Applewhite has been occasionally overthrowing even the= =20 speediest receivers in workouts. "In two-a-days, it'll be a fair fight." Asked to size up how Applewhite and Simms have looked in informal workouts,= =20 Babers said, "I think (Simms) has the advantage. Major's been sitting out a= nd=20 Simms' confidence is up, big-time. That's what you need in a quarterback. B= ut=20 at the same time, Major's a veteran. He's beaten Nebraska. He's beaten them= =20 all." "He's the same old Major," cornerback Quentin Jammer said. Soon Applewhite will probably be as tired of talking about the quarterback= =20 duel as he is about answering questions about the state of his knee. Now, a= =20 month before the freshmen report on Aug. 13, he's talking about how he's no= t=20 competing against Simms, just against himself. "The competitive nature that Tiger Woods has is the competitive nature I=20 have," Applewhite said. "At Pebble Beach, Tiger was up 15 and had a 10-foot= er=20 on the last hole for birdie, and he was out there lining it up. He could ha= ve=20 done the 'Happy Gilmore' tap to the hole and still won. But he wanted it al= l." Simms has bulked up from 208 to 223 pounds, working on his leg and upper bo= dy=20 strength. "I feel like there's more to me now, that it's not like the wind's going to= =20 blow me over," he said. "I don't want to be a wimpy quarterback. I want to = be=20 like Brett Favre. He's not the biggest or the fastest, but he can run when = he=20 has to and he can chuck it 80 (yards). "It's going to come, and it'll get worse," Simms said of the building=20 scrutiny. "To tell you the truth, I don't care. Football's a competitive=20 sport. There's nothing you can do about it." So he shrugs it off for now, concentrating on finishing up summer school.= =20 He's working on his topic for a writing course, "History of American=20 Baseball." The book he chose is about Babe Ruth. In August, the topic switches to college football. The question remains the= =20 same. And Chris Simms, or Major Applewhite, won't write this story. They'll live it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- --