Woodling: Reno-Orlando trip not for everyone

Reno, Nev. ? You CAN get there from here. To Orlando, Fla., that is. But I know of only one person doing it.

When the Kansas University football team was selected for the Tangerine Bowl, several media folks who cover the Jayhawks — yours truly included — groaned because they already had made travel plans to cover the men’s basketball team at the Wolf Pack Classic in Reno.

With the tipoff for the Jayhawks’ Sunday game against Nevada University scheduled only about 21 hours before Monday’s Tangerine Bowl kickoff in Orlando, how could the media possibly travel the 2,500 or so miles to Florida in that tight a time span?

Even Bob Davis and Max Falkenstien, who broadcast both football and men’s basketball on the Jayhawk Network, couldn’t be in both places, so they skipped Reno to describe tonight’s football game.

As mentioned, though, at least one person was at Sunday night’s KU-Nevada game and will be in Orlando — hopefully — for the Tangerine Bowl.

Mitch Germann, KU’s sports information director, left the Lawlor Events Center late Sunday night, planned to grab a few hours sleep, then was scheduled to board an America West Airlines flight at 6:15 a.m. PST today for Phoenix. After a short layover, he will then enplane on a non-stop flight to Orlando. His ETA is 3:48 p.m. EST, or less than two hours before kickoff.

“I’ll cab from the airport to the game and dump my bags in the press box,” Germann said.

We’re all keeping our fingers crossed Germann makes it, and at the same time we’re hoping the long journey won’t leave him feeling like a slab of cargo once he finally arrives at Florida Citrus Stadium.

As you would expect, the Tangerine Bowl isn’t big news in Reno, but it is at least newsworthy among the sports books at the many casinos in this mini-Las Vegas.

Jayhawks Tony Stubbs (9) and Joe Vaughn go on a merry-go-round ride with children staying at the Give Kids the World Village. Stubbs and Vaughn were among a dozen KU football players -- and coach Mark Mangino -- who visited the resort for children with life-threatening illnesses Sunday south of Orlando, Fla.

A poll of six of those sports books published by the Reno Gazette-Journal surprised me. Kansas is a heavy 11- to 11 1/2-point underdog to North Carolina State, yet two-thirds of those sports books suggest betting on the Jayhawks.

One of the local oddsmakers, John Pinto of the Silver Legacy Casino, was quoted as saying, “With an underrated Bill Whittemore healthy, this line should be more like three or four. Take the points.”

Eric Brownlee of the Club Cal Neva likes Kansas, too, telling the Reno newspaper, that N.C. State “hasn’t lived up to expectations.”

However, Tom Sullivan of the Reno Hilton called N.C. State “a quality team. Kansas was 5-6 against Division One teams.”

Ah, but you could counter that gloomy assessment by noting that four of the Jayhawks’ six losses were to teams in bowl games — Northwestern (Motor City), Kansas State (Fiesta), Oklahoma State (Cotton) and Nebraska (Alamo).