Huskies Junk Injunction, Look Toward Cal -- With 3 Losses, UW Players Opt To Let Bowl Ban Stand

Napoleon Kaufman kept looking away. Out the window, at the tape recorder in front of him, at his hands, at anything that wouldn't ask him another question, all the while listening to voices coming out of a small speaker next to him.

He had the questions memorized. Heard them a thousand times. Typical, chatty football questions. The kind, if asked in another time and place, might make for an easy conversation.

Only the game changed long ago, perhaps something Kaufman and some of these Washington Huskies are just realizing: That what they do is about much more than winning and losing football games. That press conferences can be an ordeal.

After grudgingly addressing the issue of the now-lost hope of winning the Heisman Trophy, of losing awfully to Stanford, of playing on probation, the questioning turned to the subject of litigation.

Kaufman and Russell Hairston are seniors. They are students and football players. Only yesterday they sounded a lot like lawyers and politicians.

Hairston spearheaded a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by several Husky players against the Pac-10 Conference.

In it, they charged the Pac-10 acted inappropriately and beyond reason when it applied to the Washington football program sanctions that included a two-year bowl ban. They asked for a temporary injunction before the trial begins next year, so the team may be eligible to play in a bowl game this season.

But after losing to Stanford and falling to 6-3, Hairston and the other players party to the suit - including Frank Garcia, Reggie Reser, Jaime Weindl, Jovan McCoy and Kyle Roberts - decided to withdraw their request for an injunction.

"I consulted with representatives from each class," Hairston said. "And with three losses, we felt it was in our best interests not to go through with the injunction. After two losses, we felt we couldn't lose any more games. If we did we were going to have to make changes."

The players decided on their own to withdraw the motion for an injunction. No one associated with the program, after the Stanford loss, pressured them to give up the injunction.

The lawsuit, though still pending, has now undoubtedly lost much of its potency. If successful, the suit would set a precedent, changing the boundaries of the NCAA's authority. Winning the case would amount to a coup.

The players, having given up the goal of playing in a bowl game, are seeking only court costs from their suit, all of which they will donate to charity.

Hairston was careful not to say what must have been on his mind: That any bowl game the Huskies could have gone to this season would have been a minor bowl. That it was a matter of injured pride. That it would make more sense to endure the bowl ban this year so as not to jeopardize a chance for next year's team to play for a significant bowl game.

Hairston did not admit to any of those thoughts. He said the decision was "in the best interests" of the team, never explaining exactly why. He would only say, after losing to Stanford, that it just wasn't worth it.

"Not with three losses," Hairston said.

Team goals have come and gone during the past three weeks. Today's Huskies are disillusioned, tired of compromise. Losses to Oregon and Stanford will do that.

A goal of 10-1 and a possible top-five finish dissolved after the loss to Oregon. The goal of winning the Heisman Trophy for Kaufman vanished after the Oregon State game. The loss to Stanford left few incentives going into Saturday's home game against California.

The Huskies have won 29 of their past 31 games at Husky Stadium. They have beaten Cal 13 consecutive times. However, a 10-game winning streak against Stanford was no help when the Huskies needed a touchdown last Saturday.

"I really don't know what's wrong," Kaufman said. ". . . Whatever it is, we've got to do it. We don't have time to mess around with our offense."

Hairston, like most players, denies the probation or the lawsuit affected the team's performance this season - not convincing, considering the team's performance lately. Coach Jim Lambright admits the probation caused turmoil last season. Perhaps next year, Lambright will have the perspective to determine that the probation exacted an emotional toll on his players this season.

Asked how he might revive the spirits of teammates, Kaufman didn't have an answer.

"If this was earlier in the season, I'd try something," Kaufman said. "But at this point, if you can't get motivated you probably shouldn't be playing. That Oregon game should have been enough motivation for us to take our games to another level. People have to start looking in the mirror, myself included."

Notes

-- Backup cornerback Scott Greenlaw likely is out for the season after spraining his right ankle against Stanford.

-- Special teams player Cam Cleeland has a concussion from the Stanford game severe enough that he "doesn't remember being in Palo Alto," Lambright said. Dave Janoski and David Killpatrick have twisted ankles, and Killpatrick has a mild concussion. Both are expected to play against Cal.

-- The Apple Cup game between Washington and Washington State will start at 3:30 p.m., instead of 2 p.m. as previously announced, to accommodate a live television broadcast by Prime Sports Northwest.

-- The Husky Food Drive coincides with Washington's last home game against Cal. Fans are asked to bring canned food with them to Saturday's game. The cans will be donated to the needy.