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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1975)
rALIOl CH 12. m e ' in parai its tabuta 29- 0 H 23- 3 (# at-2 S3 22- 4 )| ( 22- 3 (t 22- 4 ffl 21- 7 is 23- 3 » 22- 6 a 22- 4 8) 23- 4 13 18-8 3 18-7 J 17-10 d 17-10 1 22-6 I 20- 5 11 21- 5 ]| 25-4 ]| 22- 2 8 habetidk al MichifiiL Salle, £ St., Nesili Southml r«as A4S, its th ts (AP)- npreckl 6-2 0»1 State it college ruesda) ■ opener ^e-hitter opener, n three Kainer's J double iree-ru# ing gave ightcap ison and ills it ck sas Ted [ing an- Gerald lined in- bool due ion Hill- was ap- itas Ted assistant ech since iss coun- rs. over the pparenl Categorized unjustly Athletes: To tell or not to tell? By PAUL McGRATH Staff Sports Writer Commentary: Two members of Texas A&M’s track team were picked up by Univer sity Police two weeks ago leaving the Rudder Tower with nine pounds of sausage patties and candy in their possession. The pair was kicked off the team and the case went to court and they were released on $500 bond. Last semester, two swimmers were caught burglarizing cars on cam pus and were suspended from the team. The fact that these incidents oc curred is bad enough, but the fact that the participants involved are ath letes makes the crimes even more terrible. Or, at least that’s the way some people see it. Hundreds of similar offenses are committed by other students. How ever, in most cases, the names of the offenders are ignored unless it is a serious offense or the name is too big to be looked over. Because athletes are in the public eye to a great extent, there is a tendency to place them in this category. The University of Texas, SMU, and other schools made it their pol icy to release any and all information concerning athletes’ problems with the law. Since the new privacy law went into effect, it is now impossible to release this information to the public without the student’s permis sion. That is to say, the status of a student after being found guilty, is confidential. The facts included in the court or police records are open to the public. Texas A&M has never released information concerning the disciplin ary problems of athletes or any other students for that matter. Now, this law gives the university a basis to substantiate its actions concerning the release of information. The Texas A&M Athletic Depart ment, contrary to popular belief, is not responsible for the release of information concerning athletes in volved in offenses. The university now bears that decision. Athletic Di rector Emory Bellard says in some cases he feels obligated to make some kind of statement because he has no choice. Such was the case with form er football player Alvin Bowers who was dismissed from the team. His absence was too noticeable for noth ing to be said. Robinson makes first appearance TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Frank Robin son, the ballplayer, is scheduled to make his first exhibition appearance of the year about March 20. “I may use Robinson as a pinch hitler, throw him in there and see how he handles himself under pressure,” Frank Robinson, the manager, said after an early spring training workout. If Robinson, major league baseball’s first black manager, is feeling any pres sure now, he certainly doesn’t show it. He’ll send his Cleveland Indians into their first exhibition game here Thursday against the San Francisco Giants. And he’s eager to match wits with other American League managers when the regular season starts. “I think I know the managers who’ve been around pretty well. They don’t know me,” the Indians’ 39-year-old play er-manager said with a smile. Other managers have their ideas on how to pitch to Robinson, whose play ing role with the Indians probably will be restricted to work as a designated hitter and pinch hitter. But what can they expect from Robinson the manager? COMM 11 Bit uez $ ia’74- ;e M 4 don’t bunt for a tie on the road. But you’ve got to tie a game before you win it. You’ll see us bunting in the top of the ninth inning sometimes.” Robinson has managed the Santurce club in the Puerto Rican Winter League the past six seasons but says most of his baseball theories he adopted as a player who has “been listening, watching and observing” through 19 big-league cam paigns. “Each day I stepped on the field, I felt I should learn something, and I think I did,” he said. “Certainly, when I was a 20-year-old ballplayer, I wasn’t thinking about ever becoming a manager. But I always reminded myself I should try to learn something new about baseball.” Players should think baseball immed iately after games, too, Robinson be lieves, especially the losing games. “When we lose this year, I don’t want my plqyers to come into the clubhouse with their heads down,” he said. “I don’t want them doing flips, either. But they should hold their heads up, talk among themselves and try to figure out what went wrong out there while it’s freshly in mind.” “I’m not a book manager, I’ll tell you that,” he warned. “I believe in the ele ment of surprise. “Have you ever seen a hit-and-run pulled with the bases loaded? I did that in Puerto Rico last winter.” Robinson then switched to another subject, but someone asked the obvious question and he replied with a laugh, “I was hoping you wouldn’t ask whether it worked.” He added: “The book also says you Cardinal’s Williams wants series ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Ted Simmons, switch-hitting catcher of the St. Louis Cardinals, thinks his club is ready to return to the World Series. “We’ve come close enough the last two seasons for most of us to think seriously about what it would be like,” said Simmons, who has emerged as a bona fide slugger. “Now it’s time for us to stop talk ing about it and go out and get there,” he added. “I think we can, but we re going to have to prove we Tech, Hogs must suffer, says SWC DALLAS (AP) - Cliff Speegle, exec utive secretary of the Southwest Confer ence, took a low profile approach Tues day when queried why league runnerups Arkansas and Texas Tech didn’t get a postseason basketball tournament invita tion. Tech Coach Gerald Myers and Arkan sas Coach Eddie Sutton were unhappy , that neither team was named to a slot in the Commissioner’s Tournament in St. Louis or the National Invitational in New York. Sutton pointed out again that the SWC needed a basketball-oriented person in the league office. Speegle, reading from a prepared statement said Tuesday “The Southwest Conference has a team in the NCAA playoffs. Our main concern is that Texas A&M represent our conference well. We know the Aggies will. As far as the other tournaments go, we will conduct our business with them through proper chan nels.” Speegle did not elaborate and said “no comment” to the suggestions the SWC office needed a “basketball man.” NOSCO NORTHGATE AUTHORIZED DEALER OF RIDGWAY STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, DEPT. HEADS— WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF ORDERING FOR THE SUMMER & FALL SEMESTERS. ORDER NOW! News Offie® Suarorotw Co. 108 College Main — Northgate By not releasing information of this kind has its good and bad points. On one side of the coin, keeping a tight lip is favorable when the future of the athlete or student is consid ered. Mishandling of facts could brand an individual for life. On the other side is the appear ance of covering up or “sweeping dirt under the carpet.” Bellard has the view that athletics is a type of family and that matters concerning disci pline or legal problems should be kept within that family. He gave the Corps of Cadets as an example of another family which handles its problems by keeping them within its boundary. Bellard feels athletes should be exemplary because they are in public view and misbehavior is not toler ated. But “everyone makes mistakes” as the saying goes whether they be athlete or not. Many times offenses involving athletes are blown out of proportion because the culprits are in the lime light. Thus, a great deal of injustice is being done which could easily be eliminated. How many times do stor ies appear showing regular students and their offenses as compared to the juicy items about athletes. Of course, some schools like to show how clean their wash is by releasing information on athletes hav ing legal difficulties. In this way they portray an image of sanitation as far as athletics is concerned. One perplexing detail about dis cipline problems at A&M is the pun ishment given the offenders. The two swimmers and track men were sus pended from the team and because of the law, their status as A&M students cannot be revealed. However, several years ago, in an incident Assistant Athletic Director Marvin Tate said the Athletic Depart ment had received the most criticism on, three football players committed several hundred dollars worth of damage by jumping up and down on parked vehicles. The players had to pay for the damages but never had to go to court. The trio was not sus pended from the team but did have to run extra laps in practice. This is obviously an injustice to the others but it’s also an injustice to group all athletes under the same label because of the faults of a few individuals. Because, to semi-quote Bellard, “nobody’s perfect.” 1 | : : : : : : : : 1 1 X; >X >X V. y, •>! 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