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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1978)
the sports THE BATTALION Page 7 TUESDAY, JULY 25, 1978 tiotu bv David Boggan Sports Editor ur day on court ie media. We are a strange lot. e are constantly in competition with each other. Daily, from 8-5 beyond. md despite this continual striving to see who can scoop who, we l!compelled to compete amongst ourselves even after office hours, amount of viewers polls or listeners’ surveys or circulation counts ‘m to be able to satiate our hunger for this intra-professional compe- °n. So, occasionally we take our battles out of the news rooms and to the next most natural field of competition—the field of athletic deavors. during So it was that 1 found myself on the tennis courts at Bryan High he eampi W early Sunday morning teaming up with my editor, Debby enek, in the First to My Knowledge Local Media Tennis Tourna- ;nt. It turned out to be a unique tournament, to say the least. I felt like nailman, playing in almost every kind of weather condition known man. First there was the heat. Then there was the rain, which had en predicted by one of the weathermen in the tournament. The strain was followed by humidity which was followed by a wind that eceded a second rain. All that was missing was the snow, the sleet us were d the hail. It snot easy to get enthused about tennis on Sunday morning after eg party or the Rocky Horror Picture Show on Saturday night, but started off all right with a two-set victory in our opening match. If they gave out an award for stamina above and beyond the call of ty, Todd Carroll and Debbie Ramsey from KBTX would win the ze. While we had an hour to rest after our first match, Todd and ibbie only had about 30 minutes to recuperate from their three-set us ® ening match before we began the semifinal match against each lunged a ie r , ittingii Fheresaword for the kind of semifinal match we plaved. pledron Grueling. S r‘ lcc ! 1 ^ 1 After leading 5-1, we finally managed to defeat the never-say-die m across the net from us B-4 in the opening set. In a neck-and- k second set, they won 7-5. in; ized 1 major i ays and ) using oi lems can is city oi lamilini in oneJ lairowaJAn obvious pattern had developed. People who had left for lunch aU * We starte ^ ^ ie returned to find us still on the court, rent pop® all are still out there? became almost a chant that afternoon, hone, that point, water breaks had become the highlight of the day. I items,aMuldn t have traded our jug of ice water for all the ace serves at 'owdingMimbledon. dlords p®The third set showed me a side of Competition that I had never supphdBen before. It was almost like the four of us w ere on the same team lousing Biting a common opponent—the heat. y of liBlodd and Debbie jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the deciding set ective nMd things looked bleak for the sole representatives from The Battal- (Debby and 1 had set a goal for ourselves before the tournament, e wanted to take home a trophy. If we lost two more games, we «ldforget about that. It is here that a person's mental state is just as iportant as his physical state. I ■ f fried to convince myself that “Wait till next year,” was not in my till ■' caWar y- * called the words of an acquaintance who is now a Bportscaster in Austin. He said, at a hometown tennis tournament a W e re V ears a 8 0 ’ that if you dig down deep enough inside, there’s ()(r »ay s a little extra energy left. TB We dug down deep and made the score 4-4. Then the lead changed ■ed in\lll an(issevera L' n ies until the score was 7-7. Tiebreaker time. The first >h black q western snt sail ided ited to night. , the si) hree oi in Higti ilice #i hallenjl d,” the UNO intedfl ingM ) fcam to iiin five points would claim this marathon match. I Just as we began the tiebreaker, the rain started to fall. The court I mditions changed rapidly from sizzling to slippery. True to form, we stretched the tiebreaker to its maximum limits: |T Todd was now serving the final point of the match to me. An ilinite number of “what-ifs” flew threw my mind and while I was ndering one of them, his first serve went long. The last serve. It seems a sin for both teams to come this far and for e whole match to rest on one serve, I thought. And then, as 1 was visioning myself slipping on the wet concrete and sending the ball to the neighboring court, Todd hit his second serve into the net. oublefault. Game, set, match. We were handily defeated in the finals by a superior team. But we id our trophies, we had our sunburns, we had a few new friends d, most important, we had a good time. Martin resigns United Press International KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tempes tuous Billy Martin, who won two American League pennants and a World Championship despite con stant battles with both club man agement and players, resigned as manager of the New York Yankees Monday after the latest in a series of battles with owner George Stein- brenner and star outfielder Reggie Jackson. Martin announced his resignation in a short prepared statement fol lowing a meeting with Club Presi dent Al Rosen and General Manager Cedric Tallis. “There 11 be no questions and an swers after this statement,” Martin said. “I am a Yankee now and forever and Yankees are not talkers. Yankees do not talk or throw rocks. I don’t want to hurt this team’s chances at the pennant with this undue publicity. The team has a shot at the pennant. I hope they win it. “I owe it to my health and my mental well-being to resign. I’ve had my differences with George but we’ve been able to resolve them. I'm sorry about things that were wrifen about George Steinbrenner. He does not deserve them nor did I say them. I’d like to thank the Yan kee management, the press, the news media, my coaches, my players and most of all . ” Martin broke into tears at this point, muttered a soft, "thanks , and was led away by friends. "I did not ask Billy to resign and George Steinbrenner did not ask him to resign,” Rosen said. "This is natprally a result of a cer tain alleged statement made,” added Tallis. The final episode in the continu ing battle between Martin, Stein brenner and Jackson came Sunday night. Jackson, who was suspended for five days early last week for fail ing to follow Martin’s instructions while at bat, returned to the club Sunday in Chicago. Jackson told the news media before and after the game that Martin had not spoken with him since he reported back to the club. Martin was silent after the game but finally erupted at O’Hare Air port as the Yankees waited for a flight to Kansas City. He raged at Jackson and Steinbrenner, claiming, "they deserve each other — one’s a born liar and the other’s convicted”. The reference was to Steinbren- ner’s conviction in 1974 for making illegal campaign contributions. Despite Martin’s denial of the statement about Steinbrenner, both writers yyho reported the outburst, Murray Chass of the New York Times and Henry Hecht of the New York Post, stood by their stories. "I stand by it completely,” Chass said. "The man said it and I wrote it.” In his two years as manager of the Yankees, Martin won two American League pennants and a World Se ries. The union between Martin and the Yankees was like a beautiful marriage gone bad. Martin always said he “loved” the Yankees. When he replaced Bill Virdon as manager three years ago and put on Yankee pinstripes for the first time since his playing days with Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford, Martin said sin cerely it was the job he’d been wait ing for all his life. Martin, who closely followed the teachings of his bid mentor, Casey Stengel, was on his way to ehalleng- BUFFET SPECIALS 1 ENJOY ALL THE PIZZA (thick or thin crust), SPAGHETTI, AND SALAD YOU CAN EAT FOR ONLY $2.19. NOON BUFFET Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. TUESDAY NIGHT BUFFET Every Tuesday Night 6:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Pizza inn 413 Texas Ave. (Across from Ramada Inn) 846-6164 1803 Greenfield Plaza (Next to Bryan High) 846-1784 MU adds to schedule ) 9! United Press International DALLAS — Athletic officials at Pern Methodist University an- piced Monday the school would |pete against the University of sat Arlington and North Texas sin both football and basketball Jie coming years. he officials said the Mustangs |Mplay NTSU in football begin- in 1979 as a regularly Puled game and have signed [ractsfor the three years follow- hat. he 1979 game will be played at jas Stadium Sept. 22. 1U will play UTA in football on Sept. 27, 1980, but the location of that game has not yet been set. In basketball, SMU will take on NTSU Dec. 6, 1978 at Moody Col iseum. The two teams also have agreed to meet again in the 1979-80 season, tentatively at Reunion Arena if it is completed. SMU and UTA will meet in bas ketball Dec. 15, 1978 at an unde termined location. GOOD NEWS The New Club in College Station Now Has LADIES NIGHT 8:00-12:00 TUESDAY - WEDNESDAY - THURSDAY Guaranteed To Be The Nicest Club Around — Completely Remodeled. Quality Drinks, From Our Fresh Daquiris To Our Super Ice Cream Drinks. HOURS: Sun.-Thure. 5:00-12:00 p.m. Fri.-Sat. 5:00 p.m.-l:00 a.m. 846-1100 Proper Attire Requested HAPPY HOUR 5:00-8:00 813 Wellborn Rd. ing Stengel’s unparalleled success of five straight pennants and World Series championships, 1949-53. In his first full season as Yankee man ager, Martin led the club to the American League pennant — its first in 12 years — only to be wiped out in four straight games by Cin cinnati in the 1976 World Series. But last year, Martin overcame frequent personality clashes with and among his high-salaried players and led the Yankees to their second straight AL flag, culminating the season with a six-game World Series triumph over the Los Angeles Dod gers. It was the Yankees’ first World Championship since 1962. Throughout his stormy tenure as Yankee manager, there was little indication of harmony between Martin and his players or the front office. Martin repeatedly communi cated with the players through his coaching staff, an old Stengel ploy which the new breed of player re sented. He also clashed repeatedly with Steinbrenner, although ten- (See MARTIN’S, page 8) MANOR EAST MALL Texas at Villa Marla M-F 10-8:30 Sat. 10-6 779-6718 Greyhound gives you three ways to ship. FAST. Greyhound Regular Package Express Servica, in many cases, can send your packages up to 500 miles in less than 24 hours Best of all, Greyhound Package Express costs a lot less than many other shipping services FASTER. If you ve got a rush shipment that needs priority handling, Greyhound's Next Bus Out" Service can handle it Greyhound guarantees It goes on the Next Bus Out or your special handling charge will he refunded For soeedy pick-up or delivery, call Leo's at 779-FAST. /liRIBORNE Greyhound and Airborne have learned up to tiring Air Express to hundreds of smaller U S cities Now. it you vo go! Greyhound, you ve got Air Express Just ask for Airborne" Greyhound Air Express For lurthei iufnmi.ition cal 779-8071. College Station 112 Nagle 846-1774 SHIP GREYHOUND Bryan 405 E. 29th 779-8071 Day students get their news from the Batt. Come by the MSC- Rudder Tower Walkway and get a for just 11-1pm July 25-27 Aug. 1-3 Aug. 8-10 '* ♦ »* MSC Summer Programming Committee TEXAS A&M 500MT0R E SWUFT hru if- in*a N/hift. NOW DOING IMPRINTING, LETTERING, & NUMBERING ON T-SHIRTS AND CAPS YOU TALKINTO ME? In the Memorial Student Center