Page 16 THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 11, 1978
Don’t ask me about
Houston tickets
It was 2 p.m. Tuesday. I had just attended head football coach
Emory Bellard’s weekly press conference. The question was raised
concerning the choice of stadiums for this week’s game with the
University of Houston.
Why won’t the game be played in Rice Stadium which seats some
80,000 rather than the Astrodome which seats only around 52,000?
That way, more Aggies could attend the battle with Houston.
Bellard said the decision was totally up to Houston and was set at
the Southwest Conference meeting before the season.
At 2.30 p.m. I decided to investigate. So like a good journalist, I
figured I would find out the answer for the common A&M student. I
would be able to let everyone know why they could not go to the
game because they couldn’t get tickets.
I mean, why not play at Rice? It seats more people than the Dome
which means more tickets sold, which means more money for both
schools. With the close proximity of the game to College Station,
surely Rice Stadium would be filled.
Yes, that should make good sense.
So I put my college-trained mind to work thinking what I can ask
the people at Houston about the decision. Why the Astrodome? Is
there some sort of contract with the Dome? Is the rent too high at
Rice Stadium? Is there not a big enough demand for tickets to play
the game at Rice? Are they afraid there would be more Aggie fans
than Cougar fans at the game?
I casually looked up the proper numbers and names of the people I
needed to get in touch with to find the answers to my questions.
Once I found the answers, I thought, I can relate my findings to the
average Aggie fan who is concerned about the ticket situation.
My first call was to the Houston ticket manager’s office to see if he
could solve my problems. His secretary answered and said he was
busy but that she could help me. I posed my question to her and she
courteously answered.
“The first two years we were in the conference, we couldn’t play in
the Dome,” Catherine Lieschesld said. “That is why they played at
Rice two years ago. But now we have to play all of our conference
games at the Dome because of a contract agreement.”
Oh, well that seemed simple enough. If you have a contract, you
must honor it. My questions seemed to be answered.
But I was still not satisfied. There must be more to it than that. So I
called the sports information office to verify the information I just
received.
I contacted a secretary who was apparently eating her lunch. I
detected this because of the chomping in my ear. She told me that
the sports information director is busy but said, “I can help you, what
do you want?”
Taken aback by her aggressive attitude, I calmly told her of the
ticket situation at Texas A&M. But before I could get the entire
sentence out of my mouth she said, “Big deal, we got less (tickets)
than that to the game at Kyle Field last year.”
I thought this attitude was certainly uncalled for and tried to re
main calm. Besides, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I just
wanted to know if the game could have been played at Rice to ac
commodate more Aggie fans and make more money for both schools.
But the attacking female was not done with me yet. I could just see
her sitting there chained to her desk being fed raw meat while she
talked to me.
“We play in the Dome because it’s our home stadium,” the she
said. “We could play all of our games in Rice Stadium if we wanted
too.” I wonder where Rice would play, I thought.
Remembering what Miss Lieschesld had told me, I asked about the
contract agreement with the Dome.
“We don’t have a contract with the Astrodome,” she answered.
“We could play in Jeppessen Stadium (on the Houston campus)
which seats 25,000 and give A&M 10 tickets to the game if we
wanted.”
What power that school must have, I thought. To be able to play
just about anywhere they wanted and give as few tickets as they
wanted.
“Why don’t we play the game every year at Rice like Texas and
Oklahoma do in Dallas?” she asked. This caught me completely off
guard. She made no sense at all and I honestly did not know why. All
I could think of this whole time was, “Where did my interview go,
and how can I find someone who knows what they are talking about?”
“Besides, the seats are bigger in the Dome,” the lady said. Don’t
tell Aggies about the size of seats, I thought.
Trying to make a comeback, Tasked her why we should pay $2 to
park in the Dome parking lot when you could park around Rice for
free.
' Somehow she didn’t hear me, she just told me, “We can make as
much money playing in the Dome as you can playing the game pt
Kyle Field, we don’t need the money and why don’t we play the
game every year at Rice?”
I tried to tell her we were not Texas and Oklahoma and that since
we (A&M and Houston) were in the same conference, we should
switch home games each year. She asked why. I asked to talk to
someone who knew what they were talking about.
She told me I did not know what I was talking about. I told her I
was asking the questions not giving information.
What ever happened to the issue at hand? How did this get out of
hand? Will the A&M student ever know why the game is being
played in the Dome? I certainly had not gotten any closer to my goal
as a journalist.
All of sudden, the secretary left and there was a male voice saying,
“What about Rice Stadium?”
I could see I was in trouble now. Again I asked the question.
“The Dome is our home field, Kyle Field is yours,” he replied “We
prefer to play in the Dome, OK?”
“You actually like the Dome?” I asked.
“Yes, is that all?” he snapped.
“Well...uh...I guess...” I said. He hung up the phone.
So Aggies, I have no answer. Coach Bellard will not know why they
are playing in the Dome, the students or faculty or old Ags will not
know, and unfortunately, I will never know. Nor will I ever call
Houston’s sports information office again.
Fore!
‘Nuttiest golfer plays
United Press International
NEW ORLEANS — At last
count, Floyd “Lake” Rood had hit
97 pedestrians and 123 automobiles
with golf balls.
The 67-year-old native New Or
leanian is living proof there is
nowhere a golf ball cannot go, if you
have enough time or will power or
crazies as the self-proclaimed
“world’s nuttiest golfer” obviously
has.
From the Atlantic to the Pacific,
Rood has nudged screamers down
America’s interstates and rural dirt
roads. For every person he has hit,
he has missed millions, which is
quite an accomplishment in 20 years
of highway golf, the sport he in
vented to help his drug addiction
problem.
Sound incredible?
“My game is geared for the high
way,” said Rood, who last Friday
began his last hurrah, a 7.5 million-
yard trek from New Orleans to
Shelby, Mont., by way of Los
Angeles.
Typically, Rood started this ad
venture in madcap fashion. He was
360 feet in the air, tied to the roof of
a downtown hotel with a life rope,
just in case.
The ball he hit off the elevated
first tee was saved for posterity — or
maybe for resale — to help fulfill
Rood’s dream of equipping 50 trail
ers with anti-drug abuse exhibits.
Rood shoots for sponsorships of 10
cents per mile, and he figures he
needs about $2 million to build his
dream.
Usually Rood aims for the white
line down the middle of the road
and changes from a long-hitting
driver to a shorter-hitting iron when
cars have the audacity to move along
his concrete fairways.
“I hit everything with a fade (from
left to right) because I aim for the
white line when I’m working a two-
lane highway,” Rood said. “Now
that’s OK on the highways, but
when I get into the cities, I like to
putt it down the main street around
12:15 (p.m.) when everybody’s out
on their lunch break. The police
usually come along and give me an
escort.”
Rood has a wealth of experience
and technique behind him. He
started relatively small-time by
knocking tee shots off a Mississippi
River ferry before working up to
crossing 24-mile wide Lake
Pontchartrain north of New Orleans
with an average of 250 lost balls.
Rood, who earned his nickname
by diving in water traps to recover
balls, did it by standing on the bow
of the boat, hitting it forward and
having another boat mark his for
ward progress.
His all-time accomplish,
the 3,397.7-mile cross-con
he took in a souped-up go|f s
the East Coast to the Par*
in 1963-64. He lost 3,511^
The $1 ball he was about to|
the sands of the Pacific bj
the water hazard wass
$2,000.
In his journeyman’s J
he has hit a ball from ho me
Dodger Stadium, froma]
perch inside the Louisid
dome (the only golf ball evi
side the dome), and .
apologies to endangered sp
from the top of a 540-pouJj
in Pontchatoula, La,
"I took a little bide off;
time I hit it, so then Imov
the left rear leg and tool
shot,” Rood said.
Once in Eloy, Ariz., ]|j
gone off in search of a derail
in the area when he sawi
smoke wafting from the bid
stroked the ball perfectly,!
directly into the backofaj
was cooking a can of beam]
was incensed, and he stj
come after Rood, who!
reached in his pocket forii
Then the hobo asked, “!i
you can go back and do itq
give me anther five buds*
Even though Rood raref
normal round of golf any 1
says he doesn’t missing 1
for a birdie or finally ge
next tee.
“I really don’t,” fit.
"Everytime I go to hitai
I’m going to help a youne
just like winning he foun
championships in one day
Akers
delays
decision
United Press International
AUSTIN — Coach Fred Akers
Tuesday delayed his decision on
whether freshman Donnie Little or
senior Randy McEachem will start
at quarterback for the Longhorns
Saturday against North Texas State.
Akers told reporters Monday he
would announce that decision Tues
day, prompting speculation that Lit
tle, a highly recruited scrambler
from Dickinson, would replace
McEachem as the Longhorns’ top
signal caller.
McEachem has started each of
Texas’ four games this season, but
Little played about half the game
against Texas Tech and three quar
ters during the Horns 31-10 loss to
Oklahoma Saturday.
Texas failed to make a first down
with McEachem at the helm, but
Little was plagued by three inter
ceptions and two fumbles.
“Coach Akers has changed his
mind and is not going to announce it
today,” a spokesman in the Texas
athletics department said Tuesday.
“He’s really sort of leaving it open
now.”
North Texas Coach Hayden Fry
anticipated Akers would go with Lit
tle in an effort to instill some life in
the Longhorn offense, which thus
far has lacked the explosivness of
previous years.
i “You have to prepare for Little.
When he scrambles he is really
dangerous,” Fry said. “He’s going to
be a good one.”
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