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The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Tuesday
October 14, 1980
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band, said.
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Getting Astros broadcasts
was simply a matter of ABCs
Well, the season’s over now — there are no
miracles left for the Houston Astros.
Too bad we had to wait for ABC to come
along to show us just how much we’d been
missing all summer, only 90 miles away.
In the next few days, everybody who’s any
body in the Texas sports media is going to de
vote some space to congratulating the Astros on
a fine season.
I’m not a baseball expert, so I’ll leave the
analyzing to the experts.
But I am a fan, and as a fan, I’m upset.
Why did I have to wait for ABC? I and
thousands like me got no chance at all this
season to follow the Astros. On radio or televi
sion. Play by play. Game by game. The only
way to follow baseball.
My frustrations began in April, when I found
that none of the local radio stations was affiliated
with the Astros radio network. No matter that
there are 30,000 college students around here,
many of whom are from the Houston area. No
matter that there are many thousands of us
yearning for the familiar play-by-play voices of
Gene Elston and Dewayne Staats. No matter
that the Astros have one of the largest radio
networks of any professional baseball franchise.
No matter even that Houston is only 90 miles
away — try as much as you would, you still
couldn’t pick up Astros radio broadcasts.
Sidebars
By Dillard Stone
Oh, but yes ... if my cable was working just
right, I could listen to KSAM, Sam Houston
State University in Huntsville. But I make a
sure bet that the cable would fade ... with two
out in the bottom of the ninth, the bases loaded,
Cheo Cruz at the plate and the Astros behind
by a run.
Good reception was about as frequent as a
Craig Reynolds home run.
And, speaking of the cable, if l got lucky, the
Astros would be playing the Atlanta Braves.
Then, I could go home after a hard night’s work
and catch the replay on WTCG-TV, Atlanta,
courtesy of the cable. But that’s only 14 games.
Both those options proved to be so fruitless
that I gave up two weeks into the season.
Shot down in that attempt to follow the glory-
bound ’Stros, I turned to my saving grace: Un
ited Press International. I might not have been
able to follow the play-by-play, but I could at
least get the results faster than anyone else in
the area. UPI got me a few newfrienik ^ ^ rst time
the summer. tain that
Then came the playoffs. Thank
work TV. Finally, after 160 g- mar '2 h 0 ™f h ly s
broadcast the 161st game; ABC gottki m id. se me
game and the playoffs. 0 f the band (
But, as any manager will tell you.eajpvs. But this ye
at the beginning of the season countsast to serve as alt
one at the end. I’ll guarant.. \: ofcadi
are remembering Houston’s four-gtmpP e t0 c 005 * 1
at the season’s outset.
That’s what baseball is all about. Plavwdji
Game by game. 11
With six radio stations in Bryan ami|iiy
Station, surely one would have hadtM
sight to buy into the Astro broadcastill B g.
ing all us sports-hungry collegians. Hi Bat1
Astro broadcasts anywhere. The Brazos
And surely one of the cable compand ers tabled th<
broadcast KRIV-TV in Houston ra» st . f o r L ad<
allowing us to see at least all the outlff s ^ ld
games. Wrong again. We get endless
tion of network feeds; whatever hap;* to;i ,,p oint t h e
the variety cable TV proponents proud and College
The Astros showed they needed lit con ntyattorm
than a chance to prove themselves;» would help ]
even got the chance to have that proollf backlog of a]
our way
court.
How about a little consideration for#' Commissio
fans, area broadcasters?
Carter’s campaign
missing the light touch
with Barron,
missioner to
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The Speed'
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feet that this vs
Ward of the \
By DAVID S. BRODER
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — If Harold Ickes
were alive, Jimmy Carter would have a better
chance of being re-elected President.
Back in the 1940 campaign, the “Old Cur
mudgeon,’’ who was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
Secretary of Interior, took it upon himself to
deal with the efforts of Wendell Willkie to de
feat FDR’s bid for a third term. Willkie, a for
mer Democrat, was presenting himself as a
non-traditional Republican and inviting Demo
crats to cross party lines.
Ickes delivered a blow from which the small
town Hoosier never recovered when he teed off
on Willkie’s utility company ties and labeled
him “the barefoot boy from Wall Street. ”
If Ickes were around today, watching ex-
Democrat Ronald Reagan campaigning in the
steel mills of Youngstown and other industrial
cities, he would know what to say: “Ah, Ronnie
Reagan ... the Hollywood hard-hat. The popul
ist from Pacific Palisades!”
A candidate like Reagan who, a few weeks
from possible election as president, muses
aloud about the curative power of the smoke in
the Smokies and the therapeutic effects of a
southwesterly breeze crossing the Santa Bar
bara oil slick — such a candidate might be
thought ripe for satire.
But Carter is incapable of the light touch —
and instead uses blunderbuss tactics that always
end up backfiring on him. And that is one
reason Reagan is still out front in this election.
The real Ronald Reagan is a committed con
servative with a deep distrust of the federal
government. He is, goodness knows, entitled
to all the votes that he can get with his skillful
and practiced rendition of that popular political
tune.
But his parading himself as the working
man’s candidate is a charade that would stir an
Ickes to ridicule. A new Reagan brochure, un
veiled here, is headlined, “Elect a Former
Union President, President.” It is prepost
erous.
Reagan was president of a rather special kind
of union, the Screen Actors Guild, for six years.
For eight years after that, he was a salaried
employee of General Electric Co., giving moti
vational and political talks at its plants and fac
tories and playing host on its weekly television
show. Anybody who thinks he got his job with
GE — which then had a particularly right-wing,
anti-union management — because of his mili
tancy as a union leader would believe that
Reagan’s and my favorite team, the Chicago
Cubs, may yet win the pennant this year.
. At the end of this seventh decade, Rpagan is
not likely to adopt a new political philosophy —
even if he is now changing positions on some
specific labor and economic issues at the
prompting of his managers.
Anyone who knows him knows that he is not
the evil, malevolent man that Carter has been
drawing in caricature. But he is — like all of us
— the product of his enviroment and experi
ences. The “kitchen cabinet” cronies from Be
verly Hills and Pacific Palisades who decided
after his Goldwater speeches that Reagan could
be promoted as governor of California are big-
businessmen. The breadth of their social vision
is measured by their belief — which Reagan
shared — that everything from a state open
housing law to income tax withholding in Sac
ramento was a threat to their way of life, and
therefore, to the public good.
It should be noted that Reagan eventually
came to accept both policies as necessary. That
is the pattern of his politics. He starts with the
reflexive belief of his social set that change is
dangerous and eventually is persuaded that it is
necessary. That approach applies not only to
domestic affairs but to such foreign policy ques
tions as the recognition of China, which he also
opposed and then accepted.
If America wants a President who — as Adlai
Stevenson, another Illinoisan with Ickes’ wit,
once said, “has to be dragged kicking and
screaming into the 20th century,” — Reagan is
the man. But Carter’s inability to make that
simple point with style or grace or good humor
is absolutely stunning.
One reason is his own woeful lack of humor.
Even his loyal (and funny) press secretary, Jody
Powell, says, “You give him a funny line and,
somehow, he changes it so it comes out hard.”
But the deeper reason is that humor requires
a degree of detachment — an ability to see your
own follies and failings, as well as the other
fellow’s.
Carter is such a solemn, self-righteous man
that he cannot see what easy pickings Reagan
would be for a politician who is not puffed up
with pride himself. But if that same inflated ego
which convinced Carter that a lame duck gov
ernor of Georgia could run off with the pres
idency now has convinced him that if he is
defeated by Reagan, the country will face nuc
lear war or civil way — or maybe both.
It is to laugh.
It’s your turn
Bell-savers thanked by Tech student
Editor:
As a visitor from Tech (and the son of an
A&M graduate of ’42) at last week’s game, I
would like to relate a personal experience I
encountered and recognize three people for
what they did to help me. Yes, Tm a Saddle
Tramp who fell victim to yet another one of
those immature pranks that is generated by
Tech-A&M football games (whether it involves
Tech band plumes, senior boots, trumpet
banners, or Saddle Tramp bells).
After the game was over, I was waiting out
side the Red Raider locker room (along with
players’ parents, cheerleaders, the president of
Texas Tech, the mayor of Lubbock, and Tech
athletic staff). Suddenly, a Corps member grab
bed my bell and took off for the gate. By the
time I could react, he was well on his way back
to the Corp dorms. To say the least, I was upset
and I could easily see that everyone around me
shared my sentiments.
But luckily the story doesn’t end here. Not
more than ten minutes later, my bell was back
in my hands. Melissa and Paul Silvernail
brought it back to me. From what I understand,
the Corps Chaplain (Blake Purcell) stopped my
bell snatcher and Paul (who is a former Aggie
Band member) talked him into giving the bell
back. Well, so much for the incident.
This letter is meant to recognize those three
individuals: Melissa, Paul, and Blake. I can’t
say enough to describe my deepest apprecia
tion for what you did. And I speak for all of those
around me who witnessed it too. I know Dr.
Cavazos (President of Texas Tech) was impress
ed with your action. Again, I thank you.
Gregg Hudspeth
I’m really glad to see that tradition andf
are being upheld at Texas A&M. Iwf
graduate student in Jan. ’81 and I wasn’t!
enough to attend a fine undergraduate uff
Grad student can t wait
Editor:
My letter is an addition to Glenn Gardner’s in
Tuesday Oct. 7 Batt.
ty. But through hard work and a lot ofl|
including encouragement from a grei
beautiful) friend — I have been accepted
Grad, school at Texas A&M. I’ll livefcf
room or sleep in a shack if need be and I j»
tee you that the traditions of Texas Aid
always be honored in my presence. I that 1
for a chance to attend “The University *
you. A future Grad student.
Frankft
Warped
By Scott McCullar
I HATE
STORE WOOLP
THIS, I WISH THIS GK0CERV
MARK THEIR PRopoct^
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Questions or comments concerning any editorials
should be directed to the editor.
Editor Dillard Stone
Managing Editor Rhonda Watters
Asst. Managing Editor.. Scott Haring
City Editor Becky Swanson
Asst. City Editor Angelique Copeland
Sports Editor Richard Oliver
Asst. Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Scot K. Meyer
Asst. Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
News Editors Lynn Blanco,
Gwen Ham, Todd Woodard
Staff Writers Kurt Allen, Nancy Andersen
Marcy Boyce, Mike Burrichter,
Pat Davidson, Jon Heidtke, Uschi Michel-Howell,
Kathleen McElroy, Debbie Nelson,
Liz Newlin, Rick Stolle
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photo Editor Pat O’Malley
Photographers George Dolan,
Brent Frerck, Jeff Kerber
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in
and are subject to being cut if they are longer. Theedilon 1
reserves the right to edit letters for style and length ^
make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Eld’
must also be signed, show the address and phone mi in lx ,:
writer.
Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, anil*'
subject to the same length constraints as letters. Ad<h , ‘
inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Batltlic*
Heed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Sti^
77843.
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper op
erated as a community service to Texas A&M University and
Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily repre
sent the opinions of Texas A&M University administrators or
faculty members, or of the Board of Regents.
The Battalion is published daily during Texas A&M
spring semesters, except for holiday and examination 7''
Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33.25 pet
year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates furnished ® |
quest.
Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Be-
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United Press International is entitled exclusively ind*.
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reproduction of all other matter herein reserved.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 778f
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