Viewpoint Lo« The Battalion Texas A&M University Tuesday October 14, 1980 Mostfi — By m - * An extens: seems to liaN the Aggie B years past hr membership With 323 c at an ideal n has 300 play* and20altemi frin, com mi band, said. “Since I’ve 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 table the mat He said ma are appealed t cause those in time will ela comes to trial thrown out. The Speed' 60 days for prc However, Cargill said h 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. 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