Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, September 24, 1985
Opinion
Post-game antics:
festive or fatal?
Traditions.
According to the
dictionary they are
modes of thought
or behavior fol
lowed by a people
from generation
to generation.
According to the
students of Texas
A&M, they are the
things that make
this school special.
But placing the blame on someone is not
as important as solving the problem.
Karl
Pallmeyer
Granted, traditions play an important
role in life here at Texas A&M, but they
must not be followed blindly. Traditions
must be examined and changed, if nec
essary, by each generation before they
are passed down to the next. Once a tra
dition causes someone to come to harm,
that tradition should be changed.
The Corps can help solve the prob
lem by changing their practice of chas
ing after the yell leaders. In the long his
tory of Texas A&M, the yell leaders
have never escaped the after-game
dunking in the Fish Pond so why should
they run to escape the inevitable? If the
yell leaders would line up to be carried
off peacefully to their dunking, the
Freshmen cadets wouldn’t have to stam
pede like a herd of wild animals.
There is tradition that needs re-ex
The fans can help solve the problem
by staying off the field until the end of
the game. There is no reason that fans
can't walk onto the field to congratulate
the players after a game well played.
The fans have no right to act like a wild
herd of stampeding animals either.
amined at this school. At the end of vic
torious home football games, freshmen
cadets run out on the field, grab the yell
leaders and take them to the Fish Pond
for a quick dunking. Aggie fans also run
our onto the field to congratulate the
team. There is usually a pretty huge
stampede when hundreds of freshmen
and fans run onto the field to celebrate
the Aggie victory. Last Saturday the
“traditional” stampede got out of hand.
A 12-year-old girl’s leg was broken
when she ran out onto the field after the
game and was run over by a group of
freshman cadets pursuing the yell lead
ers. Considering the wild confusion af
ter the games, it’s been fortunate that
nothing like this has happened before.
This type of accident is inexcusable
and something should be done to keep
it from happening again.
The University Police can help solve
the problem by making announcements
during the game and posting signs on
the field asking the fans to be more re-
sponsibile after the game. The Univer
sity Police Department doesn’t have the
manpower to prevent the crowd from
rushing the field and handle the traffic
outside of the stadium, but they can'
warn people of the dangers of such
careless activity.
The blame can be placed on several
people. The Corps freshmen should
have acted with more care while run
ning across the field. The fans should
have exercised more constraint at the
end of the game. The parents of the girl
should have taken care to see that their
daughter didn’t get away from them.
The University Police should have taken
steps to prevent this type of stampede.
There is no reason the Corps and Ag
gie football fans can’t show their joy af
ter a victorious game by congratulating
the coaches and players and dunking
the yell leaders. The games and the af
ter-game festivities can be enjoyed by all
as long as everyone is careful and re
spects the rights of others.
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior journalism
major and a columnist for The Battal
ion.
Mail Call
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit
letters for style and length but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must
be signed and must include the address and telephone number of the writer.
Thanks, radio club
EDITOR:
I wish to commend the Amateur Ra
need any help?” I never really thought
about the situation before, and now I
had no choice.
dio Club on the community service they
provided by helping my family contact
our relatives in Mexico City. The worst
part of the disaster was not knowing if
anything had happened to them.
They came through with the news of
their safety. As has happened many
times before, the only communications
with a disaster area has been provided
by persons like themselves.
I thank them for their time and trou
ble. Their unselfish actions are greatly
appreciated.
Benito Flores-Meath
With this in mind I thought that I
should at the very least let other people
know about the situation. Maybe if peo
ple think about the possibility of such a
situation, then they will know what they
should do if they ever have such an en
counter.
Michael Forbush
Graduate Student
Physics Dept.
‘Big Kiss’ clarified
EDITOR:
Drunken sex or rape?
EDITOR:
In the Sept. 16 Battalion a clarifica
tion was printed concerning the MDA
donation made from the proceeds of
the “Big Kiss.” After reading this with
great interest, I now find myself totally
confused.
A strange thing happened last night.
I ran into two people having sexual in
tercourse in the hallway of Heldenfels
Hall. It was about midnight when I saw
them. At first I thought that maybe they
had a bit too much to drink, and they
didn’t realize where they were.
I walked away thinking about how
immature they were being, when it oc
curred to me that perhaps I had been
the witness to a rape. The more I
thought about it the more I realized that
it just wasn’t natural to have sex in the
hallway. This must have been a spur of
the moment decision!
When I got to my destination I
couldn’t rest. What if it was rape?
Would the girl be all right? I ran back to
the building to see if I could be of any
help. It had been less than five minutes
since I had seen them, and now they
were gone.
I began to examine my actions.
Should I have just kept on going?
Maybe I should have asked, “Do you
The article stated that attendance was
“more than 2,400 Aggie couples.” The
article goes on to state that the event
grossed “about $11,000”. According to
my calculations, 2,400 couples times $10
(the amount of admission per couple) is
equal to 24,000 dollars. This sounds like
a bad joke about an Aggie accountant.
The article also states that about
$3,000 was spent on advertising, yet I
was under the impression that this event
was only given publicity on KKYS-FM
Radio and that the time was donated as
a public service. Surely, someone could
have found a better deal than this if
such money was required to handle such
a charitable cause. I personally know of
another radio station in this market that
would have done the promotion for
free.
Neil Harrison
EDITOR’S NOTE: The article did in
deed read “2,400 Aggie couples.” It
should have read “2,400 Aggies.” The
figures don’t add up to $12,000 because
DENG, TWS IS YOUR
DUMBEST IDEA YET...
The parents should watch their kids
before, during and after the game. In
any crowd as large as the one at the
game Saturday, parents should make
sure their kids don’t get away from
them. There are lot of other problems
that could be solved if parents took
more responsibilty for their kids.
Boosters should stop meddlinj
in college football programs
fundra
fearthqi
I Davi
preside
photos
priced
r rofit.
He s
lales \
Football.
The word alone
commands atten
tion.
In fairness to
the other athletes,
other sports do ex
ist, but none get
the respect of the
Texas A&M com
munity more than
football. -
When Aggies talk
football.
ceiving payments from the same alum-
John Halleft
sports, they talk
Never mind that A&M’s softball team
has won the national championship
twice in the last three years. Forget
about the A&M volleyball team, cur
rently ranked No. 15 in the nation and
the successful men’s tennis and baseball
programs. Who cares about those sports
that have and continue to produce win
ners, teams that really bring respect to
the University?
What is it about football that garners
all the attention?
Let’s face it, football is more visible
than any other collegiate sport, making
it the perfect means of bringing instant
notoriety to the University. And noto
riety is very important to a university
with an inferiority complex.
However, should this obsession be
come so important that nothing else
matters? Should NCAA regulations be
dropped by the wayside?
No. But it happens anyway.
This past Thursday, TCU Head
Football Coach Jim Wacker dismissed
senior tailback Kenneth Davis, a Heis-
man Trophy candidate, and suspended
five other players from the team. An in
vestigation by TCU revealed that Davis
had accepted cash from a Horned Frog
booster. The six players admitted to re-
SMU is currently under a three-year
probationary period for recruiting vio
lations. The violations included cash
payments to athletes and resulted in the
NCAA’s decision to order SMU to disas
sociate itself from nine boosters. Both
schools denied any knowledge of fringe
benefits provided to players by overzea-
lous alumni.
Now A&M enters the picture with the
accusations made against A&M quar
terback Kevin Murray by Cerry Oher of
WFAA-TV in Dallas. Once again the ac
cusations involve a booster, in this case a
former student, Rod Dockery, Class of
’66, making cash payments to a “stu
dent-athlete.” A&M Coach Jackie Sher
rill has denied any knowledge of the in
cident.
Regardless of the outcome of the
ongoing University investigation, the
Murray incident and others like it
around the country have brought to
light a serious problem — athletic boost
ers meddling with sports programs.
Most boosters have noble intentions
— to bring glory to their university’s
hallowed halls — but the means by
which they accomplish their goals are
less than honorable. To guarantee that
their university gets the best athletes,
some boosters have resorted to provid
ing “student-athletes” with incentives.
When their actions are exposed the
football program, not the booster, suf
fers the consequences. Cash payments to
student athletes are not against the law,
they are against NCAA rules. So boost
ers are accountable to no one.
Some people may find it hard to be
lieve that coaches don’t know about the
relationship between boosters and ath
letes. Perhaps Sherrill’s comment, made
_3pmen
after he learned of Oher’s accusaiKilvhjch
says it best: "... 1 don’t want to kno»®eaders
Dockery made the payments).”'®
not to say that some don’t condoncii
payments — some do, some donii
others choose to ignore it.
Why?
Because the boosters provide ra
mous sums to athletic programs !
don’t forget who pays for the majoi
of many head coaches’ salaries-i
letic boosters, not the universities
coaches are placed in a difficult pc
lion. Without boosters, many pn
would fold because states won’t
priate enough money to support an
letic program.
The
At least the state legislatures have i Per V>
forgotten what a university’s primp
goal is — to provide low cost educatis
not to produce athletes for the NFL
John Hallett is a senior political n
ence major, a columnist and a Nfl
Editor for The Battalion.
Mail Call
some people were admitted free. The
$3,000 was spent for promotions, in
cluding advertising, flyers and T-shirts.
Band items stolen
Women are Ags, too
EDITOR:
I am offended! Yell practice is a fun
tradition and I’ve always enjoyed partic
ipating in it . . . BUT . . . the chauvanis-
tic comments have to go. Here’s the
quote I’m referring to: “Let’s go out
there and make Northeast Louisiana
look like a bunch of women.” And all
the males say “whoop.”
Well, to me, that sounds like a compli
ment to last week’s opponents. Look
around and notice all the amazing ac
complishments women have made —
this is 1985, that doesn’t even need to be
said. What time warp are you from, yell
leader? What’s your excuse? I’m sure
you don’t actually think that the women
at yell practice (who voted for you) were
overly impressed by that statement.
I’d just like to request that in future,
whoever is leading the yells, please take
the whole student body into consider
ation. That was the first yell practice for
the class of ’89 and what were these new
Ags thinking? Don’t make A&M appear
to be behind the times.
A man of quality is one who respects
equality!
Laurie Human ’88
EDITOR:
Fellow Ags, your help is desperately
needed. Sometime between Sept. 8 and
Sept. 14, a storage warehouse near the
corner of Southwest Parkway and Welsh
was burglarized.
This warehouse was leased to three
A&M students who were using this
space to rehearse an up-and-coming
band. But, in light of the burglary, our
chances of ever playing again seem very
dim.
The items taken in this burglary were
all that we had in way of musical equip
ment. Items taken include a Gibson Ex
plorer guitar, a Marshall amplifier, an
Acoustic Bass amplifier, a Sunn bass
cabinet and a full set of black Ludwig
drums complete with cymbals.
Ags, this equipment would cost nearly
$10,000 to replace and like most other
college students, we are too broke to re
place it.
This is where you come in. Anyone
seeing anything suspicious or hearing of
anyone “acquiring” any large quantities
of musical equipment recently is urged
to call us. There is currently a $300 re
ward for information leading to the ar
rest and conviction of the person(s) re
sponsible. Any help would be greatly
appreciated!
Wendel Skolaski, 693-2277
David Adams, 693-9838
Steven Patti, 696-3230
The Battalion
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Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rhonda Snider, Editor
Michelle Powe, Managing Editor
Loren Stefiy, Opinion Page Editor
Karen Bloch, City Editor
John Hallett, Kay Mallett, News Editors
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
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The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Kirsten Dietz, Jerry Oil®
Assistant News Editors
Cathie Anderson, Jan Pen)
Assistant Sports Editor
Charean Williams
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, WalterSmitli
Art Director. Wayne Grab®
Copy Editors Reoecca Adair
Mike Davis, Sarah Oates
Make-up Editor Ed Cassavot
Staff Writers Tamara Bel
Meg Cadigan, Ed Cassavot,
Cindy Gay, Doug Hal
Paul Herndon, WendyJonnsM
Tammy Kirk, Jens Koeple
Trent Leopold, Mary McWhorter,
June Pang, Tricia Parker
Brian Pearson, Lynn RaePovec,
Marybeth Rohsner, Gigi Shams)
Kenneth Surf
Cartoonists Mike Lane,
Scott McCullar, Kevin Thomas
Columnists Camille Brown,
John Hallett, Karl Pallmeyer
Photographers Greg Bailey
Anthony Casper, Frank Hada,
Jaime Lopez, Michael Sandier
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