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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1985)
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( AMPTUiS»5U6&ZL&& &UM AMP ri4ATlCOWF2ipn AMP — £ Hickey’s Lady Aggies ‘rebuilding’ in ’85-86 |iO-3t singles," KIq isometnatdni ims m this' md at least is; donanat-lai} its teams »i n Houston oil ional toumn; lent. ^iie teamtoilu but thenii War Owl' conjures ideas of fresh mascot for A&M My dreams have been filled with visions of “Fighting War Owls” lately, and so I think it’s time to address a problem that has plagued me for minutes at a time — Texas A&M’s mascot. After having been to Houston for the A&M-Rice football game,’ I started to make mascot compa risons. My eyes couldn’t help out wander to that smelly (if you get dose enough), blue, arrogant, fake Owl that insists on the classi fication “War Owl.” That bird is just plain pushy, but I have to admit it has some style. Now it’s not nice to wave flags with slogans like “Reveille is fixed,” but I’ve never met a War Owl yet with a discerning sense of humor. And so the terrible scrutiny of this column swings to that grand of guard dog — Reveille. You know, the “new Reve- flea,” the one that isn’t fixed — forget what that mangy bird says. That hairball of Aggie spirit. My worry, and it should be the worry of any “Super Aggie,” is that we’re losing the battle of the mascot — the batde to control the hearts and minds of football feverish freshman and bored couch potatoes watching the game on the tube. Who wants to watch a flea-bit ten pup, when you can watch a gi ant blue Owl, elephants, eagles, li ons, horned frogs, and black bears rampage along the sidelines of other football fields? Sure it’s fun to see of Rev nip at a yell leader or maul an inno cent fan— but it’s... it’s passe. ED CASSAVOY Sports Viewpoint With my fingers on the pulse of Aggieland, I’ve noticed, no I feel the growing fear that A&M may become just another state university — emphasizing stuff like academics. I’m with you Ags when I say, “enough is enough. But the first step is awareness of the problem. That’s solved. The second step is to see how we can turn the corner. A&M thinks big and, the more mindless and irrelevant the statement, the greater the statement. So why not let our mascot do the talking? Dump the dog and go Holly wood. Raise the banners, uncrate the guns and march in cadence to Kyle Field (oops, stay off the As troturf) and scream to the gods above, or to the press box, “Dump the dog and make us free!” And free you will be my sons when you discover the wonders of velcro, green fake fur, paper mache or real wild animals. Who, for example, has a gi raffe for a mascot? 1 can’t think of one. What a glorious sight to see a stately giraffe whipped into a Fightin’Texas Aggie fury, gallop ing around the track at Kyle Field. But why not something bigger? Why not a whale? The Texas A&M Blue Whales. Then the fans could be the Whalers. Yeah, I like that. Just imagine a live whale, swimming feverishly in a special pool encircling the football field. The yell leaders could ride on their backs, whipping up the crowd, throwing scraps of horned toads in to the gaping mouths of their slippery steeds. Or the Texas A&M Fightin’ Fruit Bats. The yell leaders and the members of the Aggie Band could be strapped to the bellies of giant fruit bats to conduct stun ning aerial maneuvers. The fans would eat it up. For the sentimental, a giant Zepplin could be filled with 10,000 starry-eyed Aggie coeds, babbling the Aggie War Hymn — clad only in maroon and white silk jump suits — who would par achute on to a giant mum in the middle of Kyle Field after every A&M penetration to the oppo nent’s 20-yard-line. Wow! But folks, why not look closer to home? Why not change the Re veille we have? There must be some sort of twisted scientist on campus who is experimenting on some poor monkey. A growth formula might do the trick. Imagine one freshman cadet trying to control a 90-foot-tall dawg. Or why not graft another head on of Reveille? Then the barking would be twice as loud when the Aggies scored a touchdown. Of course, no t.u. head please. Nah. On second thought, that’s too flashy. By DOUG HALL Sports Writer With six freshmen and four ju nior college transfers on her 1985- 86 women’s basketball team, Texas A&M Coach Lynn Hickey said that “rebuilding” describes her program well. “This is a new beinning for Lady Aggie basketball,” said Hickey, who also serves as A&M’s assistant ath letic director for women’s sports. “We have a whole new team — 11 new players.” Prior to Hickey’s arrival at A&M in the ’84-85 season, the Lady Aggies had finished below .500 five years in a row. However, in only her first sea- spn, Hickey led A&M to a 14-14 re cord. Unfortunately, graduation claimed all but four players off last year’s squad. Hickey then used her ten available scholarships to recruit top prospects from around the country. With the help of A&M assistant coaches Eileen Feeney and Shelley Hughes, Hickey signed six freshmen recruits: center Nette Garrett, a 6- foot-B all-state player out of Center High School; Veronda Roundtree, a 5-11 forward from Huntsville High; and Donna Roper, an All-Greater Houston guard from Yates High. In addition to Hickey’s other three freshmen, the Aggies signed Debbie Lorenzen from Gridley, Calif., Mary Leahy from Ramsey, NT. and Lisa Jordan from Talmage, Calif. A&M also picked up junior college transfers Evelyn Sanders, Paula Crutcher, Rosalind Brown and Tamara Jackson. With this unusual amount of new talent, Hickey said her coaching will be put to the test. ,! I don’t think we realized how much work we’d have to spend on Photo by FRANK HAD A Texas A&M Women’s Basketball Coach Lynn Hickey (above) — “Generally you have six or seven (players) return so that you have a little bit of continuity, but we have so many things to go over. We are so young and so new that it’s going to take us a while (to mature). ” you a little bit of continuity, but we have so many things to go over. “We are so young and so new that it’s going to take us a while. But the talent is there. We’ve got some really good athletes. I think we’ll put a team on the floor that will be much better than any team we’ve had befo re.” But, like most young teams, Hickey said the Lady Ags have their shortcomings. “Our biggest weakness is just basic fundamentals . . .,” she said. “That is going to be our biggest struggle until January and February when we can get our (the coaches’) philosophy across and execute very very well. “Another thing we may be lacking right now is a pure outside shooter. Itlooks like we have some good nat ural ability, but I don’t know if some of our ball handling and shooting skills are where we need them. But those are things you can teach them. I can’t teach them how to run and jump.” Almost lost amongst this youth movement are two important upper- 1 Lis classmen senior forward Lisa Langston and junior point guard Beth Young. Hickey said Langston, A&M’s sec ond all-time scoring leader, and Young, last year’s team leader in as sists, will play a critical leadership role for the Aggies by letting ability do their talking. “Neither Beth nor Lisa are what you might call verbal leaders,” Hickey said. “Right now they are very much leading by example. I think we’re still struggling to find someone who can be a leader. And until we get roles defined on playing time and positions it’s going take us some time to develop someone that can step out and take charge.” WHERE WILL YOU BE FRIDAY NIGHT NOV. 1 BEFORE THE SMU GAME? The fifth annual charity BOURBON BASH FEATURING: ~TAe>OR W SftAZQS CO UN TV PAVIU-IOKJ 1 ^ C* UNIVERSITY PR /A&M university x v2//////////) JERS&Y ft N - 5 Ml HWY (b • ALSO APPEARING: “THE EXECUTIVES” • SOUND AND LIGHTS BY LD SYSTEMS • FREE BEER AND SOFT DRINKS • BAR-B-CUE FROM RANDY SIMS • 7—MIDNIGHT BRAZOS COUNTY PAVILION TICKET INFORMATION $8. 00 PRESALE $9. 00 AT THE DOOR ALL PROCEEDS GO TO CHRISTIAN CHILDREN’S FUND VILLAGE OF HOPE DON’T MISS THE BIGGEST AND BEST ANNUAL PARTY TEXAS A&M HAS TO OFFER! PRESENTED BY: BETA THETA PI AGGIE COWBOYS