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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 1987)
Friday, July 24, 1987AThe Battalion/Page 5 >T<Ul IPS. Sports Taylor’s cocaine problem not secret NEW YORK (AP) — Lawrence JH |Taylor, the NFL’s Most Valuable Player last season, said the New York JiGiants, the league — even the police tg— knew or suspected he was using ■cocaine but “wouldn’t do a thing to Mstop me.” ™ Taylor’s allegations and his de scription of a three-year bout with drugs are contained in a forthcom ing nook, excerpts of which are be ing published in the September edi tion of Sport magazine, due out learly next month. “From very early on, the Giants knew who on the team was into drugs,” the All-Pro linebacker said. “They certainly knew I was.” Taylor said he used cocaine from 1982 until 1985 and also used crack, iforma |a powerful cocaine derivative. “If I were Joe Blow, OK, there’d tional s l arnmer or some midnight iiswetM tri P 10 lietl y F° r d’s farm,” he wrote. “Fridat ratePe. “. . . It was almost a thrill in itself knowing that people knew what I was doing and wouldn’t do a thing to stop me.” Taylor voluntarily entered a drug rehabilitation clinic in Houston in early 1986. He returned last year to have his best season, leading the NFL with 20 1 /2 sacks as the Giants won their first Super Bowl. “This office has never had Law rence Taylor under surveillance,” NFL spokesman Joe Browne said Thursday. “Any future dealings with Taylor and the Giants regard ing this matter will be handled on a confidential basis.” Giants’ general manager George Young had no comment on Taylor’s allegations, saying: “I tend not to read sports books.” Young, however, compared Tay lor’s account with the Japanese play “Rashomon,” in which people see the same event from different per spectives and added: “We’re told all the time about con fidentiality in dealing with players. We’re also in the rehabilitation busi ness, not the punitive business.” Taylor said most of his teammates were aware he used cocaine: “The Giants, like every other team in the NFL, had guys who did drugs and guys who didn’t. I knew some of them. I didn’t know others. Pretty nearly everybody knew about me be cause I made no effort to hide it.” He said that through a friend, whose brother worked closely with law enforcement, “I had word passed — from the police — that they knew what I was doing.” “1 used to get followed — to bars, to parties, to and from practices and games. Cops and NFL security peo ple, people I knew, would follow me. This wasn’t paranoia, this was sur veillance — and it was a joke. If they wanted to bust me, fine. But I knew they weren’t going to do that, not as long as I was who I was and my game was intact.” Taylor, who lives in Upper Saddle River, N.J., did not specify which po lice department knew of the prob lem. Lt. Thomas Gallagher, a New Jer sey state police spokesman, said that if Taylor was a dealer, he would have been arrested. But he added: “I don’t know every individual using drugs. I would have no way of know ing if anyone else knew.” Police Chief Theodore Preusch of Upper Saddle River and Sheriff Vahe Garabedian of Bergen County said they also had no knowledge of T aylor’s drug use. T he account in Sport, co-written by David Falkner, is Taylor’s first full description of his drug problem. >N DL erhoo(j al Pari the ret' ittaJk fays be ’9 > Red Sox let go veteran BOSTON (AP) — First baseman Bill Buckner, who has more than 2,500 major league hits and one un forgettable World Series error, was waived T hursday as part of the Bos ton Red Sox’ youth movement. Unable to trade the 37-year-old veteran and his big contract, the Red Sox freed him to join another club. Boston General Manager Lou Gor man expects a pennant contender to sign him, primarily as a pinch hitter. The departure of Buckner al lowed the Red Sox to promote Inter national League homer and RBI leader Sam Horn, a 23-year-old des ignated hitter, from the Pawtucket Red Sox. Horn, a left-handed hitter and poor-fielding first baseman, is ex pected to be with Boston for to night’s night’s game with the Seattle Mariners. “I kind of guessed they were going to make a move,” Buckner told Associated Press Radio, “and when I heard they were going to bring Sam Horn up, I requested that they do something because I figured I wasn’t going to get much playing time.” Flad the Red Sox traded Buckner, his new team would have had to pick up his reported $800,000 salary this season. No team was expected to claim him during the 72-hour waiver period. If he is not claimed, he could 1st baseman Buckner make a deal with any club, which would have to pay him only the min imum salary of $62,500, prorated for the rest of the season. The Red Sox still would be obligated for the difference between that and his con tract amount. Buckner is under contract to the Red Sox for a reported $850,000 next season. Buckner said he wasn’t sure where he would wind up. “ I really don’t know — possibly an American League team in the pennant race,” he said when asked who might be interested in signing him. “I don’t know what options there are, I really have to wait and see.” Buckner, whose error let in the New York Mets’ winning run in the sixth game of last year’s World Se ries, is batting .273 with two homers and 42 RBI in 75 games this year, his 18th in the majors In 2,251 major league games, he has a .292 batting average with 2,542 hits in 8,710 at bats. He is still a pro ductive hitter, but the lingering image of him may be the ball that trickled through his legs nine months ago. “He did a great job” last season, Gorman said of Buckner. “He drove in 102 runs last year and if he wasn’t playing first base for us we wouldn’t nave been in the World Series.” The S® lestams!;: of fer l six wtnl :nt. the Sua nett, D-fj rrentce: : for al| : .her sc e chart nett said . at the! yet art to pitif itry. ings «f|| a fc' Rangers fall to Indians in 4-hitter CLEVELAND (AP) — Tom Candiotti pitched a four-hitter and Brook Jacoby and Pat Tabler homered T hursday night as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Texas Rangers 4-2. Candiotti, 3-10, walked one and struck out seven en route to his first win since June 5 and his second complete game of the sea son. The knuckleballer led the American League with 17 com plete games in 1986. The loss was only the Rangers’ second in nine games against Cleveland this year. The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the third against Jose Guzman, 8- 9, when Brett Butler walked, took second on Tommy Hinzo’s sacri fice and scored on Joe Carter’s single to center. Cleveland made it 3-0 in the fourth on Jacoby’s 18th homer — one more than he had all of last season — after Cory Snyder led off the inning with a double. Candiotti retired the first 12 Texas batters but then walked Pete O’Brien to start the fifth. Pete Incaviglia singled O’Brien to second, and both runners ad vanced on Andy Allanson’s passed ball before Larry Parrish and Oddibe McDowell hit consec utive sacrifice flies to pull the Rangers within a run. Time's Running Out! PI s <* I Call Battalion Classified 845-2611 Curry to take break from boxing career DALLAS (AP) — Donald Curry said Thursday he will take a couple of months off before resuming liis fighting career, which suffered two straight losses after a 25-0 start made him to the undisputed world wel terweight boxing champion. “I’m not going to quit. I’m not a quitter. I’m a winner and I’ve been a winner all my life,” the 25-year-old Fort Worth fighter told a news con ference. After a stunning fifth-round knockout Saturday in Las Vegas at the hands of junior middleweight champion Mike McCallum, pro moter Bob Arum, who has pro moted all 27 of Curry’s professional fights, said the knockout severely af fects Curry’s prospects as a top at traction and that Curry should re tire. In the moments after the fight, Curry said retirement was a definite possibility. But Thursday, Curry said he wouldn’t feel like a man if he quit the sport after losing a fight he thought he should have won. “I would feql like a mouse. I couldn’t feel comfortable with my self,” Curry said. “It would be detri mental to me as a person.” McCallum’s knockout of Curry was his 29th in a perfect 32-0 pro ca reer and was his sixth consecutive successful title defense. McCallum has never been knocked down, but Curry delivered a right that stag gered McCallum. Curry was ahead on the cards of all three ring judges and had just scored against McCallum with a left when he moved back, dropped his right hand, and got hit with a left uppercut that he said “came out of left field.” “I just took a vacation there for a second, and it cost me. I was pretty confident at the time of the knock out about what I was doing. I felt I was dominating the fight. I felt it was only a matter of time because I knew 1 was hurting him throughout the fight,” Curry said. Curry said he will take several weeks off and meet with his training adviser, David Gorman, and his business agent, Akbar Muhammad, at the end of August to plot his next steps! “I’m back. Well, I’m not back, but I’m coming back if it’s the last thing I ever do,” Curry said. Germaine, Lauer lead U.S. Women’s Open EDISON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Dot Germain and Bonnie Lauer, two members of the over-35 crowd on LPGA Tour whose games have rebounded in recent weeks, shot 3- under-par 69s Thursday to share the opening-round lead of the 42nd U.S. Women’s Open. Lauer and Germain held a one- stroke lead over Kathy Postlewait, while Ayako Okamoto, Jody Rosen thal and Sandra Palmer were all two shots behind the leaders. T hose six were the only players in the field of 153 to overcome the 90- degree plus heat and humidity and break par on the 6,284-yard Plain- field Country Club course. The 3-under-par rounds bettered the women’s course record of 71 shot by Mickey Wright and tied by Betsy Rawls in the 1962 McAuliffe Memorial Tournament. Former Open winner Amy Alcott headed a group of five players at par, while recent Hall of Fame in ductee Nancy Lopez — still looking for her first Open victory -— was at 1-over-par 73. Defend in g champion Jane Geddes and Betsy King, the two top money winners on the tour this year, both had opening-round 75s. Patty Sheehan, the No. 5 money winner, had a 74. Pat Bradley, last year’s player of the year, continued to struggle this year and had an 81, one shot higher than former Open winner Jan Ste phenson. Lauer and Germain both had the advantage of the cooler early morn ing tee-off times, and they made the most of them. The 36-year-old Lauer sank bir die putts of 20 feet on the first hole, 10 feet on the 13th hole and 15 feet on 15th in a round that did not in clude a bogey. Tropical Contemporary Atmosphere Happy Hour 4-8 Daily Fully Stocked Bar Happy Hour All Day Saturday 109 Boyett Northgate ORDERS TO GO! 846-7275 “STRICTLY PLEASURE New Cowboy lineman hopes to shed image THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — The Chicago Bears may promote William “The Refrigera tor” Perry, but while the new of fensive line coach of the Dallas Cowboys has high hopes for hefty Nate “The Kitchen” Newton, he’s not too fond of the nickname. And Newton, the offensive guard who showed up at training camp with a shaved head and with 40 pounds trimmed from an off-season peak of 349 pounds, says he doesn’t want to be com pared with a carnival sideshow. “I want people to stop looking at me as some fat guy and start looking at me as a competitor,” said Newton, who at 6-3 can dunk a basketball and bench press 490 pounds. “I think the nickname is de meaning,” offensive line coach Jim Erkenbeck said. ‘“The Kitchen’ gives him the image of a slovenly fat guy who only wants to eat. I want Nathaniel to be thought of differently.” Newton, who reported to the Cowboys’ camp at 309 pounds, shrugged his shoulders when asked him if he is ready for “The Kitchen” to be removed from his name. “If Coach Erkenbeck doesn’t want it, neither do I,” said New ton, 26, who played at Florida A&M before signing a free agent contract with the Cowboys a year ago. Erkenbeck, an ex-Marine, hopes to drill Newton into a hard- nosed left guard. He has plenty to work with, he said. “I happen to think that Nate has the most talent of anybody in our offensive line,” Erkenbeck said. “I’m not saying that he’s the best player in the line. Yet. But he’s the best athlete we’ve got in the offensive line.” “Last year, I didn’t make a dent on this team, other than people saying I was the biggest guy to ever play for the Dallas Cow boys,” Newton told the Dallas Times Herald. He projects a different image this training camp than he did a year ago. For one thing, he showed up with a shaved head. And there are the 40 pounds he lost. He dropped the ugly fat by giv ing up food during the off-sea son, Newton said. At the behest of Dr. James Zamarano, one of the club’s doctors, Newton didn’t eat solid food for six weeks. Losing weight is the opposite of what Newton is used to doing. A few years ago, he thought stuf fing himself would buy a ticket into the National Football League. Before receiving a tryout with the Washington Redskins, fa mous for their offensive line known as the “Hogs,” Newton started eating two pounds of french fries a day. His weight peaked at 262. Last August, Newton weighed 329 when he reported to Cow boys camp. Dallas Coach Tom Landry recalled his first impres sion. “Gosh, he was overweight. And he didn’t know what was going on.” But now, the Cowboys are looking at Newton as one of the keys in rebuilding Dallas’ offen sive line. Erkenbeck seems almost obsessed with converting Newton into a superstar and believes Newton will fit perfectly into the Cowboys’ new blocking style. Since being hired in February from the New Orleans Saints, Er kenbeck has been teaching a more aggressive blocking style. Instead of using finesse. Cowboys linemen will be trying to take de fenders head on. Newton’s eyes brighten when he talk about tne new approach. “The idea of jumping around and faking people out is not my style. I don’t like to do a whole lot of thinking. I like to knock people down. I like to win battles,” he said. Thanks to Erkenbeck, Newton is now entering the post-Kitchen stage. Conradt sees potential in U.S. women’s hoop team AUSTIN (AP) — Coach Jody Conradt liked what she saw Thurs day as she began molding a group of all-stars into the squad that will be the United States’ women’s basket ball team at the upcoming Pan American Games. The small crowd that watched the team’s first practice saw bodies hit bodies and bodies hit the floor as the players showed the kind of high in tensity that Conradt preaches for her University of Texas team. “It wasn’t too bad. I think if this team works, they might be able to play,” she said. The 12-member team includes 11 who have had international experi ence, either in the Olympics, World Championships or Goodwill Games. Guam Teresa Edwards of Georgia and center Anne Donovan, who played at Old Dominion, were on the 1984 Olympic gold medal team at Los Angeles. The team includes four women who play or played for Conradt — guard Kamie Ethridge and forwards Clarissa Davis, Andrea Lloyd and Fran Harris. Conradt plans two-a-day practices until the games begin Aug. 8 in Indi anapolis. She said she did not know who the first opponent would be. “I think Brazil is in our pool, and they are very good. I think the play ers who played last year (at the World Championships) will tell you that Brazil was probably the best team, and that includes the Soviet Union. Canada is also very good, and the rivalry between the two countries goes without saying,” she said. “Cuba is an unknown. No one has seen them in quit some time. The last, time we saw them they had some really good young athletes with im pressive skill,” Conradt added. For now, though, the coach said she is concerned with her team, not opponents. *15 Rack Sale Friday, Saturday & Sunday roaosgio'gio Post Oak Mall 696-7671 MC, VISA, AE & DISCOVER Call Battalion Classified 845-2611