Wednesday, October 28, 1987/The Battalion/Page 11
riticism goes with territory
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By Hal L. Hammons
Assistant Sports Editor
So, it took a rookie to get some
ail generated for the sports de-
Jbrtment at The Battalion. What a
jfShame. I was hoping it would be me.
[But the kind
of letters we
have received Viewpoint
about Anthony
Wilson’s col-
Utnn of Oct. 13 (“Stats don’t match
12th Man chatter”) have been rather
disturbing and indicative of a lack of
understanding of the newspaper
ptisiness. Hopefully I can fix either
or both of these.
Bfirst off, for Liz Wenzel: If one
Krtide was enough to make you too
IlSml of hearing an opinion, I hope
you haven’t been reading, for in-
Hnce, the Houston Post, which has
run columns on the National Foot
ball League strike, the Oilers’ re
cently nixed move to Jacksonville,
Fla and/or the general idiocy of
General Manager Ladd Herzeg and
owner Bud Adams practically every
day for the last two months.
imp:
r
iv
ersonally, my favorite articles in
my two or three daily newspapers
[thecolumns on the sports page. I
already know what I think about
lungs; I like hearing other people’s
thoughts to see if I am in harmony,
or even (perish the thought) in dis
agreement, with the people who get
real pay for writing about it.
And columns, of course, will con
tain criticism on occasion. Sports
writers, and indeed, sports fans,
make a regular habit of criticizing
athletes of collegiate and profes
sional stature. Criticism is an Ameri
can institution and an American
right.
You see, Liz, this is America. You
know, the country spelled U-S-A,
not Lf-S-S-R. And one of the very
cornerstones of our political struc
ture is freedom of expression. It
keeps the public informed and the
system clean. It’s in the Constitution
— you can look it up.
And to Blaise Walker: the true
meaning of the 12th Man on the
field is to reflect the spirit of the
12th Man in the stands. The spirit of
the second, more important, group
will flourish with or without the first.
I as part of the 12th Man will con
tinue to support the team “through
good and bad” as Walker said. But
that doesn’t necessarily mean I sup
port keeping my fellow non-schol
arship students on the field if and
when they start costing the team ball
games.
I love Texas A&M as much as Liz
Wenzel, Blaise Walker or anybody
else on this campus or this planet.
But that does not mean I can’t con-
cientiously criticize things pertaining
to A&M.
For the record, I hope they keep
the 12th Man Kickoff Team, and
Anthony Wilson didn’t write any
thing that indicated he thought
othei wise. But if we did, we would
have the right to present it in The
Battalion, a forum of public express
ion. And A&M traditions and pride
would continue without the fans’
representatives on the field.
Remember — the 12th man was a
tradition long before Jackie Sherrill
put them on the field. Pride in and
support for the team burned as
brightly as bonfire then, and it does
now. No difference.
And personally, I think if Sherrill
thought any part of the football
team, including the non-scholarship
players, would cost A&M a single
victory, he’d scrap the system. And
he’d be completelyjustified.
The students here seem to be un
der the same misconception that
plagues the Athletic Department
and the Sports Information Depart
ment from time to time: We are The
Battalion, a student newspaper, not
Texas A&M’s personal, free-of-
charge public relations department.
If we on the sports desk see a neg
ative aspect about the Athletic De
partment, be it the 12th Man Kickoff
Team or the Board of Regents’
choice of head coaches, we will write
about it if we can. We’ll write what it
takes to make The Battalion and
The Battalion sports section the best
they can be.
And that includes things that
some people in our readership don’t
like or agree with. That’s the price
you pay for having an independent
press on campus.
ans give Twins victory parade
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1ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Hun
dreds of thousands of deliriously
ffilppy Minnesota Twins fans sho-
rwered their heroes with millions of
| dollars in shredded money and
waved the ever-present Homer Han-
Ikies in a World Series victory cele-
Ibration Tuesday.
■“It’s been building up since we
won our division,” said left fielder
and leadoff man Dan Gladden,
whose grand slam homer got the
Twins off to a winning start in the
first game.
[‘It’s been parlayed and carried
over since then. I guess this is the
I grand finale right here. These have
got to be the best fans,” Gladden
said.
[Police estimated that more than
200,000 fans turned out for the start
of the parade in Minneapolis, and
' another 200,000 or more were in St.
[Paul to watch the parade and a rally
oti the steps of the Capitol.
[fl could cry. That is so nice I
could cry,” said team owner Carl
Pohlad as he rode at the head of the
[parade.
||A young woman rushed his car,
planted a kiss on his cheek, then
apologized to Pohlad’s wife, Eloise,
who rode beside him.
[ Steven Schussler, a Minneapolis
nightclub owner, said he distributed
some 17,000 pounds of confetti for
the celebration. He said that in
cluded 2,000 pounds of out-of-circu-
lation, shredded money from the
Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapo
lis.
Federal Reserve Bank officials es-
timated their contribution
amounted to millions of dollars in
old bills which had been taken out of
circulation, Schussler said.
Gov. Rudy Perpich gave most
state employees the afternoon off,
and many Twin Cities schools fol
lowed suit. Perpich proclaimed the
rest of 1987 “Twins’ Year,” and
promised individual days in honor
of each player and members of the
team management.
“It’s a sign of this state being to
gether, one family,’ Pohlad said
when asked about the holiday. “I
think that’s what’s great about this
state.”
Pitcher Bert Blyleven slapped
high-fives with fans and waved a
placard saying “Twins Number
One.”
With temperatures in the mid-
40s, a brisk wind held the thousands
of pounds of confetti in the air. Peo
ple were hanging from windows,
children climbed traffic lights, and
construction workers 60 stories
above the street waved their hands
and placards.
The parade nearly came to a halt
within minutes of its start in Minne
apolis as thousands of fans flooded
the parade route, blocking traffic.
Some 40 to 50 Hennepin County
sheriffs deputies were dispatched to
clear a path, but the procession
moved at a crawl through both
downtown areas.
Twins officials and players, many
of them wearing heavy fur coats and
gloves to ward off the fall chill, were
introduced individually to the crowd
at the rally.
“This is surely the best thing that’s
ever happened to the Twin Cities,”
said Minneapolis Mayor Don Fraser,
speaking from a podium atop the
red-, white- and blue-decked steps of
the Capitol.
Added Twins Manager Tom
Kelly: “We’re enjoying the heck out
of it. It’s been fun, and we appre
ciate the help you’ve given us all
year.”
The Twins defeated the St. Louis
Cardinals Monday night 4-2 to
clinch their first-ever World Series
Championship. It was also the first
time a team won the best of seven se
ries by winning all four games at
home.
Many of the fans along the parade
route were the same fans who made
playing in the Minneapolis Met-
rodome a terror for opposing teams.
Dickerson
big factor
in Rams' loss
CLEVELAND (AP) — Neither
coach wanted to talk much about
Eric Dickerson, probably because
both realized he could have made
a difference.
Dickerson, bothered by a sore
thigh and dissatisfied with his
$680,000 salary, was on the side
lines for most of the Los Angeles
Rams’ 30-17 loss to the Cleveland
Browns on Monday night.
“I don’t even know how much
he played, frankly,” said Browns
Coach Marty Schottenheimer. “I
didn’t pay any attention to him.”
That alone should have told
Schottenheimer that Dickerson
did not play much. For when
Dickerson was in the game in the
second quarter, he got everyone’s
attention, sprinting 27 yards for
the 1-5 Rams’ only first-half
touchdown.
Dickerson finished with seven
carries for 38 yards but did not
play at all in the second half.
“He’s done everything we’ve
asked of him,” said Rams’ Coach
John Robinson. “I thought he
played very hard when he was in
there. One of the problems we’re
having is hourly reports and
hourly questions.”
Robinson made no reference
to Dickerson’s salary dispute
when explaining why Charles
White got the bulk of the playing
time at halfback.
“Eric had a charley horse in his
thigh,” Robinson said. “At half
time, our doctors looked at it and
really felt like he shouldn’t play.
It’s the kind of injury we felt
would be progressive if he contin
ued to play.”
Dickerson agreed that the leg
was bothering him, but he also
said afterwara that he still wanted
to be traded.
“I don’t think I’m appreciated
with the Rams, and I think I
could go somewhere else where
my skills would be appreciated,”
he said. “There’s no doubt I can
play. They can write bad articles
about me, about me being
greedy, whatever. But they can’t
ever say that I can’t play the game
of football.”
The Browns’ defense was glad
to have Dickerson on the side
lines.
“Any time the best back in the
NFL doesn’t play a tremendous
amount, it’s always very gratify
ing for the team he’s playing
against,” said linebacker Eddie
Johnson. “Even when Eric was in,
he wasn’t that much of a factor
except for the touchdown run.
But I maintain that Eric Dicker-
son is the best running back in
football, and I’m aware that Wal
ter Payton is in the league.”
With Dickerson’s playing time
limited, the 4-2 Browns were able
to focus more carefully on Rams
quarterback Jim Everett, who
threw three interceptions and
might have thrown a couple more
if cornerback Hanford Dixon had
been able to hold onto them.
High school star no longer getting rich off touchdowns
tie the Top Ten(i
this tear, Theyl
eeek ago, were $1 iHOUSTON (AP) — When he was
0th place witH mthe ninth grade, Torrin Polk’s fa
rther offered him $10 for every
1 Ten consistsofl [touchdown the running back scored,
a, Tennessee,Ofi Polk promptly went out and ram-
Ue. Alabama,01-Wed for 19 scores on the freshman
Penn State, S# ptoam of the Houston Lamar
Michigan State. Redskins.
t, it was Flottl It was the last time his dad offered
■nnessee, Midiij P® money for athletic success,
a, Ohio State, ll “When I’d go up to my dad to re
state, Oklr.: toiud him of the money, he’d get
higan. ^ at PupPY'^og look on his face. He
which fell out of didn't think I could do it,” Polk said,
ks ago buliflP didn’t want to hassle him about
Independent School District with
1,244 yards, beating Houston Kash-
mere’s Rodney Hampton by 18
yards. Hampton is now a freshman
at the University of Georgia.
His sophomore year, Polk rushed
for 540 yards while missing four
games with a hip pointer.
“He finds an opening real well,”
said Lamar Coach Tom Nolen. “He’s
tough, and he’s elusive. He’s hard to
knock off of his feet.”
Polk’s longest run is an 85-yarder
for a touchdown against Reagan this
year. But Nolen said he best remem-
vee k dropped! 190 ’ so we settled for a new pair of bers the athletic moves Polk dis
‘ r .i, — „i i q o ,i : :
,,, to Indiana IT ' )oots ’ 1 guess my father didn’t ex
pect me to do as well as I did.”
5-f° 0, >ll> 185 pounds, has
surprised area football coaches as
well. At just over the midpoint of the
1987 regular season, he already had
J||/fl|£|passed the 1,000-yard mark and was
^rfCiliT thel state’s leading rusher in Class
i>A| He also was averaging two
Plk touchdowns a game.
st year, Polk led the Houston
played on a 38-yard jaunt against
Houston Worthing in the sixth game
of the season.
“He went into the hole and was
stopped,” Nolen said. “He then cut
back behind the line and went
around everybody for a touchdown.
It looked great.”
“The highlight of the season was
beating Worthing (35-15),” Polk
said. But even more special would be
a district championship, he added.
One of the highlights of the high
school season in Houston should be
the Nov. 5 clash that will showcase
Polk, the area’s top runner, against
Houston Lee and the Generals’ quar
terback, Peter Gardere, one of
Texas’ best passers.
Nolen said he believes Polk is
pushed by his lack of exposure in the
media. He has not appeared much
in print despite his back-to-back
1,000-yard seasons.
“I don’t go out and play for the
publicity, but for the team,” Polk
said. “I’ve always felt that if you do
something good, people will know
about it. A lot of people go gunning
for you when you’re in the paper.”
A lot of recruiters have been gun
ning for Polk.
He has been contacted by UCLA,
Louisiana State, Nebraska, Baylor,
Texas Christian and Texas, among
others. He has in mind going out of
state to play college football.
“I’m leaning hardest to UCLA
and thinking a lot about LSU,” Polk
said. “I’ve always dreamed of play
ing for a school with a national repu
tation.
“I want to leave Texas because of
all the negative publicity in the
Southwest Conference. I want to go
to a school with a running reputa
tion and a senior tailback. I don’t
want to wait until I’m a junior to
play. I want to go to a powerhouse to
see if I can make it there and then
see what happens after that.”
Polk also wants to go to a top aca
demic school, he said, “because foot
ball is not guaranteed. I could shat
ter my knee tomorrow, but I’m
going to have a degree to fall back
on.”
Polk also wants to credit his offen
sive line for his success this season.
He said his blockers and his father
are the ones who push him to do bet
ter.
“My dad (Charles Polk) comes to
all my practices and games,” Polk
said. “He’s my inspiration.”
>PPE
\AT10tl
AGGIELAJKD YEARBOOKS
ARE NOW HERE!
To Pick Yours up Bring Your I.D. to the English
Annex, 8:30 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Fri
day.
Plastic Covers are also Available for 500 each.
Marines
We’re looking for a few good men.
Captain R. Mahany 846-9036/8891
IMPORTED BEER SPECIAL
Wednesday 7-closing
YESTERDAYS
18 Imported Beers
on Special
<x
Happy 19th Birthday
Karen Smith
Love, Jeff
^5
meeting
October 26, 1987
• Ski exercises by Aerofit (wear loose clothing)
• "Steep and Deep" Warren Miller's latest ski film
• Mount Aggie T-Shirts
• Trip sign-up
• UNBELIEVABLE door prizes
Rudder 701 7 p.m.
Other
Southwest Conferences
Available
mm
404 tlniversity*Behind Shellenbergers*846-8905
WORDSTAR FOR THE BEGINNER
BYTE
BACK!
One - week classes
for those who want to learn
this popular word processing program
Nov. 2-6
Nov. 16-20
Dec. 7-11
5-7 p.m.
4- 6 p.m.
5- 7 p.m.
iviake sense
of computers
at the library.
COST: $35.00
Evans Library
LEARNING RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
For more information and registration forms, go to
LRD, Room 604 or contact Mel Dodd at 845-2316
Coupon
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INTERNATIONAL
HOUSE qf PANCAKES*
.RESTAURANT
2.99
Mon:
Burgers & French Fries
Tues:
Buttermilk Pancakes
Wed:
Burger & French Fries
Thur:
Hot Dogs & French Fries
Fri:
Beer Battered Fish
Sat:
French Toast
Sun:
Spaghetti & Meat Sauce
All You Can Eat $ 2"
BmI 6 p.m.-6 a.m.
no take outs must present this
Exp. 11/1/87
I International House of Pancakes
Restaurant
103 S. College Skaggs Center