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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1987)
Wednesday, November 18,1987/The Battalion/Page 9 Whitwell (continued from page 7) San Angelo State and Southwest Texas State and come to A&M. “I think I probably could have gone academic if I failed to earn a fischolarship in volleyball,” she said. “Volleybau is a sport you go into knowing you’re not going to make much money out of once you’re Fin ished with college. So of course my primary goal in college was to get a good education and a good degree.” Whitwell didn’t play much her freshman year, so she said there wasn’t mucn to do except study. “I started out with some really grades, and from then on it’s ?en sort of a habit to try to keep up the good marks,” said Whitwell, who was the valedictorian of her graduat ing class in high school. “It’s not as though I set a goal to be on the academic Southwest Con ference team, but it came as a result of the goals I already had — just make the best grade I could and shoot for A’s,” she added. Although Whitwell led Cotulla High School to the 3A Finals of the Texas state high school tournament and was named to the all-state team, she didn’t receive any volleyball scholarship offers from Division I universities. When she made her de cision to attend A&M, she also de cided to walk on with the volleyball team. “I felt like I could play a sport at that level,” she said. “I wasn’t really sure whether I was going to play bas ketball or volleyball. I guess that I just had the faith in myself. “I hadn’t even begun to learn all the skills of the game well and the strategies of the game, but I had all the physical and mental ability to do that. I felt like I had the athletic abil ity to play, but that it would be an amount of dme before I would see the court.” 60 oz Pitcher $1°° Hall of Fame FM 2818 North of Villa Maria, Bryan 822-2222 Must be 21 years of age Thursday & Saturday with coupon ■ expires Nov. 28 | I I I Lack of college football playoff laughable j I I I I Large 16” One Topping Thin Crust Pizza Free Delivery 846-0379 Best Pizza in Town Northgate 99 $5 + tax By Doug Hall Assistant Sports Editor When the topic of a college foot ball playoff comes up in the next sev eral weeks, as it most certainly will, take some advice and tell people that a playoff format would be totally ig norant. After thor-. oughly upset- yflewpomt mg your oppo- ■ww. r » sition with such a bold thesis statement, use these points in de fense of your argument: First, should the NCAA instill a playoff format, it would be the First practical move that the incredibly mismanaged organization has made in umpteen years. Such a move un doubtedly would cause heart attacks and health problems among athletic directors and coaches across the na tion. Second, a playoff would allow players, not press members or coaches, to determine which team should be voted tops in the nation. In doing so, the playoff would vir tually eliminate all post-season whin ing, sniveling and bickering by the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 teams that “shou/d have been No. 1.” Finally, argue that a college play off would destroy the all-important bowl system. Imagine what Jan. 1 would be like if a Pac 10 team didn’t whip it’s Big 10 opponent in the Rose Bowl, or if the Orange Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl didn’t determine the national champion. By now, if your opponent hasn’t recognized the sarcasm oozing out from underneath your shoes, it’s time to Find someone else to sucker. Let’s be for real. The college foot ball Finale is really a college football Fiasco. In order to determine the best col lege football team in the nation, games stretch from late August through early January. Thousands and thousands of hours are spent in search of the elusive No. 1 spot. The same distinction, incidentally, that certain college basketball and base ball teams achieve through playoffs each year. So why doesn’t the NCAA adapt a football playoff system? Because it would make too much sense, that’s why not. The format for a playoff, as has been proposed by prominent ath letic officials across the country, is al ready there. Don’t change or elimi nate the bowl games, but use those as preliminary brackets just as the NCAA does in the Final Four tour nament. There, schools across the country are split in to geographic re gions, with top-ranked teams as the host team in each division. The current bowl system accom plishes virtually the same thing. The Rose Bowl matches the top Pac-10 team (West) against the top Big-10 team (Northeast). The Cot ton Bowl pits the Southwest Confer ence (South) winner against another team from anywhere across the na tion. Similarly, the Orange Bowl takes the Big Eight (South, Southwest) representative and an unspecified opponent and the Sugar Bowl takes the Southeastern Conference win ner (Southeast) against another un specified team. The Fiesta Bowl changes the format slightly by taking two top-rated, unspecified teams. Thus, the original pairings are set for the top five games (10 teams). Choose the best three match-ups from the remaining bowl games (six teams) and then determine brackets that hopefully will pit your top two teams against each other in the fi nale. True, this 16-team format would tack on three games for the eventual top two teams, but so what. The NCAA could force teams to drop one of their non-conference pre-season games that are incredibly one-sided anyway. By starting the season a week later, teams will look sharper, play better and eliminate worthless games. People who oppose the playoff idea say additional games hurt the athlete’s attempt to study and gain an education. That’s trash. The regular season for most schools ends in late November, al lowing bowl-bound players several weeks to prepare for the upcoming team, study for finals and spend Christmas at home before final game preparations. Furthermore, the post-bowl games would all be played in Jan uary before the semester starts or in the first week of the term. Nobody cracks a book the first week of school anyway. But don’t expect the NCAA to make such drastic changes any time in the near future. Knowing that it takes them at least two years to produce results from an investigation, such playoff changes are likely to be a turn-of-the-century occurrence. If they occur at all. If nothing else changes, the NCAA should at least step in and al ter the laughable bowl “bidding” process. Supposedly, bids can’t be officially offered until this Saturday. I guess that’s why Notre Dame is “definitely” coming to the Cotton Bowl, why Miami is “locked in” to the Orange Bowl and Clemson is “certain” to get a bid for the Sugar Bowl It’s a joke. But that's no surprise, because so is the NCAA’s No. 1 for- Small 12” One Topping Thin Crust Pizza Free Delivery 846-0379 Best Pizza in Town Northgate 99 -h tax Contact Lenses Only Quality Name Brands (Bausch & Lomb, Ciba, Barnes-Hinds-Hydrocurve) White's injury may place Pelluer in starting role $79 00 $99 00 $99 00 <STD. DAILY WEAR SOFT LENSES \ spare pr. only $39®° « STD. EXTENDED WEAR SOFT LENSES \spare pr. only $49®° L STD. TINTED SOFT LENSES DAILY WEAR OR EXTENDED WEAR Spare PR at V2 price with purchase of first pr at regular price! Call 696-3754 For Appointment i vjw mpr® rd,a» 1 ;U expfl st ft IRVING (AP) — Steve Pelluer will get more work with the first team this week and could start at quar terback against the Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry said Tuesday. Veteran Danny White’s sore right wrist “concerns us,” Landry said. “Danny is a good quarterback and it’s a shame he’s had to face it (the wrist problem) all season,” Landry said. “The wrist really has no chance of getting better.” Landry said Pelluer, who hasn’t thrown a pass this season, will get equal work with the first team. “Usually the number-one quar terback takes the snaps in practice, but we will probably split ’em now,” Landry said. “I haven’t decided whether to rest White or not.” Not only would Landry not name White as his starter for Sunday’s game against the Dolphins, but he hinted he could possibly platoon quarterbacks if he thought it would work. “I’m not sure what will happen but we need to get Steve ready to play,” Landry said. “Even if Steve played I wouldn’t hesitate to put Danny in there if needed.” Dallas was 1-7 with Pelluer at quarterback last year when White suffered his broken wrist against the eventual world champion New York Giants. The shell-shocked Pelluer was sacked 38 times. Pelluer had a poor summer camp and suffered a concussion in a brief appearance before the National Football League strike. “Steve is grasping things better and throwing better and doing things well now,” Landry said. “I’ll move Pelluer very easily into a game now. The odds are very good you will see Pelluer. And if I do substi tute for Danny now it’s not because I think we have been defeated; it’s be cause I think we can win with Steve.” Landry said he also wouldn’t hesi tate to use third-string quarterback Paul McDonald, who has never played in a regular season NFL game for the Cowboys. “McDonald is a veteran who has the experience to run our system,” Landry said. “It’s always a possibility I could use him.” Landry said the Cowboys needed to pass better in the next two games because Miami and Minnesota (on Thanksgiving Day) are high-scoring teams. “They are very potent teams and we will have to be able to move the ball and score with them,” Landry said. He said opponents would be looking for Herschel Walker. “They’ll gang up on Walker,” Landry said. “Of course, that doesn’t mean you’re always going to stop him. He’s still capable of carrying 30 times a game. But we also have to get our passing game in gear.” Pelluer, a fifth-round draft pick out of the University of Washington, is in his fourth season. His biggest day in the NFL was against the New York Giants in 1985 after White was knocked out. Pelluer led the Cowboys on a game-winning drive that clinched the NFC East ti tle. “Steve has looked good since the strike,” Landry said. White pulled out a 23-17 overtime victory over New England on Sun day with a 4th-and-13 completion that led to the game-tying field goal. However, he also suffered two in terceptions that led to New England points. “Danny’s lack of consistency really concerns us,” Landry added. Sale ends Dec. 30,1987 Offer applies to standard Bausch & Lomb, Clba, Barnes-HInds lenses only. CHARLES C. SCHROEPPEL, O.D., P.C. DOCTOR OF OPTOMETRY * Eye exam & care kit not included 707 South Texas Ave., Suite 101D College Station, Texas 77840 1 block South of Texas & University IssTfijai Bell edges out Trammell forAL MVP honors NEW YORK (AP) — George Bell of the Toronto Blue Jays became the first member of a Canadian team to win the American League Most Valuable Player award Tuesday, edging Alan Trammell of the De troit Tigers in the voting. Bell, the first Dominican to be named MVP, beat the Tigers’ short stop by 21 points, getting 332 points to Trammell’s 311 in voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Bell will receive a $50,000 bonus from the Blue Jays. The outfielder’s base salary for 1987 was $1,285,000. Two association members in each of the 14 AL cities were eligible to vote. Bell received 16 first-place votes and Trammell 12. Minnesota outfielder Kirby Puck ett was third in the voting with 201 points, followed by Boston’s Dwight Evans and Milwaukee’s Paul Moiltor. Bell’s outstanding season was somewhat tarnished by a damaging slump in the final weeks of the sea son as Toronto battled Detroit for first place in the AL East. Bell struggled through a 2-for-26 finish as the Tigers swept the Blue Jays in the final three games to win the division. Bell, who is not always cooperative with the media, hit .308 with 47 home runs, a league-leading 134 runs batted in and 111 runs scored, the latter three setting club records. He also had a .605 slugging percent age and 16 game-winning RBIs. He staged a season-long battle with Oakland rookie Mark McGwire for the AL home run title before Mc Gwire Finished with 49. “He’s got a bad shoulder from carrying the rest of the ballclub all summer,” Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson said of Bell after the Ti gers beat the Blue Jays 1-0 on the fi nal day of the season. Trammell moved to the No. 4 spot in the lineup during spring training, after the defection of free agent Lance Parrish. Trammell re sponded by hitting career-high .343 with 28 home runs, 105 runs batted in and 205 hits. He was the first Tiger since Al Ka- line in 1955 to have 200 hits and 100 RBI in the same season. Trammell was 3-for-9 in the sea- son-ending series against Toronto, with one home run and two RBI. His home run tied the first game and his second RBI, on a ball through short stop Manny Lee’s legs, won the sec ond game. There were no excuses from Bell after the Tigers swept the final three games from Toronto in Detroit. “They gave me the pitches to hit. I missed them,” he said. Since becoming a full-time player with Toronto in 1984, Bell has aver aged .296 with 33 homers and 106 RBI. Bonfire Buddy Cake’s only $5.00 FARMERS MARKET SANDWICH SHOPPE CALL FOR INFORMATION 846-6428 Nets win first game at Rockets' expense EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ. (AP) — Orlando Woolridge scored 29 points and Otis Bird song made a go-ahead jumper with 49 seconds left as the New Jersey Nets won their first game of the NBA season, a 114-111 vic tory over the Houston Rockets Tuesday night. Birdsong scored only four points, but his 12-footer gave the Nets a 112-111 lead. The Rockets got 26 points and 10 rebounds from Ralph Samp son. Reserve center-forward Ben Coleman scored 18 points, one short of his career-high, and Buck Williams had 17 points and 13 rebounds for New Jersey. Coleman had three baskets during a 14-6 run by the Nets af ter the Rockets took their only lead of the third quarter, 77-76, on a rebound and dunk by Samp son with 5:20 left. Houston didn’t regain the lead until a jumper by World B. Free, who scored 17 points, made it 104-103 with 5:51 left. Free then passed to Cedric Maxwell for an easy layup 23 seconds later. After a free throw by Mike Gminski put New Jersey ahead 110-109 with 1:27 left, Sampson gave the Rockets their last lead with a bank shot at the 1:10 mark. Birdsong then put the Nets ahead for good with his jumper, John Bagley hit two free throws with 18 seconds left and the Rockets missed two 3-point at tempts in the closing moments. The Nets, buoyed by Wool- ridge’s 19 points, led 65-58 at halftime. U.S., Scotland head field in World Cup of Golf action KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — The United States and Scotland appear to be the leading contenders in the revived World Cup of Golf that re turns this week after a one-year ab sence. “There was no problem with the money. There was no problem with a venue,” Burch Riber, executive di rector of the sponsoring Interna tional Golf Association, said of the one-year break in play. “We simply needed to do some re organization to get back to what the World Cup is all about — interna tional goodwill through golf,” Riber said. “Now we’re on a solid footing, with a new board of directors, and we’re ready to go to the four corners of the world in the next few years,” Riber said. He lauded Ken Scofield of the Eu ropean PGA, now a board member, for his help in arranging for strong European participation in the World Cup. And it is from those countries, particularly Great Britain, that the once-dominant United States ex pects its greatest challenge, Ben Crenshaw said. “There are a number of very strong teams, particularly from Eu rope. We’ll have to play very well to get the Cup back,” said Crenshaw, who will play with Payne Stewart as the American team in the field of two-man teams from 32 nations that begin competition Wednesday. Both Crenshaw and Stewart played in the Kapalua International on the same Bay course last week, with Crenshaw finishing fourth. “It’s a definite advantage to have had a week of competition on the same course before going into the World Cup,” Crenshaw said. It’s an advantage, however, that is shared with Sandy Lyle of Scotland, who was third in the Kapalua tour nament and has a history of strong play at the Bay course. NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING The State Department of Highways and Public Transporta tion will hold a Public Hearing concerning the proposed highway construction on State Highway 21 from the Little Brazos River east to the Texas A&M Annex; State Highway 47 from the Texas A&M Annex south to Farm to Market Road 60; Farm to Market Road 60 from Farm to market Road 2818 west to the Brazos River; and Farm to Market Road 1688 from the end of existing Farm to Market Road 1688 south and west to Farm to Market Road 60. The meeting will be held in Assembly Room No. 2 at the Brazos Center at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 15, 1987. Maps and other drawings showing the proposed locations and designs will be displayed at the public hearing together with the Environmental Study. The State.Relocation Assis tance Program, the benefits and services for displacees, and information concerning the relocation assistance office will be discussed. Tentative schedules for right of way ac quisition and construction will also be discussed. All interested citizens are invited to attend this public hear ing. Verbal and written comments from the public regarding the projects are requested. Comments may be presented either at the hearing or may be submitted to Mr. Carol D. Zeigler, District Engineer, at: P.O. Box 3249, Bryan, Texas 77805, but must be received not later than 5:00 p.m. December 28, 1987.