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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1988)
I February 29, March 1,2,3,4 Commons: 10 am to 8 pm MSC: 10 am to 6 pm SBISA: 10 am to 6 pm Zachry: 10 am to 5 pm Sponsored by Aggie Blood Drive Another service of Alpha Phi Omega, Student Government & Omega Phi Alpha He? 111 ■ vJ ■ tt " A I j*'i******** #Allj I i^Sr 111 tr After 10:00 p.m. for $8.99 Pi^a -Hut, DELIVERY Pleose mentfon coupon when ordering. One coupon per party, per visit at participating Pizza Hut locations. Not valid with any other Pizza Hut offer. 1/20<J cash value. Limited Delivery Where Available. Expires end of semester. CALL 693-9393 Late Night Special # 2 Any Medium 11tem Pizza After 10:00 p.m. for $5.99 Pi^ca -Hut DELIVERY Please mention coupon when ordering. One coupon per party, per visit at participating Pizza Hut locations. Not valid with any other Pizza Hut offer. 1/200 cash value. Limited Delivery Where Available. Offer expires end of semester. Page 12AThe Battalion^Thursday, March 3, 1988 Soccer team thrives after drop to extramural status 0 li fen in By Stephen Masters Reporter In European countries, it’s easily the most popular professional sport around, drawing millions of fans per season. In America, it’s more popu lar indoors professionally, with thousands of spectators. At Texas A&M, the team considers 50 or 60 a good showing. The Texas A&M Men’s Soccer Club was formed in the fall of 1982. The varsity soccer program was dropped during reorganization of the athletic department after Jackie Sherrill became athletic director. Now the team is a part of the Texas Intercollegiate Soccer League along with six other teams. Texas Tech, even though they moved out of our conference. We play them according to the football schedule. Last year the football team was at Tech, so we were too,” he said. The other teams in the League are Southwest Texas State Univer sity, Stephen F. Austin University, Sam Houston State University, Texas, Baylor and Rice. Baldwin also claimed that thei A shi[ te “The coach was offered a Division II bid, but he wanted Division I or nothing, so he got nothing,” said John Baldwin, president of the soc cer club. “He left and they dropped the varsity program so we became a club team.” Although the 16 to 20 member team is primarily oriented for fall seasons, they have competed in two tournaments this semester and will compete in two more — the South west Conference tournament, which they will host in early April, and Southern Methodist University’s Lotto tournament. “Last semester we were fourth in the conference tournament,” Bald win said. “We lost to eventual champ Sam Houston State in the semifinals, 2-1. They used to be a Division II school but dropped to club status. Most of their players were recruited when they were Division II though and they stayed on with the club team. “We don’t strictly play club teams though. We played in a tournament with Midwestern, a Division II school, before school even started.” players don’t always try out becaulMu the team is organized as a clubijdia stead of in the athletic departmej He said some of the best players isi ternational students, don’t try otT because they think they don’t fit So He stressed that everyone is lx - come to try out for the team The difference between athlei a department teams and club teams ( simple to Baldwin. “Basically, the main different! | are money and publicity,” he sail tit “We have one person workingintBe extramural ol iic e loi us, but she® e to cover all the other extramui sports too. We put up livers aroui campus, but it’s really hard to people’s attention.” hi The work involved in extramural sports took it’s toll on grades of the players in the fall, Baldwin said. “Last semester we played in too many games, about 15 or 16, and grades suffered,” he said. The team receives a budget $1,200 from the extramural offn but has to earn additional nton through fund-raisers because th have to pay for travel, accomod tions, tournament entry lees, refi ees and any other possible teamt tei penses. This does not leave mi money for a coach. “Last semester the Sam Houston State coach devised a round-robin schedule for the teams in the League, so now we play according to that,” Baldwin said. “We always play “We had a lot of people show up for tryouts, between 60 and 70 play ers, but had to cut most people to make the team more competitive. Now we’ve got a problem with grades, so anyone that has a soccer background and is interested should contact us through the extramural office.” “We don’t have a coach becac we just don’t have the money,' said. “This makes it even harder us, because it's difficult to evalua players while we try to get intosha to play. We do have a strategy what we want to do, hut we'dbea better if we had someone on sidelines to evaluate the team and dividual players. I think that's tl hardest part about being a di team.” Polo gaining in popularity at A&M; players expound on game’s virtues By James Johnson Reporter Admittedly, horses are usually synonymous with Texas, but what few may realize is that the equestrian sport which Argentina has histori cally excelled in is finally gaining popularity in the Lone Star State and at Texas A&M. Collegiate polo, a ball game played on horseback in an arena of no specific diameters, is a team sport consisting of three players. The tea mmate’s purpose is to drive a ball through his opponent’s goal posts with long mallets during four peri ods of play, similar to the game of hockey. The only major difference between regular polo and collegiate (arena) polo is that regular polo is played in six periods instead of four. Because of more formidable weather conditions, A&M, like most other southern teams, gets more practice time on outdoor fields. According to Michael Ross, presi dent of the A&M polo club, that could sometimes serve as an occa sional drawback since arena polo is the standard type that is played col- legiately. “Since teams up north don’t have as comfortable weather conditions, they get much more practice in an arena which gives them a distinct ad vantage in competition,” Ross said. He added that polo is one of the more expensive sports on campus, mainly because of the use of live stock and the numerous forms of protective equipment such as polo boots, knee pads, mallets, and hel mets. However, he predicts the costs of the sport to possibly decrease in the future since some cattle prices are falling. Over recent years, the sport has also undergone a great expansion at A&M, according to Ross. “When I started here in 1981, A&M was essentially the only South west Conference team,” he contin ued, “and since then, the conference has added SMU, Texas Tech, and the University of Texas.” The four teams are joined by Col orado State University and Tulane to comprise the nation’s central divi sion. Ross foresees the 1988 men’s and women’s teams as pretty confident about their upcoming seasons. The Aggie men’s team won the SWC and Central Division title last year. Itended the season in the nation’s top five behind the University of California at Davis, a perennial power who won the championship last year. The women’s team was not quite as successful, but are working very hard this season and are looking competetive, Ross added. Kristin Matlack, a Fort Worth freshman said, “I’ve been riding horses all of my life and I wanted to continue doing something associated with them. “I figured anyone could swiD§ J allet,” she laughed, “and eif I be mallet,” she laughed, though the club only currently M about 25 members, it’s a goodwaB meet people and have fun.” I q Currently, the men’s teameoii';M arr of Vicente Borrero, l orn Hams Wesley Sinor, while Donna ShiflMo 3 Portia Branson-Swales, ReneSewB t0 | and Matlack will represent the \ at 4(j en’s team. I pj. In addition to the sport’s extimigs mural schedule, the polo dubaBdi plans to introduce the game to] community. Toward the end B“j March, the group plans to hoi p h | ie benefit fund-raiser at their 1 ho| es game-site in Freeman Arena, locaB q on Turkey Creek Road. pj w tOiw During the benefit, a demonsirL p ar tion of the game will be given ai L t ) 1( with pony pictures available forB“p youth of the community. p,. w; Both teams practice on the AiB polo field on Mondays from G-i 1 ] the evening. Ross added that theij ganizational meetings are heldt every third Wednesday for ested competitors. He knows that once the sponl exposed to the public more, peojfc will come to appreciate the ex nua | ment of polo just as he hasinB e agi past. Bmt; “The sport itself is addicti'Bakii Ross concluded, “I’ve played I n 0 football, baseball, and basket teams before, but I enjoy polo m g] 3a than any other sport.” B 2A N first-t Bell hot over move from outfield to DH No with t 35-0, DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — George Bell, one of baseball’s most volatile players, swaggered onto the practice field for the first time Wednesday, still angry at the Toronto Blue Jays decision to make him a designated hitter. “After the season I had, I come here and have no job,” Bell said. “That’s hard. But spring training is long. We’ll see what is going to hap pen.” Bell, the last Toronto player to ar rive in camp, met with Manager Jimmy Williams for 15 minutes prior to practice. Neither revealed what was said, but the DH situation clearly was not resolved. A day earlier, Bell said, “There’s going to be a bomb explode” and openly challenged his manager. “We’ll see who lasts longer with our organization — him or me,” Bell said. “I think we fight.” Bell, who is from the Dominican Republic, backed off that harsh crit icism Wednesday, but would not apologize for what he said. Nor is he ready to accept the switch. The Blue Jays plan to move Bell, the American League’s Most Valu able Player from left field to DH. That would keep him fresh, and en- Millai Th able Toronto to get one of its youw )e j n outfielders into the lineup, theteB q c says- Mesqi As part of the plan, Lloyd MoseBme will be shifted from center field« 7^ left. Moseby is complaining abB arc | the move, and that’s another matiB j n “I think time is a healer,” WilliaflAustii said. “But that may be wishful thiBome ing in Bell’s case.” Bnvil It might take more direct act® [ ai from Williams, who last year jguard Bell’s respect by slamming a batlijrcer-li helmet at his stars’ feet following Wear, Dm altercation. Bell recently signed a three-yei| 0 rth $5.8 million dollar contract. The Economics and Safety of Nuclear Energy: A Public Forum Presented by TAMU Green Earth Society Thursday March 3, 1988 at 7:30 pm Memorial Student Center room 201 SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Bryan Baker President of the Committee for Consumer Rate Relief Jeff Pruitt Gulf States Electric Utilities Stephen Fenberg Editorial writer for Houston Post and Houston Chronicle Tom Smith Texas State Director of Public Citizen Dr. Frank Iddings Professor Emeritus, affiliated with the Committee for Energy Awareness Dr. George Zabaras Expert in gas-liquid two phase-flov