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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 1988)
! Friday, March 25, 1988/The Battalion/Page 11 thletic dorms big reason hy Ag jocks are isolated “Johnny Be Good” is a soon-to-be- teleased motion picture about the collegiate recruiting trials and trib ulations of a high school football Star. The kid Itnows he’s rood and lie’s ready to ireap the se- ftufar re- vards of be- . g i athletically "jessed. He’s thinking lap”- *i r i s - 1 Rash, girls, , R 1 o t h e s , i ; girls, girls l( : and girls. Anthony Wilson Sports viewpoint T h Oll “novie is meant to be a spoof of the ecent recruiting shenanigans of sev- ral NCAA universities. However, r, Johnny’s attitude is not such a far- ‘^etched portrayal. Since some ath- , Jetic programs have been willing to ' provide recruits with almost any- ntr *hing they desire, many coaches and lumni have been willing to ante up. The NCAA has been cracking down on illegal enticements with a itiff penalties, but the “Johnny atti- ;ude” remains because of goodies kerned acceptable by the NCAA, specifically, I’m talking about ath- 'etic dormitories. A&M’s athletic dorm, Cain Hall, is he Taj Mahal of on-campus living >"ii [facilities, rivaling any athletic dorm n the nation. In comparison, I live n Crocker Hall, a simple little dorm sn the north side of Aggieland some orii Jvould refer to as hell. A quick run-down of Cain Hall’s idvantages include cavernous, car- lie (; peted rooms, free cable in every room, an elevator, glass enclosed study carrels complete with comput ers, suite-style bathrooms and the best eating facility on campus. (Please, don’t get me started on a comparison of Cain’s cafeteria and Sbisa.) A run-down of Crocker’s advan tages is even quicker: a roof and an air conditioner. Oh, I could mention the mildewed carpet in the corri dors, the chunks of missing paint on the walls of the cramped, compact rooms, and the public bathrooms which are reminiscent of the Nazi gas chambers. But what purpose would that serve? The point is that somewhere along the way we elevated the status of student-athlete above and beyond that of student and into the general neighborhood of demigod. Athletic dorms are an example of that men tality. Few NCAA division I schools are without athletic dorms. One excep tion would be A&M’s 1988 Cotton Bowl opponent Notre Dame. Notre Dame athletes are dispersed among the rest of the student body in the various dorms on campus. My roommate’s sister is graduat ing in May with a degree in philoso phy from Notre Dame. She knows Tim Brown, this year’s Heisman Trophy winner. He lives down the hall from her boyfriend. She says he’s an extremely gentle, modest, nice guy. Perhaps because Notre Dame doesn’t treat Brown like a superstar, he sees himself as a regular collge student and not as someone special. Perhaps because he sees himself that way, it helped him handle the Heis- AL process of elimination dictates Athletics should preside over West From the Associated Press Let’s figure out the American ague West this season by process elimination. Minnesota won’t win because divi sion champions don’t repeat, even if they win the World Series. Kansas ||lity can’t do it because the Royals never score. ■ Seattle has not reached .500 in its 11-year history and Chicago traded away its three best pitchers. Califor nia and Texas tied for last place and won’t jump to first. So that leaves the Oakland Ath- tics as the annointed team to beat, id that means they won’t win be- use the favorite — as Cleveland oved — never does. But Oakland will win this year. :aso ihe Athletics, whose 81-81 record ’’ was their best since 1980, made the ' i most improvement in a division Bhere mediocrity is almost enough. T R' hall goes well, this just may be the year the Athletics again learn to win 1 championships. Oakland Athletics 11 | Mark McGwire, Dave Stewart and some surprises led to success last sea son. Newcomers might push Oak- 11 land over the top this time. The 6-foot-5 McGwire stood tall est in baseball’s big year of home a ,lruns. He shattered the rookie record with 49 home runs, breaking Frank Robinson and Wally Berger’s pre vious mark by 11, and drove in 1 18 I runs. His homer total was the most l|ih the AL since Harmon Killebrew’s 0 J in 1969. Canseco (31 HR, 113 el RBI) and Dave Parker (26 HR, 97 RBI with Cincinnati) round out this modern version of Murderer’s Row. p What the Athletics need is a few f baserunners. Carney Lansford (.289, 19 HR, 76 RBI) can do it. They are heavily counting on rookie 263 at Class pinch runner in his major league debut last year, to replace Alfredo Griffin. |.| They hope former playoff hero | Dave Henderson can do the job in ^ center field. Glenn Hubbard, in ) from Oakland, is a solid second base- man. Stewart, who had never won more than nine games in a season, went ' 20-13 and tied Cy Young winner Roger Clemens for most victories in shortstop Walt Weiss (.2 AAA Tacoma), who off the majors. Welch (15-9 with Los Angeles) throws harder than AL bat- ^ ters see. Curt Young (13-7) and V f Steve Ontiveros (10-8) are probably l in the rotation and Storm Davis and Rick Honeycutt might battle for a spot. Starter-turned-reliever Dennis f Eckersley (16 saves) and Matt ’ Young, who struggled in the Na- Itional League after success in Seattle, make a good righty-lefty S bullpen. I| Getting Parker, Welch and Young cost Griffin and pitchers Jose Rijo and Tim Birtsas. Mike Davis (22 HR) went free agent to LA and Dwayne > Murphy was not rehired. Overall, the gains far outweigh the losses. Minnesota Twins j| The Twins, outscored 806-786 during the season, did not convince ||nyone that they’re real good. But phey showed they’re a decent team With some real good players — plus a lot of loud, Homer Hankie-waving pans inside the Metrodome. K The Fab Four of Kirby Puckett, |Gary Gaetti, Kent Hrbek and Tom prunansky was great. The Twins’ biggest asset, however, was their home park. Minnesota went 56-25 at the Metrodome and then won all six of its postseason games there; on the road, they were the Twinkies at 29- 52. Puckett (.332, 28 HR, 99 RBI), Gaetti (31 HR, 109 RBI), Hrbek (34 HR, 90 RBI) and Brunansky (32 HR, 85) are the nucleus. Shortstop Greg Gagne, whose scratch single drove home the tiebreaking run in Game 7 against St. Louis, and sec ond baseman Steve Lornbardozzi anchor the infield on the only AL team to commit under 100 errors. World Series MVP Frank Viola (17-10) is the winningest left hander in the big leagues in the last four years. Bert Blyleven (15-12) gives Minnesota a Big Two. Les Straker (8-10), who writes pitching secrets on his glove, is the third starter. H ow weak is the rotation? Aged Steve Carlton and Joe Niekro, each with ERAs over 5.00, are in conten tion for spots. Jeff Reardon’s 4.48 ERA was his highest ever, but his 31 saves were what Minnesota wanted. Kansas City Royals For all their pitching — Kansas City again led the West — the Royals continue to come up short because they have no offense. It’s somewhat surprising, consid ering they have some big names. But George Brett & Co. finished last in the AL with 715 runs, and sudden improvement is not likely. That could change if Bo Jackson makes the team and stays focused on baseball. He hit 22 home runs, but slumped below .200 after signing his NFL contract in July and could lose his left field job to rookie Gary Thurman, a consistent .300 hitter throughout the minors. Kurt Stil lwell, acquired in a trade that sent Danny Jackson to Cincinnati, might finally give Kansas City an offensive shortstop. Brett (22 HR, 78 RBI) batted .290, marking his second straight season below .300. It’s the first time he did that in his career. Danny Tar- tabull (.309, 34 HR, 101 RBI) is back after becoming the first spring train ing holdout in Royals history and rookie Kevin Seilzer (.323, 83 RBI) was sensational. Jim Eisenreich hit just .238 after tearing up the minors. Royals Man- ager John Wathan hopes Eisenr- eich’s comeback with succed as a DH. Kansas City could have used free agent Carlton Fisk. But add up the parts and the total equals not enough runs. Bret Saberhagen, 24 next month, stayed on his roller-coaster ride through the majors. He rebounded from a 7-12, injury-filled disaster and went 18-10. Charlie Leibrandt (16-11) wins with his off-speed stuff and Mark Gubicza (13-18) is dependable de spite his losing record, the result of no runs. Bud Black (8-6) starts and relieves. The big question is reliever Dan Quisenbei ry. He still has a rich con tract, but the Royals lost faith in him last season and Gene Garber (eight saves in 13 games) could squeeze him out. Texas Rangers The Rangers are older, but may not improve — especially if their young pitchers don’t improve. Bobby Witt (8-10), Edwin Correa (3-5) and Mike Loynd (1-5) were supposed to get better, not worse. Texas finished with the worst pitch ing in the West; the main man is still Charlie Hough (18-13), provided the 40-year-old knuckleballer doesn’t get nailed too many times by new balk rules. Mitch Williams (8-6) did well in 85 games and teams with Dale Mohor- cic (2.99 ERA, 16 saves) for a decent bullpen. Manager Bobby Valentine was disappointed to lose Steve Howe to an alqohol incident and Brad Arnsberg, a pitcher acquired from the Yankees, for the season because of an arm problem. Ruben Sierra, at 22, has all the makings of a big star. At 21, he hit 30 home runs and drove in 109 runs. Larry Parrish still hits home runs (32), Pete Incaviglia homered 27 times and Pete O’Brien is an unsung first baseman (.286, 23 HR, great glove). Texas needs Oddibe McDow ell (.241) to rebound. Seattle Mariners Manager Dick Williams guided the Mariners last year to their best finish ever at 78-84. Williams is now in his final season and would love to put Seattle above the break-even point, but it’s not likely. Phil Bradley, a .300 hitter for four seasons who never saw eye-to-eye with Williams, was sent to Philadel phia for Glenn Wilson and a young pitcher. Wilson’s power might bene fit in the Kingdome, although they’ll miss Bradley more. Alvin Davis (.295, 29 HR, 100 RBI), Ken Phelps (27 HR in 332 at- bats) and Jim Presley (24 HR) are the big bats. Harold Reynolds stole 60 bases and ended Rickey Hender son’s eight-year reign in the AL. Mickey Brantley (.302 in 92 games), Mike Kingery (.280) and Scott Brad ley (.278) are pleasant players. The Mariners’ pitchers finished in the middle of the pack and should wind up there again. Mark Langston (19-13 with AL-leading 262 strike outs) is a bonafide ace. Mike Moore (9-19) and Scott Bankhead (9-8 de spite a 5.42 ERA) are in the rotation. Ken Dixon, acquired from Baltimore for Mike Morgan, and Steve Trout, obtained from the Yankees for Lee Guetterman, might also be there. Edwin Nunez (12 saves) and Bill Wil kinson (10 saves) head an adequate bullpen. California Angels The Angels fell from grace quickly after coming within one strike of winning their first AL pen nant in 1986. Manager Gene Mauch has never won a championship in 26 years and may not get the chance this season; he became ill and is be ing replaced on an interim basis by coach Cookie Rojas. Wally Joyner showed he was no rookie flash by hitting 34 homers with 117 RBI in his sophomore sea son. Chcago White Sox Rich Dotson, Floyd Bannister and Jose DeLeon were traded away, weakening the fourth-best pitching staff in the AL. The White Sox got a lot of potential in return, although it won’t show this year. Purr THLATRLS THEATRE GUIDE man hype and pressure. Perhaps that all came about as a result of his interaction with nonathlete students. Student athletes are being shel tered and deprived of college expe riences vital to their growth as hu man beings. Just consider what a vanilla university Texas A&M would be if all engineering majors, or all Students Against Apartheid mem bers, or all transfer students lived in separate dorms. Some of A&M’s athletes seem sep arated from the rest of the student body. One friend of mine who’s an athlete once asked me where I lived. He had never heard of Crocker. I explained it was across the street from the Deluxe Burger Bar and La Taqueria. He had never heard of those places either. Not that knowledge of the loca tion of Crocker, Deluxe and La Tac are vital for the survival of Aggies, but those places are common hang outs. One Cain Hall resident admitted to me that the only buildings he knew on campus where Blocker, East Kyle, the Commons and Cain. That’s a shame. Like Notre Dame, it’s time more philosophy majors at A&M other than Kip Corrington got to know the athletes. A good start would be to stop putting athletes in a special sep arated category by placing them in a palace to live. The current system is separate and unequal. And believe it or not, the athletes, even with their luxurious dorm, are the ones miss ing out. 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