Wednesday, September 7, 1988/The Battalion/Page 9
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Maybe 0-2’s not all that bad;
valuable lessons come hard
Jerry
.ggli.
This might sound real
crazy to a lot of you Texas
A&M sports fans, but I think
it’s a good thing that the
Aggies are 0-2.
True, I am now a sports
writer and in the process of
being weaned from sports
fanatacism. But this
statement is not a backlash
of anger because my favorite
football team lost again.
A team that scoots
through the season
unscathed and undefeated
learns a lot of necessary
principles. But an injured,
defeated team learns the lessons that most don’t
want to learn.
Teams like Oklahoma and Miami know how to
savor a victory like few others. They also know how
the joy of victory promotes them to work just as hard
next season to reach the same goal, or a higher one.
It must feel great to work hard all year and win a
■ national championship like last year’s Miami
■ Hurricanes. Week after week they got closer to their
goal. The Hurricanes were so physically and
mentally prepared, that only in their game against
Florida State were they seriously challenged.
Winning also develops confidence in the victors.
Confidence is a necessary ingredient for a team to
win every week. Players on consistently winning
teams ususally have no problem being confident.
Goal orientation and confidence are valuable
things to learn for team members, but if that is all
they learn, they miss some other important
principles.
A&M hasn’t set any records by losing back-to-back
games, especially facing teams like Nebraska and
LSU. But two in a row is plenty to teach them some
things the Sooners may never learn.
If I can equate the effects of these two losses with
hardship, I’ll say tharhardship brings people
together.
The strain of facing a bad situation turns a bunch
of individuals into a unit. When a team has a deep-
down hope of being 13-0at season’s end, being 0-2 is
quite a strain.
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With the toughness of this year’s schedule, the
Aecries need to regroup now and give a solid team
effort like never before. About mid-season these
losses will be next to forgotten and Ags everywhere
will be concentrating on another trip to the Cotton
Bowl.
Loosing also develops humility, a trait that has
given way to outspoken boastfulness in much of the
sports world today. But I believe humility should
play a bigger role than overconfidence, even on the
football field.
Nothing spreads dissension on a team and among
the fans like the high-minded player that thinks the
other ten players are on the field just to watch. On
the other hand, a player who leads a team with
humility has the respect and attention of the other
players.
Loosing a few games does a good job of keeping
cockiness in check and developing real leaders.
It’s also easy to equate having an 0-2 record with
suffering, at least for a football team and their
serious fans. Suffering produces perseverance.
A team like the Texas Longhorns has been
learning perseverance for the last few years, and
A&M has had plenty of lessons in years past. Teams
like these are used to winning and have to bear down
to come back after losing.
After every loss, it’s tougher to play with
enthusiasm. For the Aggies, loosing their first two
games changes their season goal from national title
hopeful to Southewest Conference champs. The
SWC title is much less illustrious, but the Ags still
have to play 10 games to get there.
For the Aggies, fans and players, there is a
tendency to throw this season out and wait until next
year. But those who hang on and learn will be part of
something stronger in the future.
The last A&M team to lose its first two games of
the season was the 1979 Ags, that finished 6-5. They
beat Penn State the third game.
State worked their way back to finish in the Top
10 the next two years and won the national
championship in 1982.
A&M doesn’t have the football tradition of Penn
State, but they do have the potential to win a national
title in the next few seasons. And I’m sure that being
crowned best in the country would be worth a few
losses along the way.
Ranger sale on owners’ agenda;
proposed buyer not going to attend
lave 3i qElfi: o
ententd ARLINGTON (AP) —The pro-
k* a R josol sale of the Texas Rangers to
f collee; Frank Morsani’s MXM Corp. is a dis-
n. Ap; :ussion item on the agenda of the
? basi' major league owner’s September
•indc net ling in Montreal, but Morsani
iaid he is not planning to attend,
specifo?
tion off |We have not been invited,” Mor-
ncing iani sa id Monday. “We’re not an
essing ;)wr ' er - We didn’t expect to be in-
igatin. dted. We think it would be pre-
riding sumptuous on our part to assume we
:ould go.”
by cham
In a deal announced Aug. 26,
Morsani’s MXM Corp. agreed in
principle to buy 58 percent of the
Rangers from Eddie Chiles. The
agreement hinges on whether Rang
ers minority owner Gaylord Broad
casting decides to exercise its right of
first refusal to buy Chiles’ interest in
the team.
Under Gaylord’s 1984 purchase
of one-third interest in the fran
chise, the company has until Sept. 23
to match MXM Corp’s offer. Okla
homa City publisher Edward L. Gay
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MSC
Political
Forum
WHAT A TIME
TO GET INVOLVED
f
ic
£
k
Join Political Forum for oor n, .
General Committee Meeting 81
Wednesday, September 7
Rudder 701 7
7:00 pm
If there’s no baseball,
cricket will do just fine
By Cray Pixley
Assistant Sports Editor
An American sports writer in
London
Third part of a five-part series
Baseball and cricket are second
cousins once removed. If I couldn’t
have baseball while in England,
cricket would dojust as well.
That is — if the game could be fig
ured out.
During my stay in London I was
determined to figure out the sport
even though I already enjoyed the
game while being blissfully ignorant
of how to play.
It looked fascinating, and that was
enough for me. I had always heard
that an American could never fully
understand the complexities of
cricket. I believe that the English feel
it is not in our sporting makeup to
warm up to the sport.
I was not going to be discouraged
by these beliefs.
I decided it would be easy to learn
about cricket without anyone know
ing I was interested because it was
broadcast virtually everyday on tele
vision.
Most of the Americans I lived with
in London showed little interest in
Test matches and would have
cringed if they had known I cared.
On the sly, when everyone was
gone, I would switch on the matches
and contemplate the rules.
From day to day watching, some
light was shed on who was batting,
which team was up, and what hitting
the wickets meant. The game was re
petitive, but not all its secrets were
being easily unlocked.
At least watching the game be
came more comfortable. After a
while I stopped waiting for a home
run.
I was struggling with the game as
much as the England team was
struggling against the West Indies
team. When would either of us show
some progress?
Finally, I met some of my English
neighbors and had hopes that they
could shed some light on cricket.
They were helpful with the mechan
ics, but now what could be learned
about the scoring?
The scoring of cricket was a brick
wall I slammed against. My English
neighbors were even unsure of how
it was scored. How then would I ever
figure it out?
Maybe it wasn’t important to
know the scoring. I enjoyed cricket
without knowing which team won.
Perhaps this was because I didn’t
feel loyal to any one team.
Now that I had watched matches
from the safety of my living room,
the challenge was to go watch a
match in person.
The obvious choice would be to
watch the England club. But who’s
interested in the obvious?
The decision was made to watch
the Eton and Harrow cricket match.
Eton and Harrow are two of the old
distinguished public boys schools of
England. The cricket match between
the two was on par with the Texas-
Oklahoma football rivalry.
This match caught my interest
more than going to see the West In
dies hammer England. To watch
Eton and Harrow go at it would al
most be like being home at a college
ballgame.
The match was at Lord’s Cricket
Ground, home to the England team
seemed to be a serious confronta
tion. Play began in the afternoon
and in the midst of an all day picnic
outside the grounds.
There were very few serious fans
for either team, although each did
have cheering sections filled with
semi-interested spectators.
The real action was at the picnic
sights.
Parents had spread lavish blankets
under every sort of fruit, cheese
bread and Pimms beverages.
The members of the cheering sec
tions wandered in and out of the sta
dium to sample the food and then
the cricket.
The match lasted all day and
headed toward darkness with both
teams still playing. Eton looked
good. Harrow looked good.
I’d like to say who won, but as I’ve
mentioned, the scoring was not my
forte.
The Eton-Harrow match was not
of the win-or-be-shamed catagory,
but it was of interest.
The key to cricket I’ve learned is
not to worry about winning but to
enjoy the game.
Lady Aggies open home season
tonight against 3-1 Northwestern
lord has said his group probably will
announce its decision by mid-Sep
tember.
Although the proposed sale of the
American League franchise will be
on the agenda at the owners meet
ings Wednesday and Thursday, no
formal action is expected, Rangers
president Mike Stone said. Gaylord
Broadcasting’s role in the sale also is
expected to be discussed, Stone said.
“You can hardly talk about one
without the other,” he said.
By Jerry Bolz
Sports Writer
The Texas A&M Lady Aggie vol
leyball team plays their first home
game tonight at 7:30 in G. Rollie
White Goliseum.
The team faces the 3-1 North
western Wildcats of the Big 10, a tra
ditionally strong volleyball confer
ence.
A&M is 2-1 after weekend victo
ries over Lamar and the University
of New Orleans and a loss to Lous-
iana State.
Northwestern is currently on a
swing through Texas. In a tourna
ment last weekend the Lady Wild
cats defeated Baylor, Southwest
Texas State and Lamar but lost to
Texas. They played Houston last
night and play a tournament at Rice
this weekend.
The Lady Aggies are led by senior
outside attackers Cheri Steensma, a
preseason All-America candidate,
and Vivian Viera. Steensma leads
the team with 27 kills. Viera has 24
kills and leads the defense with 17
digs.
Also starting are middle blockers
Kelli Kellen, a junior, and sopho
more Amy Cumings.
New in the starting lineup are ju
nior setter Yvonne Van Brandt, re
turning from a knee injury, and
freshman outside attacker Sheri
Hermesmeyer.
This weekend, the team will face
Colorado State, Arizona State and
Ohio State in the Texas A&M Invita
tional Tournament.
Cheri Steensma
PI KAPPA ALPHA
^TaKe a ‘Watson the IJeJlL® Side! FaU
'Hush
1988
Aug 31
Sept 2
Sept
Sept
Sept
Sept
Sept 10
Sept 12
The WILD SIDE Party*
Volleyball sPIKEfest*
Bus Trip to Delta Downs
The James Dean Party*
Smoker at Carney’s Pub
Swamp Party*
Pool/Poker Party*
Date Party*
* at the Pike House
For Fall Rush Information:
Sam Noto 764-9155
James Martingano 696-1704
David Mooney 696-0081
James Lancaster 696-8989
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