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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1988)
: 5 I The Department of History of Texas A&M University invites you to the ninth annual J. Milton Nance Lecture in Texas History entitled Lady Bird Johnson and Beautification by Lewis L. Gould Thursday, November 17, 1988, at 8:00 p.m. Room 701 J. Earl Rudder Conference Center Texas A&M University College Station, Texas Reception following Compare these to the Fox Gland you’ll find they’re not more car. Just more money. Honda Civic DX is $ 1,350* more. Toyota Corolla Deluxe is $ 1,323* more. Nissan Sentra E is $ l / 024* more. The 1988 Volkswagen Fox GL is the lowest-priced German-engineered 4-door sedan in America, yet its styling, handling and engineering are anything but inexpensive. Come in for a test drive. You'll find that, compared to the sedans above, the 1988 Fox GL isn't less car. It's just less money. A lot less. German engineering. The Volkswagen way Fox GL Bud IE Ward Under the watertower in College Station 1912 Texas Avenue 693-3311 * Based on a comparison of competitive manufacturer's suggested retail price for 4-door models including air condi tioning, metallic paint and destination charges. Price excludes taxes, title and dealer prep. Equipment levels vary. $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 URINARY TRACT INFECTION STUDY Do you experience frequent urination, burning, stinging, or back pain when you urinate? Pauli Research will perform FREE Urinary Tract Infection Testing for those willing to participate in a 2 week study. $200 incentive for those who qualify. $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME STUDY $100 Wanted: Symptomatic patients with physician diagnosed $100 Irritable Bowel Syndrome to participate in a short study. $100 $100 incentive for those chosen to participate. $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 Are you suffering from a $40 mS TENSION HEADACHE?? *4? $40 $40 | 4 0 Call To see if you qualify for a medication survey. $40 finan- ^ 40 $ 4 q cial incentive for those chosen to participate <j} 4 g $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 SORE THROAT STUDY « 4 n Wanted: Individuals ages 18-70 with sore throat pain to par- $40 ticipate in 3 90 minute study to compare currently available £ 4 g over-the- counter pain relief medication. $40 incentive to $40 th° se chosen to participate. $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $40 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 tZ ASTHMA STUDY VZ $400 Individuals who have regular asthma to participate in $400 $400 an ast ^ ma stuc| y. $400 incentive for those chosen to tlnQ $400 participate. |Joo $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $400 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE STUDY Individuals with high blood pressure either on or off blood pressure medication to particiapte in a high blood pres sure study. $300 incentive for those chosen to participate. $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $1 00 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 FREE STREP THROAT TESTING For individuals 12 years and older with sore throat willing to participate in a study to treat strep throat. Diagnosed strep throat welcome. $100 incentive for those chosen to participate. $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 CALL PAULL RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 776-0400 Page 10 The Battalion Wednesday, November 16,1988 Secret of Permian’s success sought by eastern journalist 20 years of winning even impresses outsiders ODESSA (AP) — What is it about Permian High School’s victory-prone football team? And is varsity gridiron the amalgam that binds this West Texas community? An investigative journalist, a New Yorker named H.G. Bissinger III, found these questions intriguing enough to shelve his newspaper career for a year, load his family in a van and move south by southwest to do a book on the hard- driving Panthers, who haven’t endured a losing season in two decades. Call it a midlife crisis a few years early or the challenge of conceptualizing and executing a book unrelated to one’s experience. Call it what you will, but the 33-year-old Bis singer is here, meeting players and their families, attending morning and afternoon practices, booster club meetings, pep rallies, games home and away. “Last February, sitting in my hermetically sealed office, editing, I knew if I was going to do it, I’ve got to do it now,” said Bissinger, who had taken a post as a suburban section editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer after helping it win a Pulit zer Prize by exposing the hanky-panky in the city’s court system. Permian players and staff, who quickly learned to call him “Buzz,” have accepted Bissinger’s presence so thoroughly that he can weave unob trusively between broad-shouldered tangles of quarterbacks and tight ends on the practice field — yellow legal pad and red ballpoint poised, eyes darting, probing, ever observing. “It’s been fun for both sides,” said team trainer Tim “Trapper” O’ Connell, 30. “He has blended in, like a coach or something.” There on the beaten grass. Panthers chat com fortably with the writer, who’s dressed in dark “Permian played Marshall at Marshall and there was a visiting Russian delegation — each mem ber was given a Marshall Maver icks shirt, hat, miniature football. But they were given the worst seats. It was a big game — sold out — and I guess no one wanted to give up their seats. ” H. G. Bissinger III In vestiga ti ve journalist glasses, pink buttoned-down shirt, gray jeans, white socks and penny loafers, as if it’s the most natural thing in Odessa. Then a drill is called and the players scramble. “I do get hit coming out of the huddle,” Bis singer, who stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 145, said of a newly discovered avocational hazard. “It’s the one thing you want to avoid. You don’t want to get knocked down by one of these guys. “I got jostled once and my hat was askew, but I kept taking notes. The coach came over and straightened it.” The soft-spoken Easterner is an avid sports fan but never had professionally covered a foot ball game until Yale met Harvard last year — and he did that as a lark. So how did this outsider se cure the trust of these Texas teen-agers? “At first he bribed us,’’joked Ivory Christian, a 17-year-old senior and tri-captain of the team. “He took us all out to eat. I got to go to Long John Silver’s. He took some to a Chinese restau rant. We talked about a whole bunch of stuff — the future of the team, the community, how I felt about growing up here.” On a coast-to-coast drive two years ago, Bis singer was impressed by the close identification small Southern towns like Bessemer, Ala., have with their high school teams, he said. He never made it to Odessa, getting only as close as Big Spring, 60 miles away. But he had heard about Texas’ football obses sion, and after consulting with a friend who worked in the front office of the New York Gi ants, the Permian program became the obvious example for a book on nigh school football. A Reading, Mass., publisher, Addison Wesley, liked the idea and gave Bissinger an advance to finance his field research. Bissinger maintains there will be themes in his account of the Panther recognizable anywhere in the nation. Things he has seen here remind him of go-for-broke ice hockey in Minnesota and sim ilarly fierce basketball in Indiana. “It’s an awsome period in these kids’ lives. For many of them, it will be the most glorious period. They’re playing in front of 20,000 people,” he said. And their fans are solidly behind them. “Permian played Marshall at Marshall and there was a visiting Russian delegation — each member was given a Marshall Mavericks shirt, hat, and miniature football. But they were given the worst seats. It was a big game — sold out — and I guess no one wanted to give up their seats,” Bissinger said. “The Mavericks won by one point — 13-12. Their coach was apoplectic, and it was a victory for the community. The team bowed to the side lines, and the sideline bowed to the team; some thing very innocent about it.” It was Permian’s first loss of the season. But at Permian, local support is unique, Bis singer said. There were 50 people lining up when the ticket office gates opened one Monday morning, 34 hours before the start of sales at 6 p.m. Tuesday. “Some had camped out since Sunday at 11,” Said Bissinger. “It’s very festive. Some come out in their Winnebagos. ... It tells you they take foot ball very seriously.” And for those who miss the game, there’s the live radio coverage, followed by delayed tape of the entire action. “I really believe that football is the glue that holds together this community,” he said. “It’s the most stable thing the city has — certainly more stable than the economy.” Bissinger said the level of Texas 5-A high school football is far more sophisticated than what he has seen among Eastern high schools, and even a few universities. “Without a doubt, the execution and precision of this team is five times better than what I saw at “I really believe that football is the glue that holds together this community. It’s the most stabk thing the city has — certainlj more stable than the economy.’’ Bissingti the 1 larvard-Yale game. Of course, they’renoi big.” Returning to the question of what mat Odessa Permian so successful!, Bissinger aitr utes it to the chemistry created by comraim support and phenominal player dedicate “They work their butts off.” In records compiled since 1951, Permiant competed in more state finals — eight—tk any other high school. It had the best record; the 1970s, winning 109 and losing 14. Thisi cade, it hasn’t done too badly, winning 94,lost 10 and tying six through 1987. So far thisya they’re 7-2. Before a weekend loss, Permian* ranked fifth in the state by the Associated Pres Whether a take-no-prisoner quotation fns H.L. Mencken on the wall inspires or not,itn veals something about the coacnes. “Every normal man must be tempted,attime to spit on his hands, hoist the blacK flagandlt gin slitting throats.” Learning the meaning of the Permian diec “MOJO!,” lias proved more elusive. The chi can be traced back to the mid-1960s andsomea it was begun by some Texas Christian Universt students who may or may not have beenalumn While Bissinger said he’s not losing sleepov the MOJO mystery, he does sweat out yardage a Permian partisan along with the coaches s fans, said football program staff members. “During the Marshall game, Buzz would a things like, ‘God, I’m nervous,’ and ‘Oh dai shouldn’t he have caught the ball, shouldnthe: recalled O’Connell. “This was a big game. Allli had to do was take notes, and he’s nervous!" But throwing in his lot with the Panthers hi not spared him from jokes and public ridicule. During a call to his sister on Nantucket Islam off Cape Cod, Bissinger expressed his enthi siasm for involving himself in West Texas i telling her he had been taken along to fire a gii and was invited to take part in a popular pastil — snipe hunting. “It was explained to me that it was likesquim hunting where you take a big burlap bag and stick and beat the ground. And I suppose tires little animals — the snipes — with big eyes tb glow in the dark, run into the bag. “Everybody was in on it, the trainer, thf coaches, the players. I didn’t catch on until» sister said, ‘You idiot, there’s no such thing. " “He believed it, too,” laughed O’Connell,whj added in conspiratorial fashion. “We’ll try to p»! something else on a Yankee.” ATTENTION: 1 RECOGNIZED STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY! Find out how your organization can earn money and promote itself to the campus community. Send a representative to one of the fill Night Fair organizations meetings. 7:00pm or 8:30pm Wednesday, November 16 402 Rudder (you will be able to register your organization at this time) 4rAII Night Fair The r swept R losing c day. Both records Thev races fo the first The i for the / 400-me races ai raced at had alre In ex! counted score cl wise. 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