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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1989)
y The Battalion SPORTS Wednesday, October 18,1989 Tom Kehoe Sports Editor 845-2688 Quake cancels A’s-Giants Rescheduling of Game 3 will be decided today SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The World Series was postponed Tuesday night when an earthquake shook northern California shortly before gametime, damaging and forcing evacuation of crowded Can dlestick Park. A decision on when and where Game 3 of the first-ever Bay Bridge series between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants will be played will not be made until Wednesday. A section of the Bay Bridge itself collapsed. Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent said there were cracks in the stadium and the extent of damage would not be known until later in the night. No ma jor injuries were reported. One possibility was that the series would be moved back to Oakland, where the A’s won the first two games Saturday and Sunday. A section in the upper stands in right field sepa rated by about six inches, and several cracks ran down the concrete aisle and broke off. Fans were carrying them home as souvenirs. “The people two to three rows in front of me had big pieces of metal several inches, fall on their heads,” said David Guzzetti, a city council member from Chico, Calif. “The light towers were just rock ing back and forth. I couldn’t believe it.” The quake registered 6.5 to 7.0 on the Richter scale 10 miles north of Santa Cruz. It shook build ings in Sacramento, 95 miles to the northeast, and was felt as far away as Reno, Nev., 225 miles to the east. Aftershocks continued at least 45 minutes after the quake struck at 5:05 p.m. PDT. Players stayed on the field for 30 minutes before the game was post poned. Many of them left hand-in-hand with their families. “I was sitting on the bench and at first I thought it was the fans stamping (their feet),” said Oakland manager Tony La Russa. “Then right away I real ized what was happening.” “You can’t stop concrete,” Oakland outfielder Dave Henderson said, “Forget the World Series.” “I try to be a big tough guy,” said 6-foot-3 umpire Eric Gregg, “but I was scared senseless. I couldn’t fit under the table and finally I went to stand under some arches.” Oakland slugger Jose Canseco was standing with his wife when the tremor hit. He said he looked up at fans yelling at him and thought, “Jeez, look at that. They still want us to play.” An hour after the earthquake was felt, about two- thirds to three-fourths of the sellout crowd of 60,000 were still in their seats, but police began evacuating the upper deck about 5:40 p.m., 10 minutes after the game was scheduled to start and moments after a second aftershock was felt at the ballpark. Slocum warns of overconfidence as A&M readies itself for Baylor By Richard Tijerina Of The Battalion Staff Cowboys trade Pelluer, get Palmer IRVING (AP) — Dissident hold out quarterback Steve Pelluer, a for mer starter who didn’t get along with the new Dallas Cowboys’ re gime, was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday for draft picks in the 1990 and 1991 seasons. The wheeling-dealing Cowboys, who traded Herschel Walker to Min nesota last week for five players and seven draft picks, also picked up running back Paul Palmer from the Detroit Lions for a 10th round pick in 1990. Then, just minutes before the tra ding deadline ended, the Cowboys traded running back Darrin Nelson, obtained in the Walker trade, to the San Diego Chargers for Minnesota’s sixth round pick in 1990 and the Vi kings’ second round pick in 1991, ac tivated by conditions in the Walker trade. Minnesota got a fifth round, 1990 pick from San Diego. The picks for Pelluer were be lieved to be a third round pick in 1990 and a second in 1991 that See Cowboys/Page 7 Texas A&M Coach R.C. Slocum has seen it before. The Aggies come off a big win, then have to play a team that they should beat the next week. But so far in 1989, Slocum hasn’t liked the result of that next game. • Game No. 1: The Aggies, un ranked in the country, upset No. 7 Louisiana State. They jump into the national polls at No. 15 the next week, and travel to Washington to play the unranked Huskies. They lose 19-6. • Game No. 4: The Aggies re bound from their loss to the Huskies with back-to-back wins of 44-7 over Texas Christian and 31-14 over Southern Mississippi. They’re back to No. 19 and have some momentum going into a game in Lubbock against Texas Tech, but come out on the short end of a 28-24 game. • Now. The Aggies are coming off a huge 17-13 win over the Hous ton Cougars, one of the teams that will play a major role in determining the Southwest Conference championship. Next up for No. 23 A&M is Baylor in Waco. Both teams are 2-1 in SWC play. Slocum’s worried. “Baylor is one of those teams to me that looks very good at this stage because of the talent level they ha ve,” Slocum said Tuesday. “I have said throughout that I thought they were one of the teams that I’d pick to contend for the championship. “They’ve got a talented defense and Brad Goebel has always played well against us. I’ve seen him do some remarkable things.” Last year, Goebel burned A&M with two second quarter touchdown passes to wide receiver Bobby Jack Goforth. However, the Aggies came back and won 28-14. Slocum’s biggest worry right now is which team will show up in Waco. Will it be the flat one that traveled to Seattle and Lubbock, or the sharp one that demolished TCU in Fort Worth? “The biggest problem our players have is the same as I said earlier this year — they are victims of their envi ronment,” Slocum said. “Their girlf riends, their classmates and their Texas A&M at Baylor • Site: Floyd Casey Stadium (cap. 48,500) • Kickoff: 1 p.m. • Ranking: A&M (23rd), Baylor {—) • TV/Radio: No TV ; KTAM (AM 1240) parents are still talking about the Houston game. There’s something that’s really frightening about that because you just can’t survive doing that.” That may be what happened to the Aggies earlier in the season away from home. And after their huge win last weekend, it wouldn’t be hard for them to come out flat against Baylor. “You can’t dwell on those suc cesses very long,” Slocum said. “They walk around with their chest stuck out and it’s not too long before they usually get it caved back in.” Slocum said the motivation for the players to play the Bears has to come Froih A&M’s coaches. “You’ve just got to go out of your way and do those little things to get your players’ minds off that last game and back on this game,” he said. “It helps a little because of the rivalry we’ve had with Baylor over the years. I think our players have a respect for Baylor. “They have a great feel for what this game will be like.” Slocum said one of the problems players have is not taking the oppo nent seriously, especially when the teams they’re about to face have lost to teams they’ve already beaten. The same Baylor team the Aggies will play on Saturday lost to Houston 66-10 two weeks ago, but Slocum said that doesn’t mean much. “They also kicked Tech around pretty good too, and we lost to Tech,” Slocum said. “Those are the kinds of arguments that kids hear and you’ve got to get that stuff out of their heads. It gets plumb ridiculous how those comparative scores look.” Still, Slocum stressed his Aggies can ill afford to come out flat in Waco, where they’ve only won once since 1977. Both teams have one conference loss, and Saturday’s loser likely will be eliminated from the SWC championship race. “One’s got to go and one’s got to stay,” Slocum said. “Whichever group wants to stay the most, will. That’s what it comes down to. You go game to game like that. “If we’re man enough or team enough, then we get to stay. If we’re not, then we pack up and go home, pick up the pieces and see where we go from there.” Since athletes are helping A&M, why not give them a salary? Congratulations. You are a blue chip recruit athlete for Texas A&M. It doesn’t matter what sport they want you for. You’re just excited because you get the chance to attend a University. i,. . You’re poor. Now you can take advantage of the University and get a free ride. Or is the University taking advantage of you? The better your athletes, the better your program. The better your program, the more people show up to watch your athletes. The more people who show up, the more money your university gains. To entice these students to attend their university, recruiters offer numerous scholarships. There are scholarships for every sport imagineable. For the sake of ease though, let’s look solely at the football athlete. Although every football player doesn’t Clay Rasmussen Sports Writer a pc of these less fortunate athletes can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that their child can get a college education on the merit of their athletic preformance. But what happens when he needs some little sundry or wants to enjoy a night out with his friends? I would tell any student who was whining about not having enough money to go out and have fun to get a job, but what do you tell the football player who’s in class all day and working out with the team during the evenings and weekends? Jt^s kind of hard to flip burgers part-time after working out all day. And do you tell Coach R.C. Slocum you can’t play Saturday against Baylor because your manager just won’t give you time off? Why does the NCAA prohibit student athletes from earning a small salary for contributing to the university? Texas A&M is filled with student workers. Amateur journalists earn a salary (small as ours may be) to write. In fact, proceeds from advertisements pay our salaries. So why not give amateur athletes a cut of athletic revenues? Revenue from the gate at Kyle Field can range anywhere from $250,000 to $760,000 per game. The Aggies play six home games. That’s more than $3,000,000 a year and that doesn’t include student tickets, concessions or novelty items such as Aggie shirts, hats, pennants, etc. That’s from football games alone. I know what you’re; thinking. If we start paying amateur athletes^ then they become professional. Does that mean I’m a profession! journalist? I think my editor would be quick to disagree. The Eastern Bloc countries have been supporting amateur athletes for decades. Why do you think the Soviets and East Germans dominate the Olympics year after year? Their athletes’ sole jobs are to perform well in amateur events. You know, sort of a public relations tactic. I can hear a Moscow P.R. firm: “See how veil our athletes perform. They are best in world! Come to Moscow U.” I’m not saying that we should give athletes Porsches or jobs that pay $ 10 an « hour to watch the grass grow. I’m talking about a student worker salary. I’m not naive. I know that paying athletes a student salary wouldn’t put an end to slush funds, booster payments or NCAA violations. I’m not asking you to believe that either. There’s going to be a lot of people that will say tuition, books, room and meals are a huge incentive for athletes. Supporters of the NCAA’s no-pay policy will say that tuition is more than adequate payment for these athletes. I disagree. The NCAA allows the universities indirectly to take advantage of them. Plain and simple. Any official that says scholarships are more than enough compensation for athletes either doesn’t remember how expensive college can be or is just intent on milking the athlete for all he’s worth. CLASSES 93, 92 & ❖ RGGI ELAND PICTURES ^ % ARE BEING TRKEN NOU! % ❖ ❖ £ FINAL UJEEK FOR £ ^ FRESHMEN AND ! t SOPHOMORES! 1 ^ HR PHOTOGRAPHV ^ ^ 707 TERRS, SUITE 1 20B ^ HOURS: 9am-5prn <0> X MONDHV-FRIDHV -O' t ^ SUPERCUTS The Nation’s #1 Hair Styling Salon Now open in Culpepper Plaza! 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