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1991
The Battalion
SPORTS
5
riday, July 6,1990
Sports Editor
Clay Rasmussen
845-2688
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Kyle
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Sports Writer
Sport soothsayer
ponders All-Star
voting, season
l3trange choices,
surprises and flops — it’s time for
baseball’s annual parade of stars,
the All-Star game.
This year’s game is once again
tainted with players having sub-
par years, but the All-Star break
at least provides a good preview
of what to expect in late
Septmember and October.
The fans did a better job of
selecting true All-Stars than in
years past, but I still harbour
some doubt as to their choices.
A tip of the hat to the fans
responsible for the selection of
first-time starters like Cleveland
catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., Seattle
outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. and
Philadelphia outfielder Lenny
Dykstra.
But come on, there’s
something wrong with a system
that allows a .224 hitting
shortstop like St. Louis’ Ozzie
Smith to start ahead of Cincinnati
shortstop Barry Larkin, who
comes in at a .317 clip.
Something amiss
There’s definitely something
amiss when the league leader in
home runs, RBls and slugging
percentage doesn’t get the
starting nod.
However, that’s exactly what
happened to Detroit slugger Cecil
Fielder.
He lost out to the Oakland A’s
first baseman Mark McGwire,
who sports a .232 batting average
and has seven less homers than
Fielder. v , ,q ...
Every year the fallacies of fan
voting are clearly evident but no
one ever comes up with a better
idea. Surely a system could be
devised where fans, players,
coaches and the media could have
an equal say as to who starts.
While the three day break in
the regular season breeds some
controversy, it also gives
soothsayers, such as myself, a
chance to analyze the first half of
the season and look to the future.
Coast-to-coast Series
The major disappointments of
the 1990 season are the Kansas
City Royals and the San Diego
Padres. Both teams put together a
group of overpaid players through
free agency and blockbuster
trades and both have failed
miserably.
Some surprises thus far have
been the resurgance of the
Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago
White Sox. The Reds have been
hot since day one and the Sox are
coming on strong to challange the
A’s in the American League
West.
Perhaps the biggest turnaround
occurred in mid-season. The New
York Mets have been on fire
since giving manager Davey
Johnson his walking papers. The
team, winners of 21 of their last
24 games, has developed a
winning attitude under new
skipper Bud Harrelson.
The Mets should give the Reds
a fit in the National League
playoffs and look for Oakland’s
experience to take care of the
young and feisty White Sox. A
coast-to-coast World Series
involving the Mets and the A’s
could be in the works.
If the first half is any indication
of how the rest of the season will
go it’s going to get even hotter
this summer.
West Germany seeks revenge
Rematch of ’86
World Cup Sunday
ROME (AP) — How confident is
Franz Beckenbauer? So much so
that he’s predicting his term as coach
of West Germany’s national team
will end in a World Cup title.
Like his counterpart in Sunday’s
final, Argentina’s Carlos Bilardo,
Beckenbauer has led his team to a
second appearance in the
championship game in as many tries.
In 1986, Argentina won 2-1.
This time, Beckenbauer is certain
it will be different.
“We are now prepared to face Ar
gentina and to try to avenge the
1986 defeat,” he said. “Argentina
did not improve since then, while
West Germany is much stronger. We
are very confident this time.”
The Germans are in a World Cup-
record third successive final.
“Italy was the best team in Spain
and Argentina was the strongest in
Mexico,” Beckenbauer said of the
last two finals. “This time we want to
show we are the best. We want the ti
tle and we shall get it.”
So, of course, does Argentina,
which can equal two achievements of
its South American rival, Brazil. It
can win for the third time in four
tournaments — Argentina also took
the title in 1978 — and can become
the only other non-European team
to win the championship on Euro
pean soil. Brazil did it in Sweden in
1958.
“This is my last World Cup and I
want to bid farewell in style,” said
Argentine captain Diego Maradona,
who has played 75 international
games for Argentina, scoring 32
goals, including five in Mexico.
But he has none here and knows
he needs to come alive on Sunday.
“I am too proud to give up my
crown just like that,” Maradona said.
“I feel flattered when they say that I
am the best, and on Sunday I will do
my best to deserve that title.”
Argentina goes into the game un
dermanned, with four players sus
pended. The most important are
forward Claudia Caniggia and de
fender Julio Olarticoechea, who
were particularly outstanding
against Italy in the semifinals.
“It is a concern, a major concern,”
Bilardo said. “But there is nothing
for us to do about it but find substi
tutes and play our best. There are
several moves that I am consid
ering.”
Regardless, the key will be having
Maradona at his best. Not having
Caniggia to help him increases the
difficulty for Maradona. But it also
heightens the challenge.
“Maradona is a great player who is
at his best in such games as these,”
Beckenbauer said. “We must be pre
pared for Maradona at his best.”
West Germany probably will be at
full strength, although Rudi Voeller
left the semifinal against England in
the first half with a calf injury.
Garrison unseats Graf at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) —-
Zina Garrison didn’t have a prayer
against Monica Seles. Not a shot in
the world of stopping Steffi Graf.
Beat Martina Navratilova in Wimb
ledon’s final? Get real.
Maybe it’s time for the surreal af
ter Garrison’s daring, acrobatic at
tack on Graf, Wimbledon’s two-time
champ, in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 semifinal
victory Thursday, two days after
zapping Seles, the grunt and grind
teen machine, in three sets.
Garrison is on a fantasy trip that
not even Navratilova, looking re
markably rejuvenated in a 6-3, 6-4
semifinal romp over Gabriela Saba-
tini, may be able to derail.
So what if Navratilova is salivating
over the thought of gobbling up a
record ninth Wimbledon singles ti
tle. So what if Garrison has won only
one match in 28 against Navratilova
over the past eight years.
If Garrison can beat Graf — win
ner of 19 straight Wimbledon
matches, a champion in nine of the
last 11 Grand Slams and a finalist in
13 straight anything can happen
on Saturday when she plays her first
Grand Slam final, an all-American
match, against Navratilova. The sun
may even shine.
So far it’s been mostly upset
weather at Wimbledon, when the
wind howls across Centre Court and
dark clouds hover portentously after
morning rain. Maybe Princess Diana
knew something was up when she
came for her first match this year
and was treated to Garrison-Graf.
Garrison, who once couldn’t find
a way to win even at match point,
now can’t seem to lose. She always
had the talent, but too often yielded
to pressure. Now with a new coach, a
new trainer, a new husband, and a
new relaxed attitude, Garrison, at
26, finally has made the leap into the
elite.
“She didn’t miss and she didn’t
make mistakes, like she’s done be
fore,” Graf said. “I mean, she was
really playing a solid match. From
her side, it was great concentration.”
Graf didn’t blame her loss on her
sinus problems, her father’s prob
lems, her injuries, the weather, or
the officials.
“It was me who was playing bad,
and nothing else,” she said. “Is it a
tragedy? A disaster?” No, she added,
it was just a loss.
Navratilova and Ivan Lendl’s ob
session to win Wimbledon made
headlines, but Garrison had been
going unnoticed until she beat Seles.
“I’ve had a bit of obsession about
this myself,” Garrison said. “I just
worked on a lot of sprints, a lot of
running, eight, nine miles a day,
lifted weights, trying to get into top
shape and be ready if I have an op
portunity to do it.”
Graf predicted the tournament
was now Navratilova’s because “Zina
doesn’t have the game to beat Mar
tina.”
Garrison’s response: “Oh, thanks.
I like those compliments. They make
me work harder.”
Scott Gilbert, a senior animal science major from Raymondville,
putts from off the fairway at the Putt-Putt Golf Course.
Yankees fined for tampering
NEW YORK (AP) — The New
York Yankees today were ordered to
pay $200,000 to the California An
gels and fined $25,000 by Commis
sioner Fay Vincent for owner
George Steinbrenner’s tampering
with Dave Winfield after a trade in
May.
The decision was released while
Vincent was holding a hearing to ask
Steinbrenner about his relationship
with gambler Howard Spira.
Vincent found that comments
Steinbrenner said during a meeting
with Winfield on May 14, three days
after the trade was made, were
“clearly improper.”
“Mr. Steinbrenner’s statement
that Mr. Winfield would be wel
comed back to the Yankees if he won
the arbitration and should play on a
full-time basis was clearly im
proper,” Vincent said. “It follows,
therefore, that Mr. Steinbrenner’s
improper statements harmed the
Angels’ bargaining position.”
Aggie football team, fans march to Cotton for D-Day
By NADJA SABAWALA
Of The Battalion Staff
It looks like Texas A&M’s Par
son’s Mounted Cavalry might
want to start packing the How
itzer now because it’s New Year’s
football in Dallas for the big boys
in maroon.
At least that’s what the annual
poll of sports writers from Texas
and Arkansas show in the 1990 is
sue of Dave Campbell’s Texas
Football magazine.
Twenty-one of the 35 writers
polled chose the Aggies to strafe
Arkansas’ two-year occupation of
the Southwest Conference title
and the Cotton Bowl.
“It’s simple enough: best backs,
best linemen, best this, best that,
best of just about everything,” ed
itor-in-chief Campbell said in his
article about A&M.
Despite losing seven of eight
starters from last year’s 8-4, John
Hancock Bowl squad, the Aggies
still have first strike capability.
Conference foes will have a
strenuous battle competing
against the best one-two quar
terbacks, one-two running backs
and the best defensive player in
the Conference, according to
Campbell’s 1990 SWC Form
Chart.
And with the camp fortified on
both offense and defense, A&M
is sure to launch a successful as
sault on the rest of the SWC.
Veteran quarterback Lance
Pavlas returns to the battle field,
hoping to charge the Aggies past
last year’s 31-28 loss to Pittsburgh
in the John Hancock Bowl.
Pavlas completed an impres
sive 134 of 22/ passes last season
for 1,681 yards — second-best in
A&M history.
To back up Pavlas in his cam
paign is junior Bucky Richard-
back after reconstructive
surgery. The 6-1, 193-
son,
knee
pound 1988 Cotton Bowl MVP
was redshirted last season when
he suffered an injury in the Ag
gies’ 28-24 win over Texas in
1988.
Tailback Darren Lewis and
fullback Robert Wilson lead
A&M’s powerful ground assault
that also includes Keith McAfee,
Doug Carter and Randy Sim
mons.
The five Aggie running backs
have combined for 452 carries
and 2,154 of 2,199 offensive
yards.
Lewis, a 6-0, 220-pound senior,
started last year slow — failing to
rush at least 55 yards-per-game
— and fell behind in Heisman
Trophy selection.
Injured in the game against
Arkansas, Lewis bypassed last
A&M Tailback Darren Lewis is one of the SWC’s
most talented players. The Aggie team and fans
Battalion file photo
hope he can help lead the team to a conference
title and a 1991 Cotton Bowl berth.
year’s NFL draft to pile up better
stats for the future, not that his
961 yards wasn’t impressive.
Wilson, at 6-1, 255-pounds,
joins Lewis in the backfield as the
team’s second-leading rusher,
with 17 receptions and 125 car
ries for 590 yards and 5 touch
downs.
Defensively, A&M has 6-3,
205-pound William Thomas, who
may have never found his real tal
ent as a linebacker — he’s a con
verted quarterback.
Moved from to LB as an exper
iment, Thomas bombarded the
opposing line for 87 tackles and
8.5 sacks last year and is a top
choice for the SWC’s defensive
player for 1990.
In his sophomore year,
Thomas led the Aggie secondary
with 63 tackles as a safety and
promises to return strong, filling
a defensive gap left by NFL-draf-
tee Aaron Wallace.
Even with the most promising
line up in the conference, A&M
still has an uphill battle.
Texas and Arkansas could still
lay a formidible seige to our be
loved Aggie troops. Facing the
Longhorns in Austin’s Memorial
Stadium and the Razorbacks on
their home turf in Fayetteville,
could conceivibly exhaust A&M’s
front lines.
“The bottom line is this,”
Campbell said. “In what shapes
up as maybe a crazy year in the
(Southwest) conference, one that
features teams that are long on
uncertainties and unknowns, the
team from Texas A&M has more
pluses and fewer problems than
any other.”
So, if you want to take the ad
vice of one of the most respected
sports writers in the field, pack
your duffle and fill your canteens
— the Aggies will march to Dallas
assuredly as an Allied victory.
Icut herei
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