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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 1991)
* Give a hand for the ump We love to boo them. We love to ridicule and mock them. We love telling them they need glasses and even love imitating them. No, I'm not talking about athletes. I'm referring to umpires. When it comes right down to it, major league baseball umpires are like most typical Americans: working a job and trying to make a living. Sure, they get paid a little more than typical Americans, but compared to baseball's million dollar babies, it's minuscule. Umpires also have a dirty job. No one seems to like or respect umpires today. They're constantly being harassed during games, they have dirt kicked on them, tney're bumped, pushed, cursed at, and sometimes even spat upon. Plus, have you ever heard a crowd cheer an umpire (besides for Leslie Nielson in the "Naked Gun")? You might start hearing cheers for one particular baseball umpire, though. In fact, a standing ovation is well deserving of this man. He is Steve Palermo. If you haven't heard by now, Palermo's off-field heroics early Sunday morning almost cost him his life. Palermo is 41 and has umpired in the American League since 1977, but Sunday morning was his closest call as an umpire. Palermo and former Miami Dolphin defensive lineman Terence Mann were shot trying to prevent a mugging of two waitresses in a Dallas restaurant parking lot. The restaurant, Campisi's Egyptian Restaurant, is a popular hangout for sports figures. Marin was shot Tft the neck but released from the Dallas Presbyterian Hospital on Monday morning. Palermo, who was shot in the back, is listed in fair condition at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Concern has mounted that Palermo might be partially paralyzed. In today's society, it's nice to see an unlikely hero step forward to help preserve justice and do what's right. But when you stop and think about it, umpires do what's right everyday. In their best judgement, umpires have to call balls and strikes, outs, balks, missed bases, dropped balls, stolen bases, home runs, and fan interference. Steve Palermo — like all umpires — doesn't get much recognition. There isn't an award given to an umpire for exemplary work both on and off the field as there is for ballplayers (the Roberto Clemente Award). There is no MVU for Most Valuable Umpire. When umpires do get recognized, it's usually for throwing a player or coach out of a game, or for making bad calls that cost teams ballgames. When Palermo returns to umpiring, he might hear a few cheers and perhaps receive an ovation, but come f ame time it's back to those recurring oos and jeers. Once again the fans will be letting out their emotions and frustrations of the day, but for Palermo it will be another day at work. iTTTTIIWinnT M IWm III A&M archery club on target Battalion file photo The Texas A&M Archery Club has gained a national reputation for excellence in recent years. In 1990-91 it placed second in national competition and had four team members named All-American. Editor's Note: The following article is part of an ongoing series examining the various club sports that operate at Texas A&M. By John Martin The Battalion Anyone familiar with the bow and ar row knows archery is a mental sport. Like most sports, archery demands prac tice for improvement, but members of the Texas A&M Archery Team who are trying to improve their control and acu- racy focus on the mental aspect. "There is no real secret to shooting archery," said team member Jason Low ery. "The key is practice, because the sport is a big mind game and you need a lot of mental training." The team placed second at the Colle giate National tournament this past spring behind Arizona State University. The fact that the team is made up mainly of walk-ons who first took up the sport as physical education requirement only heightens the accomplishment. "The reason why ASU wins the tour nament is because they offer archery schoolarships and are able to recruit archers that have shot all their lives and have more experience," Lowery said. "Most of our team comes from the ar chery classes." Lowery said archery is a year-long sport, with various tournaments around the nation. The team holds practice tour naments against the University of Texas, and' competes in major events like the Southern Regionals, Olympic Festival tryouts, and the World Team competi tions. "Anyone can join th club. All they have to do is pay their dues and come shoot," he said. "The team is chosen from the top four men and women shoot ers in the club, and they represent the University." The team currently boasts four All- American archers, with Lowery, Maria Cantu, Sherrill Jarrell, and Liz Bech re ceiving the honors. In her first Nationals, Shannon Cowles finished 18th overall in the individual tournament. Former top A&M archer Eric Brumlow has been selected to represent the United States in the Pan-American games this summer. In the fall the team looks to build on this year's successes, and continue the trend of national prominence. "We've got a excellent tradition here," Lowery said. "We're excited about the future." Bowls meet with potential candidates to fill fourth spot in football alliance ATLANTA (AP) — The fourth bowl to become part of an alliance that could give college football a postseason meeting of the nation's Nos. 1 and 2 teams will be announced on Wednesday. "We decided to sleep on a final decision on this thing and have a conference call tomorrow," Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Gene Corrigan said Tuesday after a daylong session in which five bowls made their pitch to become the fourth bowl in the alliance. "At 3 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow we'll let the decision out," Corrigan said, adding that no decision had yet been made. The alliance of the Cotton, Orange and Sugar bowls with the ACC, Big East Conference and Notre Dame is seeking a fourth bowl in the group that would pair eight teams in the four postseason events. The three bowls have contracts to take the cnampions of three conferences — the Southwest to the Cotton, the Big Eight to the Orange and the Southeastern to the Sugar. It is believed that the fourth bowl in the mix will be either the Fiesta in Tempe, Ariz., or the Citrus in Orlando, Fla. Those two made hour-long presentations to the alliance Tuesday, along with representatives from three other bowls — the Blockbuster, the Gator and the Holiday. "We didn't even take a straw vote," Corrigan said. "Straw votes end up being votes and somebody talks." The Citrus Bowl thought it would be able to identify a new corporate sponsor during the day, but Bob Moore, president of the bowl's committee, said a final word on that wouldn't be known until next week. "I think we gave them a good presentation," Moore said. "We're very pleased that the coalition members conducted the thing extremely well. There was no politics involved." "We've been asked by the group not to talk about specif ics," Chuck Johnson, president of the Fiesta Bowl, said follow ing his group's presentation. Johnson said that adding the Fiesta to the alliance will "bring a western flavor to the mix. People have enjoyed the trip to the desert. We hope it's a one-bowl mix." The flap over the state of Arizona not approving a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in last year's election apparently won't be an obstacle. "As far as we're concerned, we supported the holiday," Johnson said. Corrigan said the King holiday issue was discussed, but he also noted that the NCAA play eel a regional basketball tourna ment in Arizona earlier this year. The Fiesta had offered a berth in last season's bowl to Vir ginia, which rejected the offer following the election defeat of the King holiday proposal. John Reid of the Holiday Bowl said his presentation dealt more with the future, wanting the alliance to include the West ern Athletic Conference in the mix at some point. He noted that the WAC is the only conference in the College Football Association not included in the mix. The Big Ten and Pac 10 conferences don't belong to the CFA and send their cham pions to the Rose Bowl each year. "We told them last week we're prepared to step up to the plate," Reid said. "Is the door slammed forever? They said, 'No, not at all.'" Money is one of the biggest factors involved, with bowls expected to ante up at least $3 million per team. Matt Morrall, chairman of the Blockbuster, said his team paid out $1.6 million last year, but added that coming up with $3 million would be no problem. "We feel very confident we can do $3 million in 1993," he said. "We feel we can do more." Foreman looks to Holy field rematch NEW YORK (AP) — At first George Foreman appeared to be a pawn in the machinations surrounding an Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson fight, a match many people want to see. The thinking went that each side was using a threatened fight against Foreman as a negotiating weapon. If Foreman is a joker in this liigh-stakes game, however, the joker is not only wild, he's the trump card. Instead of being used. Foreman is primed to take advantage of the wid ening gap between Don King, who pro motes Tyson, and Dan Duva, who pro motes the champion Holy field. "My style right now is a Tyson match," the 42-year-old Foreman said Tuesday. "I've already fought Holyfield. I said even before the Holyfield fight that I wanted to fight Tyson because of his style. He's more or less aggressive, and that's why I'd like to fight him." Foreman's second-round knockout of Joe Frazier for the heavyweight title in 1973 remains fresh ih his mind. It appears, however, that instead of fighting Tyson, Foreman will get a re match with Holyfield, who scored a 12- round unanimous decision over him April 19 at Atlantic City, N.J. The re match would be Nov. 8 at Caesars Pal ace. Holyfield wobbled Foreman on occa sion, but Big George is not about to be moved by rhetoric — and it appears King has overplayed his hand. "Hey brother, 'Let's do it, we don't need anybody else,'" is the way Foreman described King's pitch for a Tyson-Fore- man fight. Foreman said he needs advisor Ron Weathers and Bob Arum, who played important roles in his comeback from a 10-year retirement, to be involved in any fight he has. "I just can't drop these guys," he said. "I'm not going to do that. I can't say give me $20 million and forget Arum. When I came back, a lot of people said Arum was using George. 'What a flesh peddler,' they said. Arum took a lot of heat." "If they call me and say, 'We're going that way (to a Holyfield rematch),' I wouldn't say no." "That's correct," Arum said Tuesday at a news confemce for another fight when asked if he thought a Holyfield-Foreman rematch was likely. "We didn't come this far with George Foreman to have his image ruined by King spouting racial stuff and nonsensi cal rhetoric in his promotion." Foreman could make more money fighting Tyson than Holyfield, but Arum said Foreman would do almost as well by fighting a tuneup bout on HBO, then challenging for the title again on TVKO. Both HBO and TVKO are Time-Warner companies. Foreman will get $5 million for the tu neup Sept. 7 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, then make $12.5 million for the rematch, according to Arum. Arum said Foreman's opponent in September is expected to be Boone Pultz, who hasn't fought since being knocked out in the fifth round by Magne Havnaa in May 1990 for his only loss in 20 pro fights. Pultz is a cruiserweight, which has a 190-pound limit. Of course, Pultz would be fighting a streamlined Foreman. "I'm working to get down to 235 pounds," said Foreman, who weighed 257 when he lost to Holyfield and who has not weighed less than 250 for his last 13 fights. Gold Tequila Margaritas 99 0 MEXICAN CAFE Open 24 hrs. r Happy Hour 2-7 p.m. Mon-Fri $2.95 PITCHERS ^ Ask About Our Daily Lunch Specials! Buy 2 Breakfasf , Tacos & get drink* d’fTi - w EmEZmEmt: Two Pesos Expires 8-31-91 ‘ Alcohol not included | Any Item*, ne of Equal or Value FREE W' f. Expires 8-31-91 Alcohol not tnckxfod Two PesoSj 846-4135 Walk-In or Drive-Thru 303 West University Dr. College Station ttsssms ns July 10, 1991 9:15 p.m. at the Grove Tickets are 50$ with TAMU ID $1.00 w/oTAMU ID For more information, call 847-8478 Concessions available! YES! 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