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S96
$PORTS
Coaches, players excited about move
A&M looks forward to the Big 12
"Anytime there is a change, it will be a fun
experience. It's going to be fun to have 'new
blood.'"
—Danny McCray, Aggie football player
Tuesday • July 19, 1994
New center
overshadows
Holler House
The fires of Hell are burning
low, and it’s starting to get a little
frosty down there. Lucifer has got
the old parka out and is wondering
what is going on.
What is going on? Well, A&M
has its special events center...al
most. The Board of Regents still
has to approve the appropriation
of funds for the project. But since
the Regents sent the proposal to
the coordinating board in the first
place, it is very likely the funds
will be appropriated.
The center that A&M has been
wanting and needing for so long
will be a reality within a few short
years. If the work goes as
planned, the Class of 1997 will be
the first to have commencement in
i the new center.
Many students will be gone by
then, victims of graduation. Their
sojourn into the real world will
keep them from being able to enjoy
the center as much. There might
be the occasional road trip back to
College Station to see the Aggies or
Lady Aggies play for a national
championship or to see their sons
and daughters graduate (with hon
ors of course). But there will not be
that feeling of seeing the new cen
ter every day.
So those who graduate will
have to live with memories of G.
Rollie White.
Earlier this year, the Lady Ag
gies defeated the then No. 4-ranked
Texas Tech Lady Raiders. There
have been numerous Musters and
graduations held. This past season
the men’s basketball team finished
its best season since 1986.
G. Rollie entered its 40th year
during the 1993-1994 season. It was
opened in 1954 with 7,500 seats.
Since 1954, A&M has grown to
be the third largest university in
the country with over 40,000 stu
dents. G. Rollie is too small for the
University’s needs.
But, even though it is too small,
G. Rollie has character. It is like a
man who wins the lottery, but will
not buy a new car to replace his ‘68
Mustang, with the upholstery
ripped, the primer showing on the
fender and the pink, fuzzy dice
hanging on the rearview mirror.
Someone asks him why he does
not go out and buy a Ferrari with
all of his new money.
“Well, I guess I just like old
Bessie,” he says. “She’s been
around for so long, and she’s never
let me down before.”
It is the same with G. Rollie.
Whenever former students who did
not know the new center think back
on an Aggie basketball game, they
will think of “the Holler House.”
When they think of graduation,
they will think of G. Rollie.
Soon A&M will scrap its beat-up
Mustang and opt for the new Fer
rari. The approval for the new cen
ter is long overdue, but even so, G.
Rollie will be missed. Maybe not
for the cramped spaces and shabby
exterior, but for the good times that
its memory can conjure up.
Some people thought that G.
Rollie would be A&M’s coliseum for
a number of years into the future.
“The coordinating board will
never approve it,” they said.
But the board did approve it. The
impossible has happened. A&M, the
cold day in hell has arrived.
By Brian Coats
The Battalion
Texas A&M has seen a lot of changes
during the hundred-or-so years it has
fielded athletic teams. It has gone from
an all-male, all-military institution
with limited resources to success and
prominence on a national level.
Part two of three
Now, a new chapter is about to begin
as A&M joins the Big 12.
Coaches and players at Texas A&M
are enthusiastically viewing the move
to the Big 12 as an exciting change.
They are predicting positive results
and success for the Aggies when league
play begins.
Football has been the main focus of
the switch. Small football crowds and
mediocre teams probably led to the
demise of the Southwest Conference and
the change as much as anything else.
The SWC, which in the last few
years has become a one-team show and
at best was sending two teams to bowls,
could not compete on a national level
with other conferences. A&M football
coach R.C. Slocum said he is sad to see
the SWC go, but college football fans
are in store for some excitement when
Big 12 football begins.
“I grew up in Texas with the South
west Conference,” he said. “I have sen
timental feelings for it, but life involves
change. It is a great move for Texas
A&M - the caliber of competition will
be better, and fans are going to come to
games like A&M-Nebraska just to see
good college football.”
A&M Senior Associate Athletic Di
rector Lynn Hickey said the Big 12 is
going to be a women’s basketball
“mega-conference.”
“Last year, seven out of the 12 teams
went to the NCAA tournament, and
three made it to the sweet-sixteen,” she
said. “It’s going to be the premiere
women’s basketball conference.”
She said extra benefits, like new re
cruiting grounds and increased expo
sure will only add to the excitement.
The coach with the biggest smiles
around campus has to be Bob Brock,
the A&M softball coach. His team has
been an independent since its inception
in 1980. Now they are joining a confer
ence with quality softball programs.
“I am real excited,” he said. “We are
in a strong conference with lots of well-
known name people...this is good for soft-
ball, good for the schools, good for every
one involved. It’s great for the kids.”
Brock said being an independent is
frustrating because it is hard to sched
ule home games. It is also hard to
schedule games in April because many
other teams are playing conference
games. He said with the move to the
new conference those are now just prob
lems of the past.
Even some players are getting
caught up in the excitement. Leeland
McElroy and Danny McCray, both
sophomores on the Aggie football team,
should still be here when Big 12 play
begins in 1996, and both are looking
forward to the change in competition.
“I am excited about it,” McElroy said.
“This is going to help in the long run.”
McCray said he cannot wait to play
some of the teams in the new confer
ence on a continual basis.
“Anytime there is change, it will be a
fun experience,” he said. “It’s going to
be fun to have ‘new blood.’”
Wally Groff, A&M’s athletic director,
is anticipating the extra revenue the
new league will bring as well as the ex
citement of new opponents.
“Financially, the television is going
to bring in about $1/2 million more to
each school, each year,” he said. “Com
petitively, the league could be one of the
best in every sport.”
No controversy — for a change
Oilers' training camp starts calmly
in contrast to storms of last season
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) —
The closest thing to a controversy as
the Houston Oilers opened training
camp Monday was David Williams’
announcement that his wife Debi is
pregnant again.
Williams, the starting right tack
le, skipped a game last season to be
with Debi for the birth of their first
child. The Oilers punished him for
being absent, setting off a nation
wide uproar that was just one of
many distractions Houston endured
last season.
There should be no Babygate this
season. The Williams’ second child
isn’t expected until February, after
the season is over.
Maternity issues aside, the Oilers
opened training camp at Trinity Uni
versity with an unusual calm that
was a stark contrast to how last sea
son unfolded.
They had Babygate, Buddy gate, a
quarterback controversy and the
death of defensive lineman Jeff Aim,
who committed suicide after seeing
his best friend die in an auto
mishap.
There won’t be another Buddygate
unless former Oilers’ defensive coor
dinator Buddy Ryan and assistant
head coach Kevin Gilbride get into
another fight when Houston plays
the Arizona Cardinals on Dec. 4.
Buddy Ryan, now the Cardinals’
head coach, slugged Gilbride during
a celebrated one-punch fight during
the Oilers’ game against the New
York Jets on Jan. 2 in the As
trodome.
“I never worried about what he
(Ryan) said when he was here,”
Gilbride said. “I’m not concerned
now.”
Williams says the team will bene
fit from less turmoil this season.
“It’s rough enough when the play
ers are jawing back and forth but
when the coaches are doing it too it’s
just a tough situation,” he said.
Second-year linebacker Micheal
Barrow, a favorite of Ryan’s, says he
enjoys playing for Jeff Fisher, a Ryan
protege who uses slightly more mel
low techniques as the new defensive
coordinator.
“I wish Buddy was here, but Jeff’s
a nice replacement,” Barrow said.
“Buddy told us to go kill them (the
Oilers offense). Jeff is more like, ‘Be
careful with the quarterback; we
need him.’ Buddy would be saying
knock him out.”
The Oilers traded Warren Moon to
the Minnesota Vikings, giving pa
tient backup Cody Carlson his
chance to become the starter. Former
Vikings quarterback Sean Salisbury
is Carlson’s backup.
Contract holdouts spiced training
camp last season, but the Oilers be
gan camp Monday with only two
starters not present for the morning
workout — cornerback Cris Dish-
man, who has agreed to terms, and
guard Doug Dawson.
“The thing that’s comforting is
that we’re all starting step one to
gether,” Gilbride said. “We make
progress together and don’t have to
slow our progress for the late ar
rivals.”
Gary Brown, who startled the Oil
ers with a 1,000-yard rushing perfor
mance in only eight starts last sea
son, expects to continue making
progress with a full season of start
ing assignments.
He likes the camp mood, too.
“There’s no turmoil, so everything
is fine,” Brown said. “Everybody is
working hard to get to a certain
place and that’s the Super Bowl. If
we can keep focused we’ll be fine.”
Not everyone is pleased with the
peaceful beginning of training camp.
Wide receiver Haywood Jeffires
expects something to break out soon.
“I think controversy helps,” he
said. “Every successful team has con
troversy. I’ll go crazy if someone
doesn’t start a fight. It wouldn’t be
an Oiler practice.”
Jeffires wore jersey No. 80 to
Monday’s practice, honoring former
starter Curtis Duncan, who was
waived last week.
“Drew Hill is gone and now Cur
tis. I just wanted to show my sup
port,” Jeffires said. “I’ve lost all my
friends on the team.”
BllMpl
11 §|li 1
The Associated Press
Houston Oilers Pat Carter (46) and Roderick Lewis (49) work out during their
two-week minicamp in June. The Oilers’ training camp began Monday at Trinity
University in San Antonio.
NBA resolves court disputes
Baseball players move closer to strike
NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA’s salary cap, col
lege draft and right of first refusal were declared,
legal Monday by a fed-up judge who urged the
league and its players to stay out of court in the fu
ture.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Kevin Duffy
fell in line with previous rulings giving pro sports
wide latitude to work out labor agreements outside
of some laws limiting other businesses.
Duffy himself downplayed the legal significance,
noting the issue had been in federal court at least
three times before and saying he was “convinced ...
neither party cares about this litigation or the re
sult.”
“Both are simply using the court as a bargaining
chip in the collective bargaining process,” he said.
The ruling freed teams to immediately resume
signing contracts with players, a practice that had
been stopped by the court pending resolution of the
dispute.
Duffy rejected the NBA Players Association’s ar
gument that the salary cap violated antitrust law,
saying the NBA was not subject to the law as long
as it has a collective bargaining relationship with
the union.
Duffy criticized the NBA’s lawyers for “sharp
and shady practices of the type that most ethical
lawyers shun” for filing its lawsuit as a pre-emp
tive strike because the union had threatened to
sue. The union countersued.
Promising everything was now open to negotia
tion, NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said
he hoped “now the players will come back to the
bargaining table so we can move forward.”
“We think we have to find a system that enables
us and the players to have a proper and fair divi
sion of the revenues,” he said. “If there’s another
system, we’re prepared to talk about that.”
Buck Williams of the Portland Trail Blazers,
president of the NBA Players Association, said:
‘The most important point that Judge Duffy want
ed to make is he wants us to settle this thing at the
collective bargaining table. It may take a good
while, but eventually that’s what’s going to hap
pen.”
The players plan to appeal. “... Very quickly,”
promised Frederick Schwartz Jr., a lawyer for the
players. “It seems to us that it is a rather strange
result that if you agreed to something you are
stuck with it as long as the union exists.”
Duffy urged both sides to bargain.
“No court, no matter how highly situated, can
replace this time-honored manner of labor dispute
resolution,” he said. “Rather than clogging the
courts with unnecessary litigation, the parties
should pursue this course.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball players rejected
the owners’ salary cap proposal Monday, moving
the sides closer to a confrontation that could in
terrupt the season.
During a four-hour bargaining session, union
head Donald Fehr asked owners to return the
threshold for salary arbitration to two years in
stead of three and to raise the minimum salary
from $109,000 to between $175,000 and
$200,000.
Fehr said the union believed management’s
proposal would transfer at least $1.5 billion
from players to owners if baseball’s revenues
rise at an average of 7 percent per year. He said
the very concept of a cap was difficult for players
to consider.
“We don’t think there’s any reason to go down
that route,” Fehr said.
While the parties intend to meet again
Wednesday, the salary cap dispute is threaten
ing to cause sport’s eighth work stoppage in 22
years. Fehr said the union’s executive board will
meet again by July 31, either in person or by
telephone, and will again consider whether to
set a strike date.
“When there are other reasonable options,
that’s the one you consider last,” Fehr said. “But
if need be, that’s the one you act on.”
Owners say they need a salary cap for small-
market clubs to remain competitive and would
guarantee players $1 billion over seven years if
players agree to the cap. Management-negotia
tor Richard Ravitch said players were complete
ly ignoring owners’ concerns.
“I was extremely disappointed that we did not
receive a proposal that was responsive to the
problems in the game we are trying to address,”
Ravitch said.
Owners have tied changing their internal rev
enue sharing to players agreeing to a salary cap.
Fehr has called a cap un American.
“If it’s so un-American, how come football and
basketball have it?” Ravitch said.
Fehr criticized the NBA’s salary cap and
right-of-first-refusal system, saying it has de
stroyed free agency and led to just four teams
winning the championship from 1982-93.
In the last five years, according to the base
ball union, 290 NBA contracts were negotiated
with right-of-first refusal players, and just two
players signed with new teams. Fehr said eight
saw offers matched and 280 received no offers.
As part of baseball owners’ salary-cap plan,
salary arbitration would be abolished and play
ers with between four and six years of major
league service would have right-of-first refusal
free agency.
“Half the teams are out of the free-agent mar
ket every year because they’re over the salary
cap,” Fehr said.