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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1994)
November 30, lat the best way to hrough interaction, is an IFC/Corps re- jsted they creates ons with the rest ;ey” he said. “We another.” esident of Student it is important to [1 Aggies first. A, I learned a little t-he Aggies, the Ag- “I expected Ag- rytale, but when I 1 had all of the ten- the real world." ; not look good for lolly t Poinsettia Garlands 9-FOOT SILK-LIKE £ GARLANDS x FOR BEAUTIFUL 1 HOLIDAY U DECORATING 1/2 Off )UR EVERYDAY LOW PRICES I Natural, Preserved Fillers CHOOSE PROM BABY'S BREATH, ’ GYSOPHILIA, BRCCM BLOOM, CASPIAN GERMAN STAOCl \\> GREAT FOR ' TREE DECORI /i/ou... /20ff )UR EVERYDAY LOW PRICES ednesday • November 30, 1994 Football team to be ‘95 National Champions DREW DIENER Sportswriter A 'Old World" Santa I6‘ TALL • A BEAUTIflk ADDITION TO YOUR HOLIDAY COLLECTION 12.87 t EVERYDAY LOW PRICE 10.88 1$ Arts & Crafts <nffe Set #44382 IET INCLUDES #t. »2 4 »5 KNIVES & 10 ASSORTED BLADES IN A WOODEN CHEST 9.77 R EVRYDAY LOW PRICE 12.50 sign® Portfolios & Presentation Cases <w,,, /3 Off IR EVERYDAY LOW PRICES Entire Stock Ve-cut Mats BAILABLE IN A VARIETY OP ’£&. SHAPES AND COLORS 1/2 Off OUR EVERYDAY LOW PRICES , >0% ACRYLIC 4.79 .5.33 .6.66 iN, ROBERT KAUFMAN, Vo Off Our r Low Prices re you irked by the negative comments swirling around the state about the Texas A&M football program? Are the shots people are taking at R.C. Slocum for wanting to get rings for his players that read “SWC’s Best” bringing a grimace to your face? My advice is to keep your chin up and brush off the trash talk. A&M football will be back with a vengeance next season. If you think about it, the possibilities for success and fortune on the gridiron in 1995 are endless. Allow me to make a bold prediction: Texas A&M will win the National Cham pionship next season. Some of you may “rah-rah” that prediction while others of you may wonder what I’ve been smoking. No cigars, Chief. Texas A&M- National Champi ons. Got a nice ring to it, don’t it? Now some of you sports enthusi asts, be you red ass or not, probably are questioning the logic behind such a prediction: Texas A&M- Na tional Champions. I could not fath om making such a rash statement without having any way to back it up. (So go ahead Drew, get to the point. Stop spinning your wheels. Yes, Drew, please do.-Ed) O.K. I’ll come clean with my rea soning, and hopefully it may serve to enlighten. Have you ever heard of this guy? He’s pretty quick, wears #34, is faster than a speed ing bullet, more powerful than a lo comotive, able to return kicks 100 yards for a touchdown? Leeland McElroy, that’s the guy’s name. Bad things man, bad things. The backfield is his alone next year, and the coveted Heisman Tro phy his to lose. Explosive, dynam ic, amazing, these are various ad jectives used to describe him) Oh, let me tell ya about Leeland McEl roy! It’s no mystery here at A&M as to what he is capable of doing on the football field. God willing he opts to remain an amateur, Lee land McElroy will be the catalyst behind the maroon surge that is set to take the nation by storm. As for the rest of the offense, an other spring under the tutelage of quarterback guru Steve Ens- minger, and Corey Pullig will be quite capable of directing the Aggie offense. A young offensive line re ally began to come together as this season wound down, and they should be more than capable of warding off opposing defensive at tacks next year. On the other side of the ball lurks possibly the best defensive end in the land, the pride of Abbeville, Louisiana, Brandon Mitchell. Baylor head coach Chuck Reedy said earlier this season that Mitchell was better than his prede cessor, Sam Adams of the Seattle Seahawks(Talk about your rash statements). The former high school fullback is a load and his speed and agility should have opposing offensive linemen dreading each play. See Diener/Page 8 The Battalion Same song, second (season) verse Lady Aggies to host rematch with Michigan State in NCAA Tournament v ^ |t Jason Holstead The Battalion The Texas A&M volleyball team, gain ing the national respect it has been searching for by being selected for the 1994 NCAA tournament, hosts a first- round match with Michigan State Uni versity tonight at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. This will be the second consecutive year the Lady Aggies have been invited to play in the “postseason party” and asked to host a first-round match. The contest against the Spar tans is a rematch between the two teams. They met September 17 at the University of Colorado Coors Tournament in Boulder, with MSU beating the Lady Aggies in five games, 15-8, 12-15, 13-15, 15-10, 15-6. Junior setter Suzy Wente, A&M’s all-time career leader in assists, said the Lady Aggies are a better team than the one MSU played almost three months ago. “We’ve changed a lot (and) our team is a lot better than we were back then (at the Coors tournament),” Wente said. “I think (having) already played them, that is to our advantage. Plus, losing to them, we are going to be ready to beat them (this time).” MSU finished the regular season with "It's going to be a battle at the net to see whose block is goinging to be the best timed and positioned." —Laurie Corbelli, 'Lady Aggies’ head coach a 17-14 record, which ranked them 13th in the final NCAA Mideast region poll. The Spartans are making their first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. MSU is led by freshman outside hitter Veronica Morales, who is averaging 5.1 kills per game, ranking her ninth in last week’s NCAA national statistics. As a team, the Spartans are hitting .221 and averaging 15.5 kills, 17.1 digs and 2.87 blocks per game. Head Coach Laurie Corbelli said the key to the Lady Aggies’ success against MSU is their court defense. “It seems to me when any team’s blocking is really hot, that can beat a lot of great teams,” Corbelli said. “Blocking and court defense is something we fo cus a lot on in practice, and I know Michigan State does as well. “It’s going to be a battle at the net to see whose block is going to be the best timed and positioned. (Blocking) can re ally shut down offenses.” Corbelli said the Lady Aggies are happy to be playing this first-round game at home. “I think if we can get a crowd and get a lot of noise, it will be unbelievable how much it helps our team play some great volleyball,” Corbelli said. The winner of tonight’s game will ad vance to the second round and play at Ohio State University (26-2) on Satur day, December 3, in Columbus, Ohio. Stew Milne/THE Battalion Junior outside hitter Dana Santleben practices her serve in preparation for the Lady Ags’ match against the MSU Spartans. Ryan wishes Oilers no ill will Coach to bring Cardinals to Astrodome on Sunday TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — There’s no spite in Arizona coach Buddy Ryan’s plans to beat the Houston Oilers on Sunday. Ryan respects any team that has a former defensive co ordinator for a coach. Especially when it’s a protege like Jeff Fisher, the Oilers’ coach of two games. “They’re not as nice of people,” Ryan said Tuesday about defensive coordinators as head coaches. “They’re used to handing tough people. If you can handle defensive linemen and linebackers, you can handle anybody. I mean, it’s a little different than handling a quarterback or a wide receiver.” The Oilers (1-11) have the worst record in the NFL and are in an eight-game skid. Only the Cardinals (154) and Tampa Bay (165) have scored fewer points than Houston (167). But Ryan is confident that Fisher will turn around a team that a year ago had a 12-4 record and won the AFC Central championship. “How bad things have eroded, I don’t really know, but I know that Jeff is a disciplined person and he’ll put some discipline in the thing, and they sure needed that,” Ryan said. Fisher, who replaced Jack Pardee in a Nov. 14 shakeup, was a Philadelphia assistant the five years that Ryan coached the Eagles. After three years as secondary coach, Fisher was promoted to defensive coordinator at the age of 31. When the Eagles fired Ryan in January 1991, Fisher moved on to San Francisco. The Oilers hired him as defensive coordinator in February after Ryan left for the Cardinals. Ryan said he never offered Fisher a job with the Cardi nals because he already had Ronnie Jones, 39, the Oilers’ linebackers coach, lined up to become his defensive coordi nator at Arizona. “I think Ronnie Jones, with the job that he’s doing here with this defense, will be a head coach, and I think he’ll be a good one,” Ryan said. Attrition through free agency gutted a Houston team which Ryan said had more talent than any in his experi ence, including the dominant Eagles teams of the late ’80s and the 1985 Bears, who beat New England 46-10 in the Super Bowl. “No question about it,” Ryan said. “There was a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. The Bears of fense was really Walter Payton. They had Willie Gault, who could run fast, but he didn’t always take the ball with him.” Houston lost defensive ends Sean Jones and William Fuller, but for once Ryan conceded that the most import ant missing player was an offensive per- former, quarterback Warren Moon. “He was the guy that made the offense work,” Ryan said. The session with reporters didn’t lapse without a refer ence to Kevin Gilbride, Pardee’s offensive coordinator and a devotee to the run-and-shoot which Ryan renamed the “chuck-and-duck.” Ryan threw a looping right at Gilbride on the sidelines in the final regular-season game. After Gilbride got the pink slip, he called Ryan “a can cer” ^.nd claimed Ryan tried to undermine other coaches. Ryan said he didn’t care that he wouldn’t have a chance to sic his defense on a Gilbride-coached offense. “As long as I don’t have to play with it,” Ryan said. "Jeff (Fisher) is a disciplined person and he'll put some discipline in the thing, and they sure needed that." —Buddy Ryan, Arizona Cardinals’ head coach Cowboys’ QB Quandry Continues IRVING (AP) — Troy Aikman will be in uniform for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, but the Dallas Cowboys hope he won’t have to play. Aikman, who suffered a ligament sprain in his left knee two weeks ago, will be the Cowboys’ designated third quarterback, coach Barry Switzer said Tuesday. Either Jason Garrett, who rallied Dallas from a 14-point deficit to a 42- 31 victory over Green Bay Thanksgiv ing Day, or sore-thumbed Rodney Peete will start against the Eagles. “We’ll know more later in the week, but both Jason and Rodney will be in the mix. Troy will suit up and probably be the third quarterback,” Switzer said. “I think Rodney should be healthy, and both he and Jason will be taking a lot of snaps this week. I sure like what Jason did against Green Bay.” Aikman said his knee was feeling better, but added, “I think it would be extremely optimistic to say that Tm go ing to be ready to play in the game.” “I’ll certainly be ready the follow ing week,” he said. “I’m able to run around and do things I haven’t been able to do, although I’m not to tally pain-free.” Switzer said he still was concerned about Peete’s thumb, which was in jured two weeks ago against Washing ton. Peete suited up but did not play against Green Bay. MSC COMMITTEE FOR THE AWARENESS OF MEXICAN- AMERICAN CULTURE PRESENTS: LAS POSADAS A Christmas Tradition Celebrating Mary and Joseph’s Journey. November 3 0, 1994 7:00 pm All Faith’s Chapel Persons with disabilities please call 845-1 5 1 5 to inform us of your special needs. We request notification three (3) working days prior to the evnt to enable us to assist you to the best of our abilities. uj CH at o on o < V) on UJ o o < on a. CO z o X z o o _i UJ on >- o o j o o o CO uu on o UJ X o on ILDRENS-ROMANCE-WOMEN STUDIES-REFERENCE Three Off-Campus Stores To Serve You Northgate - Culpepper - Village BOOK SALE in our NORTHGATE & VILLAGE “BOOKS & MORE” Sections All Reference Books Normally Priced $9.99 or Less are NOW $2.00 All General & Trade Titles Normally 1/2 Price or Less - NOW $2.00 Romance Novels Normal 1/2 Price NOW 10 for $1.00 Readers Digest Condensed Books - NOW $.50 Can It Last Forever? No, only the week of 11-28 to 12-04 Current Textbooks Are Not In These Sections. o O O CD o o X Co k $ X Q > P0 O z 9 o X X S m co —i m x z 9 CO o m z o m o m x > z > CO ■O o X (Off (0ampus Aggies General Meeting Wednesday, November 30 8:30 p.m. 601 Rudder Come find out about ^ t s the new bus routes Hillurioits Hut tor the Spring semester! night!!! 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