Page 10 • The Battalion
Sports
Tuesday • January 31,199)
SPORTS
Kidd hospitalized
for dehydration, flu
DALLAS (AP) — The first game
pitting the top two picks in this year’s
NBA draft will have to wait for Jason
Kidd to feel better.
Kidd, the second overall pick by the
Dallas Mavericks, will miss Tuesday’s
game against the Milwaukee Bucks
and No. 1 overall choice Glenn
Robinson because of dehydration and
flu symptoms.
Kidd, who has started every game
this year, was hospitalized overnight in
Dallas and also is expected to miss a
road game Wednesday against the
Minnesota Timberwolves.
“He’s not feeling very good at all,”
Mavericks coach Dick Motta said.
“He’s not responding to the
medication. He camo to (practice) and
looked like death warmed over.”
Foreman to fight in
WBU title match
LOS ANGELES (AP) — George
Foreman has another heavyweight
championship belt — from a new fringe
group called the World Boxing Union.
The WBU is headed by president
John Robinson of London and vice
president Ed Levine of Miami.
Foreman is the International Boxing
Federation and World Boxing
Association heavyweight champion.
The WBA has threatened to strip him
of his title if he goes through with a
proposed title fight against Germany’s
Axel Schulz on April 22 in Las Vegas.
Henry Holmes, the champion’s
lawyer, said he will sue the WBA if it
takes action against Foreman for
fighting Schulz. He said the WBA is on
a “vindictive, despotic course.”
“Boxing certainly does not need
another organization,” Holmes said.
Hoopsters to face young SMU team
□ The Aggies hope
to bounce back from
Saturday's loss.
By Robert Rodriguez
The Battalion
The Texas A&M men’s bas
ketball team, coming off a
heartbreaking loss at Texas
Christian Saturday, looks to
bounce back against Southern
Methodist tonight.
The Aggies, 9-11 overall
and 2-4 in Southwest Conference
play, finish their tour of
the Dallas-Fort Worth
schools against a
Mustang team
loaded with youth
ful talent. Coach
Tony Barone said
SMU could be a
team to watch in
the conference.
“They are a
team that can
play with any
body when their
guards are on,”
Barone said.
SMU, which has a 1-5
record in SWC play and 4-13
overall, are led by sophomore
guards Troy Matthews and Je-
meil Rich. Matthews averages
15.4 points per game while Rich
has averaged around 20 points
in his last four games.
Barone said SMU coach John
Shumate is doing a good job
with the youthful Mustangs.
“People do not understand
how tough it is to rebuild a
strong program,” Barone said.
“The Mustangs play a tremen
dous non-conference schedule
and coach Shumate has done an
outstanding job over there.”
Moody Coliseum has not been
a wonderful place to play for
A&M. Overall, the Mustangs
hold a 57-27 advantage over the
visiting Aggies.
“We don’t play well there at
all,” Barone said. “Moody
Coliseum is a nice
place to play. It
would be really
nice to get a win
there.”
Barone said
it will be tough
for his team to
forget the loss
to TCU. How
ever, he said
the Aggies
must concen
trate on the
game at hand.
A&M is currently in fifth
place in the SWC.
“We have to bounce back
and play with aggression,”
Barone said. “This game
against SMU is really impor
tant for our team.”
Roger Hsieh/THE Battalion
Senior forward Joe Wilbert dunks the ball in the Aggies’ Jan. 21
game against UH.
Owners, players to return to bargaining table
Suns outshine Cavs,
finish road trip 4-1
CLEVELAND (AP) —- Charles
Barkley scored 20 points, including
the clinching basket with just over a
minute left, as the Phoenix Suns beat
the Cleveland Cavaliers 89-82
Monday night.
The Suns finished off a 4-1 road
trip and won for the 13th time in 15
games. One of their two losses
during that span came at home
against the Cavaliers.
Phoenix, which lost Sunday in New
York, has not lost consecutive games
all season.
Neither team built a double-digit
lead at any point in the game, which
featured six technical fouls on the
Suns and two on the Cavs — all for
illegal defenses.
Union, management still
not willing to back down
WASHINGTON (AP) — One week before
President Clinton’s deadline for progress to
ward settling the baseball strike, neither
owners nor players appeared willing to
budge much.
Owners began arriving Monday night
and management’s negotiating committee
was scheduled to meet Tuesday. The union’s
negotiating committee met for about six
hours Monday and about 60 players were
expected for an executive board meeting
Tuesday, the day before talks resume.
“We’ll see what they’ve got to offer,” De
troit’s Cecil Fielder said. “If they don’t
have anything to offer, then we’re just go
ing to be talking about the same old
things. What they have on the table isn’t
anything worth considering.”
Talks broke off Dec. 22, a day before own
ers implemented their salary caps. When
negotiations collapsed, management was in
sisting on a luxury tax plan designed to
eventually reduce the percentage of revenue
going to players from 58 percent to 50 per
cent. The union’s last tax plan was designed
to ensure the discrepancy in payrolls be
tween large and small markets didn’t get
any larger.
Chuck O’Connor, management’s chief
lawyer, said there wouldn’t be any “major
changes” in the new proposal owners intend
to make Wednesday.
“We’re going to talk about it with our
committee tomorrow,” he said. “We’re going
to put a menu before them.”
If that’s the case, mediator W.J. Usery
will have a difficult time producing a break
through that would end the strike, which
began last Aug. 12.
“If we get a proposal from them that is
not significantly different from the last
one, our response will not be significantly
different from our last one,” union head
Donald Fehr said.
Last Thursday, Clinton ordered talks to
resume and set a Feb. 6 for progress toward
a deal. If there isn’t any, the president said
he will ask Usery to formulate his own pro-,
posal for a solution.
While Clinton can’t force a settlement, he
can lobby for one. He also could ask Con
gress to enact one as law.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. John LaFalce
introduced a bill to establish a seven-
member National Commission on Profes
sional Baseball.
Soccer game
suspension
caused by
stabbing, riot
ROME (AP) — The stab
bing death of a soccer fan
and the riot that followed
has brought on the cancella
tion of a round of games in
this soccer-mad nation.
Though violence is
endemic in and around
the stadiums, it’s the first
time such a step has been
taken regarding Italy’s deep
est passion. Many players,
coaches and soccer officials
had called for the action.
The presidents of the
soccer federation and
Olympic committee met
Monday on how to respond
to Sunday’s killing of Vin
cenzo Spagnolo, a 25-year
old Genoa team fan.
They decided to suspend
all national league sporting
events Sunday, when Italy’s
18 first division teams play,
along with the second and
third divisions.
The soccer schedule will
be delayed a week, with a
makeup day to be deter
mined later. International
play, such as Davis Cup
matches in Naples against
the Czech Republic, will
be held.
“We realized yesterday
that this time we had really
hit bottom,” Antonio Mat-
terese, head of the federa
tion, said. “We made the de
cision with great grief, but
we were forced to.”
Mario Pescante, head of
the Olympic committee, said
the cancellation would signal
sport’s rejection of violence.
It also will hurt the state
and private Fininvest televi
sion networks, which to
gether devote some 13 hours
to soccer on Sunday, plus
follow-up programs on Mon
day and Tuesday.
On Monday, police said
an apprentice gardener
from Milan’s outskirts, Si
mone Barbaglia, 19, had
been arrested and charged
See Riot, Page 11
Illegal betting on Super Bowl game brings in
S uper Bowl
traditions
have be
come just as fun
as watching the
game. I’m not
talking about
those high-
priced commer
cials or the bor
ing halftime shows though.
Illegal gambling is becoming
a fast-growing business with
much of the growth occurring
during the Super Bowl. This
kind of gambling is not the foot
ball squares with the scores
of each team many play, but
the kind which is run through
a bookie.
It was estimated that in 1993,
legal wagering on the Super
Bowl was at $5 million. Howev
er, illegal wager
ing on the Super
Bowl totaled $5.6
billion. Legal wa
gering on sport
ing events only
occurs in Nevada
and totaled $1.89
billion in 1993.
That may seem
prosperous, but consider the es
timated $100 billion on illegal
wagers in the United States in
that same year.
Right now, the Texas legisla
ture is considering bills which
would legalize casino gambling
and legalize wagering on sport
ing events. Just imagine if Texas
had a city similar to Las Vegas
and how much money that
would bring to the state in both
gambling revenue and in
tourism. Picture the San Anto
nio Riverwalk loaded with casi
nos in every hotel and restau
rant, or a riverboat casino on the
Brazos River. The state of Texas
would thrive off gambling.
On many sports pages there
are Vegas lines printed which
show which teams are playing
and what the spread, or margin
of victory will be. Not only can
someone bet on one game, but
they can also group several oth
er games on one bet, or parlay.
Also one can bet whether or
not both teams will combine to
score over or under a set
amount of points. These are the
main ways people place wages
on sporting events. These lines
are in the paper in order to give
the sports fan a sense of who is
favored to win a game. Howev
er, it also gives the bookie an
idea of what the actual spread
is on each game in Las Vegas.
Lines in the paper may please
some fans and the bookie, but it
also has angered the NCAA.
The NCAA has asked for
newspapers to stop printing
lines for college basketball
games in the NCAA tourna
ment. Not only does the NCAA
want to control illegal gam
bling, but they also do not
want to risk a player possibly
throwing a game away in order
to get money.
Yes, losing a game on pur
pose for money is wrong, but
what is the big deal about
putting a little money on a
game? As long as the wagering
is going on the out
side and does not in
volve the players, I
don’t see anything
wrong with wagering
on sporting events.
Now if the wagering
involves an athlete,
then there’s a prob
lem.
Some well-known incidents
have occurred in which gambling
has involved some sports athletes.
The 1919 Chicago White Sox lost
the World Series on purpose in
Illegal gambling is becoming a
fast-growing business with
much of the growth occuring
during the Super Bowl.
millions
order to get money, and it cost
“Shoeless” Joe Jackson a spot in
baseball’s Hall of Fame. Gam
bling on games also cost Pete
Rose his Hall of Fame honor.
Michael Jordan may be re
tired from basketball and play
ing baseball, but he will always
be haunted with the report
which said he bet thousands of
dollars on certain events.
When gambling involves a
person’s health or an athlete’s
job, then it becomes a problem.
But if not, what is wrong with
taking a chance at making
some extra money on the side.
Life is full of chances and Texas
needs to take the chance on le
galizing casino gambling and
wagering on sporting events.
Just think, a riverboat casino
on the Brazos!
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