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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 12, 1995)
The Battalion • Page 3 Wednesday • July 12, 1995 Former Baylor ]\[l power dooms AL in All-Star Game let -L AP Photo Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Roberto Alomar and his American League teammates came up short in Tuesday's All-Star Game. The National League defeated the Junior Circuit 3-2 at The Ballpark in Arlington. accusations fly WACO, Texas (AP) — Past Baylor assistant coaches say former men’s basketball coach Darrel Johnson was involved in a recruiting scandal at the school, even though a jury ac quitted him of the charges. Former Johnson assistants Kevin Gray and Gary Thomas, who were sentenced last week for their part in the scandal, say Johnson condoned the cheating. In a deposition recently giv en to Baylor officials. Gray re calls a statement he made to Johnson and Thomas about the cheating. “I’m telling you guys some thing,” Gray says. “If anybody ever looks at this stuff, they are going to throw us under neath the jail.” Last week, U.S. District Judge Walter Smith, Jr., placed Gray and Thomas and former Baylor assistant Troy Drummond on three years of probation for their part in giv ing five junior college recruits term papers and changing the players’ test scores in 1993. The same jury that convict ed them of conspiracy, wire fraud and mail fraud acquitted Johnson. But a different picture emerges in depositions given by Gray and Thomas as part of an ongoing NCAA investiga tion of the scandal. Thomas says the cheating “was always discussed in meetings” with Johnson. “We always reported back to him,” he said. “He was my boss and he was telling me what to do.” Thomas said that Johnson once ordered him to check the answers that recruit Tyrone Davis had given on correspon dence test from Southeastern College of the Assemblies of God in Lakeland, Fla. “He missed half the an swers,” Thomas said. “So basi cally what I did was went in and just wrote down the cor rect answers” on a blank an swer sheet to mail in for grad- ing. “He (Johnson) just said ‘You know, that’s probably the right thing to do,’ ” Thomas said. Johnson was unavailable for comment. His lawyer, Jim Darnell, said it’s important to note that the depositions were given before the men were sen tenced. None of the men took the stand during the trial. Darnell said Baylor officials made a deal with the men to implicate Johnson in turn for the school writing Judge Smith a letter supporting pro bation. “Here were three decent, regular human beings who had never been faced with any thing like this and who were scared to death of going to prison,” he said. “Baylor went to them and said ... ‘You help us and we’ll help you.’ If you were Baylor, would you be afraid ... of a wrongful dis missal lawsuit” by Johnson? Baylor officials have re peatedly declined to discuss the case. But even Smith has hinted that Johnson might have known more than was re vealed at trial. In addressing a prosecution request for a longer sentence than called for under federal sentencing guidelines for Thomas last week, Smith said: “If any person would be entitled to an enhancement ... that person’s not here.” □ The Astros' Craig Big- gio blasted a solo home run in the sixth inning. ARLINGTON (AP) — Hideo Nomo began the game with a poignant bow, to his teammates and to the troubled national pas time. Jeff Conine, Mike Piazza and Craig Biggio won it with pure power. What started as a strikeout duel between Nomo and Randy Johnson turned into home-run derby, with Conine’s solo shot in the eighth inning Tuesday night giving the National League a 3-2 victory in the All-Star game. All of the runs scored on homers, highlighted by Frank Thomas’ monster drive for the Americans in the fourth, and all of the Nationals’ hits were home runs. Yet even this relatively enter taining game — which baseball hoped would help rejuventate in terest in a sagging sport — was touched by reminders of the la bor problems that soured its fans last season. Thomas’ home run landed in a luxury box in left field that was rented for the day by, of all organizations, the Players’ Asso ciation. The ball eventually came to rest in the hands of union head Donald Fehr’s 9-year-old nephew, Alex. And, right after Thomas — the home-run derby champion in Monday’s workouts and a fan fa vorite — homered, he exited the game. He had to leave because his Chicago White Sox play Wednesday, part of the rejig- gered schedule that cut short the All-Star break. Still, the crowd of 50,920, the largest in the two-year history of The Ballpark in Arlington, seemed to enjoy the show. About 110 spectators, however, had to seek treatment at first- aid stations because of the 96- degree heat. Among those not at the park was Mickey Mantle, who was in vited by baseball to attend. Man tle made his first public appear ance since recent liver trans plant surgery on Tuesday after noon in nearby Dallas, but said he was too weak to watch in per son and would instead tune in on television. Conine, the only position player who did not get into last year’s All-Star game, homered on the second pitch he saw. Bat ting for Ron Gant, he connected against loser Steve Ontiveros. Heathcliff Slocumb escaped first-and-second jam in the sev enth by striking out Ivan Ro driguez and Jim Edmonds, and was the winner. Randy Myers pitched the ninth for a save. The victory gave the NL its first two-game winning streak since 1984-85. The total of four home runs was the most since 1981. Conine, Florida’s lone repre sentative, was the game’s MVP as the National League ran its record to 39-26-1 in the game. Carlos Baerga, one of six Cleve land players in the game, dou bled and singled twice. That 1981 event, which start ed the second half of a strike- split season, marked the last time a rookie started the All- Star game. That time it was Fer nando Valenzuela, whose eyes- to-the-sky delivery captivated all of the baseball. This time, it was Nome’s turn. Baseball, meanwhile, hoped this Los Angeles rookie, the first Japanese participant in an All- Star game, could similarly put the buzz back into the sport. From the start, Nomo was the showcase player. For the first time since anyone could remem ber, a starting pitcher was not warming up when he was intro duced. Instead, Nomo emerged from the dugout, trotted to the plate, and then went down the third-base line, bowing to each of the NL starters. Baseball said it specifically asked Nomo to come out and take a bow, so to speak, because he’s been the brightest light in the game this year. After receiv ing a nice ovation, he went to the bullpen and began loosening up with his slo-mo, back-to-the- plate windup. Nome’s motion, along with a 94 mph fastball and darting forkball, baffled the AL stars the same way he’s blown away NL hitters this season. Nomo, leading his league in strikeouts, pitched two score less innings and struck out Kenny Lofton, Edgar Martinez and Al bert Belle. NL 3, AL 2 NATIONAL LEAGUE AMERICAN LEAGUE ab r h bi ab r h bi Dykstr cf 2 0 0 0 Lofton cf 3 0 0 0 Sosa cf 1 0 0 0 Edmns cf 1 0 0 0 TGwyn rf 2 0 0 0 Baerga 2b 3 1 3 0 RSndrs rf 1 0 0 0 RAImr 2b 1 0 0 0 Mndsi rf 1 0 0 0 EMrtnz dh 3 0 0 0 Bonds If 3 0 0 0 TMrtnz dh 1 0 1 0 Bchette If 1 0 0 0 Thmas 1b 2 1 1 2 Piazza c 3 1 1 1 MVghn 1b 2 0 0 0 Daulton c 0 0 0 0 Belle If 3 0 0 0 McGrff 1b 3 0 0 0 O'Neill If 1 0 0 0 Grace 1b 0 0 0 .0 CRpken ss 3 0 2 0 Gant dh 2 0 0 0 DSrcna ss 1 0 0 0 Conine dh 1 1 1 1 Boggs 3b 2 0 1 0 Larkin ss 3 0 0 0 Seltzer 3b 2 0 0 0 Offrmn ss 0 0 0 0 Puckett rf 2 0 0 0 Castilla 3b 2 0 0 0 MRmrz rf 0 0 0 0 Bonilla 3b 1 0 0 0 IRdrgz c 3 0 0 0 Biggio 2b Mrndni 2b 2 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 Stanley c 1 0 0 0 Totals 29 3 3 3 Totals 34 2 8 2 National 000 001 110-3 American 000 200 000 - 2 LOB-Amerlcan 7. 2B—Baerga (1). HR—Piazza (1), Conine (1), Biggie (1), Thomas (1). SB—RAIomar (1). CS—Dykstra (1), Baerga (1). IP H R ER BB SO National Nomo 2 1 0 0 0 3 Smiley 2 2 2 2 0 0 TGreen 1 2 0 0 0 1 Neagle 1 1 0 0 0 1 CPerez 1-3 1 0 0 1 0 Slocumb W,1-0 1 1 0 0 0 2 Henke 2-3 0 0 0 0 1 Myers S,1 1 0 0 0 1 0 American RJohnson 2 0 0 0 1 3 Appier 2 0 0 0 0 1 DeMartinez 2 1 1 1 0 0 Rogers 1 1 1 1 0 2 Ontiveros L,0-1 2-3 1 1 1 0 1 DWells 1-3 0 0 0 0 1 Mesa T—2:40. A—50,920. 1 0 0 0 0 1 Student workers bolster athletic successes Stew Milne, The Battalion Sen whi ior Cecil Bleiker juggles duties in many sport le working for A&M Sports Information. □ The SID employees handle du ties from TV scripts to game stats. By Robin Greathouse The Battalion For fans of A&M athletics, the game is done when the final gun sounds or the last out is made. But the student assistants at the Texas A&M Sports Information Department know that plenty of behind-the-scenes work goes into making athletic events successful. “You never really think about what ac tually goes into making the game go smoothly,” senior student assistant Cecil Bleiker said. The Sports Information Department is the liaison between the Athletic Department and the media, and handles all interview re quests for players and coaches. Stephen Miller, a community health ma jor, said the SID office can be very hectic, but everyone at the office has the same ob jective. “We’re here to promote the teams,” Miller said. “Our job is to get our athletic programs national coverage.” Bleiker, Miller and other assistants do many jobs during the different sports events that are held on campus. “We work in the press box handing out statistical information to the media and an swering any questions,” Bleiker said. “On the field (or court), we help with side line security. We also get the injury reports from the trainers and give them to the media.” The assistants help to compile statistics for play-by-play sheets and halftime and fi nals statistic sheets during games. Working with television crews when games are tele vised is another of the assistants’ major re sponsibilities . “When we work with people during game broadcasts, we give them information that they put on the teleprompter that the an nouncers read on the air,” Bleiker said. The responsibilities don’t end when the sports seasons are over, however. During the off-season, Bleiker and Miller help to put to gether media guides that are distributed to media outlets across the country. Miller, who is currently working on the 1995 A&M football media guide, said the student assistants do a great deal of re search with statistics and past trends, and have compiled some interesting figures for the 1995 season. “After getting statistics from colleges around the country with top-ranked quarter backs, we learned that Corey Pullig is the nation’s winningest playing quarterback,” Miller said. The wide range of duties means plenty of work, but Miller said the rewards of the job easily make up for it. “I think this job offers excellent experi ence,” Miller said. “We have a team that will be the national champion. Everything at A&M is first class.” Footballs start spells baseballs downfall David Winder Sportswriter .2. T uesday night’s All-Star game signaled that the 1995 baseball season is half over. But come July 29, the season might as well be finished. In just over two weeks, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers will kick off the National Football League’s exhibi tion season. As the pigskin season begins, fans will start leav ing baseball, just as base ball left them last year. The only reason baseball is getting the fans back is there are no other major sports in season. Most people are interested in baseball right now because they are addicted to sports. Once something better comes along, baseball will be left on the side of the road. Baseball screwed up this season by not starting a me dia blitz to get the fans to come back. Its “Welcome to the Show” advertising cam paign is not exactly making the fans come out in droves. The All-Star workout wasn’t even a sellout. Baseball is always going to get back the fans who know stats like Howie Krist’s 13-4 record for the 1942 St. Louis Cardinals. But baseball is losing the fans who just like to root for the home team. Baseball used to be my fa ther’s favorite sport. Now he could care less if it existed. After the basketball sea son ended, he came close to canceling his subscription to the Houston Chronicle until football season began. He didn’t want to read any thing about baseball. Last year, was the first time in a while the Hous ton Astros had a chance to make the playoffs, and my dad got caught up in it. But baseball let him down and has done nothing yet to make up for it. The owners have tried to win the fans back with pro motional nights and ticket giveaways, but all efforts have failed miserably. Now it is time for the players to take over the promotion of the game. Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey, Jr. should start do ing commercials for base ball instead of for shoe companies. Players like Tony Gwynn and Cal Rip ken Jr. who have shown they really love the game should push the Players’ Association to make its own media blitz to bring the fans back. When the players of the National Basketball Associ ation got involved with the promotion of the game, the NBA’s popularity took off. Baseball should follow basketball’s lead and get back on track. If not, they can sit back and enjoy football season with the rest of us. The Battalion CLASSIFIEDS WISE ACM: To place an ad, phone 845-0569 Italy Spring ‘96 for Future Teachers! Study with TAMU in Castiglion Fiorentino at the TAMU Study Abroad Center in Europe! Your international experience could be your students’ first look at the world! Interested? Please come to an informational meeting in 154 Bizzell Hall "West on: Wednesday, July 12 2 pm Thursday, July 13 2 pm For more information, contact: Prof. John Hoyle Prof. Lynn Burlbaw 203 HECC 330 HECC 845-2748 845-6195 Study Abroad Programs • 161 Bizzell Hall West • 845-0544