The Battalion
T A M U
I n
Thursday
October 19, 1995
SPORTS
Arrant/Eleck lose to LSU
at All-American qualifier
The Texas A&M doubles tandem of
Blake Arrant and Eric Elek lost to
Louisiana State's Ryan Ideta and Chad
Dudley 9-8 Wednesday in the third
round of the ITA Men's All-American
Championships qualifying tournament.
The tournament, which is the sec
ond leg of the Intercollegiate Tennis
Association's Collegiate Grand Slam, is
being hosted by the University of
Texas.
The entire Aggie tennis team will
return to action at the Southwest Re
gional Championships Oct. 27-30 at
Texas Christian's Mary Potishman Lard
Tennis Center in Fort Worth.
Stars recall Kesa and
Langenbrunner from IHL
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars
placed recently placed forward Guy
Carbonneau on the injured reserved
list on Wednesday and recalled for
wards Dan Kesa and Jamie Langen-
brunner from the International Hockey
League.
Carbonneau left Tuesday night's 4-
3 loss to Washington in the second pe
riod with a groin injury. Although he
must be out seven days while on the
injured reserve, he's expected to be
out three weeks.
Kesa, 23, leads the Michigan K-
Wings of the IHL with four goals and
four assists in three games. He has
played once for Dallas this season.
Langenbrunner, 20, had two
goals and five assists for the K-
Wings. He played two games for
the Stars last year.
Kesa and Langenbrunner are ex
pected to join the Stars in St. Louis for
Thursday's games against the Blues.
Levy in satisfactory
condition after surgery
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) —
Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy was in
“very satisfactory'' condition today at
Roswell Park Cancer Institute follow
ing surgery to remove his prostate, his
doctor said.
"Marv is recovering smoothly,"
said Dr. Robert Huben, Levy's physi
cian. There is a chance the Bills coach
could be allowed to go home this
weekend, Huben said.
Levy, 70, learned he had cancer
this summer during a routine physical
before training camp and underwent
surgery Tuesday. He kept the news
about his cancer from his team until a
meeting Monday morning.
Doctors have told Levy, in his ninth
year with Buffalo, that the disease was
discovered at an early stage. There is a
60 percent to 80 percent chance the
surgery will result in a complete cure if
the tumor was confined to the prostate,
said Huben, chairman of the urologic
oncology department at Roswell Park.
Oiler's Bishop is proving
his worth as a safety
HOUSTON (AP) — Blaine Bishop
missed most of the Houston Oilers' train
ing.camp because he thought he was
worth more than the league-minimum
$178,000 salary.
Eventually, he lost the battle with
team management, but Bishop has spent
the first part of this season proving that
he was right. Using the bitter negotia
tions as motivation, he has become one
of the NFL's best safeties.
"I think he's playing like a Pro Bowl
player," Oilers head coach Jeff Fisher
said. "When people prepare for us,
they always have to be aware of where
he is."
Until now, the scouting report on
Bishop, 25, has been less than strong. As
a 5-9 cornerback coming out of Ball
State, he was considered too slow to
play cornerback and too short to play
safety in the NFL.
The Oilers drafted him in 1993.
Aggies shut out Comhuskers, 2-0
□ Sophomore Bryn
Blalack scores both of
the Lady Aggie goals to
defeat Nebraska, 2-0.
By Philip Leone
The Battalion
Sophomore forward Bryn
Blalack has been a living night
mare for Texas A&M soccer op
ponents this season. Just ask
the University of Nebraska Lady
Comhuskers.
Wednesday afternoon they be
came Blalack’s most recent vic
tims when she scored her 17th
and 18th goals of the season to
lead her Lady Aggie teammates
to a convincing 2-0 win over Ne
braska in a NCAA Central Re
gion showdown at Aggie Soccer
Complex.
The first half action went
back and forth without much re
sult until Blalack stepped up for
A&M with 15:39 left in the peri
od. From her spot just right of
the penalty arc, Blalack con
trolled a pass from junior for
ward Yvette Okler and fired a
missile past the Nebraska goalie
into the far left post to give the
Lady Aggies the early lead.
After the match, Blalack re
flected on her first goal with typ
ical modesty.
“Yvette just played me a
through ball,” Blalack said. “I
beat my girl and just hit the ball
to the far post for the score,”
After taking the 1-0 lead into
the intermission, A&M came out
in the second period and domi
nated the tempo the rest of the
way. Tenacious junior defender
Sandy Edwards and her fresh
man counterpart Emily Elias
completely shut down what little
offense Nebraska could bring to
them.
Texas A&M Head Coach G.
Guerrieri also credited junior
midfielder Tania Castillejos with
keeping the L.ady Comhuskers
at bay throughout the match.
Blalack registered her second
goal of the match with 18 min
utes left to play in the second
half when junior midfielder Kim
Dud a controlled a cross pass and
beat two opponents to assist her
teammate on the easy goal.
“Duda definitely did all the
work on that one,” Blalack said.
“She scored me the pass, and all
I had to do was put it in.”
Delighted with his squad’s
tremendous overall play, Guerri
eri was especially proud of the
Lady Aggies’ ability to cohtrol
the Central Region’s eighth
ranked team.
“It was a real solid win for
us,” Guerrieri said. “They posed
a strong test in our region and
matched up with our girls ath
letically all over the field. I was
real proud that our girls were
able to control the tempo of the
game and attack with our style
of offense and keep them off bal
ance.”
With the 2-0 victory over Ne
braska, the Lady Aggies im
proved their record to 13-3 and
maintained their position as the
lOth-ranked team in the nation.
A&M will play host to the Lady
Jacks of Stephen F. Austin State
University on Sunday in what
will be the senior Aggies’ final
home game of their career.
(#6) Bryn Blalack shots past the Nebraska defenders to give the Aggies
a 2-0 win on Wednesday at the Aggie Soccer Complex.
Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion
(#13) Kristie Smedsrud digs the ball as teammates (#12) Andrea
Williams and (#32) Stacy Sykora look on against Baylor on Friday.
For Lady Aggies,
Hawaii is all business
□ The Lady Aggies are looking to up
set a second number one team this
season.
By Tom Day
The Battalion
Don’t call it a vacation...
The Texas A&M women’s volleyball team em
barked on its longest road trip of the season
Tuesday, departing on a five-day jaunt to Hawaii.
The I9th-ranked Lady Aggies will take on the
University of Hawaii in a two-match series today
and Friday.
Although they are in the Aloha State, playing
the undefeated, second-ranked Rainbow Wahine
is sure to be no day at the beach for the Aggies.
Senior setter Suzy Wente said that despite the
luxurious setting, it will be
business as usual for
A&M.
“Everyone is really ex
cited about the trip,”
Wente said. “But, we know
going into this how good
they are and that we need
to play sharp against
them. We’re pretty fired-
up and we’re just looking
forward to focusing on
playing well.”
After a disappointing
home loss to the University of Texas last Wednes
day, the Lady Aggies have picked-up where they
left off, posting consecutive victories over Baylor
University and Drake University. A&M’s 14-2
start ties them with the 1984 squad for the best
start after 16 games in program history.
"Their spirits were definitely down,” A&M
Head Coach Laurie Corbelli said. “But, they re
gained their focus, came together as a team and
didn’t let it devastate them.
“I’m really proud of the way they’ve come
back.”
The Aggies have their work cut out for them
against Hawaii. The Rainbows enter the pair of
matches with a perfect 17-0 record and the home
court advantage. Hawaii is averaging 4,667 peo
ple at home.
“It’s going to be hard to beat them on their
home court,” Corbelli said. “But, I believe every
body in the country is beatable by a strong oppo
nent. If we put it together, I think we’ll give them
a run for it.”
Hawaii is led by two-time second-team All-
American Angelica Ljungquist. The junior middle
hitter leads the Rainbows with a .369 hitting per
centage and 1.9 blocks per game.
“Ljungquist is a great blocker and an excellent
all-around player,” Corbelli said. “Their outside
hitters are very strong with different styles and
our defense will have to adjust to that. They’re
incredibly quick on defense and their block is one
of the best in the country.”
Wente, who needs just 75 assists to break the
Southwest Conference career record of 4,846, said
the Aggies are prepared to deal with Hawaii’s de
fense.
“We have to play consistent volleyball because
they don’t make many mistakes,”
Wente said. “They play really
great defense, but we’ve played
some really good defensive teams
this year.
“We’re just going to have to
dig down deep and give it every
thing we’ve got.”
Jet-lag and travel fatigue are
also concerns for A&M as it
heads into its Hawaii showdown.
“It’s going to be hard on us be
cause of the long plane ride, so
we’re going to have to try and rest up as much as
possible,” Wente said.
“I traveled a lot in my career as a player, so I
have a few tips on how to best prepare a team
when it’s in another time zone,” Corbelli said. "A
lot of it comes down to how mentally prepared
they are."
Corbelli said the Lady Aggies can point back to
their previous success against top opponents as a
confidence builder.
“This team plays really well against ranked
opponents,” Corbelli said. “We get pumped-up for
them easily and we’re used to seeing the ball
coming hard at us from practices.
“They like to rise to that kind of challenge, so I
know we’re going to play well.”
"This team
plays well
against ranked
opponents."
— Laurie Corbelli
A&M Head Coach
f
World Series raises Native American issues
T his Saturday, the Atlanta Braves will
host the Cleveland Indians in the 1995
World Series.
The politically incorrect World Series. The
culturally insensitive World Series.
In recent years, Native Americans have
protested more and more about teams using
the Braves and the Indians as nicknames.
During the baseball playoffs this year, Native
Americans held protests outside games in
which both the Braves and Indians were in
volved in. Two of these protests led to violence
as Native Americans defended their heritage.
Amber Clark, a intertribal council member
of the Native American Students Association,
said she would like to see the names changed
but does not think it is possible.
“I don’t think it’s feasible,” said Clark, who
is a descendant of the Apache and
Cherokee/Choctaw tribes. “I don’t think that
there are enough people who understand the
damage that it does. It’s offensive, but human
error is unavoidable. Somewhere, something
negative is going to be said about a race.”
Cleveland got its nickname in 1915 during a
David
Winder
Sportswriter
newspaper name-the-team contest.
Indians was suggested because of
Louis Franci Sockalexis, a Penob
scot Indian who was the first Na
tive American to play pro baseball.
Clark points to a smiling car-
toonish Indian wearing a feather
that the Cleveland baseball team
uses as its logo.
“I think its as bad as using Sam
bo (a derogatory cartoon of African
Americans),” Clark said. “I know a lot of Indi
ans, and none of the men look like that. Be
sides a lot of them are too poor to smile like
that.”
The Braves fans’ famous Tomahawk Chop
also does a poor job of representing Indians,
Clark said.
“When they do the Tomahawk Chop, they’re
doing a perception, a myth,” Clark said. “The
only people I’ve ever seen with tomahawks are
white people. It’s all about education.”
The Braves were not named directly after
Native Americans. The Braves, who first
played in Boston, were once owned by John
Ward and James E. Gaffney,
“chieftains” in the Tammany
Hall organization. The team
was called the Braves because
they worked for these chiefs.
The Washington Redskins,
the Florida State Seminoles
and the St. John’s Red Men are
other names that Native Amer
icans have protested against.
Last year St. John’s changed
its nickname to the Red Storm.
“Honestly, it depends on your take of it,”
Clark said. “I’m sure there are people out
there who are wondering why there is not a
team called the Cleveland Honkies.”
Ray Torgerson, the founder of NASA, said
ignorance is the only reason why Native Amer
icans are portrayed this way in sports.
“Their portrayal in sports, whether it be as
a mascot or a name tends to be grossly inaccu
rate,” Torgerson said. “There aren’t any other
ethnic groups that are used like this. For ex
ample, we wouldn’t name a team the New Jer
sey Jews. Indians are singled out because peo
ple are ignorant about them.”
Clark, who hosts Native American programs
in the community, said most children only re
late to the false perceptions that the teams
give of Indians.
“They always expect to see Indians like they
see them on television,” Clark said. “Such as
Indians always being portrayed as savages.
It’s very misguiding.”
Clark said she would like to see the teams
who have Indian mascots give something to the
Native American people.
“They are profiting off the names,” Clark
said. “Baseball players are making $3 million a
year. They and the teams they play for could at
least give it back locally. I know there are a lot
of Indians around Cleveland.
“They could give it to the kids. They could
give it to the urban Indians or the Indians on
reservations. They could donate it to a commu
nity center. Last year, I went to South Dakota
and saw old men drinking rubbing alcohol out
of hair spray bottles because they were so
poor.”
Cleveland vs. Atlanta: Welcome to the Show.