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TUESDAY
April 23, 1996
Sports
Page 7
sports
GLANCE
Rockets cut Breaux,
two more from roster
HOUSTON (AP) — The Hous
ton Rockets left forward Tim
Breaux and guards Melvin Booker
and Tracy Moore off their 12-man
roster for the upcoming NBA play
offs.
Booker and Moore signed with
the Rockets during the season after
starting the year in the CBA.
Breaux played in 54 games for the
Rockets and was a starter in four.
Booker (strained back) and
Breaux (tendinitis, left knee) are on
the team's injury list.
The Rockets placed forward
Robert Horry on the injury list for
Sunday's final game against
Phoenix, but he'll be activated in
time for Thursday's playoff opener
against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Nets ditch Beard,
many point to Pitino
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)
— After winning just 30 games in
each of his two seasons and then
criticizing his bosses for providing
him with second-line players,
Butch Beard left little doubt about
his dismissal.
The only question was when,
and the Nets answered that Mon
day. They fired Beard two days af
ter the team ended its season by
losing 23 of its final 30 games.
Speculation on a replacement
already is centering on Rick Pitino,
despite recent comments by the
Kentucky coach that he wants to
win another NCAA title.
"No one thing totally was the
real reason I made the decision,"
Nets general manager Willis Reed
said in announcing the decision to
not pick up an option year in
Beard's three-year contract.
"I thought Butch had taken the
players as far as he could," Reed
added in a conference call.
Beard, who earned about
$350,000 annually, is owed no
money, said a source close to Nets
management. The Nets had either
seven days from the end of the sea
son or until June 1 to decide on the
option year.
Nets, Magic to kick
off 1996-97 in Tokyo
NEW YORK (AP) — The New
Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic
will play each other twice in No
vember at the Tokyo Dome in the
NBA Japan Games.
Commissioner David Stern
made the announcement, designat
ing the game dates as Nov. 7 and
9. It will be the fourth time the
league has played regular-season
games in Japan.
In 1990, the NBA became the
first American pro league to have
regular season games outside
North America when Phoenix
played Utah in Tokyo.
"The NBA is pleased to contin
ue the tradition of playing regular
season games in Japan, where sup
port for the NBA and the sport of
basketball has grown tremendous
ly," Stern said.
The complete 1996-97 NBA
regular season schedule will be an
nounced in mid-July. The season
will begin on Friday, Nov. 1.
The announcement came the
same day that the Nets fired their
head coach Butch Beard after he put
up back to back 30-win seasons.
The Magic enter the postseason as
the East's No. 2 seed.
SCORES ROUNDUP
NL
San Diego 5, Florida 3
Montreal 8, St. Louis 0
Pittsburgh 9, Philadelphia 3
New York 5, Cincinnati 1
Atlanta 4, Los Angeles 1
Colorado 4, Chicago 2
Houston 11, San Francisco 8
NHL
Pittsburgh 4, Washington 1
Florida 6, Boston 2
Vancouver 4, Calgary 3
AL
Cleveland 6, Baltimore 3
Boston 4, Minnesota 1
New York 6, Kansas City 2
Chicago 12, Texas 4
Detroit at California (n)
Oakland 6, Milwaukee 2
Toronto at Seattle (n)
UPCOMING EVENTS
Aggie Baseball
The Aggies will host the University
of Texas at San Antonio at 7 p.m. at
Olsen Field in their final nonconfer
ence game.
Hayden finds home out in left field
Dave House, The Battalion
Texas A&M junior leftfielder Heather Hayden prepares to lash another base hit out during a recent Lady
Aggie Softball game.
The A&M star has played
three different positions
By Wes Swift
The Battalion
If anyone knows what play
ing musical chairs is like, it is
Heather Hayden.
In her three years on the
Texas A&M Softball Team,
Hayden, a junior, has served
as a pitcher, then the desig
nated hitter before settling
into a niche in left field.
Switching Hayden among
positions was necessary. Bob
Brock, A&M head softball
coach, said, to find the best
way to utilize her talent.
“We brought her in as an
all-around athlete,” Brock
said. “The last two years we
just couldn’t nail down a place
for her. This fall, we brought
her in and told her that we
wanted her in the outfield and
that it was up to her to draw
as much as she can from it.”
So far this season, Hayden
has taken advantage of the
outfield, starting in all 43
games with a .908 fielding per
centage. At the plate, Hayden
is third on the team with a
.304 batting average.
Despite her solid play,
though, Hayden describes her
self in modest terms.
“I’m not a big powerhouse
player,” she said. “I don’t
think I’m one of stars on this
team.”
Hayden said she would like
to improve a bit more on some
of the more mental facets of
the game.
“Sometimes I can’t always
stay focused,” Hayden said.
“Being in the outfield, you’re
not always involved in any
play. Sometimes, when I’m out
there my mind will start to
wander to a test coming up.
“I really want to working on
my batting average. Since I’ve
been at home, I haven’t had a
real good batting average.”
Brock had a bit more lavish
praise for Hayden’s batwork.
“She’s batting No. 2 in our
lineup and that’s a real impor
tant position,” Brock said. “We
ask her to bunt quite a bit.
She has been one of our top
hitters.”
In addition to be one of the
Lady Aggies’ top hitters. Brock
said Hayden also is one of the
most easily-coached players on
the team.
“She’s so coachable,” he
said. “She works hard at any
thing you ask her to. She al
ways positive.”
But Brock also said that
there were areas Hayden could
improve.
“I think she wants to play a
little stronger defense. When
you spend so much time as a
pitcher, it’s harder to adjust to
playing defense, especially
since she spent so much time
in the infield.”
On the field and in the lock
er room, Hayden said, the out
fielder from Spring is positive
yet quiet, declining to be vocal
around her teammates and in
stead lending reinforcement.
“I feel like I have a positive,
upbeat nature and a good per
sonality,” Hayden said. “If
someone has a bad game or
makes an error, I feel like I’m
the first one over there to say
‘You’ll get ’em next time.”
Brock also mentioned Hay
den’s positive attitude.
“She always upbeat. She al
ways cheerful,” he said. “She
keeps everyone loose on the
field. Off the field, she’s in
volved in a lot more than just
softball. She’s just really got
her act together.”
Polo team takes national championship
A&M defeated Virginia in the title game last weekend in Fort Worth
Staff and Wire Reports
The Texas A&M Men’s Polo
Team was crowned the new na
tional intercollegiate polo cham
pion last week in Fort Worth.
The team defeated Cornell in the
finals to take home its first na
tional title.
After a disappointing loss in
last year’s national champi
onship game against the Univer
sity of Virginia, the Aggies won
the John Ben Snow Eastern Invi
tational Tournament this past
fall and entered the National
Tournament as the No. 1 seed.
In the semifinals, A&M
cruised by the University of Con
necticut, but were denied a re
venge match against Virginia
with Cornell’s win.
A&M took the win over Cor
nell however, and ended the year
undefeated. The three starters
from the team — Shane Coven
try, Kevin Coventry and Greg
Ford, were named to the All-Star
Team and both Coventrys were
named All-Americans.
Ford also picked up the Men’s
Sportsmanship award.
The two-time defending cham
pion Texas A&M Women’s Polo
Team was not able to win a third
consecutive title as they were de
feated by Virginia. The women
Bulls’ 72 wins mean little in playoffs
the first championship team. Right
now, we have to get back to the team
that does what it takes to win.”
The Bulls are coming off the best
regular season in NBA history (72-
10), which assured them of the home-
court advantage through the finals.
There are two images to remem
ber from last year’s playoffs before
penciling in the Bulls as the auto
matic champion: Rudy T.’s mouth
and Michael’s mistakes.
Tomjanovich stood at center
court in the Summit last June, con
fetti falling all around him as the
Houston Rockets celebrated their
second straight championship.
“Never underestimate the heart
of a champion,” Tomjanovich yelled
to the crowd after his team swept
the upstart Orlando Magic.
The speech came nearly a month
after Jordan, the rust showing after
a 21-month retirement, botched his
way through Games 1, 3 and 6
against the Orlando Magic and the
Bulls were eliminated in six games
in the Eastern semifinals.
(AP) — Time to stop gushing
over the Chicago Bulls.
The regular season’s over and
the Bulls were great, but it doesn’t
mean much in the NBA for the next
two months.
The Houston Rockets are still
two-time defending champions and
the team to beat. And the Bulls still
Rocky road to NBA Finals
Winning 60 games during me NBA regular
season doesn't guarantee a trip to me NBA
Fmais. Sixteen tunes in NBA history, a team
has won 60 or more games but taaed to
atNance to the Finals
ream
Boston
Boston
L.A, Lakers
Milwaukee
Portland
Seattle
San Antonio
L.A. Lakers
Philadelphia
Philadelphia
Boston
Boston
Boston
Milwaukee
Milwaukee
Utah
i •etV»m»NBAM»wn
Source: NBA
Season
1872-73
1981-82
1988-90
1971- 72
1990-91
1993- 94
1994- 95
1985-86
1967-68
1980-81
1979-80
1966-67
1974-75
1972- 73
1960-81
1994-95
Record AOvancect to...
68-14 Eastern Conterence Finals
63-19 Eastern Conference Finals
63-19 Western Conference Semis
63-19 Western Conlerence Finals
63-19 Western Conference Finals
63-19 Western Conterence First round
62-20 Western Conterence Finals
62-20 Western Conterence Finals
62-20 Eastern Conterence Finals
62-20 Eastern Conterence Finals
61-21 Eastern Conference Finals
60-21 • Eastern Conterence Finals
60-22 Eastern Conference Rnals
60-22 Western Conference Semis
60-22 Eastern Conference Semis
60-22 Western Conference First round
have to overcome their failures of
the past two seasons.
“We’re not going to give it up,
not without a fight,” Rockets coach
Rudy Tomjanovich said Sunday.
The Rockets are the fifth seed in
the West and play the Los Angeles
Lakers in a best-of-5 playoff series
beginning Thursday night. Houston
won the title as a sixth
seed last year after going
all the way as a No. 2 seed
in 1993-94.
“If we’re healthy, I’d say
on paper, you have added a
Mark Bryant, added an El-
dridge Recasner to a cham
pionship team, you have to
feel you’re better,” Tom
janovich said. “But talent
and potential really means
nothing in getting the prize.
“Are you the best team?
Can you handle the tough
situations? The first year
we didn’t have an explosive
offense. We have more op
tions now than we had on
1
AP/Ed D« Gasero
Photo Courtesy of th Texas A&M Men's Polo Team
The five members of the Texas A&M Men's Polo Team pose with the
national championship trophy they won last week in Fort Worth.
went home happy, however, be
cause they went further than
most had expected after losing
all three starters from last
year’s team.
Rachel Redington was named
to the Women’s All-Star team,
and Beverly Cooper won the
Women’s Sportsmanship award.
The Men’s championship tro
phy will be on display at the Kle
berg Building on West Campus.
Draft day doldrums:
Leeland gets stood up
I t wouldn’t have been so bad if
ESPN hadn’t stuck a camera
on him for the entire last half
of the first round.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if
we weren’t able to see the pain,
the hurt, the “what the hell’s go
ing on here” in his eyes.
But things just didn’t work out,
did they, Leeland?
One of a dozen college studs in
vited by the NFL to New York’s
Madison Square Garden for the
draft, our man Leeland McElroy
was a lock for first-round glory
and first round dinero.
What team wouldn’t want a
muscle-strapped tailback with
blazing 4.27 40-yard dash time,
great field vision, high moral char
acter, etc., etc.?
One by one, the other elite
players left the waiting room to
shake hands with Paul Tagliabue
and parade around the draft stage
with multi-million dollar smiles
reserved for first-rounders.
Girlfriend-beater Lawrence
Phillips got selected by St. Louis
at No. 6, followed by Tim Biak-
abutuka who went to Carolina
two picks later. Heisman winner
Eddie George got taken by the Oil
ers as the 14th overall selection,
which left McElroy as the only
gold star running back prospect
not taken.
He waited patiently for his turn
to come. He was all alone now. All
the other players in the room hav
ing been selected. Who would’ve
thought McElroy would be the last
man in the room? Not even Mel
Kiper Jr., could explain it.
Surely Buffalo would choose
him at 24. Rumors already had
him in red and blue the week be
fore. But the boneheaded Bills
passed him over for some yahoo
receiver from Mississippi State.
Philadelphia at 25? No. Balti
more at 26? No.
Then there was Green Bay at
27, and even my mom knows how
the Packers need to jump start
their running game. But that was
n’t meant to be either.
The TV cameras focused in on
McElroy. The eyes tried not to
look too disappointed. They failed.
McElroy couldn’t even hold out
hope of being the first Aggie se
lected in the draft. The Detroit li
ons used pick No. 17 to give line
backer Reggie Brown that honor.
McElroy’s draft day blues got
even worse when the Steelers and
Redskins ignored him and the
first round came to a close. Then
the lowly Jets poured salt on his
wounded ego by passing him over
with their first pick in round two.
New York chose receiver Alex Van
Dyke out of Nevada after already se
lecting USC’s Keyshawn Johnson as
the No. 1 pick overall. Ouch.
Finally Arizona came to the
rescue at pick 32. Five and a half
brutal hours after the draft began,
McElroy became a Cardinal.
He got a hug from Mom and
Dad and a new crimson and white
baseball hat. There was no jump
for joy. Smiles were forced. It was
the end of a very long, somewhat
embarrassing day.
The second round? The second
pick in the second round? The
32nd selection overall? This was
not supposed to happen — not to
Lectric Leeland, Mr. Top 10.
Lawrence Phillips falling to
sixth was a surprise; Lectric Lee-
land’s Tectric slide gill the way out
of the first round was a swift kick
in the stomach.
Pete Kendall. Jermaine May
berry. John Michels If you’re like
me, you’ve never heard of these
guys. But they all went before
McElroy in the first round.
Is there an explanation for
McElroy’s slide? He didn’t have
the rushing numbers of Phillips,
Biakabutuka or George. His dura
bility was questioned because of
an ankle that injury slowed him
down in the regular season and
kept him out of the Alamo Bowl.
He only started one year at A&M.
I don’t buy any of it. McElroy’s
is too good an athlete, too much of
a physical talent to merit such
draft day disrespect.
Should McElroy have stayed
for his senior season at A&M?
Would he be selected in the first
round of next year’s draft? Would
he get a bigger contract next year?
Probably.
Now he has to prove he’s as
good as we all think he is.
Seems like he’s been doing that
for a while.