.
shhII
swiliss
Page
member 1,19|
gets deat
ice reverse
(AP) — The clock
Kerry Max Cook's
has stopped —
-eady tried three
7 mutilation murde
tary Linda Jo Ed«;
/icted twice — hac
mce from his third
ednesday by the!;
minal Appeals,
osecutorial miscor;
; nearly 20 years
est criminal court
i fourth trial for Coo
ig key testimony for
er and inadmissible
t voted 5-3 to reve
iction. Two judges
have barred a ret
him set free.
ie and you cheat
ght and you havett
convict someone,
st the right to use
loney to try the pen
ie," said Paul Nugi
ton-based attorney,
se exposes what
, that prosecutors
break the law in try
citizen," Nugentsai
obs, chief felonypra
Smith County disti
office, said a mot
ed asking the appe;
insider its ruling.
Highs & Lows
day’s ExpectedHij
70°F
night's Expected Id
38°F
Tomorrow'^
Hxpected High
68°F
rmncHTow MgM
Expected Low
40°
ON
5:00 P.M.
reference works)
.E
-3:00 P.M.
ersity
otunda
contact
50
ON
Pasmussen, City Editor
Sports Editor
-ne, Visual Arts Editor
ng.Web Editor
g, Photo Editor
aeber, Cartoon Editor
ausenfluck, Christie Humplw®
h Stewart, Courtney WalkerS
' Huff, John LeBas, Aaron Me |f
Jeremy Furtick, Colby Gaines,
'id Boldt, Bryan Goodwin, Met
d, Mason Jackson, Sean Me
Angie Rodgers
/latt Weber
Redington & Ryan Rogere;
rel Depot, Ed Goodwin, Dave
V in the Division of Student PuR
)onald Building. Newsroom
ess: http://bat-web.tamu,ede
The Battalion. For campus, It
i-0569. Advertising offices are f
: Fax: 845-2678.
k up a single copy ofThe Battf
fo charge by Visa, MasterCard,P
s fall and spring semesters aR*
nd exam periods) atTexasA^ 1
end address changes to The
43-1111.
The Battalion
Thursday
Page 3
November 7, 1996
Thursday, Nov. 7
Jazztop, a rock band, is playing at the 3rd Floor Cantina.
Sneaky Pete, a sing-along and novelty tunes act, is playing at the Cow Hop from
9:30 p.m.-l a.m.
Peeping Tom, a rock cover band from Bryan-College Station, is playing at The Tap.
The Fireants, a classic rock and rhythm & blues band, is playing at Fitzwilly’s.
Ruthie Foster & Full Circle, a blues and folk band, is playing at Chelsea Street
Pub & Grill.
MSC Film Society is showing Trainspotting in the Rudder Theater Complex at
9:30 p.m.
The Texas A&M Theater Department is presenting The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vo
gel, in the Fallout Theater in 144 Blocker at 8 p.m. Call 845.2621 for information.
Friday, Nov. 8
The 3rd Floor Cantina is hosting the Texas A&M Honduran Association Party with
Latin rock and merengue music. Open to the public
Sister 7, a rock band from Austin, is playing at the Dixie Theatre.
The India Association, Hindu Students
Council and Hindu Society of the Bra
zos Valley are hosting Dandiya, an
evening of Indian music and dance, in
the Student Recreation Center Archery
Room at 8 p.m.
The Texas Renaissance Festival is be
ing held in Plantersville. Call
1.800.458.3435 for information.
mm
mu
iOfii
if lilt:
[Kfllil
I ml
I mi:' if
m:n:
3188!:;
Ruthie Foster
Festival Hill is hosting an August to April concert featuring the Fischer Duo at 3
p.m. in Round Top. Call 409.249.3129 for information.
Sister 7
Just J, an acoustic act from Bryan-College Station, is playing at Copasetic Cafe.
Sweet Eugene's House of Java is hosting Crystal Sea, a jazz band from Bryan-Col
lege Station.
Common Groove, a rock band from Bryan-College Station, is playing with opening
band Jasmine Blue at the Cow Hop.
Brian Whitaker, a classic-rock act from Bryan-College Station, is playing at
Fitzwilly’s.
Ruthie Foster & Full Circle, a blues and folk band, is playing at Chelsea Street Pub
6 Grill.
MSC Film Society is showing The Nutty Professor in the Rudder Theater Complex at
7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
MSC Town Hall is presenting Coffeehouse poetry, music and comedy. The show is
being held at Rudder Fountain at 8 p.m.
The Texas A&M Theater Department will present The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vo
gel, in the Fallout Theater in 144 Blocker at 8 p.m. Call 845-2621 for information.
The Texas Renaissance Festival is being held in Plantersville. Call 1-800-458-3435
for information.
Saturday, Nov. 9
Darla Hood, a rock band, is playing with opening band, Ty and the Semiautomatics,
at the 3rd Floor Cantina.
Sister 7, a rock band from Austin, is playing at the Dixie Theatre.
Bobby Hall and His Ice Cold Blues Band is playing at Fitzwilly’s.
Ruthie Foster & Full Circle, a blues and folk band, is playing at Chelsea Street
Pub & Grill.
Forgotten Faith, a heavy-metal band
from Bryan-College Station, is playing
with opening band Ovid at the Cow Hop.
The Texas A&M Theater Department is
presenting The Baltimore Waltz by
Paula Vogel, in the Fallout Theater in
144 Blocker at 8 p.m. Call 845.2621
for information.
The Art
of THE
Sack
p x
••-.yX
JL small, \
/
colorful, bean-
' ^ f <
filled bag smacks
the side of a shoe and
flies into the air.
The sack bounces
across a knee, a heel and
rests momentarily on a
chest. The chest launches
the bag toward the original
foot and ... pop! Off the foot
it goes again.
“All right, we have a
hack!” exclaims a
pumped-up partici
pant.
This is the scene almost
every afternoon at several
spots on campus, including
by the Rudder statue, in
front of the Langford building \
and next to Francis Hall. It’s an intense
round of “Hacky Sack,” a trademarked
name for footbag, and a sport requiring
more coordination and speed than strength
and stamina, players say.
The point of “hack” is to keep the bag in play,
off the ground. Hackers use spontaneous combi
nations of moves — kicking the bag with different
parts of the foot and bouncing it off the chest, head
and back — to keep it from falling.
Hackers gather in circles of
two to four players, striving
for a “hack,” where everyone
connects with the bag at
least once. Non-hackers
walk by the circles staring
in wonder and disbelief,
but Jamie Hansen, an avid
hacker and a junior ocean
engineering major, said
the sport is not as hard as
^ ^^ it looks.
“It’s easy to learn,”
Hansen said. “You’d be surprised af
ter a couple of weeks how fast your reflexes get.”
Reflexes are one of the keys to keeping the foot-
bag in the air, he said. Players must often extend
their legs to the limits, jump and leap, and react
without thinking to connect with the hack, be
cause they are not allowed to use their hands.
Unlike football, baseball or any number of com
petitive sports, hack is entirely a team effort. When
the bag hits the ground, it is imply time to start
over. And there are only two “rules” in hack besides
the no-catch rule: Never serve to oneself, and nev
er apologize for making a mistake.
“We all screw up sometimes,” Hansen said.
Derek Demere, a senior environmental design
major who hacks by the Langford Architecture
Center, said he and his group of friends sometimes
throw a new twist into hacking — deliberately not
watching the bag as it is kicked around the circle.
Demere calls this “zen” hacking, a form that relies
on peripheral vision to keep track of the bag. How
ever, zen hacking does not always work as well as
he would like, he said.
“It’s just something different to do sometimes,”
Demere said. “Some people get annoyed because it
doesn’t work as well.”
But the main attraction of hack, he said, is just
having a fun way to pass the time between classes.
Tab Dougherty, a hacker and a senior com
puter science major, said because hacking is
mostly just for fun, participants talk, joke
and laugh while playing. Dougherty said
he wanted to meet more people to hack
with, so he and Hansen started Aggiesack:
The Texas A&M Footbag Club. He said the
whole point of the club is to socialize, have
fun, and, of course, hack.
“It’s kind of a social club,” Dougherty said.
“We don’t do much except kick the hack around.”
Dougherty said he wanted to attract players
more experienced than himself to the club to help
members learn new tricks and moves.
None of the Aggiesack members get too tricky,
he said, but among the moves they do try are:
• “Stalls”: catching the hack on a foot, the
toes, the chest or back, and head. After
catching the bag, the player attempts
to fling it from the resting spot to an
other circle member.
• “Jester”: jumping straight up and
snapping one leg back to kick the bag.
• Catching the bag behind the knee: af
ter the catch, the hacker tries to pop his leg
straight out, to make the hack fly upward
instead of drop to the ground.
At least one Aggiesack member can pull
off the last trick: Tarlac Williams, a founding Aggie
sack member, club treasurer and a junior interna
tional studies major. Williams said he began hack
ing only about six months ago. He said the fun of
hack is that it is laid-back and intense at the same
time.
“The longer it keeps going, the more tense it gets,”
Williams said. “The pressure builds. But at the same
time, the pressure never really gets that bad.”
Dougherty said the pressure is low because
none of the club members are too talented for
less experienced hackers. Any-
one who wants to
Top: A group of stu
dents gather to
hack between class
es in front of Lang
ford Architec
ture Building.
hack is welcome to
join the group Mon
days and Wednesdays
at 4 p.m. near the
Rudder statue, he
said. Most people can
pick up the sport
pretty easily especially
skateboarders, soccer
players and those who |f
are good at video games. ^
“It’s more of a coordi
nation sport than anything
else,” Dougherty said. “You
don’t need that much en
durance and strength.”
Women are especially en
couraged to give hack a try •41^
because hack is not just for
guys, he said. Those who just do
not feel like hacking should not be
afraid of approaching the group or
throwing a stray hack back into the
circle.
“We always invite people to hack with us,” he
said. “It’s a real good way to get rid of stress and so
cialize. Once you’re done, you feel nice and relieved.”
Center: Tab
Dougherty, a senior
computer science
major, jumps to kick
a hackysack.
Above: Derek De
mere, a senior envi
ronmental design
major, hacks to pass
the time between
classes.