The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 11, 1997, Image 3

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    liednesday - June 11, 1997
The Battalion
&M track faces
ew challenge
Iggies head to USA Championships
4lM
Staff and Wire Report
After winning national champi-
ships, setting personal and school
sts, last weekend at the NCAA Out-
orChampionships in Bloomington,
, the Texas A&M Track and Field
{Mini is off and running again.
The team travels to Indianapolis,
ktocompete in the USA Track and
ildChampionships this weekend.
Competing for the Aggies will be
(dor hurdler Anjanette Kirkland,
jplaced second in the 100-meter
idles last weekend and junior hur-
ilarry Wade, who placed third in
110-meter hurdles.
{Senior Danny McCray, sophomore
Tthael Price, junior Billy Fobbs, all
members of the national champion
4x100-meter relay team, senior Russell
Nuti and junior Adrien Sawyer will
also compete.
At the Outdoor Championships, the
men finished 16th overall and the
women finished 22nd overall.
“Tm extremely happy with top 25
finishes for both the men and women’s
teams,” A&M Head Coach Ted Nelson
said. “It was a team effort, and some
thing we stated as a goal when the sea
son started.”
Eight Aggies earned Outdoor All-
American honors last weekend as
well. The eight include, Fobbs, Jones,
Kirkland, McCray, Nuti in the discus,
Sawyer in the long and triple jump
and Wade.
vJl
■11 m
Jazz have brought back
rowdiness to Salt Lake
Photograph: Tim Moog
Senior hurdler Anjanette Kirkland
practices earlier this semester.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The
NBA Finals have allowed Utah to
reveal a boisterous soul that be
lies its image.
Outside the Delta Center, row
dy crowds were cheering the Jazz
and jeering the Bulls. Cars, pickups
and freight trucks pa
raded past for hours,
blaring their horns.
And on a Sunday,
for heaven’s sake.
“For Mormons, if
they are Mormons,
they were acting very un-Christ-
ian out there,” Chicago coach
Phil Jackson said.
The meek, these fans know,
do not inherit the NBA title.
On Wednesday night, just a
few blocks from the Mormon
Tabernacle, the Utah Jazz play
Game 5 of the NBA Finals against
the Chicago Bulls. A victory
would put the Jazz up 3-2 and
send the best-of-7 series back to
Chicago for Game 6 Friday night
and, maybe, Game 7 on Sunday.
Utah fans certainly expect a
victory. The Jazz
have won 23 in a row
at the noisy Delta
Center, boosting
their home record
this season to 48-3.
They are 10-0 at
home in the playoffs.
“It’s a time now for the whole
state,” Utah’s Karl Malone said.
“We’ve taken our knocks over the
years. I’m from Louisiana, but I
consider Utah my home now.
We’ve taken a lot of bad raps.
Now for the spotlight to be on us
here, I think, it’s great to get rid of
some of those myths you guys
think about Salt Lake.”
Much of the giddy enthusi
asm comes from years of frustra
tion. The Jazz were always good,
but not good enough to make it
to the finals. Just pulling even
with the mighty Bulls 2-2 was
cause for jubilation.
“It’s been a long time coming,”
Malone said. “These guys have
waited 12 or 13 years for some
thing to celebrate.”
When Malone rode his Harley
home after Sunday night’s come-
from-behind 78-73 thriller, he
found a crowd around his house.
“Most of them were neigh
bors,” he said. “I’ve been here for
10 years and I didn’t even know
half of them live up there.”
las
IjPORTS
Briefs
iomen’s basketball
diedule released
lie tentative 1997-98 Texas A&M
's Basketball schedule was re-
Tuesday and includes a possi-
m I matchup with the defending back-
tacknational champion Tennessee,
highlighting the list of op-
gjlnentsforthe Lady Aggies is Van-
J ibilt University. The Com-
' tires will visit G. Rollie White
n J)iiseuin in the Lady Ags opening
nlmeNov. 18. Vanderbilt finished
c ),17this past season and had a
*111 record.
Thesecond season of the Big 12
jpavethe Lady Ags hosting Okla-
Texas, Missouri, Iowa State,
sasState, Texas Tech, Oklahoma
I Baylor.
;r softball player
selected for USA team
•"
i Wfer McFalls, former assistant
#>all coach and All-American
tetopat Texas A&M, has been
Uiedtothe USA Women’s Nation-
that will
Kent the
S. July 7-13 at
'91 in
irtibus, Ga.
McFalls was
named to
Pam that will
psent the
at the Amer-
Challenge
les, a touring
^petition consisting of the three
Malist teams from the 1996
Games.
McFalls, who was one of five al-
iiates on the USA Olympic gold
fdalsoftball team, was the start-
isliortstopfor A&M from 1991-94
the team in batting average,
^total bases and slugging per-
lage every season.
Over time, change is almost imminent, expected
Expansion of Kyle Field is necessary
Travis Dabney
fTjj
Sportswriter,
senior history major
* • JL
K yle Field will be renovated over the
next two years and those renovations
will include 9,000 new seats that will
increase the seating capacity to over 80,000.
The north endzone seating will be moved
up a total of 51 feet to just 30 feet of the back
line of the endzone. This expansion will in
clude the addition of twenty prestige boxes
as well as 1,700 club seats. Many have ques
tioned the need for such a major undertak
ing and whether the cost of $33 million is re
ally worth it.
The loss of the main tunnel in the stadi
um as well as the moving of the Reveilles’
graves and eternal flame, have caused many
to lash out against this expansion. Some ask
why should the most beloved structure in
many Aggie’s hearts be altered?
The reasons for the renovation are many,
and they are good ones at that. The 12,000
seats being ripped out are less than ade
quate. After the completion of this project in
1999, Kyle Field will become one of the best
Plans announced
for Hall of Fame
in the country.
The effects of this expansion will include
better recruiting, year in and year out, and a
top notch facility that will allow all the fans
to view the game in complete comfort. The
improvements go all the
way from improved seat
ing to more restrooms.
This is the best thing to
happen to Kyle Field
since the days of Kevin
Murray, Rod Bernstine
and John Roper.
Kyle Field lias fallen off
in terms of other college
football stadiums as many
universities begin renova
tion of their facilities. The
schools that have already
begun this process include
the University of Texas, the
University of Tennessee,
and Notre Dame. It is not a surprise that all of
those schools will all likely begin the 1997
football season in the Top 10. As the 1997 sea
son begins, Kyle Field will be the 23rd-largest
on-campus stadium in the country, behind
the likes of Iowa University and the Universi
ty of California-Berkeley. To keep up with the
cc Kyle Field has
fallen off in terms of
other college football
stadiums as many
universities begin
renovation of their
facilities.”
fast expansion of college football, the A&M
Athletic Department must meet the expecta
tions of top-notch recruits, and to do this we
must have top quality facilities.
As this project moves forward, one has to
wonder how this project
will be paid for? The an
swer to this question is
the 12th Man Founda
tion. This association will
finance the entire project
over the next 30 years.
This means that all the
funds used to build this
facility will come from the
sale of bonds as well as
private donations. As to
how much this expansion
will mean to the A&M
football team in overall
success can only be de
termined over the next
several years on the field, but one has to feel
the effects can only be positive.
The Aggies have fallen on some hard
times in the last two years starting with the
loss to Colorado in 1995, the expansion
along with apparent positive spring training
could be the first of many positive steps
back towards the Top 10 in college football.
Change is necessary in all aspects of life
and this is certainly no exception. What if
Kyle Field had never experienced expansion
in 1954, 1968 and 1978-1980? What if the
Netum A. Steed facility had never been
built? What if the Aggies had never gone
back to a grass playing surface? The bottom
line is that change is necessary to compete
in this day and age and the Athletic Depart
ment and 12th Man Foundation are meet
ing the challenge head on.
For those who are upset by the planned
changes, it is necessary to understand there
are answers to all of these questions. The
Reveilles’ grave sites will be moved to Cain
Park along with the Eternal Flame and the
12th Man statue.
As soon as the project is completed the
all of these items are should to be moved
back to the north side of Kyle Field. These
decisions were not made by the faculty and
staff but by a student committee formed by
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president of
student affairs. There seems to be nothing
but a strong desire on everyone’s part to
maintain the tradition of Kyle Field right
down to the arches that will be included in
the new design of the north endzone facade.
With change comes improvement, and
hopefully Big 12 championships for years
to come.
McFalls
DALLAS (AP) — Southwest
ern Bell and the Cotton Bowl
Athletic Association announced
plans Tuesday to create a Cotton
Bowl Hall of Fame, honoring
players, coaches and others as
sociated with the postseason
bowl game.
“We believe the Southwestern
Bell Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame will
provide future generations with a
greater appreciation for the rich
history of college football on New
Year’s Day here in Texas,” said W.
Mike Baggett, chair of the Cotton
Bowl Classic.
Tentative plans call for se
lecting and inducting the inau
gural class by June 1998. The se
lection process and criteria will
be announced later this year,
but Baggett said media repre
sentatives, former coaches and
athletic administrators are like
ly to be involved.
Southwestern Bell became the
title sponsor of the annual Jan. 1
football matchup last September.
Its sponsorship runs through the
2000 game.
Jake ‘the Snake’ charged with sexual abuse
PHOENIX (AP) — Former Arizona
State quarterback Jake Plummer
pleaded innocent today to felony sex
abuse charges alleging that he
groped four women at a nightclub.
Plummer, now a rookie with the
Arizona Cardinals, was released on his
own recognizance by Judge Gregory
Martin of Maricopa County Superior
Court. The judge will decide at a pre
liminary hearing June 27 whether
there is enough evidence for trial.
Plummer, 22, faces four felony
counts of sexual abuse and one of mis
demeanor assault. He could receive up
to eight years in prison if convicted.
Plummer hopes to leave for his
first NFL training camp on July 18,
and the judge granted a defense mo
tion that he be allowed to travel.
Four women claim Plummer fon
dled them on the dance floor of a
Tempe nightclub where Plummer
and friends had gone for a bachelor
party on March 22.
One also complained that Plum
mer kicked her in the leg after she ar
gued with him in the parking lot,
leading to the assault charge.
Mike Langridge, a defensive end
at Arizona State when Plummer was
an underclassman, told police there
was no kick but that he had to re
strain Plummer to keep him from
punching the woman after she
jabbed her finger into his cheek.
Plummer has reached a civil set
tlement with his first three accusers,
who later said they did not want to
press charges.
County Attorney Rick Romley
filed criminal charges May 28, say
ing he would subpoena them as wit
nesses regardless of any out-of-
court developments.
The Cardinals and officials at Ari
zona State, where Plummer capped
his record-breaking career by lead
ing the Sun Devils to the Rose Bowl,
have declined to discuss the case.
Relatives and people who knew him
in his native Idaho also are cautious
about discussing it.
“I would rather not get into any spec
ulation about what may or may not
happen,” Cardinals coach Vince Tobin
said of his second-round draft pick.
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