The Battalion
Wednesday - July 30, 1997
Battle of sexes
heating up
in basketball
I t’s a theme virtually as old as
modern sport itself. There being
two different sexes on the planet
Earth (naturally anyway), it was
only a matter of progressing past
certain social standards before one
gender was capable of testing itself
against the other. Man versus
woman. Woman versus Man.
The earliest and most publi
cized example was the tennis tete-
a-tete be
tween Bobby
Riggs and
Billie Jean
King in the
1960s, with
King striking
a blow for
women
everywhere
(and certain
ly the
women’s lib
eration movement) by smiting the
oppressive male chauvinist.
But tennis has since fallen on
hard times, and registers merely a
blip on the radar screen, so let us
turn our attention to drawing a cur
rent analogy. Basketball would seem
to be the most agreeable compari
son, being arguably the world’s most
popular spectator sport.
Now before I get a ton of hate
mail threatening to bind my hands
behind me while blocking numer
ous indirect kicks, let me say that
soccer is a fine sport the world
over. Although the game has
grown enormously stateside in the
90s, it has not reached the status of
basketball here in the land of no
looks and slam dunks.
The NBA now has a counterpart
in the WNBA, and even if the com
petition is not head- to-head, early
returns suggest that the ladies are
hitting the men’s game where it
counts — the pocketbook (where
did you think?)
Naysayers gripe that the WNBA
is a novelty, and will surely fold as
soon as the newness has worn off
theuniforms, being so much less
athletic a sport than most are used
to seeing, with great individual
performances by athletically gift
ed men.
But so what if women have
less lung capacity and muscle
growth than men? Part of the at
traction to women’s basketball at
the professional level is the re
freshing reminder that Dr. Nai-
smith’s rainy-day concoction is a
team game.
Athletes in the WNBA get excit
ed primarily about the team’s suc
cess, without much of the trash-
talking and hot-dogging, not to
mention lack of fundamentals,
that taint the men’s game.
And working out can’t give you
a bigger heart, no matter how
many reps you do. Watching the
Houston Comets’ Cynthia Cooper
dive out of bounds for a loose ball
or celebrating with a delirious
throng of fans, after exceptional
team defense which forces a shot
clock violation in the games wan
ing seconds, does more for me
than does any post-pubescent
"gangsta” wannabe attempting to
“raise the roof” by blocking a shot
then telling the world about it.
Please see Mitchell on Page 4.
Sportswriter
Matt Mitchell
Senior journalism major
Rangers
BALTIMORE (AP) —The Anaheim Angels
on Tuesday boosted their starting rotation
for a possible playoff run, obtaining right
hander Ken Hill from the Texas Rangers for
catcher Jim Leyritz and a player to be
named.
The Angels began the day trailing first-
place Seattle by 2 1/2 games in the AL West.
Anaheim was also just two games behind the
New York Yankees in the wild-card race.
“We needed a front-line pitcher, and Ken
Hill is a front-line pitcher,” Anaheim manag
er Terry Collins said in Cleveland as the An
gels prepared to play the Indians. “Ken Hill
look to future, trade Hill
eats up innings for us. I put him in the same
class as Chuck (Finley) and (Jason) Dickson.
“This guy was a front-line pitcher with
the Cardinals for years and last year with
Texas,” Collins noted. “If we can find
him, and if he feels OK, he’ll pitch
tomorrow.”
Hill (5-8, 5.19 ERA) was sched
uled to start for Texas on Tuesday
night against the Baltimore Orioles. He
was replaced by Jose Alberro, who was
called up from Class AAA Oklahoma City.
While the Angels made the deal with the
present in mind, Rangers general manager
Doug Melvin worked the trade with an eye to
ward the future.
By obtaining Leyritz, the Rangers put
themselves in position to deal All-Star
catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who is eligible
for free agency after this season. Ro
driguez, who has rejected a five-
year, $38 million contract offer
by Texas, is rumored to be headed
for the Orioles or Yankees before
Thursday’s trading deadline.
Melvin acknowledged he has talked to
other clubs about Rodriguez, but denied that
any deal is imminent.
“The key to this deal was knowing that Jim
Leyritz would be with us next year, because
he’s now signed with us,” Melvin said. “He is
a special player. I’m not saying that Pudge
won’t be with us. But this will help if he isn’t
with us.”
“We would hope that Pudge would be
here, but if he is not, picking up a catcher at
the end of the year would be hard to do.”
With the Rangers under .500 and virtually
out of playoff contention, Melvin is already
looking toward next year.
Please see Trade on Page 4.
Golf legend Ben Hogan is remembered
Legends, loved ones bid farewell
FORT WORTH (AP) — In a ser
vice as subdued, formal and digni
fied as the man himself, Ben Hogan
was eulogized Tuesday as one who
battled overwhelming odds to be
come the finest shotmaker in the
history of golf.
With golf legends Sam Snead,
Byron Nelson and Tommy Bolt
looking on,
family, friends
and admirers
paid final re
spects to Hogan.
Quoting from
Romans, Dr.
Charles Sanders,
associate minis
ter of the Uni
versity Christian
Church, alluded
to the poverty,
hardships and
pain that Hogan
overcame in a
career interrupted by a near fatal
car accident.
“Suffering produces endurance
and endurance produces character
and character produces hope,”
Sanders said. “I think Ben Hogan’s
life underlined the truth of that
passage.”
Sanders recalled that Hogan
“experienced the untimely death of
his father and agonized over the re
alization that his golf swing must
change dramatically in order for
him to survive on the tour.”
Recounting the terrifying car-
bus collision in 1949, Sanders said
Hogan’s legs were “severely shat
tered and that he was told first that
he might not live and then for sure
that he would never walk again.”
But Hogan struggled back.
“Ben set his heart on a goal
knowing what it would cost him to
reach it,” Sanders said. “He was
willing to pay the price.”
Stoic and small of stature,
Hogan often was called Bantam
Ben or the
Hawk. In 1953,
after he won the
British Open at
Carnoustie, the
Scots chris
tened him “The
Wee Ice Mon.”
Hogan died
Friday, a day af
ter suffering a
major stroke.
But his mind
Ben set his heart
on a goal knowing
what it would cost
him to reach it.”
Dr. Charles Sanders
associate minister of the
University Christian Church ^ e d n ^ v d a y ge ^
recent years by
Alzheimer’s and cancer of the
colon. He was 84.
Honorary pallbearers included
Snead, Bolt and Ken Venturi, Fort
Worth writer-author Dan Jenkins,
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jim
Murray and the chief executive offi
cer of PGA of America, Jim Awtrey.
Among the professional golfers
on hand for the service were Ben
Crenshaw, Doug Sanders, Rives
McBee and Doug Higgins.
The services were held only min
utes from Colonial Countiy Club,
nicknamed “Hogan’s Alley” in hon
or of his five PGA victories there.
It was at Colonial, in 1959, that
he won his 63rd and final PGA title.
A friend’s memories tell the story
Photograph: Associated Press
Ben Hogan, shown watching his tee
shot on the first hole of the World
Championship of Golf Tournament,
was remembered Tuesday at private
services. Hogan died last Friday.
Scores of club members were
among the hundreds attending the
service, traditional from beginning
to end except for a poignant mo
ment when Hogan’s wife Valerie
first appeared in the sanctuary.
The organist deviated from
such religious classics as “Amazing
Grace” and “Shall We Gather at the
River” to play the old Irving Berlin
standard, “Always.”
Dr. Sanders described Hogan’s
devotion to his wife, now tiny and
fragile but composed, as “a thing of
beauty.”
D ALLAS — On a long-ago
day of a distant year, Ben
Hogan was asked to play
an exhibition at Colonial Coun
try Club to benefit the United
States
Olympic
team.
Hogan
completed
his four
some with the unusual choice
of a local sportswriter.
Dan Jenkins had yet to become
a dead-solid-perfect book author,
magazine columnist and golf his
torian. He was then a mid-20s
graduate ofTCU, former three-
year letterman on the college golf
team, once runner-up to the city
champion, and dressed for the oc
casion in elegantly shabby attire.
As Jenkins tells it, his button-
down shirt and canvas golf bag
were especially fetching. Dan
turned out in casual clothes on
the mistaken premise that 20
people might watch the round.
About 10,000 showed up, which
set Dan’s nerves on edge.
Jenkins drew his first reaction
from Hogan when he teed his
ball. As they say in the car busi
ness, the ball was pre-owned.
Hogan noticed. As Dan learned
from a long association with the
man, Hogan noticed everything.
“Here, don’t embarrass me,”
Hogan said, handing Jenkins a
new ball.
Dan got off the first tee in fine
shape. Jenkins was a long driver
and deft putter in those days. But he
topped his second effort. And the
third. Standing nearby, Hogan said:
“You can probably swing faster
if you try harder.”
Hogan meant just the opposite
with his tease.
“Best lesson I ever had,” Jenk
ins reminisced the other day.
Word had reached his vacation
retreat in Gstaad, Switzerland,
that Hogan died last Friday in
Fort Worth.
“He wasn’t a stranger to me,”
Jenkins said of the man who re
mained ultraprivate to most.
“First, I idolized him. Second, he
knew my name.”
Jenkins covered golf for the
Fort Worth Press and wrote two
mandatory, daily stories on tour
naments Hogan entered. One fo
cused on the event. The other was
devoted to Hogan.
“He knew I was there like he
knew (wife) Valerie was there with
a thermos of iced tea,” Dan re
called. “He knew I saw him play,
that I wouldn’t ask stupid ques
tions and I knew the game.” Jenk
ins knew a different Hogan than
the public and fellow pros. He
found Hogan had a sly sense of
humor. That he was a college
football fanatic devoted to TCU
and a keen student of the world
around him.
“We talked football a lot and
events of the day. Not golf,” Jenk
ins said. “He wasn’t like a lot of
guys today who can only talk
about golf or themselves.”
Please see Luksa on Page 4.
Frank Luksa
The Dallas
Morning News
Barkley threw first punch
Plaintiff says
CLEVELAND (AP) — Charles Barkley
threw the first punch in a nightclub fight,
said the man who is suing Barkley for more
than $500,000.
“Right after he punched me, in self-de
fense I took a swing back at him,” said Jed
Tyler, 24, of Spencerport, N.Y.
Tyler, a business equipment salesman,
is suing the Houston Rockets forward over
a fight at The Basement.
He contends he was punched while
acting as a peacemaker between a friend,
David DiGiacco, 27, of Rochester, N.Y.,
and Barkley.
Tyler said on the second day of the trial
that Barkley cursed at him and DiGiacco
and told them both to get out of the bar.
“I said, ‘Why should we have to leave?
Why don’t you leave?’ That’s when he
punched me in the head,” Tyler said.
The 6-foot, 180-pound Tyler said he did
n’t threaten the 6-6,250-pound NBA star in
any way before Barkley punched him in
the face. Barkley kept coming after him,
and that’s when Tyler said he threw a
punch at Barkley.
“The bouncers then
got hold of me, but no
one was controlling
him,” Tyler said. “He
kept punching me on
top of my head.”
Tyler said he was
punched three or four
times on his head before
the club’s bouncers sepa
rated him and Barkley and Barkley
escorted Tyler outside.
“I remember touching my face and
feeling blood and looking down at my
hands and shirt and seeing blood all over,”
Tyler said.
Barkley, who had been in Cleveland with
the U.S. Olympic basketball team, told po
lice he was the one who was attacked. A de
fense lawyer said Reggie Miller, Barkley’s
Olympic teammate, will testify that Tyler
threw the first punch.
In testimony earlier Tuesday, DiGiac
co said the fight started after he began
talking to a woman sitting next to the
basketball players. The woman told Di
Giacco she was with Miller, a guard with
the Indiana Pacers.
DiGiacco said he asked the woman
whether she and Miller were just friends or
whether she was “sleeping with him.”
“Obviously, now I realize it probably
wasn’t something I should have said,” Di
Giacco testified.
DiGiacco said Barkley began telling him
to leave the bar after the woman told him
what DiGiacco had said.
Salt Lake City Olympic
chief resigns under fire
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Tom Welch, who
spent a decade bringing the 2002 Winter
Olympics to Salt Lake City, resigned today as
president of the local organizers following
charges he abused his wife.
Welch announced the move at a news confer
ence, saying he had met Monday night with local
members of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing
Committee’s executive committee and was not
pressured to leave.
“While my family and I had many wonderful
experiences along the way, we also exposed our
selves to long-term stresses which we neither rec
ognized nor foresaw,” he said. “One of the casu
alties was my marriage, which broke along the
way. We were unable to repair it.”
Welch, reading a statement, said reports of the
“unfounded charges and allegations” related to
his wife were just too great for him to keep his job.
PART-TIME POSITIONS
Universal Computer Systems, Inc. is looking for candidates for the following positions at
our College Station office. Operating hours of the facility are 6 a.m.-10 p.m., Monday
through Friday and 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday. Candidates must be able to work at least
15 hours Monday-Friday & every other Saturday and have completed at least one
semester of college.
Parts Inventory - Responsible for maintaining inventory of more than 2000 parts that the facility
may handle at any one time.
Data Entry - We handle computer repair for all our clients nationwide, with over 60,000 pieces of
equipment per year. Our data entry positions are responsible for maintaining info, on more than
2000 parts both shipped from and received at the facility.
Technician Trainee - Technicians will learn to use an oscilloscope and multi-meter to
trouble-shoot and repair malfunctioning hardware. Each individual will be trained thoroughly in
the repair of one particular piece of equipment including CRT’s, terminals, keyboards, PC’s,
mainframes, controllers, modems, and others.
Cleaning and Reclamation - This group must maintain upkeep of all equipment received and
shipped from the facility. Involves disassembly of equipment, cleaning and reassembly of
equipment.
To apply, please call our Personnel Headquarters. E.O.E.
Universal Computer Systems, Inc.
1-800-883-3031
http://www.ucs-systems.com
UCS hires non-tobacco users only.
All students, faculty and staff
are invited to attend a
public meeting to hear
a briefing on the recent legislative
action that designates
the General Use Fee (GUF) as Tuition
(this briefing relates to the GUF increase approved in January 1997)
Friday, August 1, 1997
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Memorial Student Center, Room 292
Office of the President, Texas A&M University
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