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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1998)
_i The Big Parade HOUSTON (AP) — Thousands of Houstonians lined a steamy downtown street Thursday to cheer on the back-to-back WNBA champion Houston Comets, who were feted with a parade and City Hall rally. Avid fans and curious downtown workers alike lined Smith Street to cheer on the Comets, who wrapped up a 2-1 finals victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Hiesday with an 80-71 win. “Houston has sup ported us in a very big way right from the be ginning last year in the inaugural season,” said two-time league MVP Cynthia Cooper, who 'rode atop fire trucks with her teammates, coaches and local dignitaries. Marching bands, cheerleaders and a giant, inflat able orange-and-white WNBA basketball preceded the Comets, exalted both by backers who made a spe cial trip downtown and business-attired workers sweating out their lunch hour. Houston police declined to estimate the crowds along the parade route and at Hermann Square, the rally site adjacent to City Hall. Spokesman Jay Evans said it was impossible to distinguish between parade- goers and normal midday foot traffic. After missing last year’s championship celebra tion, Comets star Sheryl Swoopes said she was hap py to take part this time. “I saw one girl crying and getting emotional, and I’m starting to do that myself,” said Swoopes, who cradled her son, Jordan, while riding high atop one of five fire trucks. Mayor Lee Brown rev eled in the Comets’ repeat titles in the 2-year-old league. “I think we’ve added another word to describe our city, and that’s dy nasty,” Brown said. “That’s what we have de veloping here.” It was the fourth title celebration for Comets owner Les Alexander, whose Houston Rockets won NBA titles in 1994 and 1995. Alexander told the crowd he hopes the two teams can “make it six” next summer. Two-time coach of the year Van Chancellor was emotional as the throngs showed their gratitude. Af ter 19 years of coaching women’s basketball at Ole Miss, he was touched to see the masses so excited about the sport. “I never thought I’d live long enough to see such support for women’s basketball,” Chancellor said. Youth is served tali° n Two starters return from Sweet Sixteek£\\j- C CO 3 BY ROBERT HOLLIER The Battalion More home runs, more fan appeal (AP) — The banner Ted Kacz- marik unfurled at a recent Florida Marlins game against the St. Louis Cardinals carried a simple mes sage: “Go Big Mac, for the love of the game.” A players’ strike three years ago hurt major league baseball, said the 33-year-old resident of Mar gate, Fla. But the assault by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa on Roger Maris’ single-season home run record “has brought the fun back into it.” Plenty of others share his senti ments about the game, according to an Associated Press poll. Nearly half of all Americans are paying more attention to baseball because of the home run race, the poll indicated. Even non-fans are coming down with home run fever. More than 60 percent of those polled said they usually do not pay much attention to baseball, but nearly one-third of them are following the bid to surpass the 61 home runs that Mafis hit for the New York Yankees in 1961. Among women, 37 percent said their interest in the game has in creased because of the record chase. Sosa, of the Chicago Cubs, hit his 56th home run on Wednesday. McGwire hit two home runs for the Cardinals that day, boosting him to 59 for the season. Only Maris and Babe Ruth (60) have hit more. The telephone survey of 1,006 adults, conducted Aug. 26-30 by ICR of Media, Pa., has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. “The state of baseball is excel lent,” said Tim Van Lier, manager of a plumbing store in Northbrook, Ill., who was at Wrigley Field Tues day night with more than 38,000 others to watch Sosa chase the homer record and the Cubs battle for a playoff spot. “I haven’t had this much fun watching baseball since I was 10 years old,” added Ted Paducas, also from Northbrook. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said in an interview that the accomplishments of McGwire and Sosa “have just riveted the nation.” He added that the home run race is “a very dramatic part” of the game’s recovery from the strike, which resulted in cancella tion of the 1994 World Series and delayed the start of the 1995 sea son. To continue regaining the sup port of former fans, he said, “the most important thing to do is what we have the last year or two, which is keep the focus on the field.” The AP poll indicated that two- thirds of Americans are as interest ed in baseball as they were before the players’ strike, while 24 percent Welcome Back Students !!! Le Nails Special Offer for new school year* $ 3.00 off for a full-set $ 2.00 off for a fill-in (Original prices: 026.00 and 016.00. Specials efifective from 8/24/98 to 9/30/98) *Must have a valid student ID to receive discount Start your new school year w/ beautiful nails Act now! Don't hesitate! Appointment and Walk-ins Welcome Post Oak Mall (By Luby’s Cafeteria) 1500 Harvey Rd. College Station, TX 77840 (409) 693-0996 fit Alpha Phi Come visit the women of Alpha Phi! INFORMAL RUSH SCHEDULE September 7: Open House V September 8: Skit Day *7 VSp ** September 9: Philanthropy Day & September 1 0: * Preference Day h t/* wo Time 7:00 p.m. (Each evening) Location Alpha Phi Lodge 91 5 Harvey (Behind Subway) For more information please contact: Lori Saldivar: 695-6995 were less enthusiastic. Last spring, almost half said their interest in go ing to see a game was lower be cause of the strike. Through Sunday’s games, aver age attendance in 1998 was 29,226. That is up more than 3 percent over last year, but still about 7.5 percent lower than the 1994 pre-strike av erage of 31,612 per game. In the long run, the poll suggest ed team owners may have a hard time drawing new fans to games. While 37 percent of those polled said they followed base ball, only 11 percent chose base ball as they sport they enjoy fol lowing the most. Nearly 40 percent chose pro football, while about 20 percent chose pro bas ketball and another 20 percent se lected figure skating. About 6 per cent chose pro hockey. Another ominous sign was that young adults were three times as likely as older adults to complain about the length of baseball games. They were drawn to more fast- paced games like pro basketball. “People are not patient enough to watch nine innings of baseball,” said 34-year-old Christy Jones of San Francisco, attending an Atlanta Braves game. Selig said baseball officials were continuing their efforts to speed up play. The 1998 season begins today for the No. 19 Texas A&M Volleyball Team and Coach Laurie Corbelli will have an early op portunity to evaluate her young team and see where they need to im prove the most. The Aggies had their most successful season in team his tory last year, finishing the year with a 26-8 record, a No. 13 ranking and they ad vancing to the Sweet Sixteen. Unfortunately for the Ag gies, the 1997 season marked the end of four college careers for start ing seniors: All-Amer- ^ ican Kristie Smed- srud, Cindy Lothspeich, Farah jmmm. Mensik and Jen- nifer Wells. The Aggies will be playing in one of the tough- ^ est conferences in the country with Nebraska ranked fifth, Texas ranked ninth and Colorado ranked 12th. Replacing four starting seniors with younger inex perienced players could mean a rough season for j the Aggies. However, Corbelli and the team know the only way to gain experi- j ence is by do ing it. A&M will get an excellent opportunity to do just that when they travel to Stockton, Calif., to compete in the Pacific Tournament this week end. “I look at it as a refreshing chal lenge,” Corbelli said. “We have so many young players who are so ea ger and hungry to learn more and get on the court. Although there is a lot of youth, there is also enough experience and talent that it will be exciting to see how the players bring out their best qualities and make it all come together. “Because we are so physical and our speed is the'- going to bed fire Our legs are strc get lower and we: ball. We will be :: of balls, I’c where they 5 The M starters Arne Off Campus Aggies Join us TllCSdoy, September 8tH for our first meeting of the fall! Meet other off campus students and have some fun with OCA! See what we're about! When: September 8th at 8:30 pm Where: MSC201 Dues: $15 for the Fall or $28 for Fall and Spring For more info, call the OCA Offfice at 845-0688 or visit our website at http://ocatamu.edu "Invitation Only HOWDY ‘98 An Awesome Concert of Praise and Worship! Featuring; Ross King Jami Smith Band Sons Daughters 0 The Metro Band Thursday, Sept. 10 7:30 p.m. First Baptist, Bryan Texas Ave. at 28th St. Tickets are $5 in advance Available at MSC Box Office Call 779-2434 for more information www.fbcb.com Sponsored by Compass College Ministry team per gai Wool kills and 1 was second on “Stacy will < the load of th said. "In additi her game sonality onenie* to be taking on sponsibilities. 1 and capable oi if a y from 2 t < -esentatives ,dreds of ca 3 ns will floe the MSC as heir groups v members. ASC’s Open ing under to all task to a <hde range c afternoon, t iany tasks o lemorial Su ASC is comp , areas from ning prograi er 1,800 Agt rces unparal Sunday, thos alongside ot lents should y can get in\ all its assets ents. Ahhou )gram, Aggit iting experk ase same pre Hurd, a seni Ourschcc ule gives us a chance toph a lot ofpeopl and get into the mode for Hig 12 Con fe ence play." - LAURIE C0RBElU a y> the SC< mtfei ......... tal will be- A&M VOLLEYBAU just has COACH /ery se- since time orial. Ea- lents will e Memori-I -nt Center assaulted , ive of sight and sp: ' four hours < rowded halh pressure, tb ve under the louts, someh s a worthwh 8 With so needing t the Aggi< first real season v Creighto; and No. tournamt “Our schedult what we said. “% 'ever, despiti toumam s Open Hou: schedule nc i student c chance 8 a major ov people a Jittedly, a fo mode foi louse is nec } 4 ” mode fot 10 tise is nec ence ol. ^0 student o Robert McK*vVinnMH.v A&M Camp onors recrui UPAS, there r prospectiv re them. Op The ladies of Alpha Chi OMhe'smafie nnot adverti would like to say << Confj:ratwk n P us withfl ° nefly, appea to our new members! 1 bod >- opei n excellent j( Courtney Ash lock Tiffany Baker Melissa Ballard Elizabeth Bass Elisa Blankenship Krista Boothe Meredith Boyd Joanie Brier Jennifer Bullard April Burks Summer Bybee Natalie Cervantez Kimberly Cervenka Kristen Chalupa Elizabeth Clymer Kiffin Collins Jennifer Davenport Jessica Davis Julie Davis Amanda deTurck Keri Fielder Jeannie Fox height Ann Furlow Angela Cast Julia Glendening Allisaon Gunn Trisha Havener Allison Haynes Beth Hearn Christina Herbig Heather Hollenshead Rosemary Holmes Jane Hoskins Jennifer Howard Lindsey Huffman Jennifer Jose ‘nt, by keepi Katherine Kel n equal foot Ashley Kelly ’ these bene1 Melissa Maine' Amanda Man/: Holly McCoy Krisren McNeft Erin Merritt Tara Michael Alisha Muggley Sara O’Neal Catherine Owens Andrea Peterson Alisha PiotrouL Molly Piskun Melissa Roberts Amy Roundtree Catherine Sara!" 1 Deborah SauncF Sundie Savage Stephanie Schk’ Stacy Shaver Mikal Sieger Courtney Smith Kathryn Stemm^ Mary Lynn Stev^ Lauren Strube Stephanie Tann^'l Melissa Telotte Amy ThrogmorW 11 ; Jennifer Trogolo Kimberly Twiggs Jessica Watkins Amber Weaver Brooke Woodson Katy Yaklin Sunny Yochim