_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
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Come visit the women of Alpha Phi!
INFORMAL RUSH SCHEDULE
September 7:
Open House
V
September 8:
Skit Day
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September 9:
Philanthropy Day
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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
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The ladies of Alpha Chi OMhe'smafie
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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