Battalion
Sports
Page 3 • Monday, July 5, 1999
mn favorites not always best All-Stars
loday is the day starting
lineups as selected by
the fans will be an-
Hnced for this year’s Ma
tt League Baseball All-Star
■ne. This year’s game at
■ton’s Fenway Park will
Bk the 66th edition of the
ii|season event. Unfortu- Mark
ly, it also will mark the PASSWATERS
m of Bob Costas behind
le microphone — another horrible side effect
jfthe NBA lockout. Aren’t the fans entitled to
lore than three weeks of peace?
»s usual, there will be players elected to the
Jl-Star Teams whose statistics do not merit
leir selection, as well as players whose num-
iers will be overlooked by the fans. Here is
>ne fan’s ballot of who he thinks should be
farting.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
First Base — Mo Vaughn, Anaheim
(.286, 16 HR, 49 RBI)
/aughn was the heart and soul of the Red Sox
1 Boston general manager Dan Duquette ran
out of town in one of the most classless
[ives of the decade. It is only fitting he should
t. Maybe he can hit Duquette with a foul ball.
Second Base — Roberto Alomar, Cleve-
I land (.333, 10 HR, 53 RBI, 20 Steals)
jGet out your spit shields — Alomar is once
again playing like the best second baseman in
the game.
I Shortstop — Nomar Garciaparra, Boston
(.354, 14 HR, 55 RBI)
■ This game is in Garciaparra’s home ballpark
and is having a great year. He is the sentimental
choice.
■ What about Derek Jeter? No way he could
get this vote, for two reasons. First, there has to
he some law against starting a Yankee in Fenway
iPark. Second, he hit on my ex-girlfriend before
Game 1 of the 1996 World Series. No soup for
him.
Third Base — Cal Ripken Jr., Baltimore
(.315, 10 HR, 30 RBI)
This is not a sentimental choice. Since his re
turn from the disabled list, Ripken has been by
far the best third baseman in the American
League. And to think some moron wrote in this
very paper this spring that he was washed up.
Catcher — Ivan Rodriguez, Texas
(.315, 13 HR, 46 RBI)
Pudge is the best all-around catcher in the
game, and maybe the best of all time. This is a
no-brainer.
Outfield — Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle
(.311, 27 HR, 74 RBI)
“Do you know me? I’m the best player in
baseball.”
B. J. Surhoff, Baltimore
(.341, 17 HR, 56 RBI)
Surhoff has been the Orioles’ offensive spark
all season long. He has better numbers than big-
money free agent Albert Bell, and has done so
with fewer tantrums.
Manny Ramirez, Cleveland
(.348, 19 HR, 81 RBI)
At the moment, Ramirez is putting up num
bers that will make him the American League
MVP.
Designated Hitter: Harold Baines, Baltimore
(.348, 15 HR, 52 RBI)
The 40-year-old Baines has put up these re
markable numbers in only 61 games. However, it
is a wasted vote, since Jose Canseco will win out.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
First Base — Jeff Bagwell, Houston
(.320, 24 HR, 67 RBI)
Bagwell is putting up MVP-type numbers, but
this is another wasted vote. Mark McGwire will
start here.
Second Base — Jay Bell, Arizona
(.284, 22 HR, 55 RBI)
Excuse me, please take down the “reserved
for Craig Biggio” sign. In this year of the rabbit
Lone Star All-Stars
Texas Rangers and Houston Astros players among
top five vote-getters by position as of June 29:
TEXAS RANGERS:
C Ivan Rodriguez
IB Rafael Palmeiro
OF Juan Gonzales
OF Rusty Greer
HOUSTON ASTROS:
IB Jeff Bagwell
2B Craig Biggio
3B Ken Caminiti
OF Derek Bell
ball, Bell has taken advantage by putting up the
best numbers of any NL second baseman.
Shortstop — Barry Larkin, Cincinnatti
(.312, 9 HR, 50 RBI)
Healthy once more, Larkin has returned to his
role as the NL’s best shortstop.
Third Base — Matt Williams, Arizona
(.324, 21 HR, 70 RBI)
You were expecting Chipper Jones? A look at
the stats shows Williams leads in every offensive
category in spite of the fact he is 161 years old.
Catcher — Mike Piazza, New York Mets
(.317, 16 HR, 44 RBI)
Piazza is the best hitting catcher around. An
other no-brainer.
Outfield — Larry Walker, Colorado
(.380, 19 HR, 65 RBI)
This is the one guy who can make a run at
the triple crown.
Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs
( .288, 29 HR, 66 RBI)
Sosa has become the power threat in the NL
with 30 homers before the All-Star Game.
Luis Gonzalez, Arizona
(.370, 13 HR, 49 RBI)
A quiet candidate, Gonzalez is having a ca
reer year, including a 31-game hitting streak.
Don’t like these choices? Please use all the
options available to fans to make sure your
will is done for next year. And have some fun
doing it.
Mark Passwaters is a graduate student in
electrical engineering.
BCS announces
formula change
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (U-WIRE)
— Bowl Championship Series
(BCS) coordinator Roy Kramer said
Wednesday one of the major
changes in the new formula that
decides which football teams will
play for the 2000 national champi
onship is actually quite simple.
Instead of adding three numbers
and dividing by three, simply add sev
en and divide by seven.
While the 1999 BCS formula still
will consist of subjective polls, com
puter rankings, schedule strength and
number of losses to determine a na
tional championship matchup,
Kramer announced a few minor
changes to the system.
One difference in effect for next
season is the addition of five com
puter rankings that will join the three
already in place in 1998. Seven of
those rankings will be added togeth
er and divided to formulate one quar
ter of a team’s BCS standing.
Computer rankings by Richard
Billingsley, the Dunkel Index, Ken
neth Massey, David Rothman and the
Matthews/Scripps-Howard join the
New York Times, Jeff Sagarin’s USA
Today and the Anderson-Hester/Seat
tle Times in the formula.
“If you have a disease it’s always
good to get a second, third, fourth or
fifth opinion,” Kramer said. “What
this does is give us a broader diversi
ty of opinion and ranking system, and
I think it does add credibility to that
by giving us a broader spectrum of in
formation.”
However, only the seven highest
computer rankings for a team will
count in the formula, with the lowest
being dropped.
Though the new rankings will
provide five extra opinions, Kramer
Rank and file
Sources to contribute to the 1999
BCS ranking formula:
COMPUTER RANKINGS:
Richard Billingsley
Dunkel Index
Kenneth Massey
Matthews/Scripps Howard
David Rothman
NEWSPAPERS:
New York Times
USA Today
Anderson-Hester!Seattle Times
said the result of the 1998 final
rankings still would have remained
the same with the University of
Tennessee, Florida State University,
Ohio State University and Kansas
State University occupying the top
four spots.
The BCS, which will not release
standings until the seventh week of
the season on Oct. 25, also will re
quire teams to have nine regular sea
son victories and a top-12 ranking at
the end of the season, to have a
chance to receive an at-large bid.
Kramer said beginning with the
2003 standings, a conference whose
champions in four previous seasons
do not average a top-12 ranking could
lose their automatic bid.
The conferences that currently
have automatic berths include the At
lantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12,
Pac-10 and Southeastern Conference.
The 1999 national championship
game will be at the Sugar Bowl in
New Orleans Jan. 4 at 8 p.m.
Robbie Neiswanger writes for
the Independent Florida Alligator
(University of Florida).
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ANTHONY DISALVO/Thk Battalion
xas A&M Archery Team coach Frank Thomas will serve as an assistant coach for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s
chery Teams this summer at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
&M archery coach to assist Pan American Team
VERSlV
BY REECE FLOOD
The Battalion
One of the coaches of the
xas A&M Archery Team will be
ading to this year’s Pan Amer-
Han Games as an assistant coach
r the U.S. Archery Team.
-Frank Thomas, who also is
nion Ecii || a j r 0 f a&M’s Physical Educa-
\lews £d it0, |bn Activity Program, said he is
; Editor idoking forward to the opportu-
Producef Ity to coach in the Games.
: ditor very exc iting,” he said.
" fThe tournaments that I’ve been
0 ©at this point have just been
^ aSter •tfiihhery tournaments. One of the
M Unlversl Mpvciting things about this though
a 0ZAT. f IS it s
15-2647: : :JS it’s not just archery.
fi “It’s going to be athletes in all
idoiseirert 1 ;,kinds of sports, so that is really
: orclassifi^jgoing to be fun.”
;ehoursar r ^ mpjyg an d women’s
ic^pi-feams will be attending the
jeopers*'[Games, from July 23 to August 9
To charge 1,1 jin Winnipeg.
This will not be Thomas’ first
coach on the in-
during
cept
College:
IcDonald
ap P earance aS 3
u ternational level. In 1997, he was
In assistant coach in the World
Championships and the Russian
Grand Prix. Thomas also served
as assistant coach in the 1998
German Grand Prix and worked
as the archery competition man
ager for the 1996 Summer
Olympics in Atlanta.
“It [the Pan American
Games] is going to
be athletes in all
kinds of sports, so
that is really going
to be fun”
— Frank Thomas
Texas A&M archery co-coach
Thomas credits A&M for help
ing him become a nationally rec
ognized archery coach. He said
he only had a little experience
with the sport before coming to
A&M and learned most of what
he knows about it here.
“It (A&M) has really devel
oped me into what I am as an
archery coach,” he said.
Thomas already has met with
the U.S. team once during open
ing trials and is familiar with one
of the players. Junior wildlife and
fisheries sciences major Vic
Wunderle will join the U.S.
men’s team in Winnipeg. Wun
derle played under the direction
of Thomas while on the Texas
A&M Archery Team, winning the
Collegiate National Champi
onship three times. He also has
won two Junior World Champi
onships.
Although the Games’ opening
ceremonies will be July 23, the
team will not arrive in Winnipeg
until July 31 for three days of
practice.
The competition begins Aug. 4,
and will last until Aug. 8. The first
day of the competition will be what
Thomas calls a “ranking round,” in
which players are seeded into
brackets according to their total
score.
Thomas said each shooter can
I
see Archery on Page 4.
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