he Battalion
Sports
Page 11 • Tuesday, November 23, 1999
gs try to prepare for UT Bonfire tragedy casts
different light on game
g to conclusion,■ BY AL LAZARUS
ert on corporaifp The Battalion
nistory and teciQ
It seems every year in the days
■ add to the pre?- leading up to the Texas A&M Foot-
it of a mediato:! ball Team’s showdown with the
?t any concern!',| University of Texas, words like “bit-
rosoft may gels, i ||ter” or “heated” or even “hateful”
The company i |ai e used to describe the rivalry be-
higher yesteRiHyeen the two teams,
lan 4 percent, oiB But in the wake of Thursday’s
89.81 1/4, as cr:
>e of trading on il:
larket.
onfire collapse, which killed 12
.ggies and injured 27 others, those
rords have not been uttered by ei-
ir, consumersbj her team. Instead, the tragedy
ises in San Franc,
ge County, Cal:
New York; Nett
mingham, Ala.
ass-action state
m behalf of mi
ters.
s in New York an;
in state couns.
lifornia are am:
Jerved to put the “importance” of a
ootball game into question for
veryone involved.
“When something like that hap-
ens, it really puts football in per
fective,” A&M senior wide re-
eiver Matt Bumgardner said. “But
lawsuits in AlahBou still have to play the game. It’s
na are federal cat; eally interesting to see how it’s go
ng to turn out with the emotions
the team.”
The Aggies (7-3, 4-3 Big 12) and
;e it easier for conMonghorns (9-2, 6-1 Big 12) will
ig for products quare off for the 106th time Friday
al outcome oft! at Kyle Field. The game is set to de
adened legal assJlin at 10 a.m. and will be televised
iwn its aggressive:, Jationally by ABC.
Texas senior wide receiver Ryan
unez said he expects the Aggies to
raw motivation from the accident.
“They can be really down, or
tey could come out on a high emo-
onal level to play for those who
ere lost,” Nunez said. “With the
Inity and camaraderie at that Uni-
lersity, we expect them to come out
1 • jBxtremely motivated.”
ChjTlQtl The Longhorns will enter Fri-
Jay's game assured of a spot in the
ymJ »jg ^2 championship game Dec. 4
b San Antonio. If No. 5 Texas de
feats A&M and wins the Big 12
fhampionship, the Longhorns like
ly will find themselves in the Fiesta
owl.
ve been impressed with
hem throughout the year,” A&M
oachR.C. Slocum said. “They’ve
ot a very balanced offense, and
:e Presidem/llGor|defensively, they’ve gotten better
mt down lot^Mljeach week. 1 think they’ve got a
5 antitrust caseagi
idustry monopoly
ainst a Justice Dtl
mpetitors and pm
mt’s action promp:
GUY ROGERS/Thk Battalion
Texas A&M senior running back D’Andre “Tiki” Hardeman runs the ball against the University of Missouri
Nov. 13 in Columbia, Mo. The Aggies defeated the Tigers, 51-14.
the trouble facing
tted, even after L
took his computet,
confession,”!
t big a deal.”
ted otherwise,
len Fahey said
n the Internetc
a U.S. embassy a
really good defense.”
Texas is led by quarterback Ma
jor Applewhite, who has followed
up his strong freshman campaign
with a stellar sophomore season. He
has completed 251 of 414 passes for
3,132 yards and 21 touchdowns.
But more importantly, Apple-
white, who has 21 200-yard plus
passing games to his credit, has en
abled Texas to avoid the drop-off
many predicted after the departure
of Heisman Tfophy winner Ricky
Williams.
“He’s the heart of the team,
but he’s also the brains of the
team,” A&M freshman linebacker
Brian Gamble said. “And you’ve
got to go to the brain to beat
them, kind of like in all the old
science-fiction movies.
“He’s what makes their offense
click, and when their offense is
clicking and their defense is playing
well, it just steamrolls.”
Gamble said the Aggies will try
to limit Applewhite by constantly
pressuring him.
“You have to try to confuse him,”
Gamble said. “You have to bring a
lot of people to pressure him, and
since he’s not a real tall guy, you
s cost the gov®
$40,000, prose®
louse site was \«|
down the Webstj
ic and private coil
net for two daysaij
system,” Fahey|
report to federal
hich he hopes wi
, and the holidays
aff for good belli
might spend asfi
ence says he woo!
tputer during thrft
when he’s release:
ask his probate
Uowed to use one!
have to get your hands up when
you’re pass rushing to try to bat
down balls.”
A&M senior punter Shane Tech
ier said, at the very least, Friday’s
game will serve as a welcome di
version from the Bonfire tragedy.
“I’m glad we can be here to
maybe take their minds off of it for
60 minutes,” Techier said. “Just
anything to help [A&M] out.
We’re going to have to come out
and play a good-attitude, error-
free game and just give everyone
something good to go home with
over the holidays.”
BY DOUG SHILLING
The Battalion
O n Friday morning, the
Texas A&M University Ag
gies and the University of
Texas Longhorns will battle at
Kyle Field for the 106th time in
their storied rivalry. But unlike
the previous 105 meetings, this
year’s contest has a different
sense to it.
Instead of the bitterness nor
mally present prior to the game,
a solemn feeling has been cast
over this year’s game due to the
Bonfire tragedy.
The Bonfire
tragedy hit the
football players
Thursday
when most of
the team went
out to the site
to help their
fellow Aggies.
During the day,
when logs still
needed to be
moved, the
football team
spontaneously
started helping out.
Senior offensive lineman
Semisi Heimuli said helping at
Bonfire site was something he
and the team wanted to do.
“We just wanted to do any
thing to help,” he said. “We
couldn’t give blood because we
had a practice that afternoon. I
was walking to practice and I saw
Tiki, Techier and Andy Vincent
getting ready to leave. I asked
them where they were going and
they said they were going to Bon
fire. They said they needed peo
ple to help go move some logs. I
said I might as well go with them,
I want to help.”
The tragedy has not just af
fected the Aggie side of the rival-
showed up and
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your campus,
the
Cnoxville
; and prayers.
nent Association
ere
DAI
...to the families
and friends of the
students whose
lives were lost.
Our thoughts and
prayers are with you.
Destia
C O M M U N K. A H O t-i S
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(everything glows)
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ry. Even the Longhorns have
chipped in all they could to help
with the tragedy. Last Friday, all
the players who were not expect
ed to play in the game against
A&M went out and donated
blood. Also, the annual Hex Ral
ly was canceled and the UT ath
letic department decided not to
go with its usual tradition of an
swering phone calls with the
greeting, ‘Beat A&M.’
Junior offensive lineman Chris
Valletta said the Aggies appreci
ate thfe way the Longhorns have
reacted in light of the tragedy.
“Just like us, they realize that
this is a game
and what hap
pened here is a
tragedy,” he
said. “They un
derstand that
honoring the vic
tims and the
families is more
important than a
football game, so
that’s the atti
tude they’ve tak-
BEATO/I III Battalion en anc j we appre
ciate that.”
Senior punter Shane Lecher
said the game should be played
not for the players, not for the
fans, but for the 12 Aggies who
died.
“The lives that were taken at
the bonfire,” Techier said, “I
would almost promise you that if
every one of them could walk
through that door, and someone
would say, ‘Hey, what do y’all
want to happen on Friday,’ every
one of them would say, ‘Beat the
hell outta t.u.’
“You have to look at it in a way
to realize what they would want,
because they can’t be here to sup
port it. But everybody knows that
they’ll definitely be watching this
game Friday. ”