SPORTS
Tuesday. February 1,2(X)0
THE BATTALION
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BY JASON LINCOLN
The feiattalion
ost athletes know what they
want, constantly striving for
their elusive goal. That goal
varies from personal bests to single vic
tories to national championships.
■Texas A&M swimmer Devin
Howard is no exception. However,
Howard is striving for something not
limned by a single win or fast time — he
dof s not want to lose, period.
^■“Everybody likes to win, hut it's the
ones that hate to lose that take it to the
next level,” A&M men’s swimming
coaeh Mel Nash said. ‘‘Devin hates to
lose and that is huge.”
■That attitude does not always
work well in a sport that is geared
more to training for a specific race
ratper than competing at top form in
each competition.
■Nevertheless, Howard strives to
swim each race faster than the athletes
in the adjacent lanes.
■The determination, which Nash calls
the X-factor, that has seen Howard
through three seasons with the Aggies is
now making its presence felt on the
world circuit.
■Today, the senior participates in the
FINA-Swimming World Cup in
Sheffield, England, where he will debut
hislcollege talents against the best swim
mers in the European theatre while rep
resenting the USA National Team.
■ After two days of competition in
England, Howard will travel to the next
World Cup on Feb. 5-6 in Berlin, Ger
many.
“It will be good to swim against Euro
pean competition along with some more
vyorld competition,” Howard said. "It re-
^ a fr’i' % irm 1111 n
9
Warner provides ‘Super’ drama
A&M senior Devin Howard is taking
on USA National Team competitions
ally makes a difference competing against
the different styles [of swimmers].”
The A&M sw immer is slated in six
events for his European tour — the 50-,
100- and 200-meter butterfly, 200- and
400-meter individual medley and 200-
meter freestyle.
Howard will choose only a handful
of those events to compete in at each
stop, allowing him to perfonn at his best.
Due to his focus on world competi
tion in the 1999-2000 season, Howard
is sitting out this season to focus on the
World Cup and Olympic trials.
It will also allow the senior to com
pete in his final NCAA Championships
in 2001, when the competition comes
to College Station.
I toward will focus on the world cir
cuit, trying to establish himself as a top-
contender in every venue of the sport.
Currently, Howard is conditioning
for the World Championships to he
held in Greece during March. The
World Cups are merely being used to
jp BEATO/Tiik Battalion
a break from NCAA action to focus
throughout the world,
get competition experience in a variety
of environments.
“I’m really happy to get to compete
over there, but, to be honest. I’m not sure
how I’m going to swim," Howard said.
"But it will be helpful to get used to
swimming on someone else’s soil.”
His apprehension is largely the result
of the unknowns. The World Cup will be
his first competition overseas and his de
but against the best of Europe’s swim
mers. Yet. according to Nash, it should
not phase him a bit.
“The ability to not look at them in
awe, and expect to get up and race them
head to head allows him to compete with
anyone,” Nash said.
After it is over, I loward will start his
training cycle once more — to prepare
for the Olympic Trials in August, a
mere two weeks before the Sydney
Games. Only two swimmers per event
are chosen.
The A&M swimmer plans on mak
ing a run for it.
O n Sun
day, the
Super
Bowl was not
available on
ABC. Instead,
the network at
tempted to fool
viewers by
showing the
Kurt Warner I ligblight Show.
Of course, they ran expensive com
mercials and tried to pass it for the Su
per Bowl, but nobody has ever seen a
Super Bowl like this.
Super Bowls are supposed to have
teams like the San Francisco 49ers, the
Green Bay Packers, or the Dallas
Cowboys.
Super Bowls are supposed to be
over before halftime even starts. If that
was really the Super Bowl we
were watching in Atlanta, one
of the teams would have
looked like General Sherman
destroying everything in sight.
None of these things hap
pened though. The St. Louis
Rams, who were 4-12 just one
year ago, were the favorites to
win.
Their opponents, the Ten
nessee Titans, w ere led by a
quarterback from Division I-
AA named Steve McNair. The
49ers and Packers didn't even
make the playoffs, while the
Cowboys bowed out in the
first round.
Instead of the Super Bowl, viewers
were presented with a tightly contest
ed battle between two teams with ex
citing offenses and talented defenses.
The Rams took the lead 16-0. but
the Titans came back following the in
jury of safety Blaine Bishop, who was
leading the Titans defense with four
tackles at the time, and tied the game
up at 16 behind the play of Steve Mc
Nair and running back Eddie George.
Immediately after the Titans scored
on a two-yard touchdown by Eddie
George, Warner came back and threw a
73-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce
with less than two minutes remaining.
Warner finished the day with 414
yards passing, breaking the Super
Bowl record that was previously held
by Joe Montana. Joe Montana! I lis
name is practically synonymous with
the words Super Bowl.
The Titans were not done yet how
ever. Focusing on the running game,
and assisted by 25 yards in St. Louis
penalties, the Titans marched down
the field. With six seconds remaining
at the ten yard line, McNair passed
over the middle to Kevin Dyson, who
was stopped one yard short of the end
zone by linebacker Mike Jones.
Warner came through in a big way.
Fie completed 24 of 45 passes with
two touchdowns and no interceptions.
He was named Super Bowl MVP
and even kissed his wife immediately
Warner finished the day
with 414 yards passing,
breaking the Super Bowl
record that was previously
held by Joe Montana.
Joe Montana! His name is
practically synonymous
with the words Super Bowl.
following the win.
The Rams receivers, who were the
Robins to Warner's Batman, played a
large role in the game.
Rookie Torry I lolt led the team
with seven receptions, including a 9-
yard touchdow r n pass in the third quar
ter. Running back Marshall Faulk
came out of the backfield for 90 re
ceiving yards, more than live times the
number of rushing yards he would
earn that night.
Surprisingly, Fallk’s running game
was a non-factor. The Titans had pre
pared a “46” defense with eight men in
the box to contain Faulk’s running
game and force Warner to beat them
(which he did), and Faulk finished
with only 17 rushing yards.
McNair never gave up during the
game. Down 16 points with 1:18 left, in
the third quarter, he ran 23 yards to set
up a George touchdown run.
I le was out of his element in the
first half, throwing a lot of third and
long passes and not running the ball as
much as he normally has this season.
McNair didn't begin to look like him
self until the third quarter, when the
Titans offense began to combine
George's power running game with
McNair’s speed.
George was the driving force be
hind the Titans' off ense. He set the
tone for the game by catching a screen
pass and proceeding to run over Rams
linebacker London Fletcher in the first
quarter. He spent most of the
night running over opponents,
gaining 95 yards and scoring
both touchdowns for the Titans.
In the wake of this offensive
firepower, the defenses tried
desperately to hold their
ground. Tennessee, who was
without defensive leader Mar
cus Robinson, found it impossi
ble to contain Warner’s passing
game with their man-to-man
defense. The Rams ran slant
patterns all night to run away
from the Titans secondary.
The shining moment for the
defensive side of the ball came
on the final play, when linebacker
Mike Jones made the defensive play
of the year by peeling oft' from his
man and tackling Kevin Dyson at the
1-yard line.
I planned on watching the real Su
per Bowl after the Kurt Warner 1 ligh-
light Show ended, but after the excite
ment that the Rams and Titans
provided, I simply turned my TV off. 1
decided I liked the Kurt Warner 1 ligh-
light Show better than anything the Su
per Bowl could have produced anyway.
Richard Bray is a freshman
journal ism major.
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•PERF-0100
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