W ednesday. Febru. AGGIELIFE THE BATTALION care. The first hospital tot perform the sum land. May said. 1 .nice company doesr Sr.’s cancer, eld other t'undraisini 1 medical hills. >een doing all sorts of* sed about S6,000." K nom started to raise ile, Texas,” he said." lust not enough resot id find a hospital ic do the surgery \u:| \ ent chemotherapy irl 1 the hospital for his 7. 2000. His brother, •o, donated the marra to get out of the h line kidney problem ■d to get out of the X t\ net in my dad, thbl ION Continue ocation. the ditchescs et deep or largo-, druction projects ham s campus, studenLsmij into the midst ofabtiri' ats. you probablysbs I. i assistant utilities fa id that while thepr cnience, it would pii sy stem a much need >r electrical deficieiK butionand supply,"! ie increased reliabit 1 ould allow the Unit® 1 ell-reliant foritsener:® versity must buy a nmercial suppliers. 1 cepts and then mai l ommendation to h Bowen,” Southerk “But weki’iWft’.iV. STORJL of tens ofws'.»'k'4 so it may takulw\'« The model ptopo* a permanent bonfiti # built at the Bonfirr 5 the Polo Fields. An “eternal flar be plaeed at thet stack and could Id I by a stairway wh4 wind around the si* The model alscsfl that 12 log cabins! near the stack, eack ing memorabilia a 12 students whodi collapse. £ £ 7" -ploit the X-treme sports” seems to be the rally cry among advertisers who want to appeal to the so-called “Generation X” — from makers of Mountain Dew to the manufactur ers of the N issan X-Terra — and the at tention that has been given to these sports have not failed to touch the mi crocosm of Texas A&M. But why this sudden explosion of high-flying, cargo-pant wearing, crash- helmet-bearing athletes? Martha Muckleroy, a senior lectur er for the Health and Kinesiology De partment who teaches several kinesiol ogy classes at A&M including beginning mountain biking, venture dynamics and volleyball, said she be lieves the growth of the economy has allowed more college students to break into outdoor sports. “The economy is so good, people have a lot of money. There’s people in this [beginning mountain biking] class sports is another issue enthusiasts must deal with in order to participate. While most of the athletes admit that a certain degree of danger is inherent in their sports, they also agree that buzz words like “extreme sports” and “X-Games” are misleading. “Extreme is a cool word, but it’s really limiting to what we’re doing. A better word would be action or adrena line sports,” said Page 3 be k X-Games\ The term ‘X-Games’ is given to anything non-traditional. I don’t think that’s accurate.” Heath said that some risks are un avoidable when skydiving, but that most are controlled by the skydiver. “Some people don’t know very much about the safety concerns, but some are willing to do it regardless. It doesn’t matter what you tell them,” he said. “But I looked at it, and I realized that the way I looked at it and the way that most people look at it was wrong. You can control more aspects about your environment than you think. Certainly not every thing, and that’s what makes it still dangerous, but you deter mine what degree of difficul ty you decide to undertake.” AGGIES SEARCH FOR NEW THRILLS BY EMILY HARRELL 57TOILLLUSTRATION BY CHADT3n33 Battalion with $1,500 mountain bikes,” she said. also think that the design, the physics, the engineering maybe... the tech nology has gotten so good and affordable and safe to participate in these sports.” Russell Heath, a licensed skydiver and a senior genetics major, is who said he agrees that the healthy economy al lows more students to participate in outdoor sports. Heath said he has made 42 jumps since he started skydiving.He said his certification cost about $ 1,500 and that he has spent at least $2,000 total in cluding the gear that he has purchased. “Once you get into it, it’s a pretty cheap sport day-to-day, but getting certi fied and all that equipment is a heck of a lot of money. You can’t get into the sport without at least a credit card,” he said. The danger involved in many of the Andy Ambros, Class of ’94 and de signer of Earthsports.com, a Website that sells gear and accessories relating to outdoor sports. “Know your limits. My limits are dif ferent from the next guy. These sports are about challenging yourself, but you have to know your limits,” he said. Muckleroy said the level of danger involved in outdoor sports is deter mined by the individual athletes. “I think that the sports are as dan gerous as you want them to be. And you can’t tell me it’s more dangerous than football. I don’t like the fear of panic,” she said. “When you say ‘X-Games,’ it sounds like that’s what they’re in, but they’re not. They’re at a very high lev el in their sport, doing what they’ve been training to do. They don’t have to Once athletes have come to terms with the danger involved with outdoor sports, they can concentrate on finding their favorite. Muckleroy said that of all the sports she teaches, white water canoeing is her favorite. “I really enjoy the coordination and the power of my body working if some thing is really hard, and you have to balance,” she said. Ambros said that skateboarding while growing up made the transition to snowboarding natural. “We’ve all at one point had a skate board in our hand. My favorite [sport is] snowboarding,” he said. ‘‘It’s an un believable experience. I personally feel like you have more control. See Xtrlme on Page 4. ISC Box Oil Everybody Scores! REGISTER WITH MYBYTES.COM AND SCORE BIG! iets i ah i Pi iter ★ 7:00 PI 1 / House ofTempk 5: ? Valley Troupe Adults $...7 GET A FREE SONIC ABYSS MULTIMEDIA CD pnd AUTOMftTICALLY BE ENTERED INTO OUR Score Big, Score Often Sweepstrkes. YOU COULD WIN AN INSTANT PRIZE! Plus, you’ll have r chance at $10(^000 TOWA R DS YOUR COLLEGE EDUCATION.