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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 2000)
rugrai tenca RTH (AP)—Anim ■gaily entered theli st serve 20 years prison before he is <ico. nta Ana-Valdespinoir exas from Juarez, Ma r at the Federal Mefc Worth, awaiting trail prison. •secutors and public i rt Worth told theft gram that it is the longs rave ever heard of. Uss 1 deported immediate! nly 10 people wereoiir: ited in the Dallas-Fi r illegally entering it eportation, immigrafe Fhe typical prisonsa rom 1 to 4 years. I prosecutors crack Santa Ana-Valdespm felony convictions, ry and two convictior. / after deportation :t Judge Terry Means d him, says the mat was necessary, suggests, butforincai- 1 commit more crimes }y giving him this sen- ig to prevent him froir ling somebody." 'aldespino was arrestee brth on suspicion ofpos- ntrolled substance. The ere dismissed, however led over to immigration order Patrol agent found nt County'Jail. s in Brief itally shot (ing lot W (AP)—A 40-year- s man was shot and larking lot of a busy :er Saturday evening to Longview police Wade Turner, an nan approached an- itering a car at the er Shopping Center shots into the back of whose name was be- mtil family members tied, died almost in- said. Monday, July 31,2000 Sports Page 3 THE BATTALION Aggies in NFL prepare for upcoming season Former members of the Texas A&M football team plan to make a run at 2001 Super Bowl ja$h? ler your \4ENTS! jly 31 s ' et you ready n one week design uiss it - see them dprinting.com brance Displays Notepads mg.com % lion Editor s Editor 'Tccli Editor litor aphics Editor v'c11 Master as A&M University in the ; offices are in 014 Reed i-mail: Thebattalion@hot- or endorsement by The 696. For classified advei- d office hours are 8 a.m- &M student to pick ups iubscriptions are $60 pel f $10 a month. To charge : riday during the fall and on (except University hoi- aid at College Station, d University, llllTAMW Mark Passwaters The Battalion Every NFL player dreams of winning the Super Bowl. This season, at least three former Texas A&M players have a legitimate chance at realiz ing that dream. Albert Connell of the Wasliington Redskins, Rod ney Thomas of the defending AFC Champion Tennessee Titans and Rich Coady of the defending Super Bowl Cham pion St. Louis Rams all hope to come out of Tampa's Raymond James Stadium as winner of football's biggest prize. Connell's Redskins made more noise than any NFL team in the off-season, adding prominent free agents such as cornerback Deion Sanders, defensive end Bruce Smith, safety Mark Carrier and quarterback Jeff George. Add in rookies LaVar Arrington and Chris Samuels — tlie second and tlaird picks in this year's draft — and the Redskins are a popular pick to break their 10- year Super Bowl drought. Connell is impressed by the changes the team has made. "It's like a fantasy-league team," Connell said. "It's tough to believe." Last year, Connell and new team mate Sanders had a highly publicized run-in when Sanders played for the hated rival Dallas Cowboys. Connell made unflattering comments about Sanders, who sponded by sub tly elbowing Connell in the mouth in the first series of the game. Now that Sanders is wearing bur- — Rich Coady St. Louis Rams' defensive back gundy and gold, Connell sees him in a different light. "Deion is making me and the team better," Connell said. "I get better every time I go up against him." Connell had a breakout year last season, catching 62 passes, for 1,132 yards and seven touchdowns. This year, he knows that de fenses will be watching him, and he relishes the challenge. "It feels good to know that they're preparing for me, and not just Mike (Micliael Westbrook, the Redskins other starting wideout), Connell said. "It makes me work that much harder." Connell's statistics will be "bet ter than last year's," he said, laughing. Rodney Thomas and the Titans will set tle for just one more yard. Tennessee came within one yard of send ing Super Bowl XXXV into overtime. In spite of the heartbreaking out come, Thomas insists id It's like a that the Super Bowl loss is be hind them. "Thinking about the past can shackle you," he said. "It's behind us. We're just trying to get back to the Super Bowl." The Titans have changed their offensive scheme with the addition of wideout Carl Pickens and new * ‘ . offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger. "It's a bit of a dif ferent philosophy," Thomas said. "Things look good so far and hopefully we can put some points on the board." Tlaomas praised the Titans for signing running back Eddie George and head coach Jeff Fisher to contract extensions, saying, "You have to keep your nucleus. ... Just to know that they're going to be there gives us con fidence." Rich Coady and tlie St. Louis Rams not lacking confidence, and with good reason. The Rams are returning last year's championship team almost com pletely intact. Even though the Rams are everyone's target this year, Coady feels he and his teammates are ready. "Every team we play is going to give us their best shot. We know we can make or break a team's season,' he said. The Rams were mostly silent in the offseason, allowing teams like Washington and Tampa Bay to steal the headlines with big signings. Coady said his teammates could not care less. "They stole the spot light, but they're still shooting for us. ... Until you get on the field, it's all irrelevant." One major member from last year's champi onship team who will not be back is head coach Dick Vermeil, who retired. Former offensive coordinator Mike Martz has taken over for Vermeil, and Coady said the team, has not missed a beat. "There's a lot of the same feeling," he said.’ "The players are all excit ed with Coach Martz." All three players said they think about their days at A&M often, in cluding when they are on the field. Connell said that he and former Uni versity of Colorado star Westbrook already are jawing about this year's game between the Aggies and Buffalos at Kyle Field, and defensive end N.D. (Ndukewe) Kalu from Rice is also the target of some of his barbs. Connell also had a message for Aggie and current Dallas Cowboy cor nerback Kevin Smith. "You tell him I'm going to get him back for last year," Connell said jokingly. "He played me a little dirty, so I'm going to get him back." t fantasy-league team. It's tough to believe.” — Albert Connell Washington Redskins' wide receiver It (talking trash) goes back and forth all the time," Coady said, noting that most of the talking goes on between him and for mer University of Texas Longhorn Taje Allen and University of Nebraska Grant Wistrom. "It's all in good fun." The Rams open their season against the Denver Broncos and former A&M wide receiver Chris Cole, a fact that did not escape Coady's notice. "There'll be a lot of trash talking going on," Coady said. "He knows better than to come over the middle if I'm back there." Thomas says that while he leaves the jawing to others, he does keep dose tabs on the Aggie football program. "I call sometimes and try to find out what's up. ... I like to brag on 'em." Without a doubt, all three former stu dents would like to give their fellow Ag gies something to brag about by winning a Super Bowl ring this season. , (Center) Rich Coady; (Bottom left) Rodney Thomas; (Top right) Albert Connell PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JP BEATO/The Battalion Pitcher wins 200 games Sports in Brief Former A&M player Sykora heads to Sydney Olympics Former Texas A&M volleyball player Stacy Sykora will travel to Australia as a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic women’s volleyball team. Sykora will play the newly created position called Libero. The Libero is a defensive specialist who is allowed to dig and pass but can not hit, serve or block, or set in SYKORA front of the 10-foot line. Wear ing a different color jersey, the Libero stands out from her six teammates on the court. The two-time All-American will be the first Aggie to play on an Olympic volleyball team. Sykora played for A&M from 1995-’98, starting three of those years as an outside hitter. In her last season with the Aggies, Sykora led the Big 12 Conference and was ninth in the country in digs per game (4.37). After four years of play ing for the Aggies, she ranked second in the A&M career records in both kills (1,586) and digs (1,471) and set 23 A&M single match, Big 12 sea son and Big 12 career marks. All-Star game features Aggie football signees Several recently graduated high school football players from across the s»tate will con verge on Houston Tuesday night for the annual Texas High School Coaches Association All- Star Game at Rice University be fore reporting to their respective colleges in the coming weeks. Texas A&M football fans will be interested in watching the game, which features seven players who have signed with the 2000 Aggie football team. Defensive backs Keelan Jack- son and Dawon Gentry and line backer Lebrandon Shepard will represent the North team on de fense. On the offensive side of the ball for the North will be lineman Kasey Cheshier and center Ge offrey Hangartner. They will face two future Ag gies on the South team — quar terback Dustin Long and defen sive lineman Eddie Brown. The game will be televised on FOX Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. ATLANTA (AP) — Tom Glavine became the third active pitcher to win 200 games, pitching into the ninth inning as the Atlanta Braves beat tlie Houston Astros 6-3 on Sunday. Glavine (13-5) allowed three runs and seven hits in eight-plus in nings to join teammate Greg Mad dux and Roger Clemens with 200 wins. He is the 96th pitcher overall to reach 200. Only Hall of Earner Phil Niekro (226) has more victories with At lanta. Glavine, who won his sixth straight start, was given a standing ovation as he came out to start the ninth. The left-hander was replaced af ter allowing an RBI single to Moises Alou that made it 6-2. With runners on first and second, manager Bobby Cox brought in Mike Remlinger, who struck out Lance Berkman and gave up a run-scoring single to Tony Eusebio. Remlinger finished his nintli save in 11 opportunities. The Braves put the game away with three runs in the fifth. Rafael Furcal singled, stole second and ad vanced to tliird on catcher Mitch Meluskey's throwing error. Chipper Jones' RBI single scored Furcal to make it 4-0. Following a double by Wally Joyner, Javy Lopez hit a two-run double that put At lanta up 6-0. Lopez improved to .405 (30-for-74) with 22 RBIs in July. An RBI single by Jeff Bagwell cut the lead to 6-1 in the sixth and was all Houston would get until the ninth inning. The Braves scored twice in the second inning off Cliris Holt (4-12). Joyner, wlio reached on an error by Bagwell at first, moved to second Lopez's single. After both runners advanced on a passed ball, Joyner scored on Keith Lockhart's ground- out. George Lombard's RBI single made it 2-0. Lockhart liit an RBI double in the fourth to make it 3-0. Lockhart was thrown out on the play in an attempt to get a triple.