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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2000)
• Page 7 Friday, September 29, 200CI 1 .Belay, September 29, 2000 : SCHNEIDER-Tut Battalion kneeling), examine jmpus Thursday. No repeat: Norway beat the U.S. women’s soccer team in overtime, was the Americans’ first loss in a tournament final this year. Double trouble: U.S. tennis play ers Venus and Serena Williams topped the Dutch doubles tennis team to give the U.S. another ten nis gold medal. Sports THE BATTALION Revenge Week Aggies ready to protect sold-out Kyle Field against Texas Tech By Bree Holz The Battalion As the Texas A&M football team prepares to battle with Texas Tech University this Saturday, last sea son's loss to Tech is on players’ minds. “We've got a lot to play for this year,” quarterback Mark Farris said. “They've proven that they can beat us.” Last season. Tech defeated A&M 21-19 at Jones SBC Stadi um in Lubbock.This year, the Ag gies have a different plan in mind. "Last year, we weren’t enthusi astic like they were,” said line backer Jason Glenn. “We just took it as another game. But when they come down here Saturday, we're just gonna play all out, hit hard and let them know it’s going to be a long game.” The game will start at 11:3() a.m. at Kyle Field and will be televised on Fox Sports Net. The Aggies' home winning streak is 21 consecutive games, and the Red Raiders last defeated the Aggies at Kyle Field in 1996. "There’s no way we're going to lose on Kyle Field to Texas Tech this year,” Glenn said. “It happened once before, but we’re going to make sure that it doesn't happen again.” Offensive lineman Chris Valet- ta said the atmosphere of Kyle Field has a lot to do with the game. “It’s such an imposing stadium,” he said. “Teams come in and they see nothing but maroon. They hear the f;ins screaming every time their team’s on offense. It's a tough place to play. Our crowd is a huge factor.” Fullback Ja'Mar Toombs said the location of the game is not a factor for him. “I don't care where we play them,” he said. “1 just don’t want to lose to them anymore.” The Red Raiders enter their first road game of the season with a 4-0 record. A&M's record stands at 2-1. The Aggies hold the all-time series lead over Tech, 32-25-1, but the Red Raiders have won four of the last five meetings. “This was the perfect week to have an open week,” Valetta said. “We used the week to get most of our players healthy.” One of those players is senior defensive back Michael Jameson, who has been out with a high an kle sprain. “I'm not 100 percent yet, but I’m getting better,” he said. “Hopefully by Saturday I'll be close.” Toombs said he enjoyed the open week, but it was difficult to maintain enthusiasm without a game last Saturday. “You're used to playing every week and you have to hold your emotions down for that whole ex tra week,” Toombs said. “But we won't have any problems getting motivated for this game.” TV Schedule: Friday, September 29, 2000 INBC: 10 a.m. to Noon — Track, Diving, Rhythmic Gymnastics 7 p.m. to Midnight — Basketball, Track, ials are often alerted to t illegally share materiv proportionate number le site receives. In sm liversity investigates tk takes action against tk lividual. Putnam added ersity investigates only k abnormalities areev- o said that not all users ;e it illegally. that about 40percentof .. ... ... . _ ,, ih.it !»• h.is mlkedto ^ restl,n 9> Water Sports Napster. 1 12:41 to 2:11 a.m. — Basketball 22. six universities an- MSNBC: [ they would not block Dster on their networks. . Harvard officials uld refrain from block- Napster. continue dialogue with' iversities and see ifl : them to see the error King said. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. — Basketball, Soccer, Mater Polo, Canoe/Kayak, Wrestling — iiates, ^ ments b! nu.edu Gold Silver Bronze Total USA 32 18 26 76 , CHN 26 15 15 56 RUS 19 18 21 58 AUS 15 22 14 51 FRA 12 13 8 33 eceived by 979-845-1234 1-888-890-5667 Stacy Sykora: The U.S. Volleyball team lost in five sets to Russia in the women’s volleyball semifinal. The U.S. team’s libero Stacey Syko ra, a former Texas A&M All-Ameri can, had 12 digs. The U.S. will now play Brazil for the Bronze medal. Twin backs offer Whitaker, Weber give A&M By Blaine Dionne The Battalion One traveled l ,475 miles to at tend Texas A&M. The other, only 140. One is considered the power man at 6 feet, 228 pounds. The other most people think of as the finesse guy at 5 foot 10 inches, 197 pounds. On paper, A&M tailbacks Joe Weber and Richard Whitaker do not seem to have much in com mon. They are in constant com petition at practice and in games because they are fighting for the same job: starting tailback for the Aggies. They approach the games with two different styles. However, both have been suc cessful, creating a platoon situa tion this season. One might think the-situation would create animosity be tween the two, but the oppo site is true. “Me and Joe have been •. ! close since we got here,” J Whitaker said. “Like, when | we have off weekends, l take Joe home with me be cause, of course, he can't go home to California. So it’s kind of like a broth- % er relationship.” Weber said friend ship only calms the competitive atmos phere. “[Our relation ship] is a big help,” Weber said. “You get mad at someone that is in there doing things that you think you could be do ing, if you’re close.” First-year running backs coach Pete Hoener said Weber and Whitaker’s selflessness makes his job easier. He said he can rely on both of them to handle themselves in any game situation, and that both are eager to do whatev er it takes to help the team. “They’re real close; our whole running back group is close,” Hoener said. “Richard and Joe know they are competing with each other daily, because obviously they want to carry the load. But right now, l look at them as both equal and both ef fective, ice the punch game for any defense Joe Weber can’t '§ Richard Whitaker Jl. w h ( - Hi ^ and that’s how we’re using them.” While one could emerge through time as the more domi nant player, receiving more play ing time, the tandem is, for the time being, taking everything in stride. “I think it helps a lot,” Farris said. “They’re both great backs, and they both bring a little some thing different to the table. Richard’s more of a speed guy who can break it any minute, and Joe can too, but he’s more of a guy who’s gonna run you over. “I think it’s a great combina tion. It’s so much better than having just one guy because it’s a position where you can get tired through the course of a game.” A group influential in Weber and Whitaker’s success — the offensive line — is very happy with how the two are ap proaching the season. Se nior left guard Chris Vallet ta said he and his comrades in the trenches consider it an honor to create holes for their starting platoon. “It’s wonderful,” Valletta said, “We’ve never had this much speed at tailback since I’ve been X here. To have guys like % that — it’s great \ privi lege to block for guys like that.” Valletta added that the rela tionship between the two posi tions adds to the performance. “The offensive line and the running backs, we’re very tight,” Valletta said. “They are always patting us on the back and saying, ‘great job, O-line.’ They know we don’t get the recognition they do, but they make sure that they give us all they can.” Two football players who come from such different back grounds and run the ball in such different fashions have joined to form one of the most potent and cohesive running back units in A&M history. Texas Tech’s best game T exas Tech always gets left out. Texas A&M versus Texas. Somehow that always gets all the attention on the Texas football scene. National televi sion, top-re cruits, Thanksgiving weekend, one of the country’s oldest rivalries, school pranks. Yet Texas Tech somehow gets overlooked among Texas’ gridiron tradition. Maybe that is why it seems to save its best game for its orange and maroon neighbors. But any days of overlooking the Raiders must be over. How can it be possible to overlook a team that has won four of the last five meetings? How can the last team to beat the Aggies at Kyle Field be overlooked? It cannot. Not anymore. Last season Texas Tech dropped a game to North Texas. Its next game was a 21 -19 upset of the No. 5 Aggies. “It’s been a little frustrating for me that we’ve played this team every year, and it seems like one of those ho-hum kind of games,”-said A&M coach R.C. Slocum. “I think it is high time we recognize they get fired up for games and they play to win. We need to have that same kind of resolve when we go out there.” Texas Tech is consistently con sidered one of the lesser teams in the conference, and Texas and A&M are considered to be among the best. Yet, the Aggies, during Slocum’s ca reer, have fared worse against the Raiders than to the Longhorns, los ing five games. But it’s not just about football in Lubbock. It is about revenge for all the attention the big schools in the east receive.