The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, July 16, 2001, Image 3

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—Sports—
THE BATTALION
Star flavor to AA All
Page 3
Stars
Round Rock’s
buildings,'®-
* Mark Passwaters
The Battalion
Last Tuesday, the Major
eague All-Stars had a chance to
•haveleam snow off their abilities to the
\ears — \vt country from Seattle’s Safeco
ts w ith steel Mield. On Wednesday, the best
dlows fort:, players at the AA level’s Eastern,
e soil.” BBouthern and ' Texas leagues met
at Round Rock’s Dell Diamond
officials. and had an opportunity to show
m McCain, what they could do. 'The game,
uld backthei W° n by the National League 8-
ove nowur 5. had a distinct Texas flavor.
I “It’s really great to he here,
e that these I considering this is my first time
ere, and its i back in Texas (for a professional
ality. Thevrl season),” said Craig Kuzmic of
he said orlffibe San Antonio Missions and a
hen this bu. j
y didn’t realtl
ve nature of J
I ress.
1 rent Lott,
nore cautio
uinmarilyg
nillionpeof
at got here
olated the!.
: — I’d want
• this careh
x News Sun
Di
ns are ak
torek saw.
member of Texas A&M’s 1998
Big 12 Champion team. “It’s a
lot of fun playing with the best.”
I Kuzmic, an eighth-round
pick of the Seattle Mariners in
1998, was a late addition to the
merican League squad.
‘They told me that (about
making the team) on Sunday,
and I was really happy about it,”
. he said.
When Kuzmic entered the
■game as a pinch hitter in the
[||sixth inning, the public address
; .|. t announcer at the Dell Diamond
ifcplayed the Aggie War Hymn,
Jbringing a large number of Ag-
: gies to their feet, while eliciting
ir howls of derision from Univer-
« sity of Texas fans. While Kuzmic
may have been the person with
Texas ties to draw the most at-
; V tention, he was not alone. Jere-
Dell Diamond plays host to game filled with Texas connections
Bryan native Jacques Landry of the Midland Rockhounds takes a
swing during the AA All-Star game, held in Round Rock last
ANDY HANCOCK/The Battalion
Wednesday night. The National League won the game, defeating
representatives of the American League 8-3.
mey Fikac of Shiner, Chris
Tremie and Carl Crawford of
Houston, David Gibralter of
Duncanville, Richard Crosby of
Bellaire and Jacques Landry of
Bryan were all selected to repre
sent their organizations in
Round Rock.
“Being here in Texas, and be
ing so close to home, it’s a real
honor,” said Landry, a 1996
graduate of Rice and a member
of Midland Rockhounds.
“It’s really crazy, you hear
about these guys but you don’t
even know what their jerseys
look like, and now you’re here
playing with them.”
Five members of the home
town Round Rock Express, the
Houston Astros’ AA affiliate,
were selected to play in front of
their home fans and received
rousing ovations from the crowd
of 12,045.
“It’s nice be having a good
year, and to be playing in such a
great place,” said Jason Lane,
Express outfielder. “It’s exciting
to have the crowd behind you,
and to have the other guys see
what you’ve got every day.”
“This is the best honor that
I’ve had in baseball,” said David
Matranga, Round Rock second
baseman. “This is a day for the
fans, and we want to make sure
they have some fun.”
The fans were treated to an
exciting game and an All-Star
game record five home runs.
The two biggest blows came in
the National League’s five-run
second inning on a three-run
homer by Gilbralter, the third
baseman from Milwaukee’s AA
affiliate in Huntsville and a two-
run shot by Ramon Castro, a
shortstop from Greenville, the
Atlanta Braves’ affiliate.
Other highlights included a
mammoth 415-foot blast off the
bat of former Standford quar
terback Joe Borchard, now a
member of the Birmingham
Generals, the Chicago White
Sox affiliate and an inning
pitched by Huntsville’s 20-year-
old closer, Nick Neugebauer.
Neugebauer retired the Ameri
can League hitters in order
while astounding the prowd
with . his fastball, which was
clocked at 98 miles per hour.
Pitcher Andy Pratt of the
See All stars on Page 6.
eir losses.- 1
"P No conspiracy needed for a happy ending
"XE Earnhardt Jr. y Ripken Jr.’s victories good for sports, no mysterious scripting required
I n recent years, the
American people
have become more
hat reflectsnBparanoid, or at least
icople grieve Ji more skeptical about
be for there-#what goes on around
them. Maybe it can
our-bedroomtfl be considered an “X-
ston isguttrff Files” sort of mental-
t want it bact| ity. People are convinced that JFK was
he among the
homes in h\
be bought
oo d value t)'!
build there,!
jit in my sto
le thing,”
killed by a government conspiracy, that
Aliens crashed at Roswell, N. M. in
1947 and their ships are being tested at
ea 5. Some even claim that the moon
landings were staged.
Many of those same people who
wait the United Nations invasion of
e United States and are limited to
r and her Hi three calls a day on the UFO hotline
, Crystal,art have expanded their horizons to include
laller, rented the world of sports. Conspiracy theo-
r her sister! rists have had a field day this past week,
age apartmer ! .claiming that Dale Earnhardt Jr’s win in
lopes to
the time her
20-year-
jld Stella ^
: at the end
te refused tf
• home
ast one
mtinue as
said, ’I fee!
home.’ -
, j
e got no P
explains,
imeandalo
the Pepsi 400 and Cal Ripken Jr.’s home
run in the All-Star Game were both
fixed. These folks need to consult with
their psychics and realize that some
times happy endings occur without it
being staged.
Earnhardt’s win at the Pepsi 400 drew
the ire of some self-proclaimed experts
in the radio and print media because it
came at Daytona International Speed
way, the very place his father had died a
few months before. In his first trip back
to Daytona since his father’s death,
Earnhardt came from sixth pfaces back
to win while teammate Michael Waltrip
held off the competition.
Tmy Stewart, who is quickly becom
ing NASCAR’s resident brat with his
crude comments and dangerous driving,
said he felt that Earnhardt was allowed
to play fast and loose with the rules in
order to set up the fairy-tale ending.
Stewart’s comments may hold some
merit when considering how difficult it is
to make such a dramatic run to the front
of die pack in a race where restrictor
plates are on the cars to limit their speeds.
There are, however, more than enough
points of infonnation to prove his asser
tion is ludicrous. Earnhardt Jr. drives for
his late father’s company, DEI Industries,
which has won 20 times at Daytona. They
know the track and how to time a car to
win. Waltrip won the Daytona 500 the .
very same day Dale Earnhardt, Sr died
and was at die top of the pack for this en
tire race. Waltrip has not been competi
tive on any other track this season.
NASCAR recently signed a multi
billion dollar television contract with
NBC, and the Pepsi 400 was the first
race shown on the network. Yes, a win
for Earnhardt would have been good
for ratings, but the possibility of being
caught bending the rules to set up that
ending would cost NASCAR far more
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
than it would have gained. NBC has al
ready taken a beating from allegations
that they have conspired with the NBA
to get certain teams into the NBA Fi
nals, and their reputation would be fur
ther sullied if it came to liglit that there
was some sort of deal with NASCAR.
All of this also neglects the presence
of other cars on the track. Drivers like
Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon and Rusty
Wallace are not going to lay down and
let another driver win a race when they
are competing for a $1 million points ti
tle. If they could have stopped Earn
hardt from getting to first, they would
have. To say that any driver would in
tentionally give up on a race and cost
themselves money just because they feel
bad for another driver is silly.
Allegations that Chan Ho Park
grooved a pitch to retiring Baltimore
Orioles third baseman Cal Ripken Jr. are
similarly ridiculous. There are fewer
players in all of baseball that are more
competitive than Park. Two years ago,
Park threw at Anaheim Angels pitcher
Tim Belcher after he attempted to lay
down a bunt. Belcher took offense to
Park’s brushback, only to have the
Dodger pitcher attack him with a flying
scissors kick. This is the person baseball
is going to ask to intentionally throw the
ball down die middle on the first pitch he
as ever thrown in an All-Star game with a
worldwide audience watching? Forget it.
Park made a bad pitch, but this is only
half of what happened in the at-bat.
Even if he knew what was coming, Rip
ken would have had to do his part and
hit the ball out. Ripken has struggled for
most of this year, but has recently been
on a tear. His 15-game hitting streak is
the fourth longest of his 20-year career
and he hit two home runs against the At
lanta Braves on Saturday night. Braves
pitcher John Burkett gave up one of the
home runs, and he certainly did not
groove the pitch. After all, the Braves
were playing for a chance to take over
first place in the National League East.
Sometimes good pitchers make mis
takes, and good hitters take advantage.
Even Fox Mulder would attest to this
rebuttal.
These days, there are no real incen
tives for a professional athlete to throw
a game or not to do their level best. As
Pulitzer Prize winning author David
Halberstam pointed in a recent radio
interview, athletes are well paid, so
there is less of a reason for them to put
See Conspiracy on Page 6.
Sports in Brief
Top High School QB
commits to A&M
Reggie McNeal of Lufkin
High School, the No.l high
school quarterback in the
state of Texas according to
Dave Campbell's Texas
Football, has verbally com
mitted to Texas AStM.
McNeal picked the Aggies
over Oklahoma, Arkansas,
Florida State and LSD.
McNeal had his father
drive him to College Station
on Thursday morning,
where he walked into head
football coach R.C. Slocum's
office and told him of his de
sire to attend A&M.
"I knew where I wanted
to go, so I decided to just go
ahead and commit," Mc
Neal said.
"It's a good school, and I
know I'll be surrounded by
good people there. I also think
I can come in and play my
freshman year."
McNeal, who has drawn
comparisons to former Virginia
Tech quarterback Michael
Vick, is 6-foot-3 inches tall and
weighs 190 pounds.
Last year, he completed
150 of 230 passes for
21 50 yards and 25 touch
downs. He also finished
third in the Class 5A 100-
meter dash with a time of
1 0.52 seconds.
McNeal is listed on
ESPN's Top 1 00 recruits for
2002 and is ranked as the
third-best player by analyst
Tom Lemming in his Top
10.
A&M has also received
verbal commitments from
center Bob Morton of McK
inney and Crockett wide re
ceiver Tydrick Riley. Each are
considered Top 1 0 recruits
within the state of Texas.
Aggies lose Nix to
Colorado Rockies
Midland shortstop Jayson
Nix, considered to be this
year's prized signee by the
Texas A&M baseball team,
has signed a professional
contract with the Colorado
Rockies.
Nix, the Rockies' second-
round pick in the 2001 am
ateur draft (44th overall).
See Nix on Page 6.