Monday, J U | V ;
Page 3
Sports
Monday, July 30, 2001
THE BATTALION
Big 12 football holds media days
JEVA.TW lUmu:
ighters trai
ning session.
Matthew L. Thigpen
The Battalion
Friday at the Big 12 Con
ference media days in Dallas,
the Aggie football team stated
that despite being unranked,
hey are ready to battle for not
only the Big 12 Conference
Slphampionship but for the na
tional championship.
| Safetyjay Brooks summed up
Rhe team’s attitude, saying,
® Each team in America wants to
rajnake it to the big dance. That is
i our team’s goal.”
I Head coach R.C. Slocum
brought quarterback Mark Par
is, center Seth McKinney and
Brooks to answer questions
om the press. Each player said
at being unranked was not a
iad thing because the Aggies
ormally shine as underdogs.
“We like being sleepers,
ight now, we are the sleepers of
he Big 12. Oklahoma, Texas
ind Nebraska have the pressure
.11 on them,” Brooks said.
Last season’s disappointing 7-
5 record is a large part of the rea
son the Aggies are unranked,
fl “It’s disappointing anytime
| you don’t win a championship.
Ags savor new role as underdog
But every year is a new season
and at this time a year ago, no
body was predicting that OU
would play for the national
championship,” Slocum said.
A major cause of last year’s
disappointment were early sea
son injuries.
“We had the worst run of in
juries (last year) since I have been
a head coach,” Slocum said.
So far, the Aggies are
healthy, but losing Ja’Mar
Toombs and Robert Ferguson
to the NFL draft leaves a void
on the offense.
“Anytime you lost two guys
the caliber of Robert Ferguson
and Ja’Mar Toombs, it’s tough.
But we have a lot of players who
can step in, and, on the whole,
make this a better unit than last
year’s,” Farris said.
This year’s schedule puts
several obstacles in the Aggies’
way to a conference title. Notre
Dame visits Kyle Field Sep
tember 29, and A&M must
travel to Kansas State, Texas
Tech and Oklahoma. The Red
Raiders have a history of play
ing well against the Aggies in
Lubbock, and playing the
Sooners in Norman is never an
easy task.
A&M’s arch-rival, the Texas
Longhorns, must come to Kyle
F'ield. The Aggies are hoping
to avenge last season’s debacle
in Austin.
“We made (Longhorn quar
terback) Chris Simms who he is
after he exploded against us last
season. But, Texas has to come
play us at Kyle Field this No
vember,” Brooks said.
Texas A&M head football coach
bers of the 2001 team attended
FILE PHOTO/The Battalion
R.C. Slocum and several mem-
Big 12 media days in Dallas.
Horns, Huskers start as favorites
Matthew L. Thigpen
The Battalion
After years of playing sec
ond fiddle to Nebraska,
Kansas State and Oklahoma,
the University of Texas took
center stage at Thursday’s an
nual Big 12 Conference me
dia days in Dallas.
A No. 1 ranking from The
Sporting News increased the
Longhorn’s media attention.
When asked about the possi
bility of winning a national
championship, Texas head
coach Mack Brown said, “One
of the advantages of being in a
conference like this is it puts
you in a great position to win a
national title if your team wins
out. It also gives your program
national attention and makes it
easier to recruit. However, it
also makes it harder to win.”
Longhorn quarterback
Chris Simms is considered to
be one of best quarterbacks in
the country, although he has
started only seven games with
a 5-2 record. Simms seemed
surprised by the attention,
saying “I think there are lots
of good players who have
proven themselves for more
than one year in college. I’ve
got to prove myself first.”
1999 Offensive Player of the
Year Major Applewhite is wait
ing in the wings if Simms fails to
produce. With a schedule der
signed for a national champb
onship run, including national
powers like New Mexico State
and Houston, the hardest game
for the Longhorns is likely to be
against Oklahoma. The Long
horns also have to travel to Kyle
Field, where they historically
have not fared well.
Despite being the defending
National Champions, Okla
homa is not picked to win the
Big 12. Quarterback Josh He-
upel is gone, but head coach
Bob Stoops is optimistic about
this season.
See Bic 12 on Page 6.
W
r lH| Welcome to the Tour De Lance, Armstrong triumphs
i Ji PARIS (AP) — Lance Armstrong raised his
t arms * n triumph on the Champs-Elysees yet again
11 11 Sunday, easily capturing his third straight Tour de
France title after surviving life-threatening cancer
and taking the world’s toughest cycling race to an
other level.
His leader’s yellow jersey was lost in the main
pack as he crossed the finish line, but the man
from Austin, Texas, already had shown he is in a
class of his own — the only American to win three
Tours in a row.
f 1 - With the majestic Arc de Triomphe behind
jhim, Armstrong listened to the band play “The
urEneimV’sodj Star-Spangled Banner” and savored an end to
i-Wesley. three weeks of gut-wrenching treks through
■ es to predict: mountain peaks.
Tv to be violate® . He stepped down from the podium and em-
n"tr their targets braced his wife, Kristin, pregnant with twin
1 girls, and toddler son Luke, dressed in yellow
ration. Thekt
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a hacker is ataH
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ns, the honr
ject aims to
«after pro/M
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minutes,”like his father.
the helloutotr “It’s the best feeling of the last three (wins),”
ise. Wejustp4 Armstrong said in faltering French. “As always, I
ismylSDNk am happy to finally arrive, to finally finish the
not IBM or soft Tour. It’s a special feeling.”
He later took a lap of honor down the graceful,
le original net" tree-lined Champs-Elysees with his U.S. Postal
ted planning"'
ch will be I"
rrants.
Service teammates behind him, and smiled in
amusement when the Texas flag he was waving be
came entangled in his bike chain.
It was about time something went wrong.
Armstrong’s ride to victory was smooth from
start to finish, and reached perfection in the five
mountain stages.
By the time he had finished in the Alps and the
Pyrenees, his awestruck rivals were acknowledg
ing defeat with a whole week of racing to go.
His most memorable triumphs came in the
climb to L’Alpe d’Huez — his first-stage victory
— and in the ride to the top of Pla d’Adet, where
he claimed the yellow jersey that he wore all the
way to Paris.
Then, with the title already locked up, Arm
strong further tightened his grip in the flat stretch
es by winning the last individual time-trial.
Flis main rival, Jan Ullrich of Germany, was left
trailing the Texan by 6 minutes, 44 seconds in the
overall standings, a deficit he carried with him to
the finish line.
Only sickness or accidents could have prevent
ed Armstrong from claiming victory, and his
leisurely finish in 70th place in the final stage
changed nothing.
“I never thought I would get to this point. It was
a surprise for me even to make it back to the
sport,” he added, referring to his comeback from
advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his
lungs and brain.
Like Armstrong, U.S. cyclist Greg LeMond also
won three times, but with a two-year gap between
his first and second tides. The Tour record is five ti
des, but for now Armstrong says he isn’t interested.
“I’m not chasing a record,” he said.
Armstrong’s triumph crowned a Tour that was
almost free of doping scandals: The Texan denied
once again that he has ever used performance-en
hancing substances after it was revealed he had ties
to an Italian doctor linked to doping. Then, Span
ish rider Txema Del Olmo was dropped from the
race by his team after testing positive for what his
squad called “abnormalities.”
Czech rider Jan Svorada won Sunday’s stage,
ending a more than 2,100-mile ride through
France and Belgium in 20 legs.
Svorada was clocked in 3 hours, 57 minutes, 28
seconds. Germany’s Erik Zabel was second and
Australian Stuart O’Grady finished third, both in
the same time as the stage-winner. Armstrong also
finished in the same time as Zabel.
With Ullrich in second overall and Spaniard Jose-
ba Beloki third, the finish was identical to last year’s.
It was only the second time in Tour history that the
same riders have finished 1-2-3 in consecutive years.
Armstrong won the 1999 Tour with a 7:37
lead over Switzerland’s Alex Zuelle. In 2000, he
faced stiffer competition, but managed to beat
Ullrich by 6:02.
“It was one of the funner victories I’ve had
here,” he said. “Definitely the strongest I’ve ever
been, stronger than the previous two.”
But there’s more to come.
“I have a lot left,” he said. “I love it. I love what
I do. As long as the passion is there, I’ll be around
for years.”
As for Armstrong winning over the hearts of the
French — well, not yet.
The public admires Armstrong’s huge talent,
but sees him as somewhat cold and distant.
“Arch-dominator,” the daily Parisien newspa
per called him recently. “Armstronginator,” said
the sports daily L’Equipe.
For his part, Armstrong has tried to warm to
the crowds by speaking a mildly mangled form of
French in TV interviews.
See Armstrong on Page 6.
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Residence Hcril:
The Student Life Alcohol and
Drug Education Programs
Office offers presentations on
Women and Alcohol as well as
Sexual Assault and Date Rape
Drugs; how to protect your
self.
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