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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2002)
AGGIELII H E BATTAlf Sports The Battalion Page 5 • Thursday, July 25, PSNo place like home for expansion Texans in training camp the bass in"B:: Sun,” the son; tore around i line than the;, it is the ere;; tida. the emote nds courtesj he steady bass; , the album is How, sometia always good. i Grau HOUSTON (AP) — When uston Texans owner Bob cNair suggested the Houston xans hold its first training ■mp in its humid hometown, some wondered what his second I mice was — the Sahara Desert? Weather aside, training in Houston seemed impractical for o her reasons, such as eliminat- ig the bonding that comes from bunking together at a college dormitory, far away from the I stractions of home. Yet a week into its first training camp, the Texans seem quite comfortable right in its own back yard — an $8 million setup that features three natural grass fields and an air-condi tioned bubble, all across the street from $365 million Reliant Stadium. “There were a lot of people, not in our organization, that thought it wasn’t a good idea to have training camp here,” McNair said. “But 1 wanted to have it here from the beginning.” The Houston Oilers never trained in Houston, spending summers instead in places like San Angelo and San Antonio. McNair, however, points out the Oilers “didn’t have the facilities that we do.” Players dress in their elabo rate locker room beneath Reliant Stadium. At their disposal are a 10,000-square foot weight room, a lounge and three-lane swimming pool. When the time comes, they ride golf carts across the street to the practice facility. Afterward, they go two blocks away to a hotel where the team is residing. “There are some nice stadi ums around the country and ours is one of the nicest,” McNair said. “I haven’t seen practice facilities like these anywhere. I don’t know anywhere we could go where we could get facilities like these.” Despite the availability of an air-conditioned practice field, coach Dom Capers scheduled all Armstrong extends lead again ddrive spai opy yom owi 1 a frieiJ J I LA PLAGNE, France (AP) Lance Armstrong placed third in the 16th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday, extending his overall lead in his bid for a fourth straight title. Armstrong finished 1 minute, 25 seconds behind stage-winner Michael Boogerd of the Netherlands in the 111- mile leg marked by difficult climbs. But the 30-year-old Texan finished ahead of his nearest challenger, Spain’s Joseba Beloki, and pushed his overall lead from 4 minutes, 21 seconds to about 5 minutes. “It was really a difficult stage,” Armstrong said. “La Plagne is a tough mountain pass.” Barring illness, injury or a spectacular loss of form in Thursday’s last mountain stage, Armstrong is almost certain to retain the yellow jersey of over all leader until the finish in Paris on Sunday. Armstrong won last year’s lour with a 6:44 lead over sec- ^-placed Jan Ullrich of Germany. Wednesday’s stage through t/ie Alps included three excep tionally difficult climbs and was the toughest of the three- week Tour. Thursday’s leg from Aime to Cluses is the last in the mountains, where the Tour title is usually decided. “It’s a complicated day,” Armstrong said of the final mountain stage. “It’s never hat. It’s the same stage as two years ago when I cracked at Joux-Plane.” Armstrong was referring to his only weak moment in the 2000 Tour, when he sud denly tired in the final moun tain stage and lost nearly 2 minutes from his overall lead. Armstrong never tired dur ing last year’s Tour, suggesting he has learned to maintain his form throughout the competi tion. He is also favored to win Saturday’s individual time trial and extend his lead. Boogerd, of the Rabobank team, took the stage between the ski stations of Les Deux- Alpes and La Plagne in 5:48.29. Spain’s Carlos Sastre was second, just ahead of Armstrong, who had the same time as the CSC-Tiscali rider. Armstrong sprinted away from the pack of race favorites 2 1/2 miles before the finish. The U.S. Postal Service team rider was about 2:40 behind Boogerd when he made the break. He powered up the final stretch, cutting more than a minute off Boogerd’s lead and catching up with Sastre. He shook hands with Sastre after crossing the line. Beloki fin ished 2:02 behind Boogerd. Armstrong was congratulat ed by Prince Albert of Monaco after the stage. Armstrong finished ninth in the 15th stage on Tuesday. The 140-mile stage from Vaison-la- Romaine to Les Deux-Alpes was the longest of the competi tion. Armstrong trailed the win ner, Colombia’s Santiago Botero, by 6:41. “Les Deux-Alpes, it’s not too hard, it’s not good for attacking,” Armstrong said. On Tuesday, Botero was timed in 5:55:16, breaking from the main pack 103 miles before the finish. “I kept my rhythm the whole day,” Botero said. This was his second stage 2002 TOUR DE FRANCE Armstrong increases overall advantage Lance Armstrong will start the 17th stage with a lead of almost five minutes over Spain’s Joseba Beloki despite finishing third to stage winner Michael Boogerd of the Netherlands. Stage 17 Thursday July 25 Aime to Cluses 142 kilometers (88 miles) Cormet de Roselend 6,494 feet Aime 2,228 feet LUXEMBOURG Bourg-Saint- Maurice Flumet 2,739 feet 3,036 feet Le Grand- Bornand 3,109 feet Col de la Colombiere 5,339 feet SOURCES: Associated Press: Societe du Tour de France: ESRI win of this Tour. He stunned Armstrong to capture the ninth stage, an individual time trial. Belgium’s Mario Aerts was second, 1:51 behind Botero, and countryman Axel Merckx was third, 2:30 off the pace. France’s Christophe Moreau, fourth in the Tour two years ago, crashed early in the stage and cut his lip. He was 41st overall when he quit. The first stage in the Alps was easier than the opening two mountain stages in the Pyrenees, and easier than the climb to the top of the Mont Ventoux. Tuesday’s racing came on the same day Jan Ullrich drew a six- month cycling ban for taking amphetamines. The German contends he took the substance at a nightclub and was not taking performance-enhancing drugs. Ullrich won the Tour in 1997 and was runner-up four times, twice behind Armstrong. He is not competing in this year’s race because of injury. 313 S. COLLEGE 846-3343 JUST ANOTHER WILD WEEKEND!!! THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY Ladies Night O-AA .25 Mixed Drinks $ 1.00 You Call- It Drinks J $ 1.50 Longnecks All Ladies FREE ALL NIGHT! LIVE CHARLIE ROBISON w/ special guest DIAMONDBACK TX Advance tickets on sale now at Cavender’s Boot City $ 1.50 Bar Drinks s 1.50 Longnecks } HU- 10 SPECIAL EDITION LADIES NIGHT .25 Mixed Drinks 1.00 You Call- It Drinks v $ 1.50 Longnecks All Ladies FREE ALL NIGHT! Check out our website at www.bcsclubs.com 41 practices before the season opener outdoors. He wants his team accustomed to the heat, possibly giving the Texans an advantage. But Capers’ top concern is actually having all 41 practices. That’s why his favorite part of the team’s setup is the bubble. “The worst thing for a coach is to have a schedule planned and then it’s rained out,” Capers said. “That won’t happen here. We can go into the bubble and not miss any time. “You cannot make up these days in training camp. Once you get into games, there is no way to replace this learning time. We have curfew. They are up at 6:30 going to meetings and practice. We feel we can get total concentration.” McNair is not promising to always keep training camp at home. For now, though, it is an ideal way to stoke the local fan base. More than 1,500 fans showed up for the first night workout. New Hampshire win helps Burton break long slump (AP) — Ward Burton will always cherish his win in the Daytona 500, the biggest victory of his career. But when every thing that followed was a disas ter, it is easy to forget that moment. Week after week after his sea- son-opening Victory, Burton fell deeper and deeper into a miser able slump. He had finishes of 21st or worse 11 times, scored just two top-10 finishes and went to New Hampshire International Speedway last weekend stuck in a rut of finishing 33rd of worse in six of seven races. Critics just rolled their eyes at his Daytona win and blasted Burton and his Bill Davis Racing team. When he won last weekend at New Hampshire, it shut everyone up. “Right now, this is just what the doctor ordered. We needed it,” Burton said. “We came out of the box and won the biggest race of the year. Since then, we’ve had some struggling times. So to win again, giving us two in one season, what more could you ask for?” Before breaking out of his slump in New Hampshire, Burton’s team was overlooked in the Winston Cup garage area. When he signed a contract extension with Davis earlier this month, some wondered why he wanted to stay on a losing team. Parts always broke, his No. 22 Dodge was not good enough to run up front on a consistent basis and Burton could never shake his bad luck. But Burton would not turn his back on Davis, and his team just kept plugging away. The effort finally showed at New Hampshire and led the car owner to defend their efforts. “We deserve more respect than we’ve gotten,” Davis said. “Stuff hasn’t fallen off our cars. We’ve had some unusual fail ures, drive shaft and transmis sion-wise. We’ve had some real good race cars. We’ve had some races we should have won.” U Right now, this is just what the doctor ordered. We needed it. — Ward Burton NASCAR driver Still, it is hard to argue that luck has not played a part of Burton’s two wins. No one forgets how he won the Daytona 500, inheriting the lead when Sterling Marlin got out of his car to pull his crumpled fender away from his tire during a red-flag. Prohibited from work ing on his car during a stoppage. Marlin was forced to back of the pack on the restart. Burton took over the lead and held on in the final few laps for the victory. 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