AGGIELIK
lesday, October 1,2|
Sports
speech called
ople of the
r heard the
eaker David
410.
>f Bryan-
lave an open
with Islamic
i open house
lance to meet
ic community,
yed.
IE
form its show j
or in dictator” !
eater. Tickets |
le MSC Box
ible Study
;sion in Reetf
ions will
Emmitt won’t
recognize ’Boys
By Jamie Aron
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
IRVING — When Emmitt
Smith returns to Texas
Stadium on Sunday, he'll rec
ognize the surroundings, for
mer teammates and other
friends in the Dallas Cowboys
organization.
Beyond the obvious,
though, Smith might not rec
ognize these Dallas Cowboys.
Now defined by a coach
instead of a player specifi
cally, him — the Cowboys
seem to have cleaned up the
“trash” that Smith felt sur
rounded by last season and
have embraced a new attitude
that is already paying off.
Smith was right when he
said that things around Valley
Ranch were a mess last sea
son, he just erred by referring
to himself as a “diamond sur
rounded by trash."
What he failed to say — or,
worse, see — was that he was
part of the problem.
From the start, the 2002
season was all about Smith
and his pursuit of Walter
Payton’s career rushing
record. The team’s marketing
campaign was built around it.
There was even a digital
yardage tracker on a billboard
outside the stadium.
As Smith got closer, atten
tion mounted. So did the pres
sure on coaches to make sure
he got enough carries. Coaches
couldn't help but be cognizant
of the record chase, even if
their only concern was getting
the dm thing out of the way.
As for other players, they
got sick of it pretty fast.
Although they said all the right
things then — well, everyone
except Troy Hambrick. who
was trying to take Smith’s job
— they felt swallowed by it.
“I think sometimes it felt as
though the season was based on
him getting his rushing record
rather than us having a success
ful winning percentage,” defen
sive end Ebenezer Ekuban said.
"It was a distraction.”
And now?
“We have better things to
focus on as a team,” Ekuban
said, “and that’s winning
games.”
To be fair, Smith was all
about winning games, too. It’s
just that he believed the best
way to do so was by giving
him 30 carries, which he usu
ally turned into 100-plus
yards. Thus, a perfect win-
win situation.
If the Cowboys found anoth
er way to win. Smith was cool
with it. But if they tried another
way and failed, well. No. 22
didn’t like it. And he didn’t
mind letting people know it,
especially coach Dave Campo.
It’s worth noting that on the
memorable afternoon when
the record fell, Dallas lost a
very winnable game. And
remember that before the
finale, which Campo realized
was his last game, too, Campo
almost proudly said his priori
ty was getting Smith over
1,000 yards. He fell 25 short,
gaining only 13 on 18 carries.
Jerry Jones had a good read
on it all. That’s why he didn’t
invite Smith to be part of the
Bill Parcel Is era.
The Battalion
Page 5 • Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Ags looking for revenge at UT
By Jeff Allen
THE BATTALION
JR Beato III • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M's Carol Price hits past Missouri's Shen Danru during the Aggies' win at G. Rollie White
Coliseum last weekend. The Aggies will try to avenge last season's loss in Austin tonight at 7 p.m.
Playing on the road is never easy, espe
cially in the Big 12 Conference. The Aggies
have gotten a taste of that already this year.
The Texas A&M volleyball team made its
annual trip to Nebraska Coliseum earlier in
the season, a venue that is arguably the most
difficult to win in all of college volleyball,
getting its feet soaked in the first conference
match. The Aggies, however, came out not
much worse for the wear. They dropped the
match, but took the No. 7 Huskers down to
the wire, forcing a fifth game on the road in
Lincoln for the first time since 1982.
The road doesn’t get much smoother
today for the No. 22 Aggie squad as it takes
the court at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin
to face the University of Texas.
"It is very easy to get up for this one,”
said A&M coach Laurie Corbelli.
“Everyone on the court will have been out
there from last year.”
Corbelli is remembering the last time the
Longhorns (7-5, 2-1 Big 12) and the Aggies
(10-3, 2-1) squared off oh the hardwood at
Gregory Gymnasium, a place where the
Aggies have won just five times in 31 tries.
Much as this season, the Aggies took a Top
25 national ranking into Austin last season,
but at the time they were riding a six-match
winning streak over the Longhorns, including
a couple of wins at Gregory. In front of more
than 3,000, fans the Aggies watched an 11-9
lead in the fifth game turn into a 15-11 loss.
“We gave (the win) away last year and
have been waiting an entire year to get back
out there and give it a try,” Corbelli said.
The Aggies are trying to avoid the same
fate this year. They are taking their highest
national ranking of the season into Austin to
face a Longhorn team that has sputtered a bit
to begin the season, especially against Top
25 teams.
The Longhorns have had to overcome
some key injuries, including the loss of
sophomore outside hitter Dariam Acevedo,
who is gone for the entire 2003 season due
to an ACL injury suffered in the Longhorns’
loss to Nebraska.
Acevedo had been chosen as the Big 12
Preseason Newcomer of the Year.
“It has taken some real team trust and
we have dealt with it,” said Texas coach
Jerritt Elliott. “But it has been a positive
experience.”
The Longhorns made some strides last
week, defeating Oklahoma for the 24th con
secutive time. They followed that with a 3-0
win over Houston, a team the Aggies defeat
ed earlier this season.
The Longhorns success has been due in
large part to the work of junior All-
American Mira Topic and middle blocker
Brandy Magee, who is part of a freshmen
class that Volleyball Magazine ranked sec
ond in the nation, all young faces the Aggies
have never seen before.
“We’ll prepare with the scouting reports
and videos, and will be up for it,” said A&M
senior outside hitter Beth Skypala.
The Aggies are coming off a solid win
over Missouri in which five of the six
starters posted double figures in kills, a trend
the Aggies have been building on lately. The
game was generally received by Corbelli
and the team as one of the cleanest it has put
together so far this season, and the squad is
hoping to build off that tonight in Austin.
“If we play with the consistency we did
(against Missouri), if we carry that over into
every match, things will fall into place,” said
junior outside hitter Melissa Munsch. “Texas
is a tough team, but I think we are ready for
them. 1 don’t care where we play, every game
is tough. You just have to focus on the game,
you have to play your heart out.”
KTE CO-OP CAREER FAIR
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1,2003
8-30AM - 4:00PM
ZACHRY LOBBY
Participating Employers
AH Beck Foundation
ABB Vetco Gray
CIA
Carrier Corporation
Celanese
Centerpulse Orthopedics, Inc
Entergy
Freese & Nichols
Goodwin & Marshall
It Jordan Institute
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Lyondell Equistar
NASA- Johnson Space Center
National Instruments
Majors
COSC.CVEN
ENGR& BUSINESS
ELEN, CECN, CPSC
EH&S, INEN, FINC
CHEN, CHEM
MEEN, BIEN
NUEN, MEEN, ELEN
CVEN, MEEN, ELEN, COSC
CVEN
ALL MAJORS
ELEN, MEEN, AERO, CPSC/CECN
CHEN, MEEN, ELEN
AERO, MEEN, ELEN, CECN
ELEN,CEEN,MEEN, BIEN, CHEN, ENTC, AERO, CEEN
Parker Hannifin
Raytheon
Solutia, Inc.
I Stewart & Stevenson
I Texas Instruments
INEN, MEEN
CECN, CPSC, ELEN, MEEN
CHEN, MEEN, ELEN
ELEN, MEEN, INEN
ELEN
| United. Space Alliance Engineering, CECN, CPSC
j^f^CAREER C ENTER!
&
http://careercenter.tamu.edu
Texas A&M University
209 Koldus 845-5139
With you every step of the way
VCRlZON WlRCUtt a
{pFCXAL APVAIMCF {CRtCNlNQ*
By:
venjoilwireless
PATF: 1 OcfoWr 7, 7003
TXMf: s.-oo
LOCATION! T~ln<2-*4
S-fv^e-A-fs" pick, up ^oivipliMc.A'f^ry cd-
•fhe, AASC- Bo/ 077 7uuo prior 7o 7Uz,
s'cre-e-AiA^.
Ple-iwe- ^rrii/e. e>rly/
K Wo-iWole. oa «- Tits'-)—d-orwe., TirsT-se-TVe, W-sk wiTT\ pa-ss Tiolc^rs ^-cWiTTe.c) TirsT. "rtvd*Ta.r is aoT re-spoASibU Tor Oi/<drloooldiAg.
Sdrej2_Air^s d-th. Tot s-KUilaTs, T^ulTy, sTi-TT OAly.