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Sports
The Battalion
Page 5 • Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Page Design: Jordan Meserole
SIDE NOTES
COMING WEDNESDAY
If they only had a heart
A&M football players should heed advice from elders
After a good showing in the
Golden Bear Invitational last
weekend, No. 12 volleyball
team A&M kicks off confer
ence play against Iowa State.
In the early 1950s,
Billy Pickard joined the A&M
football team as a student
trainer. Fifty years later,
Pickard is still roaming the
sidelines at every game.
BRIEFLY
After the first round of the
Dick McGuire Classic, the
A&M women’s golf team is in
seventh place out of 17 teams.
Sophomore Ashley Knoll is
tied for fourth place.
Former major leaguer
Ken Caminiti is due back
in a Houston courtroom
because of an alleged posi
tive drug test that would be
a violation of his probation
for cocaine possession.
ON THIS DATE
1923 - Jack Dempsey
knocks out Luis Firpo in the
second round for his last suc-
cessful defense of the world
heavyweight title at Madison
Square Garden.
1986 - Chicago's Walter
Payton rushes for 177 yards
to reach the 15,000-yard
plateau and scores his 100th
career rushing touchdown.
1991 - A&M freshman
Greg Hill sets a major col
lege record with 212 yards
rushing in his first game and
scores twice as Texas A&M
routs LSU 45-7.
1994 - The major league
baseball season, already shut
down by a month-long strike,
is canceled along with the
World Series in a vote by 26
of the 28 teams.
2003 - Jamal Lewis
rushes for an NFL-record
295 yards on 30 carries in
Baltimore’s 33-13 victory
over Cleveland.
IORDAN MESEROLE
SPORTS EDITOR
R ejoice! The Texas A&M football team has won a
game. Hark the herald Twelfth man sings, glory be
to the new Franchione.
Aggie fans across College Station and various parts
of the country are
ecstatic after the :
Aggies’ 31-0 win
against the Uni
versity of Wyoming on
Saturday. After being
pummeled into the Utah
dirt in a 41-21 season-opening loss to the Uni
versity of Utah, A&M seems to have fixed the
necessary problems.
But before Aggie fans expect the three
wise men of ESPN (namely Lee Corso, Kirk
1 lerbstreit and Chris Fowler) to come bear
ing thoughts of possible bowl game bids, they
should remember that it was just Wyoming.
The Cowboys are a team that most other teams
with any semblance of athletic talent should be
able to hold off. Given that holding Wyoming
scoreless is commendable, it’s still nothing to get
excited about. This Aggie team is lacking one major thing to get it
past the teams that have the tools to score: heart.
The Junction Boys certainly weren’t fooled by Saturday’s perfor
mance and know a lot about heart.
For those who haven’t heard the story by now (if you have, no
permission note is needed to skip this paragraph), the Junction Boys
are a group of 35 men who endured a tough training regimen under
former coach Paul “Bear” Bryant in 1954. Bryant, upon gaining the
reigns of the team, took 110 football players to Junction, Texas to
prepare them for the upcoming season.
The players were required to practice in 100-plus degree
weather on dusty, rocky playing fields, often with few water
breaks. Bryant’s philosophy was to find the players who were
willing to play through any condition, break
them down a little and rebuild them as true
athletes. Of the 110 who made the trip to
Junction, only 35 returned to Aggieland as
members of the team.
“He (Bryant) was demanding, but he treat
ed everybody fairly,” said Don Watson,
a member of the Junction Boys. “No
matter if you were the first-team star-
player or last-team punter, he treated
everybody the same.”
The scene in Junction was much dif
ferent from today’s training regimen.
After hitting supremely pruned practice
fields, players retire to the air-conditioned locker rooms where they
receive ice packs for any bruise they might have. After that, they
can retire to the player’s lounge to play some video games and have
a chilled bottle of Gatorade.
Not to say that football isn’t a grueling sport and ice packs or medi
cine aren’t necessary (Advil is a constant must for me after intramural
games), but as many of the Junction Boys pointed out, perhaps the
players today are too pampered.
“I understand that rules have changed and technology advance
ment has helped the game,” said Bill Schroeder, who experienced the
trying times in Junction. “But most athletes today will never come close to
understanding what true work and dedication toward something is like.”
After his playing days under Bryant from 1952-1956, Watson
went on to coach at Virginia Tech, Houston, Tulane, South
Carolina and finally back to A&M. Watson has certainly
seen his share of athletes in his time as a player and coach
and said the A&M football team is having problems not
because of ability, but because of its mind-set.
“I’m not even sure they’re listening to their coaches
sometimes,” Watson said. “When you’re on defense,
you’re job is to make a tackle. Today’s players make a
tackle and celebrate. But it’s silly because that’s their
job — to make tackles. Coach Bryant’s rule was you
complete your play, get up go back to the huddle and
line up for the next play.”
The Junction Boys aren’t far from the truth, if not
100 percent correct. This A&M football team has no
heart right now and is more focused on the great tackle
they just made instead of beating the other team. All the
players have heart somewhere deep inside of them — they
haven’t gotten to where they are solely on athletic ability.
A few exemplify the passion all game long, others just here and there, but this
team has yet to work together as a true team since it defeated Oklahoma in 2002.
The team on Saturday beat Wyoming on pure ability, but the team will need the
talent and heart to beat teams like Oklahoma and Texas in a few short months.
“Your heart and what you have inside is very important,” Schroeder
said. “No matter if some guy’s bigger or a bit stronger than you, if
you have true heart, you will be better on the field than
him more often than not.”
A&M is the bigger “guy” to most teams talent wise, but it
seems to have been bullied a lot lately. Maybe the new
Spirit Walk will help to energize the Aggies before
games, maybe the realization that they CAN
beat ranked teams will help them in games or
maybe they’ll finally realize they haven’t
been playing with all their hearts.
But until they take off the head
phones and take note of what their
elders are saying, this team won’t beat
Will Lloyd • THE BATTALION ITlciny Others.
Cowboys wondering what happened to defense
By Jamie Aron
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The linemen didn't pressure the quarterback. The
secondary couldn’t keep up with the receivers. The line
backers failed to do much of either.
Even after watching a replay in slow motion, Dallas Cow
boys coach Bill Parcells said Monday he was “hard-pressed
to find one guy who played up to his potential on defense” in
a 35-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the opener.
“It was all the way across the board,” Parcells said.
“Don’t single out one guy because it was 11.”
The offense made its share of mistakes, such as
two lost fumbles and many penalties that kept the
team from getting more than two touchdowns and a
field goal out of 423 yards.
The special teams messed up too, with punter Mat
McBriar losing his job as the holder when he failed to
catch a perfect snap on another field goal try.
4 (
But it was the defense — the NFL’s
top-ranked defense last season — that
let Parcells down the most.
“I don’t know what it was,” Parcells
said, “but that wasn’t the same group
I’ve seen out there in the past.”
Missing the leadership of injured
safety Darren Woodson, desperately
thin at cornerback and weakened on
the line by the suspension of Leonardo
Carson, Dallas did nothing to stop a
Minnesota offense that certainly looks
capable of keeping its No. 1 ranking from last season.
The Cowboys allowed five touchdowns, their most
under Parcells.
They allowed 18 of 24 passes to be completed. There
also were two pass interference penalties, both putting
Vikings a few steps from the end zone. The only Dal
las player credited with a “pass defended” was tackle
No passion, no
fire.
— La' Roi Glover
Cowboys' lineman on
the defensive performance
La’Roi Glover, whose job description rare
ly includes defending passes.
The Cowboys didn’t cause any fumbles or
make any interceptions. They did have two
sacks, but neither cost Minnesota any yards.
Anything else?
“Lack of emotion,” Glover said. “No
passion, no fire.”
Parcells said he knew the Vikings would
be tough to stop, but he expected more
from his defense. What bothered him the
most was the way they fell apart in the third
quarter, when the game was still within reach.
The Cowboys scored just before halftime to get with
in four points, then the defense allowed a long, quick
TD drive. Even after the offense answered to get back
within four, the defense buckled again. That stretched
the lead to 28-17 and gave Minnesota touchdowns on
four straight possessions.
:k
AZIN
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3410 S. College Ave., Bryan • 823-1294