The Clarion Friday, October 7, 1994 Page 10
SPORTS
Baseball players were too selfish in calling a strike
Commentary by
John Roberts
Baseball makes me sick.
Well, the owners and the players
should be proud. They have done
something that two World Wars, the
Korean War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and
the Great Depression could not do:
THEY KILLED BASEBALL!!
Because of both sides’ stubbornness
and a total lack of sympathy and respect
for the fans and everyone who loves
baseball, the 1994 post-season has been
canceled. That’s right: for the first time
in 90 years there will be no post-season.
No playoffs, no World Series, nothing.
This shows that the players and the
owners are money-hungry jerks who
care about nothing other than making
money for themselves and screwing
those who are not fortunate enough to
be an owner or a player
Oh yes, we should feel sorry for the
players: it must be hell living on an
average salary of ONLY SI.2 million
dollars a year. The poor guys must be
starving in the streets on such a paltry
salary. Imagine that, getting that kind of
money for a GAME, something that
should be played for fun! And then
having the audacitv to ask for more, just
because another player gets a lilllc more
than they do. It is this kind of childish
one-upmanship that helped kill baseball.
Their attitude is, “well if I don’t get paid
as much money as he does, I’m just not
going to play.” How childish.
Do not think for one second that I
am going to let the owners get away
free. Their greed and lack of sympathy
has also helped kill baseball. Instead of
putting their foot down against the
players long ago, they went along with
the players’ immature game and gave
them more money every lime the
players started winning. Maybe if the
owners had not given the players so
much money to placate their little
temper-tantrums, we would still have
baseball. The owners are also to blame
for not having a commissioner. Do you
think it was accidental that there was no
commissioner to help negotiate talks? I
do not. The owners knew exactly what
they were doing when they voted the
last commissioner out of office. They
didn’t want anyone challenging them on
any issues, especially those concerning
players. It would be like the students at
BC voting President Bertrand out of
office and taking over themselves and
then trying to control the teachers.
Without a leader working for both sides,
it just would not work.
So where does that leave us, the
baseball fans? That leaves us in the
dark, missing the most important time
in baseball for the first time in our
lives.
Imagine all the excitement we will
have missed and how many questions
will be left unanswered. Could Griffey,
Thomas or Williams have broken the
home run record? Would Tony Gwynn
firs!
have batted .400? Would Greg Madd,
have broken the ERA record? Couli
Griffey, Thomas, Belle or William
have contended for the Triple Crown?
Could the Cleveland Indisns
gone to the World Series for the
time in fifty-four years? Could un
Montreal Expos or the Texas Rangers
have gone to the World Series forilie|
first time ever? Could Don Mauinglyi
have played in the first World Series of|
his career? Could the Atlanta Braves
have made their third trip to the Wodd
Scries in the past four years?
We’ll never know'the answers lo
these questions because the owners and
the players have killed baseball, and
even when, or if, it comes back, I do
not think it will ever be the same.
The only thing left for sports fans
to say is, “How long ‘til the Super
Bowl?”
Cross Country team begins year with two solid victories
by Ben Voegele
Sports Editor
Here at Brevard College some
traditions will never change. One of
them includes the BC men’s and
women’s cross country teams. Year after
year, Brevard produces teams capable of
a national championship and the 1994-
95 fall season will be no different.
It’s been a perfect season so far for
the men’s team this year. They have
won both the Greensboro Invitational
(Sept. 24, ‘94 Greensboro, N.C.) and
the Alfred State Invitational (Oct. 1, ‘94
Alfred, N.Y.). Leading the men’s team
this year has been sophomore phenom
Jeremy Rodgers. Rodgers took first
place and set new course records in both
Greensboro with a time of 25:11 and in
;/'-r,
r-
i
Alfred with a time of 28:19.
Freshman Tommy Lancaster also
gave a strong showing in both races,
finishing tenth and fifteenth
respectively. The rest of the men’s team
consist of sophomores Jason Yuknus,
James Clayton, Rick Simolari, Waller
Kuhn, and Ross Gillespie. New to the
team this year are freshmen Chris
Pluchos, John Johnson, John
McMillian, Roger Clark, Mathew
Repass, and Bill Baldwin.
The women’s team so far has also
had early success, taking the Alfred
State Invitational title and capturing
sixth place at the Greensboro
Invitational. Sophomore Lynn Price
took first place at Alfred State with a
time of 21:04. Freshmen Cori Rhodes
also finished strong in second place with
a time of 21:36. Sophomores Christina
Olson, Marla Getford, Helen Grindstaff,
Hillary Fenner and freshmen Erika
Morrow are also running well.
Aside from having such gifted
runners, Brevard College’s success has a
lot to do with coach Dave Rinker. In the
time Coach Rinker has been here, he
has taken the team from being a force
among junior college level to defeating
nationally-ranked division one
universities like UNC-Chapel Hill,
Furman University, and UNC-
Asheville.
Brevard Cross country is alive and
well, and looking tough to beat.
Women’s Basketball has
high hopes for the future
by Keeta Robinson
Clarion Staff Writer
The men’s cross country team has raged through
the first part of its schedule, taking two major meets so far.
The Lady Tornadoes basketball team
is off to the race for the title. The Lady
Tornadoes have come out to play this
year, and conditioning is the key to
preseason training. Head Coach Carmen
Nelon's expectations for this coming
season are to win the region and go to
the Nationals. She says she wants the
team to start strong, keep developing
and end strong. She also says that
"consistency and desire makes up the
TEAM."
The Lady Tornadoes are preparing
for the season by weight training and
conditioning, which determines the best
position for each player. When asked
what plan is going to be used in
keeping the team healthy, Coach Nelon
responded, "Weight training sho^iW
make them stfonger." Rehab on old
injuries and conditioning and getting m
shape should prevent injuries.