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Wednesday, July 3, 1991 South Carolina Florida State /mUTHEAST, Tennessee Vanderbilt All-star voting i fans just don't By AARON SHEININ Baseball fan Its time now to take a break and enjoy a few comments on our national pastime on the eve of the country's birthday. Lets jump right in with a few heartfelt comments about the allstar voting. It's totally WRONG. In no other professional sport will you rind such a totally screwed up way of picking so-called all-stars. If you don't know about this travesty, in baseball, the fans alone pick the teams. Sure, the manager of each team gets to pick a few reserves, but for the most part, what the fans say, goes. Well, where should I start? How about with the fact that its wrong because not every fan that votes actually knows what the hell they are talking about. Sure, its nice for the kid at the ballpark to pick up a fan ballot and get to participate. But let's be honest. Every little kid wearing an A's hat is going to vote for Jose Conseco. Which isn't even the worst case. Let's move to Los Angeles, where Darryl Strawberry, who is hitting just barely over .200, and isn't even playing now, was leading the voting for National League outfielders as of this past week. Hmmm. Looking over the league leaders as of Sunday, I don't see his name anywhere. He has only played in 52 games, not enough to warrant a vote. He is ahead of San Diego's Tony Gwynn, (1st in batting, .357; first in triples, 8; first in total bases, 151; sixth in slugging perPPntarro /OA* *%9+A civtH in Koofl rvuuigv, .-T7V, aim aiAui iii v/iruiub percentage, .386) who will, however still make the game. He was second to ol' Darryl in voting. However, Atlanta's David Justice, this past season's Rookie of the Year, was down around seventh in the voting. Let's check out his stats: .297 average, good for tenth in the league, 17 doubles, tied for sixth, 51 in RBI, fourth in the league, and a .517 slugging percentage, which ranks him fourth in the N.L. Isn't something wrong here? Okay, so you say that's just one example, right? Well then, let's move behind the plate to catcher, where currently Benito Santiago is slated to get the start. Hmmm. I don't see his name anywhere on the leader board. Imagine that. But I do see Houston's Craig Biggio hitting .323. Do somet Feel some from now on in America, any definition i To find out how you can help in your con OPOIN F O U Arkansas I partn< Alabama i j years 171* Tb x 7 1 Hi Thl Ill most * Auburn ? brin* Pwussam m&smmr.. I franc I . H0SSH 11 NFL Louisiana State | add* Mississippi $ are al Mississippi State Sacra vying "T1 Raleij portai lot of said leeds changing; . nea know enough "It Alright, how about another ex- case ample. Chris Sabo of the Reds was with I- atop the voting at third base BUT, cess incredibly enough, he is nowhere game to be seen either. I do see, how- Th ever, the Mets' (as much as I hate name them) Howard Johnson with 17 two i homers and 55 RBI. Not only that, critic but there is Terry Pendleton of At- sion lanta hitting at a .327 clip, good the g; 1 enough for third in the league, of Or Pendleton hit .517 with 15 hits this Re past week, incidentally. St. Louis' Nortl Todd Zeile is hitting a very nice force; .288, also. ing tl Okay. I will, however, give the Jim i fans the benefit of the doubt. Their Camj vote should count. It should, however, be weighed. It should be "X" weighed along with the votes of the players (who better to vote V_. than the players' peers?) and with members of the media. Okay, you B R think the media doesn't know any glQrt more than the fans, right? Wrong. -~~ The voting should be limited to se- . nior baseball reporters who do know what's going on. It is, after w all, their livelihood. Not only, that, accel but the media, the people who lea8u cover this game day in and day out, would be the least biased torU among voters. coc^ This way every one gets a vote. relea: The game would be propelled the "tent level of a pitching-duel, because [J118.1 invariably that's what it is. No J^v.ir matter what, a good pitcher is go- ^ e ing to start and good pitchers are counl going to pitch throughout the ??it game. When you get a pitcher 0f ar who's averaging around 2 earned the g runs per nine innings facing a .200 and t hitter, the majority of the time, the dedic numbers won't lie, and the pitcher varsil will when the duel. This is the from case more often than not in mod- past! em all-star games. ing a In the American League, the ju- Th nior circuit playei^ who deserve to be there are there more than in the su^.ce NL. The Henderson boys from ^ .et Oakland, Rickey and Dave prob- ' ably will be together in the out- u field in Toronto come July 8. This y^' is good. Their teammate, Mark s JP McGuire probably will be on first ^ and Baltimore's Cal Ripken Jr. . y' will be at shortstop. This is all in<\u| well and good. However, move ?? back behind the plate and again, 631 we find a mistake. Sandy Alomar y~W from Cleveland is leading the vot- ' ing. Why? This guy is hitting a flat .200 and has only played in 32 games. Where is the justice in this? Where is Detroit's Mickey By (5 Tettleton. He is hitting .272 with staff 18 dingers. Come on Fay Vincent, wake up. Change this thing. Done of th< t? SO 1 1 heav3 hinggood, 7 ;thing real. ! "expe of 0 successful life must include serving others. (or w unity coll I (800) 677-5515. US? ts of Light m N D A T i O N (Sind rrrrr r r r r r Sport IGAMECOCK JFL teams t ICH TAYLOR to show support s Editor bring a franchise e Washington Redskins and Having the g( York Jets meet on August 24 ^elPsu SUPP< illiams-Brice Stadium in the ^ut ^eir PresenC ason finale for both teams, stration to the N1 *ame is being staged by Ri- ^ the Carolinas 1 Ison Sports, the 16-member our political lea* jrship group which has pro- verY important tc 1 preseason sellouts in Ra- chardson explains and Chapel Hill the last two "This isn't tli governors have ! e Redskins-Jets encounter is Richardson contii important in the quest to formed a coaliti ; a professional football business and pc hise to the Carolinas. The help win a fran* recently announced plans to met with NFL o vo teams for the 1994 season, officials and hai the final decision to come in preseason games ill of 1992. In addition to support from oi Carolinas, the cities of St. delegations and , Memphis and Jacksonville the Charlotte art iso staging games. Baltimore, and county wen mento and Oakland are also putting together for a franchise. stadium." tie two games we staged in Politics aside, u;il W/?ro mflk-p. for a tremp ?11 OllU V^UapV/1 liiu rrytv lilt" ?? ? ???? at to our effort and attracted a jng evening, with ' attention for the Carolinas," *ng ^ primary, Mark Richardson, general onty> attraction a iger of Richardson Sports. agesgame in Columbia will come The USC ban ime when The NFL is in the stands, Gamecc iportant evaluation process." will lend their c will be important to show- sidelines and < the Carolinas in Columbia USC's acclaim< the same enthusiasm and sue- mance group, wil we had for the past two time. But that is i s," Richardson added. Pregame and e game has been officially will feature over d the "Victory Bowl", for many native Can reasons. First, because of its fans that enjoy al significance in the expan- Carolina fan doe; process. Secondly, because lots surrounding ame is dedicated to the troops will feature roam jeration Desert Storm. cians and other ! cently, the governors of both pre-game atmosp 1 and South Carolina joined not enough, a b; s for a television spot promot- tioned in the pari le game. In the ad, Governors pany those fe; Martin of N.C. and Carroll chicken, barbequ< >bell of S.C. urge the public Once inside t JSC officia ICH TAYLOR I s Editor ] [ July 1, 1991, the University of South Car- enc officially became the twelth member of sea loutheastem Conference. The school had the pted an invitation to join the all-sports def le on September 25,1990. 8th his is indeed a monumental step forward pat le South Carolina Gamecocks," said Game- and athletic director King Dixon in a statement the sed by the USC sports information depart- Bo . "As we look ahead to the last decade of Sm century and beyond, we're excited about B ig the opportunity to compete in what we wa! ve is the finest all-sports conference in the Ye< try ? the Southeastern Conference." enc was important that we become a member i all-sports conference in order to sustain SQn ;rowth of our programs at the University ^ he SEC should allow us to do that. We're ^ ated to competing consistently in all of our ty sports within the SEC and by judging the performances of the SEC schools this , sports season, we certainly will be compet- .. gainst the best" e best indeed. A quick review of recent I sses ui memoer scnoois ana ineir student- shij ;es paints an overwhelming portrait of ath- Om excellence within the conference. yea] ring the course of the 1990-91 school tear the SEC produced six national champion- all, teams, 25 individual national champions NG 97 (!!!) All-America performers. Addition- IV 86 SEC teams made NCAA appearances, SEC ling four bowl appearances in football, V hree athletes were named Player of the in tl in their respective sports. LSI >son pro\ IL MARTIN < Writer fidd n Mike Tyson's 12-round decision over Si ivan "Razor" Ruddock didn't, in the eyes done 5 "experts" (i.e. idiotic fools), do anything few lidify, or rather resolidify, his place in the Rud ^weight division as the obvious (though un- blou led) champion. (yes le, Evander Holyfield holds the claim as fore puted (according to Dan Duva) heavy- ? ? it champion of the world. No argument ^ But, because Tyson didn't show up one in Tokyo (true, he got his ? handed to | r(7 does that make him less of a fighter, as the . its" (i.e. idiotic fools) say? Hardly. Buster ^Ult( as it "Busted") Douglas got humiliated by If it-heavyweight-turned-heavyweight for the hire reason Tyson lost his title to begin with. Cus , f'l r1 r-r"f r r rr-rrrr i i1 r f r r r r r r r "f- f1 / r r r r r. t r p r lc crrrrrrrr n_r- r r r r r r r r rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr r r r r r r - r. r.-n r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r I- I- r r rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rr / .-Vr s :o battle in for the effort to {BEL to the Carolinas. )vernors in the ad 3rt for the game, , r i is also a demon- ^JljS that expansion las the backing of dership, which is ) the league," Rile first time our Jm stepped forward," nued. "They have m ion of top civic, fl ilitical figures to mk chise. They have wners and league {Mr /e attended other LW . We've also had nr Congressional local officials in ja where the city ^ s instrumental in the site for our the game should ndously entertaini great football bebut far from the vailable to fans of Former USC great Br< will return to Williams-Bric id will be in the >ck cheerleaders will be treated to watr.hina inthusiasm to the i considered by many to be Carolina Alive, bia's most loved NFL tea id vocal perfor- Redskins, square off against 11 perform at half- pidly improving N.Y. Jets, lot all. the final tune-up for the halftime shows season, both teams will alrm 1000 entertainers, tainly go with their starters i ilinians. For those the way. And for those wh tailgating (what never seen an NFL game sn't?), the parking son, the action is, to boi r Williams-Brice phrase from the NBA, "F ing clowns, magi- tastic!". folk to add to the Tamera Majors, a Rich there. As if that's Sports representative, ca and will be posi- game "an exciting opportu ting lot to accom- show the people of South C as ting on fried what the NFL is all about." 5 and the like. "This is more than just s he stadium, fans though," Majors added. "0 lly membei xt's take a look at the SEC sport by sport: football. As previously stated, four confer- in ? teams made bowl appearances this past ti< son. If Florida had not been on probation, number would have been five. Tennessee to eated Virginia in the Sugar Bowl to finish in the final AP poll. SEC teams also particied in the Peach (Auburn), Gator (Ole Miss) * I Fiesta (Alabama) Bowls. As most realize, ( SEC perennially features Ail-Americans like Jackson, Cornelius Bennett and Emmit ^ ith. (2 den's basketball. LSU's Shaquille O'Neal s the AP college basketball Player of the tr. Five member schools, half of the confer- n e, received NCAA tournament bids, while p itucky was denied only because of proba- N i. The Wildcats nonetheless finished the searanked ninth in. the final AP poll. N Vomen's basketball. Tennessee won the na- ai tal championship, their third title in five rs. The Lady Vols' Daedra Charles was the w ion's Player of the Year. Seven of the is pie's ten teams were in the NCAA tourney, pi h Georgia joining Tennessee in the Final ir. K taseball. LSU won the national champion- S< ), winning the College World Series in aha, Neb. It was the second consecutive 'e r the national championship went to an SEC sa n, as Georgia won the crown in 1990. Over- m four league teams were invited to the e? AA regionals. ni fen's indoor track. Ole Miss was the Pr :*s best, finishing ninth in the nation. m Women's indoor track. Four teams finished le top ten nationally, led by national champs f? J. th C3 1IC 3 311 iidn't show up (nothing personal to Holy- al : he won fair and square). C) nee that night in February 1990, Tyson has ^ 5 quite well in his comeback. He killed a nobodies, but beat a competent fighter in UI dock (twice). Ruddock hit Tyson with jn fs that would have wasted all heavyweights ^ , even George "Give me some burgers" man). Because Mike didn't paste Ruddock v( ne or two rounds, he's washed up? Right! Dan Quayle is competent enough to be e* ident. Razor hit Tyson as hard, if not er, than anyone else he's fought (yes, in- , ing Buster Douglas). Mike won both times ,' j clearly (Richard Steele notwithstanding). <,v Tyson could get away from Don King and er a good managerial team, as he had before is D'Amato died, he would dismantle any and bi WrWr^r^rVrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr KY, YOU'LL ONUMjOS c r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r - 5 Carol inas Agit. 9# j MHHF jJtfH jmjm v ^EP^ * * ?i*i &** ad Edwards of the Washington Redskins :e in the Victory Bowl August 24. what is game and halftime show, along Colum- with the fireworks and other enterim, the tainment, will guarantee an excitthera ing evening for everyone in Being attendance." regular Tickets for the game, a Saturday ost cer- night contest scheduled to begin at most of 7 p.m., can be purchased through 10 have South Carolina Automated Ticketin per- ing at (803) 777-SCAT and rrow a through Ticketmaster at 'aannn- 1-800-326-4000, or by visiting any - Ticketmaster outlet. Tickets are prardson iced at $24 for reserved grandstand lis the seats and $19 for end zone seats, inity to Here's urging EVERYONE to 'arolina purchase your tickets early and support the movement to bring an i game, NFL franchise to the Carolinas. ur pre- With your support, we can't lose! r of SEC Men's outdoor track. Five schools finished me i op zu, wiin 1 ennessee claiming the na3nal championship. Women's outdoor track. Three teams in the p six, with LSU winning it all. Men's swimming. Five teams in the Top 20 : season's end, with Florida (3rd) and Tennes? (5th) leading the way. Women's swimming. Seven teams finished le year ranked 35th or better, with Florida >rd) and Georgia (8th) the conference's best Men's tennis. Georgia finished as national inners-up, with star A1 Parker named ITCA layer of the Year. Five other teams made the CAA playoffs. Women's tennis. Five teams advanced to the CAA playoffs, led by semi-finalists Florida id Georgia. Women's gymnastics. Alabama won it all, ith Georgia, Florida, LSU and Auburn all finhing in the Top Ten. USC does not field a ogram in this SEC dominated sport Volleyball. LSU went to the Final Four and entucky advanced to the South Region jmifinals. Obviously, the SEC is an incredible all-sports ague. The Gamecocks will be challenged, to y the least, in every spent. What is perhaps ost exciting about competing in the conferice, though, is knowing that a team that fishes at the top of the SEC standings is in all obability also near, if not at, the top of the ttional standings. Let's get behind the Gamecocks and look rward to the challenge of competing against e very best! 11 best 1 challengers, without question. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen, fen though Tyson seems disenchanted with ing. He appears lost and misguided. That is lite a pity. Tyson should be undefeated and ^challenged, but because of the one big void i his life (not women or partying or bareluckled contests with Mitch Green or others jmb enough to cross the monster), boxing ay well may be robbed of one of its greatest )Otential" fthcre's that wnr/t attaint r>hamr\ir?nc w ? ? *? vf?%? Hgtuiiy viiuiiipvuo 'er. True, he probably would have been wasted f Ali in his prime, but Iron Mike is the best without question) heavyweight going today, idly, it appears, lie doesn't want it badly lough. Like him or not, too bad. Cus D'Amato no longer here to guide this very troubled, it immensely talented, young man. ' r r r rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr- rj~ r r r rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrr f ^r r ^ ^ ^ - r r_r rrr^r^ r_r_r_r-_r^r^r^r^r^rrf