Abductions cause students, university to evaluate security Gillis ...

12 FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1994 THE RICE THRESHER SPORTS
With Ronnie Jackson at cox, Steph Keyes, Torrey Folk. Allison Baker and Julie Markwardt are the women's experienced four.
Crew returns encouraging results
by Grant Flowers
On March 25,membersoftheRice
Rowing Club packed into vans and
hauled their Italian racing shells to
Waco to compete in the first annual
Texas Cup, held on the Brazos River.
The women's experienced eight
boat captured fourth place out of six
entries.
Rice finished 15 seconds behind
the winning boat from Wichita State
University, while Drake University
placed second and the University of
Texas at Austin grabbed third.
"We were ten seconds behind
Texas," said Club President Julie
Markwardt "They're our big rival and
we would have liked to have done
better against them."
Three or four of the teams from
other universities there were on spring
break," Markwardt said.
"This was more of a practice regatta,
but everyone still took it seriously.
We did a lot of races and some
of our people raced twice."
The men's experienced four boat
finished 14 seconds behind Texas but
they beat out a strong boat from
Wichita State to place second.
The boat consisted of junior Phil
Bradley, senior Michael Harms,
sophomore Justin Gullingsrud and
junior Dave Brain.
"It was one of the best races of the
day," said Markwardt
"Lots of these men on the other
teams are heavyweights, and three of
our four rowers are lightweights, so
they were really pleased with the second-place
finish."
That was my last race and it was
great I think the guys did it for me,"
Harms said. Texas jumped out at the
start and we couldn't see them but we
knew that Wichita was there on the
right We had a low stroke rate but
with an enormous amount of power."
"With about 300 meters left in the
race, we had plenty of extra left to give
for the sprint and, by the end, we had
about a boat-length lead over Wichita.
It was a well-run race."
In novice action, the men's eight
@ the Coffeehouse
Gourmet Loose Teas
flavors include:
Japanese Sencha, Darjeeling, Russian,
Mango Indica, Peach, Peppermint
and Herbal Delight
brew your loose tea in one of our "teahouse" infuse rs w/Rice ID
YOUR FUTURE
IS WAITING.
The Air Force
off* offers training that
can prepare you for the
future — in your choice of
more than 150 different technical
fields. Get the advanced training
you need starting today — along
with:
• good pay
• 30 days vacation with pay per
year
• complete medical & dental care
• the chance to travel
• opportunities to advance
Explore your future in today's Air
Force. Call AIR FORCE
TOLL FREE
1-800-423-U'SAF w
placed second out of four entries and
the women's four finished second out
of seven teams.
The women lost to a boat from
Wichita State by a heartbreaking .66
seconds.
"It was a great race," sophomore
Sarah Newton said.
"It felt really good to go all out and
we're not usually that close. At this last
regatta we weren't all together, but we
still did pretty well. It's been a good
spring."
The meet is yet another indication
of the growth of the Rowing Club.
Harms, who has been with the
club for three years, is quick to point
out how the organization has changed
since its inception four years ago.
"It's gotten more competitive and
more serious," said Harms.
"Back when I first joined we had
just started to get a stable sized mass
to have a good program. Now it's not
often that we have to scrap to put
together a boat"
A large part of how the club decides
who will row is by individual
times on an ergometer machine.
Members compete with one another
by rowing a distance of 2500
meters.
"We have more competition for
spots than we did before," said Newton.
.
"Last year most of the ergs were in
the low eleven to high ten minute
range, and there are a couple people
this year who have gotten under ten
minutes. Almost all of the people are
in the mid to low tens."
The club's workout and practice
schedule has had a lot to do with the
team's increasing competitiveness.
They row on both Saturday and
Sunday and one morning during the
week.
In addition there are three land
workouts and two days of voluntary
weightlifting.
The hard work has proven to be
beneficial.
"When we started, we didn't expect
to be able to compete with Texas,"
said Harms. "Now we know we can
compete with them, as long as there
isn't a big weight difference."
The next regatta that the club will
attend is the Great Plains Rowing
Championships in Topeka, Kan., on
Apr. 15-16.
That's our big regatta of the year,
and our whole semester is geared up
with this regatta in mind," Markwardt
said.
"Something like 25 or 30 teams go,
all of the Midwest schools and the
teams fromTexas will be there. Ithink
thatall of our boats haveagood chance
in their individual events, but we don't
have enough people to earn the points
to win the regatta."
Purity of NCAAs tainted
by television announcers
by Chris Rodgers
After a month of hoops, hype, betting and beer drinking, it's finally
over. No more questions about who's number one and who's got what it
takes to win the "Big Dance."
The U niversity of Arkansas Razorbacks are going home to Fayetteville
after the season of their dreams. Sixty three other teams are plotting next
year's run, vowing to return and, hopefully, stretch their luck a little
further. s
This year's March Madness gave us a great April final and one can't
help feeling a little melancholy at seeing the NCAA tournament come to
a close.
It will be a long time before
people stop saying "The Shot" and
HIT&
mrw
ScottyThurman's name in the same
breath. You wouldn't be doing the
truth justice by saying it was fantastic.
Try clutch, amazing or unreal.
Those are a few of the adjectives
that I was able to utter after getting my breath back.
After all, the Hogs were dead-locked with the underdog Duke University
Blue Devils at 70 with barely a minute left on the clock when
Thurman canned a 22-foot jumper from behind the arc.
As if that wasn't enough Hoosier-esque drama, his three pointer
barely reached over the out-stretched fingertips of Duke's Antonio I>ang
as time ticked down to zero on the shot clock.
To his credit, Lang couldn't have been playing better defense on
Scotty if he had been in the Razorback guard's ankle-length shorts.
The manner in which the entire game was played made you figure
that it would take something like a buzzer beater for one team to put the
other away. The final stayed close throughout, with each team having to
dig deep and claw their way back from deficits.
It is unfortunate that most of America's major sporting events lack the
drama, sportsmanship and comradery that is inherent in the NCAA
tournament. The trick to the mythological allure of the Division I
championship stems from the high quality of its competition.
Everybody gets a shot at the championship and the losers go home,
no matterwhat they were ranked during the regular season. Everything
is settled on the court Is anybody listening in Division I college football?
April has begun and I will miss the excitement of the tournament But
there are a few aspects of it that I am more than glad to tell goodbye.
There is an old saying that goes, "If it ain't broke, then don't fix it"
Many would say this about the NCAA tournament. But couldn't we get
rid of those damn television announcers?
It could only serve to improve one of the most American of all sports
traditions. I'm sure Arkansas Head Coach Nolan Richardson would
agree with me.
The drawing power of the post-season championship is the game of
basketball being played at one of its highest and, without a doubt, most
inspired levels.
Then why is television placing greater and greater emphasis on knowit-all
announcers who would rather hear themselves talk than watch the
game being played? I use my mute button more during March Madness
than at any other time of the year.
Those who pay the exorbitant ticket prices for the privilege of
watching in person are spared the agony of listening to the likes of Billy
Packer andjim Nantz demonstrate their uncanny flair for the obvious. I
don't mean to single out pill or Jim—their broadcasting peers are eqally
as bad.
Here is a typical conversation between a play-by-play man (P.P.) and
a'color-commentator (C.C.) on a televised game:
P.P. man: "Well, Stew, what are the keys for tonight's matchup?"
C.C.:" Here it is f$ks: Team A needs to score more points than Team
B to come away with a victory."
P.P. man: That's interesting, Stew. I think thatTeam A must also not
ignore Team B's offense. Coach A will tiy to get his guys to hold Team
B to less points than his team can score."
(Later in the game)
P.P. man: "Number-25 ... uh, no, number-15 Jackson dishes to
Murphy... er, excuse me Williams for the slam!"
C.C.: "If Team A keeps scoring like this while stopping Team B, they
should be able to pull this one out"
I don't know as much about basketball as Rick Pitino, but I am tired
of my intelligence being insulted by two guys in thousand-dollar suits
who have never touched a basketball.
I think that someone making as much money as announcers do to talk
about basketball, or any sport, for that matter, should at least be required
to take a hoops competency test Since they're called announcers, why
don't they try that?
Next year, all I want to hear out of their mouths is the player's name,
stats for the year, position and maybe his hometown. Otherwise, put
them in some syndicated gameshow as a host so that their talents can be
better utilized.
The beauty of the NCAA basketball championship tournament lies in
precision passes, rainbow jumpers and airborne dunks; not in the
gibberish of the broadcast booth. I can't wait till next March rolls around.
My name's Tony.
I decided to be Sports Editor for another semester.
Don't ask me why. I'm probably crazy.
Anyways, I need writers. I need help. Please?
Call me if you want to write
@ 527-4801 or 630-8911.
I'm getting pretty desperate. I'll even pay you.