The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 7

Scoreboard. B-2 Business, B-6 lltxaahia Dailg Zttt Sal Monday August 8. 1994 For the longshots there is the dream Dunning Commercial 1 LA CROSSE. Wis. (AP) They're at every training camp.

Standing on every preseason sideline. Dreading every knock on the door, every call to the coach's office. Players who played for small schools, played little at all or played with minimal success. Dreamers who still hope the National Football League has a spot for them. Who are these guys and who really believes they have a shot at careers in the NFL? New Orleans Saints coach Jim "We like his potential a lot." Mora said.

"He's a big guy who can run and can catch. He's just very, very raw, very inexperienced and very raw, but he's got a talent He's right in the hunt for a spot on our team." Andre Bowden, a linebacker at Fayetteville State in North Carolina, was a Black College All American as a senior back in 1990, but since then he's played nothing but Arena League football "To look at him you'd say he has no shot." said linebacker coach Vic Fangio. "No major college experience, no NFL experience, never played insider linebacker. But he runs good. He's tough.

He has talent" Willie Williams was a solid tackle at LSU and looked promising enough back in 1990 for the Cardinals to take him in the ninth round of the supplemental draft. After limited playing time and a year on injured reserve, he's back at work at the New Orleans Saints training camp. Aces fall to Tyler once more Special to The Town Talk TYLER, Texas Joel Smith drove in two runs in a three-run third inning to spark the Tyler Wildcatters to a 5-2 victory Sunday over the Alexandria Aces and take over first place in the Eastern Division of the Texas-Louisiana League. The Aces, 9-9, started the bottom of the third inning in a scoreless tie with the Wildcatters, but Jim Varney was summoned to relieve starter Dominic Viola, who left with an apparent arm injury after throwing a few warm-up pitches before the start of the inning. Tyler, 10-8, scored three in the third, with Clay Gould also contributing a run-scoring base hit.

The Wildcatters added single runs in the sixth and seventh to claim the second win in the three-game series with the Aces, who open a two-game series tonight at Beaumont, which rallied from a 7-0 deficit to whip Mobile 9-7 Sunday. The Aces stranded 12 baserun-ners, leaving the bases full in the fourth when Paul Williams and Morgan Spraggins hit back-to-back singles and Darrin White was hit by a pitch by Tyler starter and winner Troy Mooney. Mooney, 2-0 since joining Tyler in a trade from San Antonio, scattered six hits in seven innings. ri The crash (above) was an outgrowth of the feud between Geoff (left) and Brett Bodine. Todd Bodine staying but of the family feud' "Willie's had a eood camp." Mora said Sunday.

"And with our lack of depth on the offensive line, if we had to pick our 53 today, Willie would make the team." Life for a long shot is a bit easier these days. Mora said. With the limited draft more guys are left out there to become free agents. With the salary cap, a talented unknown may have more value than an established player. Please see DREAM, B-2 Tonight's schedule 7:05 p.m.

Alexandria (Alan Newman, 7-1. 3.17 ERA) at Beaumont (not available) Jay Andrews, who had two hits for the evening, tripled and scored the Aces' first run in the fifth on a groundout by Jay Bell, hitless in the three-game series against the Wildcatters. Keivi Baker hit what appeared to be a triple into the right-center field gap for Alexandria in the sixth inning, but he didn't touch first on his flight around the bases and was thrown out on the appeal. Billy Norcross, 3-for-4 for the evening, drove in Tyler's fourth run in the bottom of the sixth. Teammate James Harris, in his first game back after being out two weeks since having shoulder surgery, had an infield single, went to third on an error by Andrews and scored Tyler's final run on a balk by Varney, who gave up eight hits and struck out six in six innings while falling to 2-3.

White had an RBI single for the Aces in the eighth off Tyler's first reliever, Rod Huffman. Williams had the first hit of the inning, lining a one-out double down the first base line. Baker was hit by a pitch the third Ace hit by a Please see ACES, B-2 Hal Traxler grounded out to score Jenkins. Briggs Sadler popped out to second to end the inning. In the seventh, Jeff Leaumont doubled to start the inning but Hurley enticed three straight groundouts to end the game.

Alexandria could not take advantage of its five hits and seven Hurley walks. The Louisiana champs left eight runners on base. Jenkins was the hard-luck loser for Alexandria. He pitched a four-hitter, struck out six and walked two, but paid for a slow start. Please see GAME, B-2 kids to get on Russell was traded to the Indians on July 1 for pitchers Steve Farr and Chris Nabholz.

He had 33 saves for Boston last season, but squabbled with management over his contract. "I bless every one of the Boston Red Sox folks that have to play here. Ever since I've been coming here I don't like the people," he said. "I've always hated it." left Cleveland a game back of Chicago in the AL Central and 1 1-2 games ahead of Kansas City with a strike looming on Friday. "We have three games left," Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove said.

"We play Toronto on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we'll see what happens." Please see SAINTS, a related story, B-2 Mora for one. "They may have been long shots when we signed them," Mora said. "But there are a number of them that are getting to be shorter shots all the time." Steve Rhem last played football in 1989 10 games at the University of Minnesota account for his entire college career. "Mom's the boss in this family. I wouldn't want to be Geoff or Brett." Todd Bodine NASCAR racer seem all that concerned about the rocky relationship, saying he hasn't spoken with his brother in three or four months.

"He's always looking to blame people for something like that," Brett said. "Unfortunately, that's just the way he is. It goes back to when we were kids in his mind. It's not that way in my mind." Brett discussed plans for next Sunday's race at Watkins Glen, N.Y., not far from the family home in Chemung. "We're having a big family reunion," he said, not realizing Associated Press umpire after a called strike.

f. 1 i (r Let baseball go on strike, who cares? One good thing about America is that disagreeing with Cabinet officials is not a federal offense punishable by having to listen to Senate debates over sardine-fishing treaties with Bulgaria. It therefore is safe to observe that the U.S. Secretary of Labor doesn't know squat about America's most dangerous labor dispute, which of course is the one involving major league baseball. An Associated Press report from Boston Sunday quoted Labor Secretary Robert Reich as saying that "fans will be the real losers in a prolonged baseball strike." This obviously is a crock.

No fan is apt to lose half as much in a prolonged strike as, say, Ken Griffey whose salary approximately matches the gross national product of France. If Yankee Stadium sits unoccupied for a year or two, no fan's losses will add up to those of Yankee proprietor George Steinbrenner. The real losers in a prolonged strike will be overpriced players and overbearing club owners, all of whom deserve any lessons that might be in store for them in real-world economics. The rest of us? We will do fine We'll do just fine, whether the Seattle Mariners finish the season or not. Life as we know it does not hinge on the American League West standings.

Yeah, it might be fun over the next couple of months to see whether Griffey or Matt Williams or Rafael Belliard could reach Roger Maris's single-season home-run record. Or whether Tony Gwynn could hit .400. Against pitching this pitiful, anything's possible. But, hey, records will still be breakable when the players come back and they will come back. They always come back, every time one of these temper tantrums wrecks a baseball season.

The next time they return, whether it's this season, next season or next century, there still won't be enough major league pitchers to go around, manufacturers can still produce hyperactive baseballs and the Giants can still score a dozen runs and lose. So let these guys walk. Who needs them? Nobody on a major league baseball payroll fixes your car when it won't start, repairs your plumbing when it leaks or grows the vegetables on your table. Who you gonna call? If your house catches fire, who you gonna call, the fire department or the Chicago Cubs? So how badly do you actually need some $2 million .240 hitter? Even television might survive without these guys, although baseball admittedly is the most intelligent programming visible beyond the Discovery Channel. If baseball vanishes from the screen after Friday's strike deadline, it will allow TV to devote more air time to the O.J.

Simpson trial and Lisa Marie Presley-Michael Jackson's honeymoon. Our video cup runneth over, Cardinals or no Cardinals. The U.S. Secretary of Labor? The best thing Mr. Reich and his associates can do about the baseball mess is leave it alone.

There have been suggestions that the federal government ought to intervene in baseball's dispute, but this is desirable only if the feds sentence both the owners and players to public flog- Otherwise, if you think major league baseball's labor situation is screwed up now, wait'll you see what happens when Congress starts meddling with it. Besides, I'm not sure Labor Secretary Reich is plugged into live currents to begin with. According to Sunday's report from Boston, Reich said, "The national economy won't be crippled if baseball stops, but it's just that a lot of 13-year-olds like my son will have broken hearts." Get real, Mr. Secretary; what breaks a 13-year-old boy's heart is not a strike by the Chicago Cubs. It's having someone find the Playboy magazine he has stashed under his bed.

Al Dunning is sports editor of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn. Alexandria squanders game to Alabama team Associated Press the absurdity of his words while a group of reporters broke into laughter. "You really liked that, huh?" Geoff, who finished 39th, seemed more upset about the incident, sitting almost teary-eyed in his garage while his crew tried in vain to repair his car. "This was a high-pressure race and the race was bad enough," he said. "But when you throw in the other things, it just makes it worse.

It could be worse. I'm standing here and all my arms and legs are working." The trouble boiled over on the restart after a caution period. Brett was in front when the green flag came out, with his older brother right on his rear bumper. In turn three, Geoff gave his brother a slight tap from behind, knocking Brett's car off line and giving Geoff an opening to move to the lead. Brett regained control of his vehicle and rammed Geoff as they went into the fourth turn, Please see BODINE, B-2 Special to The Town Talk LAKE CHARLES Alexandria squandered two late opportunities as it fell into the losers bracket of the Dixie Majors World Series with a 3-2 loss to Daphne, Ala.

Sunday. Alexandria faces Laurel, today at 10 a.m. at McNeese State's Cowboy Stadium. Daphne is one of three remaining unbeaten teams in the tournament. Down 3-1, Alexandria's Courtney Jenkins and Cecil Stroud had back-to-back singles off winning pitcher Graham Hurley to start the top of the sixth.

Neilson Eznack's sacrifice bunt moved the runners up, then 6I ain't talkin; INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Todd Bodine doesn't want to get in the middle of this family feud. "Whatever's going on between them," he said, "it's between them." No one's quite sure what's going on between Bodine's two older racing brothers, Geoff and Brett. There was talk that a joint souvenir deal went awry. There were other reports they also clashed after their mother had a heart attack last year. Regardless, it's obvious they don't like each other.

Their relationship got downright nasty at Saturday's Brickyard 400. "Do you have brothers? Family things are tough to deal with sometimes," Geoff said after he tangled with brother Brett in front of 315,000 people. A bumping incident between the brothers sent Geoff into the wall, while Brett slipped through and finished second behind Jeff Gordon. "I guess we'll get it worked out," Geoff added. Don't bet on it.

Brett didn't Albert Belle looks back at the in return from suspension 'I hate this lousy Russell says of Boston Belle HRs BOSTON (AP) A seven-game suspension did little to change Albert Belle. He's still hitting homers, still getting in trouble and still not talking. Belle made a dramatic return, homering and driving in three runs as the Cleveland Indians rallied to beat Boston 15-10 in 12 innings for a split of their Sunday doubleheader. "I ain't talking, I ain't talking," Belle yelled at a reporter who tried to ask him about his first game back from the suspension. In the opener, Joe Hesketh allowed three hits in eight innings and Carlos Rodriguez went 5-for-5 and had three of Boston's six doubles as the Red Sox won 4-1.

In the second game, Omar Vizquel had a bases-loaded triple, and six RBIs, as the Indians scored five runs in the 12th. Belle, whose suspension for having a corked bat lasted through the first game of the doubleheader, hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat a 439-foot shot way over the Green Monster in left field. It was his 36th of the BOSTON (AP) Cleveland Indians reliever Jeff Russell, who had Vi unhappy seasons playing for Boston, beat the Red Sox on Sunday and then attacked his former town. "I hate this (lousy) town," Russell said. "The fans are so ridiculous.

I could care less if they bomb this (lousy) town. I could care less. "The people have no manners. They have no respect for anything. They raise their year and gave him 100 RBIs.

Belle added a run-scoring single in the second as the Indians scored three runs to take a shortlived 5-0 lead. Belle went 3-for-7, raising his average to .360. He was thrown out of the game in the 12th after arguing with an umpire about a fair-or-foul call. The split of the doubleheader.