1990_04 The Daily Collegian April 1990

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Bulldog Sports
California Stale University, Fresno
Tuesday, April 17,1990
No break
for Bulldog
netters
By John Welsh
Contributing Sports Writer
Spring break wasn't much of a break
tor the Fresno State women's tennis
team.
Fresno State wrapped up a tiring,
five match road trip Sunday wilh a 7-2
Big West Conference win over Hawaii.
The Bulldogs, now posting a 15-8
overall record and 9-4 Big West
Conference slate heading into Friday's
Big West battle with' Pacific, traveled
to [.as Vegas over this past weekend for
the UNLV Classic, a round robin dual
match tournament.
FSU went 2-1 in the tourney,
.shutting out conference foe Long Beach
Slate Friday before a 7-2 Saturday
setback from'hbst Nevada-Las Vegas.
Bulldogs Cerile Bourdals and Tara
Eden extended individual winning
streaks to tour matches Sunday with
victories over Hawaii opponents.
Bourdals (pronounced UORE-dough)
picked up her team, leading 22nd
Victory Sunday wilh a marathon.
Ihree sei win over Karen Felicilda at
the Mo. i singles slot, winning 6-2. 4-6.
6-2.
Hour? ti is, .i freshman «>iii of Rennes.
Franc*. has won 43 sets against only
13 set Kisses this season.
Eden pushed her record to 15-7
Sunday on the season with a 6-3. 6-3
win over Hawaii's Liat Shemestl at Ihe
No.- -t singles position. The win was
Eden's fourth straight and tenth tn her
last 12 outings.
Freshman Kori Hill Tilled in
respectively al the No. fi singles
position, going 3-2 over Ihe break to
run her record in 6-2.
Top gun Maria Mendez, a senior out
or Buenos Aires. Argentina, also went
3-2. pushing her season tally to 20-7.
Also recording a 3-2 mark over the
spring break was No. 5 singles player
Don Moffett/FSU Sports Information
Tara Eden. Fresno State's No. 4 singles player, stretched her personal winning streaks lo four matches with a 6-3.
6-3 win over Hawaii's Liat Shemesh Sunday. Eden, a senior from Placerville. is 15-7 on the season. The Bulldogs
See TENNIS, page 8   beat Hawaii 7-2.
Howe many chances does Steve deserve?
Morey Holzman
It's officially spring Ume.
Spring Break is over. The major league
baseballseasonhasstarted. Steve Howe is
attempting a comeback.
It happerjs every year.
Howe attempts a comeback as regularly as
ZsaZsaGabor gets married. Or slugs a
Beverly Hills cop. anyway.        w
Having failed in a previous stint a few years ,
back with the California League's San Jose
Bees. Howe is getting another chance with the
Salinas Spurs in the same league.
How Howe went from 1980Natlonal League
Rookie-of-the-Year to Rookie League Dunk-
out is simple; He snorted too much cocaine
— andgot caught. And then he had too much
Miller Lite. Tasted great; his head was less
filled.
Alot of people havejumped on Howe.
Perhaps justifiably, since he is supposed to
portray a puritan image to youngsters. Howe,
they said, would snort up the batter's box if
the umpires would let him.      *"**^
Now he said he is clean., Now he is getting
one more chance. *
If ESPN's Chris Berman wants to give the
once-promising relief pitchera nickname, he
may borrow this: Steve Howe-come-he-keeps-
getting-more-chances?
A 92 mile-per-hour fastball may provide
part ofthe answer. Howe once was able to
determine his own Juture. He was that good.
He screwed iLup. though.
Howe's life has been foreshadowed by his
career choice. It is undetermined when
Howe has been given more second chances —
after he lost a game he was supposed to save
or after he has said he is "clean."
His first team, the Los Angeles Dodgers,
gave him a couple of second chances. The
Minnesota Twins gave him a second chance.
Then San Jose gave htm a second chance. A
year later, the Texas Rangers gave him a
second chance. Now Salinas will give him
yet another second chance.
How many second chances should one
man get?
Well, if he experimented just once. ] don't
thinkl would want him as my dentist. Or
my pilot. But he isjust a baseball player.
Granted, I wouldn't want to bat against him,
even if I was as good a hitter as Wade" Boggs.
1 wouldn't even want to be the umpire who
wrongly called one of his fastballs down the
middle a ball.
In the global view, a relief pitcher ranks
somewhere above a used car salesman or a
journalist and somewhere below the
manager of a nuclear power plant.
Especially if one ofthe plant's employees is
Homer Simpson.
Throwing a baseball is something Steve
Howe does best. As long as someone is willing
to hire him. he should be given a second
chance.
The tragedy- the frustration — comesfrom
all of us who believe what we read when he
says he is "clean." only to re-enter a rehab
centef two months later.
Sure, one Is never sure if the first base line
will be there when Howe arrives at the
ballpark early. But let's keep giving Howe, the
man. a second chance to straighten up his life.
• • •
Some may interpret this to mean. "Doing
drugs is okay. What the hell, you're proposing
no punishment."
That is not correct. Howe has been
punished. By his friends- andhehasfound
out exactly who really are his friends and who
have pretended to be. His family has been
shamed. In everycomeback attempt, in every
visiting ballpark, some two-bit slob who
shelled out his $4.50 for a large beer feels
obligated to insult Howe's intelligence or his
manhood.
Yet Howe accepts this abuse as part of his
"second chance." And he keeps coming back.
And he'll probably end up in rehab. And some
other team in search of a relief pitcher who
throws heat will give him a second chance.
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