I I Owlook When thefhe clock strikes midniahfmidniahtrnidniaht for CinderallaCinderollo By Tommy HearronHearronT- ridingfiding so high has shown orangish tendenciestendencies- definite ever in that there are so many different brndsbrands ofof- hresherThresher Sports EditorEdito- and its prancing white horses have occasionally beenbeen- sports happening at the same time that there isis- HavingrHaving thus weatheredwkathered last weeks minor insurrec- ¬ seeneen to sniffsnUf a piece of cheese along the route- insurrec een at route usually one in which Rice is doingsodoing so welJthatwelj that isis- tiontio in the Sports well that it Department staffsta f once more itsitst- For whatever reason whether because opposingopposing- pleasant to write about This year strangely enoughenougbenough-enougb- imetime to scan the horizons of and-andanAanA- coaches have discovered im- ¬ distant our clouded and the Owls attack suffers im baseballbasebaU is the immediate bright spot ionI RiceRice- by spoton the now rather thoroughly battered crystal ballbaIlball-baIl- measurably when Bill Doty gets into foul troubletrouble- sporting horizonhorizon- At beginning ¬ a- the of the basketballbasketbaIl season our dauntdaunt- because they have learned Rice is vulnerable toatotoar-a Now baseball at Rice has never beenn held highrnghhigh-rngh- less isin basketball analyst inexperiencedinexpe1ienced in the shot andand- unandshootrunandshoot fast break type of game or becausebecause- esteem without excep9nexcepnexception you can casually wanderwander- shellsheIl that can befallbefaIl an his- they have devised ways to negate press the- errant sportswriter when his Rices the by the diamond find an excellentexceUent seat in the sunsun-¬ wellwen thoughtout predictions Owls slump i couplecouple- gang aft agley we forfor- have been in a prolonged the Ippastst drenched bleachers along with the twentyfive oror- instanceInstance met with such a notable lack of success duringduring- of weeksweeks- thirty other faithful spectators whom you secretlysecretly- thefootbaIlthefootballthe football season that WeVe felt it advisable totranstotransf-to transtrans- If this is not stoppedandstopped and it can be stopped only-only suspect to be friends andnd roommates oftheof the mightymighty- formorm the Sports Department into organi- ¬ by a victory over Texas TechT ch Thursday the latterlatter- a nonprophet organi a ThursdaythethisThursdaythethis warriorwarriors t performing on the ainonddiamondd watchiratch two oror- zation all the above being so our basketballbasketbal analystanalyst- portion of the aforementionaforementionedd prophecy that RiceRice- three innings of play and wanderhomewanderwanderhome-hollehomehome-holle- out SWC- dealt his Tarot cards cut open ttwoo rather fatfat- will escescapepe from its twoyear tenuretenuze in the SWC ThhThisThig year however things show promise of beingveingveing-being-being- pigeons come pass pigeons consulted his horoscope and predicted the cellar will not come to pass For theth honor of thethe- greatlydifferentgreatly different for the Rice baseballbas ball team whichwhich- 1967 Owls would escape- sincerelysincerely- win at least seven games and escapeescape- clairvoyant Thresher sports department we has neverneyer repeatrepe t never won a WCSWC championshipchampionship-c 1amp onshiponship- the SWC cellarceIlarcellar-ceIlar- hope victory- fforr a victory has so farmadefar made a clean sweep 6f allaU its nonCon-nonConfernonConfe-nonConfer- ¬ Thus amazingly are year encourgingencouraging how ¬ far although theth Owls are curcur- ¬ This particularparti ular time of9f year is fertncerenceopponentdeiponstratinginenceopponentdeiponstratinginence opPonentsdeIponstratingopponents demonstrating tin theprocessthethevprocesspxocess the twotwo- rently tiedtie with Arkansas for last place the firstfirst- essentialessentials forafor a winning teamteagteamr pitchingandpitching and hittin-hittinghitting- portion of his forecast has proven true datedate-d tete- pr9ven for to PowerfPowerfulpitchinggPowerfulpitchingPowerfulpitching-l pitc hinghing- tthee tteamam hasha won exactly seven gamesgames- As regards the SWC race although RicRice can notnot- A Cinderella teamteam- be picked as the favorite the Owls have an advantageadvantage- = Compared with the prophecies of other writerswrjters covcov-¬ in returning more topnotchtop notch pitchers than any otherother- ering Rice basketballbasketbaIl our brilliant analyst showedshowed- team AllSWC Ray Hooten Ron Henson who hashas- considerably more optimism for attheat the beginning ofof- the majormaj < r league scouts drooling and Bill PalmerPalmer- tthee year it was deemed wellnighweIInigh impossible thatthatT aa- who seems to have recovered completely from a brokenbroken- coach in his first yearcouldyear could take a group ofpreviofprevi-of previprevi- ¬ ankle suffered during the intramuralintr mural seasoseasonI shouldshould- ouslyo sly undisundistinguishedn ished veterans mix them withvanwithwithv anan- send multitudes of opposing hitters back to theIthe dugdug-¬ quaIlyequallyquaIly undistinguished group up from the freshman- out freshman outThe rranksnKs and produce a team that would keepopposingkeepopposingc-keep opposingopposing- The majority of tthee other schools in the ConferenceConference- oachescoaches up late atatnightnightzight if not tearing heirtheir hairhair- on the other hand have had their pitching ranksranks- which iss a commodity itin shortsh rt supply amongamongbasketamongbasket-baskbasketbasket-tt- ¬ bilitateddebilitatedd byby1 graduation andtheand the most feared enemyenemy- ballbaIl coaches for some reason at least worrying overover- of college coaches professional signings In the hithit-¬ what RicesR ces defensedefe s could do tto> previouslypoisedaanpreviouslypoisedan previouslypreviouslypoised-previo slypoisedslypoised-poisedpoised- ting department the Owls boast Andy Rooker allalJalJ-all- teamteam- SWC in 1965 powerful Frankie Mandola at firstfirst- This years team in short to usese a cliche pioneerpioneeredpioneered-dd- base as well as the powerful bats of Palmer andand- and worked ntointo the ground by the nnobleble press of ouroour-rr- Henson nationnati n has beenbe n a CinderellaCiridereIla teamtea whosehos colorcolor- Tennis slumpssluslumps-psps- and aggressivenessaggressiv ness lured average blase Rice- have the averag Rice Unfortunately tennistenTlis customarily the bright spotspo-spot- student to the cobwebencrusted nethernetl reregiorisofregiorisof-orisof-ofof- r regionsorisof toofo Rices spring sports is probaprobablyly Wellnigh abanaban- ¬ Autry CourtCourt- doned as a lost cause The loss of John Pickens whowho- ago ofJohn Three months the notion that Rice coulddefeatcoulddefeat-could defeatdefeat- is making a State Department sponsordsponsored goodwillgoodwill- Baylor overpoweroverpo TQU wa-waswas- r TCU and annihilate AJAMA11I wawaswas- tour abroad and isfs not in training for espionageespionage- completely preposterous And yet suchsuch-suc- dear reader sucl despite persistent rumors that the Rice tennis teamteam- lstrangestrange and Ric unforeseenunfo eseen happenings did occuroccu- is reallyreany a front for the CIA leaves Butch SeewagenSeewagen- rMidnightMidnightMidnight- as thesglethe solesQle returning letterman-lettermanletterrminletterrmin- There are certain inherent disadvantages to beingbeing- And theth6th results thus far have shownsnow this loss asas- a Cinderella team however and the chief of these isis- in its first three matches Rice has failed tto win aa- that when thetheclockclock strikes midnightthmidnight therere taketa <e placeplace- single point Thus it appears Rice has little chanc-chancechance- certainc tain transformations not unlike those thoroughlysothoroughlysothoroughlyc-so thoroughly- of maintainingemaintainingitsmaintainingitsits traditionaltraditio1al grip on thetheSWCSWC tennistennis- chronicledchrohronicledicled by OvidOvfdOvid- championshipchampionship-championshipF- tJt-J- < so although-although 1 6ugl he m s- lIAndiiAnd so it is with the OwlsweOwls we ffearforfear1 for < although-althoghalthogh- AndFAndAnd althoughsoalthoughthebasketballiandHenmsVteamssoalthoughthebasketballiandHenmsVteamss-io alt the fbbasketballgandDsk tball id tennisteams-tennisteamsisee-te 1 is t s the rfor the ta1team has occasionally looked impressive in itsits-Its- eemseemeem tto havehavefallenoriaveffallenll n on hardh d darsdays therehe e is lwaysalwaysalwaysbasealwaysbase-basebase- ¬ recent gamesandgames and pproiablyprobablyobably played its best gagamerie ofof- ball And surely onene successful portsport ata a time isis- the season against SMUtheSMU thethe carriage in whichitwhich it was enough for any fan.