Split season has future
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Hd Coyne—Staff photo by Jay Graham.
I
Riding the West Ireland
■oast Coyne rode through
■onnemarra, Connaught and
fcalway then cut through mid
Beland and took a ferry back to
■Vales, biked to England and
■ode around there for two
Bnore weeks.
Coyne said, “I met a lot of
■cots in Southern England and
in every campground I met
Borne friendly people.” “I’d just
Bull out a map and look lost.
■ hey were always willing to
Be Ip,” he said.
Coyne said the main thing
Be found on his trip was,
■many people had misconcep-
Bons about Americans.” He
Baid he went into one village
where all the children wanted
to see an American. “They had
■ever seen Americans before,”
Baid Coyne. “They had only
Beard about them. That was an
unusual feeling.”
While Coyne was aware of
the problems in Ireland he said,
■I didn’t find any trouble in
■eland. The problems were
■nostly in the South.” Coyne
■avelled in the Eastern and
■entral parts of the country.
Riding a place to sleep was
■ever a problem for Coyne7
throughout his trip. “I slept on
people’s farms,” he said»* “If
you ask permission, they’ll
■ever turn you down.”
Coyne felt safe there, &
sleeping out wasn’t a barrier to
be overcome. “I felt safe there,
I liked it and the people were
friendly,” he said.
As for food, Coyne carried
backpackers food; macaroni
and cheese, chicken and rice,
and spaghetti. “I’d eat on a loaf
of bread all day,” said Coyne,
“then stop at a pub for a couple
of pints of beer.” He ate a lot of
breakfasts though. “They serve
tea and all the bread you can
eat over there,” he said, “and
they serve large breakfasts.”
Coyne allowed himself $7
a day for food. Coyne said
“$15 a day would be perfect to
live easily, but under '$10,
you’re pushing it” The food
given him by people'he met
helped his budget. “Some days
I only had to spend $1,” he
said.
When Coyne left Oregon,
he had less than $500. “I spent
about $100 on trains and ferry
rides,” he said, “so in reality I
had about $400.”
Coyne said he started out
travelling about 20-30 miles a
day. “I gradually built up to
about 70 miles a day,” he said,
“That was comfortable. I slept
really good.”
On the whole trip Coyne
met only three Americans.
“One was a couple and the
other was a girl Ifom Michigan
who was riding alone,” he said.
Coyne spent about $400
on gear prior to die trip in
cluding new tires and an over
haul, but when he returned he
spent another $85 replacing
both rims and, tires.
Coyne said, “This trip
opened up a whole new world
for me.” For a city boy it was
fun.” He said, “I miss it now,
I’d like to be back again.”
And Coyne will do just
that. He’s currently looking for
ward to a trip next summer
either through France or across
the United States via the
Bicentennial route. He said,
“I’m looking forward to
Europe. I wouldn’t mind doing
this as a job. This was just a
cannon ball for me. I’d like to
see every country.”
Coyne said that for being
an amateur he was surprised at
how the trip went. “I went by
Murphy’s law that everything
would go wrong,” he said. And
now since all went well, Coyne
said, “It’s the only way I’d ever
go back.”
Intramurals to begin next week
■ * Looking for something to
■Jo during your Tuesday and
■1 hursday lunch hours? Sign up
yow for Intramural flag football
■ in downstairs Randall Hall and
■in the Student Center.
Intramural sports serve as
Ba means of meeting new peo-
Bple, according to Intramural
■coordinator, Loren Swivel. “If
■people want to participate in an
■organized sport, they can,”
An old adage exists that
no one watches baseball until
the World Series Starts. If that
were true for anyone, it would
be for me - that is, until this
season. Naturally, the mid
season strike brought negative
publicity (but publicity never
the less).
Many of the baseball fans I
have talked to thought nothing
good came from the strike.
They say the season, for whaL
it’s worth, is meaningless
because of the lengthy break.
The next time contracts' are
discussed, the players, like the
writers, directors, arid/actors,
will ask for a cut in the cable
pie. As for the splitseason, the
fans are thankful it is only for
one year. I disagree.
Despite /the ideal that
something/ good can be
discovered or come from any
uninspiring occurrence,
something new and beneficial
came from the baseball strike. It
is being looked at as something
negative now, but in the long
4un, uie »pun could only
benefit from the discovery that
has made this season unique
and, perhaps, more exciting
than all others combined. That
is, the split season.
Evidence can be found on
the second page of the sports
section of any newspaper. The
standings display that, at the
time of this writing, not one
team in either league had a
lead over the second place
j team by more than a game and
a half. Never have the races
been so close as the ones this
year. What is even more ex
citing is witnessing the teams
that nave a strong possibility to
go to the playoffs. When was
the last time Detroit,
Milwaukee, Montreal, or St.
Louis have come this close to
baseball’s second season?
Quite a while. Yes, the
Yankees,' the Dodgers, the
Royals, and the A’s, along with
the Phillies, are in the play-offs
too. They’re there every year.
In short, the theory is the
season is just too long and by
the time the play-offs arrive,
the players are tired, and I’m
sick of hearing of the sport. The
same problems appear with
By Thomas A. Rhodes
Of the Print
basketball. Not only is the
season too long, but if a team is
below 500, or in last place mid
way through the season, kiss
the year good-bye and pray for
good picks at the draft. That is
where the split season would
benefit die leagues.
In essense, it is giving
teams a second chance; giving
players a one week lay-off.
But, 154 games is just too long
as the season trudges on. By
the time the World Series rolls
along, the football, hockey,
and basketball seasons have
already started.
More or less, baseball
hasn’t evolved since Abner
Doubleday invented the game.
The only major technical ad
vance made in the sport, has
been the Astrodome in
Houston. Even then, the game
never changed strategy-wise.
It’s not that every game needs
to change or have a major
technical achievement in its life
time, but nothing, not even the
style of uniforms have chang
ed.
Some will argue the game
isn’t one that needs changes.
Granted, as it remains one of
the more popular sports in
America, the sport has been
floating on the same lightbulb
for more than a century.
However, if any change can or
should be made, it should be
made in the seasonal structure.
This gives teams unlucky in the
first half, hope for revival. Win
ners of the second half would
get the home field advantage in
the first round, thus giving an
incentive to the first half winner
to go for the second half as
well. If they win both, they get
a bye through the first round.
The split season would
shorten the season to say 45
games for each half, which
would, in turn, get players to
work harder because they have
less games and the races would
be closer.
Baseball isn’t a game gasp
ing for changes, but if the se
cond season is any indication
of. how exciting (for once)
baseball can be, this theory
should be taken into considera
tion, if not applied.
SPORTS ACTION:
Women’s Volleyball vs. Chemeketa C.C.
Oct. 7*7 p.m. * Home
said Swivel. “And if an in
Participants in the In
Women’s cross country - Oct. 10
dividual wants to get involved tramural program are required
and doesn’t know of a team, to be full-time students or
Willamette Invitational1 - Salem * Noon
: we. can place them on one.”
emloyees of CCC.
“The program is well run,”
said Student Program
Men’s Cross country - Oct. 10
Specialist, Dave Buckley. “It
Willamette Invitational * Salem * Noon
provides a change for the staff,
faculty and students to interm
ingle. It’s competition, but not
Women’s Volleyball * Oct. 9/10
real high key, and that’s what
Lower Columbia Invitational - Longview > TBA
makes it enjoyable.”
■Wednesday Oct. 7, 1981
Page 11
SN: OL0055