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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide for Reeves County, Trans-Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

Sports

Tuesday, January 13, 1998

Pecos boys open 4-4A in Andrews

PECOS, Jan. 13 -- District 4-4A basketball play opens
tonight for the Pecos Eagle boys in Andrews, while the girls
will try to get back above .500 in 4-4A play in Andrews as
well, when both teams take on the Mustangs.

The girls will face Andrews at 6 p.m., followed by the boys
game at 7:30 p.m. Starting times will be swapped for the
junior varsity contests, while the freshman games are set
for 4:30 p.m. starts.

The Eagles come into district with their best record in
three years, at 13-7, after their 49-45 victory at home on
Friday over Greenwood. But coach Mike Sadler has been
concerned about his team's inconsistent play of late. Pecos
has won five straight, but played just good enough to win
both of their games last week, over the Rangers and Alpine
Bucks.

"I told them you just have to play hard on defense, set up
you offense, set up on the baseline, get the ball to the
open man, go up strong and if your get fouled, make your
foul shots," Sadler said. The Eagles were out-hustled in the
middle of the game by Greenwood, but used a 19-5 run late in
the third period and early in the fourth to get their
victory.

Andrews enters the game with just a 7-14 mark, but coach
George Byerly's squad has played one of the toughest
pre-district schedules, and got several of their players out
late due to football. Last season, Andrews started slow but
came on to make the playoffs, and come into 4-4A play off a
59-49 victory at Snyder.

Last year, the Mustangs swiped the ball often from the
Eagles in their meeting in Andrews, winning by a 91-47 final
score. Shaud Williams had 19 points and Waylan Mayfield 12
in the victory. Omar Hinojos led the Eagles with 18 points.

"We should be ready for that situation (Andrews' quickness)
when we go to Andrews," Sadler said Friday. "Hopefully,
we'll match their hustle and our senior talent can beat
them."

Pecos' girls had a rough time of their own a year ago,
losing 74-39 at Andrews. So far this season, the Eagles are
11-8, and 1-1 in District 4-4A after their 51-35 loss to
Sweetwater on Friday. A lack of inside shooting by the
Eagles caught up to them in the final period, when
Sweetwater broke open a six-point game.

Andrews, meanwhile, has started impressively, beating both
Sweetwater and San Angelo Lake View on the road. They downed
the Mustangs a week ago 43-29, then outscored the Maidens on
Friday, 60-50 to improve to 15-5 on the year. Gina Esquivel,
who had 10 points in last year's home win over Pecos, put in
19 in Friday's victory, while post Kayla Kimberlin, who had
13 a year ago, got 10 against Lake View.

"We're going to have to get the ball inside more in order to
win," said Eagles' coach Brian Williams, whose team was
outscored from the field by Sweetwater by only a 36-33
margin, but were beaten 15-2 at the foul line on Friday.

Eagle swimmers claim Coker titles

PECOS, Jan. 13 -- The Pecos Eagles swim team began gearing
up for the District 4 meet at the end of this month with a
pair of "low key" victories on Saturday at the Coker
Invitational in Fort Stockton.

Pecos' boys won their division with 304 points and the girls
took their title with 340. Those totals included wins in two
of the three relay events, along with seven individual gold
medals on the boys' side and five on the girls side.

"It was kind of a low-key meet. I felt like the swam very
well, and there were some drops in times," said Eagles'
coach Terri Morse. "Overall, the times were a little off,
but I half expected that.

"One reason was because of the Christmas break, and the
other was I didn't rest them during the week. We worked real
hard because without the presence of (district rival) Big
Spring I felt like we could work through the meet without
any pressure and get ready for Lubbock (this weekend),
because that's going to be a tough meet."

For Pecos' girls, who had be relying on depth to compete for
team titles prior to Christmas, the seven golds were more
than double their total for the entire season so far. Eagles
Liz Parent, Dionnie Munoz, Randi Key and Megan Freeman won
the 200 freestyle relay in 1:54.48, and Parent, Munoz,
Freeman and Sarah Flores took the 400 free in 4:17.37.

Parent also won two individual events, taking the 200 medley
in 2:32.89 and the 100 butterfly in 1:11.93. Freeman won the
200 freestyle in 2:17.91 and was second in the 100
breaststroke, while Munoz won the 100 free in 1:0342 after
placing third in the 50 free. Jamie Corson had the Eagles'
other first place finish, winning the 500 free in 6:28.26
after a fifth place in the 200 medley.

Flores was fourth in that race, and third in the 100
breaststroke, while Corson, Flores, Key and JoAnn Wein
placed second in the 200 medley relay and the Eagles' 400
`B' relay team of Corson, Wein, Kellee Bagley and Jennifer
Martinez placed second behind the `A' squad. Bagley,
Martinez, Charlee Waight and Meagan Joplin were seventh in
the 200 free relay.

Key placed second in the 200 individual medley and third in
the 100 backstroke; Wein was sixth in that race and eighth
in the 100 free; Bagley was fifth in the 500 free and sixth
in the 200 free; Waight was 12th in the 50 free; Martinez
was sixth in the 100 free and Joplin was 10th in the 100
breaststroke for Pecos' other points.

The low spot for the girls on Saturday came after all their
races were over, when Morse said they inadvertently cost the
boys first place in the 400 free relay.

"It was the judges' fault. There was a real slow swimmer in
the pool and she thought he was finished when he wasn't, and
she told Liz she could go in and get her glasses," she said.
Parent had lost them in the girls' 400 relay, and by jumping
into the pool before the race was over the boys were denied
a sweep of all three relays.

Grant Holland, Cortney Freeman, Tye Edwards and Kenneth
Friar lost out on their golds, after Friar, Kevin Bates, Al
Tillman and Matt Ivy had won the 200 medley in 1:49.29, and
Ivy, Holland, Tillman and Bates took the 200 free with a
1:39.77 effort. Graham, Freeman, Craig Wein and Scott Pounds
were fourth as the `B' team in that race.

Individually, Friar and Bates had a pair of firsts, while
Ivy, Tillman and Pounds also won individual gold medals.
Friar won the 100 butterfly in 58.40 and the 500 freestyle
in 5:28.60. Bates took the 100 free in 52.89 and the 100
back in 59.59; Ivy won the 200 free with a 2:06.30 time and
was second in the 50 free; Tillman won the 200 medley in
2:19.85 and was fourth in the 100 breaststroke; and Pounds
won the 1 meter diving event with 257.25 points and later
placed seventh in the 50 free.

Freeman was fifth and Wein 11th in the 50 free while Holland
was fourth and Freeman fifth in the 100 free. Edwards was
fourth in the 100 fly and third in the 100 backstroke;
Holland was fifth and Wein eighth in the 100 breaststroke;
and Luis Nieto was ninth in the 200 freestyle.

Morse said she thought all of the Eagles' District 4 rivals
except for Big Spring would be in Lubbock this Friday and
Saturday, as part of a 25-team field in the two-day meet.
She said she'll take 17 of her swimmers to the meet, the
last before District 4 competition on Jan. 31 at Monahans.

CBS, Fox get Sunday NFL pacts

By JOSH DUBOW
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK -- When the NFL's version of musical chairs ends,
either NBC or ABC will be left without a seat in the
broadcast booth.

CBS made sure it wouldn't be the odd network out again,
buying its way back into the NFL on Monday night with a
stunning $4 billion, eight-year deal to televise the AFC
package formerly held by NBC, a source told The Associated
Press. The CBS deal more than doubles the rate per season
that NBC paid in 1997.

Earlier Monday, Fox and the NFL settled on a $4.4 billion,
eight-year contract that allows the network to keep the
Sunday afternoon NFC deal.

TNT and ESPN are expected to retain their Sunday night cable
packages, but at close to double the price. ESPN paid $524
million and TNT paid $496 million in the previous deal.

That leaves ``Monday Night Football,'' which ABC has held
since its inception in 1970. But NBC, which also has been
broadcasting NFL games for 28 years and aired AFL games for
six years prior to that, has made a bid to challenge ABC for
the Monday night package, said a source familiar with the
negotiations.

In 1993, ABC paid $920 million over four years for ``Monday
Night Football,'' a 2 percent increase over the previous
four-year deal. It will cost much more to keep it this time,
maybe more than double the previous price. A contract could
be reached as early as today.

``Even though the Monday night ratings are off a little bit,
it is still one of the top ranked programs in prime time
every year,'' said Ron Frederick, a media buyer at J. Walter
Thompson advertising agency. ``It is three hours of
guaranteed quality programming. The question is how much is
ABC prepared to ante up to keep one of the cornerstones of
its prime time schedule.''

When the NFL's deals with all five of its network partners
are completed, the packages could be worth nearly $15
billion -- more than the combined total of the nine previous
deals with the league since 1962.

ABC and NBC each have one game left in the current contract
-- the Super Bowl on NBC on Jan. 25 and ABC's Pro Bowl
coverage on Feb. 1. The network that loses out on ``Monday
Night Football'' will be out of the NFL for at least five
years.

If NBC wins the bidding war, the No. 1 network in prime time
would get another night of dominance at a crucial time for
the network. NBC's Thursday night schedule for next fall is
unsettled, with ``Seinfeld'' ending production and the
contract for ``ER'' expiring at the end of this season.

From a football standpoint, the new contract will result in
an increase in the salary cap. And while the smallest
increase will be next year, it's still likely to be in the
area of $10 million, allowing teams hard pressed under the
salary cap to retain important free agents.

Among them are Dorsey Levens, Green Bay's star running back,
and Dana Stubblefield of San Francisco, the NFL's defensive
player of the year.

CBS was shocked when Fox wrestled the NFL away from it in
1993. But it pulled off almost as stunning a move Monday,
when it agreed to pay $500 million a year for NFC games, a
source said. NBC paid $217 million per season in the last
agreement.

CBS planned to comment today on the contract developments.

Fox will pay $550 million per season for eight years, an
increase of 39 percent from $395 million. That is a larger
increase than had been projected because Fox was already
paying 71 percent more than the second most expensive deal,
ABC's Monday night package.

Fox will also show three Super Bowls, including two in the
first five years of its deal, starting with the game on Jan.
31, 1999, at Miami.

The NFL holds the option to reopen the Fox and CBS contracts
after five years, prior to the 2003 season, if it feels it
can make more money. But if the market dries up, the NFL can
continue the contracts and CBS and Fox will pay a nominal,
predetermined increase, a source said.

``This reopening option would enable the NFL clubs to
benefit from future positive changes in marketplace
conditions, ratings, audience demographics, changes in
technology and other factors,'' NFL commissioner Paul
Tagliabue said in announcing the Fox deal.

Fortified by the NBA's recent four-year, $2.6 billion
agreement, NFL owners were looking for an increase from
their $4.4 billion, four-year deal that expires next month.
And they got it in a big way.

If the Monday night package has as large an increase as the
130 percent CBS paid, it would go for about $530 million a
year. That means the total five-network package could
eclipse $2 billion annually, an increase of more than 80
percent.

All of this despite the fact that the league generated its
worst combined television rating since before the 1970
AFL-NFL merger. ABC's rating was off 7 percent and NBC, Fox
and ESPN were all 5 percent lower. Only TNT showed an
increase, jumping 6 percent for its Sunday night package.

But the NFL is still the best way for advertisers to target
young males -- and the league, networks and advertisers all
know it.

More than one quarter -- $3.7 billion -- of the $14.5
billion in ad sales generated by the four major networks in
1996 was generated by sports events, said Brian Schecter, an
analyst with Paul Kagan & Associates Media Sports Business.
Of that total, 40 percent came from the NFL.

``There is too much focus put on ratings, because they are
so easy to look at,'' Schecter said. ``But ratings
comparisons miss the point because the landscape has changed
so much. You need to look at ad revenues, how many
affiliates sign up and other benefits networks get from
football.''

This is the 10th package of deals awarded by the NFL since
1962, when the league and CBS agreed on a two-year
regular-season deal for $4.65 million, about the price of
four 30-second commercials during the Super Bowl. When the
new deal is finished, it will be worth more than the
previous nine, which totaled $14.89 billion over 36 years.




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Pecos Enterprise
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Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise