SOUND OFF.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Don't rap Pit Crew

I am so sick and tired of Ron Bellamy somehow needing to always have his stories in the spotlight and imposing himself as the chief of the class and ethics police for the UO Athletic Department.

If coach Ernie Kent wants his son Marcus to tone it down a little bit, I can understand that. It would potentially put him in a bad spot (and since we can't get a call at home anyway, he needs all the help he can get). However, in all my years of going to the Pit for games, there have been only two instances where I would say the Pit Crew was out of line. First, about 10 years ago, members of the crew started the chant of "sodomizer" at Arizona guard Damon Stoudamire. The other would be the USC debacle a few years back, which included the chants about the parenting skills of former coach Henry Bibby and the throwing of hard hats at Adam Spanich. To try to associate a no class tag on the Cameron Crazies of the West is absolutely ridiculous.

To try to say that the chant of "Gary Coleman" to a 5-foot-2 Husky is stepping over the line is to say that you are completely ignorant and out of touch with the world of sports today. Is the chant overplayed? Yeah, it is. And, of course, that chant gets him going.

For some reason, I failed to see any comments in Friday's paper about the behavior of UW guard Will Conroy, taunting the Pit Crew throughout the second half and overtime. But that wouldn't make a real good article, would it?

College sports are about an undying love for your team that includes, much to the dismay of Mr. Bellamy, getting on the other team just as much as you root for your own. Ron, you represent the type of fan that is what's wrong with sports today. If you want to sit around and do the "Go Team Go" thing, then head over to Shasta Middle School and watch a game of fourth-graders. Otherwise, quit trying to make the Pit Crew out to be a bunch of immature, foul-mouthed kids and call them what they are - TRUE Duck fans.

MICHAEL HARRIS

Eugene

What's more important?

Why is it that the men's Ducks basketball team is in the cellar, and they get two-thirds of the front page of the RG Sunday sports page (Feb. 6), in blaring headlines, and the women's Ducks basketball team beat the Beavers again this season and are going for an NCAA berth, and they get the bottom part of the front page in small letters? At least the women were above the Super Bowl story.

Do you see anything wrong with this logic of story placement? Guys, it is 2005 after all. Please give the women the credit and headlines that they deserve this season.

I do thank you for the great individual stories you have done on the female Ducks. They were excellent.

KAY PORTER

Eugene

Impressive Emmitt

The retirement of Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time rushing and touchdown leader, after a 13-year career with Dallas and two with Arizona was, unfortunately, overshadowed by two weeks of relentless full-volume Super Bowl super-hype.

Unlike many of the self-promoting, overpaid megalomaniacs in professional sports today, Smith was the epitome of a team player. He was also a player, unlike many, who acted like he had been in the NFL end zone before. He had - 164 times, to be exact.

I was fortunate enough in 1993 to see what was perhaps his greatest game. Ignoring the intense pain of a separated shoulder, getting pounded again and again, Smith played the entire game against a tough New York Giants defense, rushing for 229 yards and leading the Cowboys to a key victory.

A Dallas Cowboys fan I've never been. An Emmitt Smith fan, since that afternoon, I'll always be. He will be missed.

JEROME GARGER

Yachats