SOUND OFF.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Keep things the same

This is to encourage Oregon School Activities Association to keep its current system. My son right now enjoys the support of his family and friends at his water polo games and swim meets and is able to integrate it into family conversations with people who were present at his event. It is an avenue for sharing conversation with adults at a time when teens do not like sharing with their parents.

Homes are thought of as comfortable places that allow for growth and experimentation. Athletics contribute growth in a big way, but it must allow room for other kinds of growth: intellectual growth. If the kids who are playing the games have to miss classes to travel regularly to games, the ones who care about the academic aspect of their development will leave the sports.

For most academically motivated students, sports would have to fall away and they would miss a very important part of their high school experience. Pretty soon there would be a shortage of the well-rounded scholar-type of student we all hope to graduate.

Cost would increase for families. Single parents would have a much harder time providing the extras for sports fees, team outfits, etc., because of higher travel fees.

Please do not change what does not need changing. We like what we have. The kids are happy and are doing well in their academics and in their athletics.

GABRIELLA AYRES

Eugene

Not enough variety

I'm a huge Duck fan and I live in Phoenix. I understand USC is a great team. If it wasn't for poor officiating the score at one time would have been 31-24 USC. Enough crying of the refs.

Defense? We are playing the best O-line in the country. We line our down linemen up the same way every play. We did not shift our line once. Anyone can block that, especially USC. The line needs to move before the ball is snapped.

Oh yeah, has anyone heard of the defensive play called a blitz? You can't put four guys against five every play. They will lose the battle.

Offense? They did not roll Kellen Clemens out right or left, they also did not move the pocket right or left for added protection. Straight drop back and pass every time. Gee, I wonder if USC is going to blitz?

Our boys came to play USC.

I will attend the Oregon-ASU game, I hope to see line movement, blitzing and rollouts from Oregon, like we saw against Fresno State.

DAVID GRECO

Buckeye, Ariz.

Bad-behaving Beavers

As an Oregon State alum, I am ashamed by the recent activities of some members of the Beaver football team the last several months.

The fight with the Iraq veteran, the alleged offering of marijuana as payment to a cab driver, the drunken driving ticket, including the stealing of a sheep, a nonacceptable GPA and the death of a minor from alcohol poisoning in the football players' dormitory.

It is time to end the Mike Riley era because the football program and the university cannot afford this type of publicity. Mike Riley should be fired immediately because he is not a disciplinarian and has no control over the football players. He should be relieved no matter the cost because Oregon State will pay for this behavior one way or another.

DON AMACHER

Eugene

No more whining

This is an answer to Mr. Woodmark's letter ("Sound Off," Oct. 2). The name of the game is win, not whine. Believe it or not, if you score more points than the other team, it's a win.

Here are some "what ifs." What if you played some tough teams to open the season? Not Houston. Not Montana. What if you go for a first down and make the score 21 instead of a missed field goal, possibly making USC change their game plan?

To blame the officials for taking Oregon out of the game is just whining. It's demeaning to the coach and team.

What if you didn't have to play Arizona State this week? Start winning, quit whining.

GRANT IRVIN

Eugene

Show some guts

Sorry, Mike Bellotti. We part company on your decision of a field-goal try on fourth-and-one. Any football team that can't make one yard should turn in their gear and take up another game that doesn't involve brute force and a ball.

The athletic director has almost priced us out of our seats at Autzen. We're hanging in by the skin of our financial teeth and financially the product hasn't been worth the price. I've been bleeding yellow and green for more than 30 years, so I know what I'm talking about.

Coaches and players have come and gone - some good, some bad and some awful. I can remember a homecoming game so bad the attendance was something like 12,000 and it rained the whole time. That was the last straw. The coach was fired even though it wasn't his fault.

NELL KLUTH

Eugene

Where in the world?

Some of our nation's college coaches appear to be suffering from the Idaho-Iowa Syndrome.

Early in 1996, both Oregon and Oregon State polled points in the coaches' poll.

However Oregon would win while Oregon State would lose, and Oregon State would gain more points in voting than Oregon and vice versa until Oregon State eventually dropped out of the voting. And, of course, we all know that the Oregon Ducks are located in Eugene and the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis. But how many times have you had to clarify these facts to others when asked, "Which is which?"

If my theory holds true, the Harris Poll voter knew there was a good team in Idaho. Not recalling the name of this school, he concluded it must be the University of Idaho. Thus, five points for Idaho, nothing for Boise State University. And, of course, no cross-check of Idaho's 0-4 record was made.

All coaches that volunteer to participate in these polls need to take a pop geography quiz, prior to their acceptance to these voting panels, identifying the location of most colleges and universities that field Division I athletic teams.

Boise State fans take cheer, your five points could have gone to the University of Des Moines!

TONY TRUELSEN

Boise