SPORTS MAIL.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Where's the strategy?

It's frustrating to watch Ernie Kent wave his hands in the air like he's doing the YMCA and no results come about. To lose six straight games and be in five of them comes down to coaching at the end of the game.

Against Lute Olson's Arizona Wildcats with 9 seconds left, down by two points, you tell Aaron Brooks to run the length of the court and do what? He was completely out of control. How about a set play? Maybe get the ball off a screen. Have someone come on a curl and get a shot in the paint. There was absolutely no strategy involved.

Coach Kent gets paid $676,000 a year to tell Brooks to run down the court and get a bucket? Eight of the current coaches in the Pac-10 besides Kent would have this talented group in the top three of the conference.

Right now, the state of Oregon has two of the highest-profile high school players in the country, and as of now they don't want to come to Oregon? I wonder why.

CARL REDDING 

Eugene

Follow your tax money

Enough of the argument already about "Other schools travel more" (Register-Guard, Feb 16). The point is, the Midwestern League is made up of local schools within a reasonable driving distance.

In our city of 300,000, there is no reason for us to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars in transportation costs. People can live and raise a family anywhere they want to. The rural population is aware of the travel issue when their children decide to play high school sports.

The amount of class time that hundreds of athletes will miss at South and Sheldon puts a tremendous burden on teachers to make sure those children are caught up and understanding information that was taught while they were sitting on a yellow bus (no seat belts) for six hours.

Wake up, Eugene! If you have ever complained about how tax money is spent, regardless of whether you have children in school, you need to speak out NOW to overturn this ridiculous decision.

J. KIESSE

Eugene

Put school, safety first

What Sharon Foster (Register-Guard, Feb. 16) seems not to appreciate is that students who live in small towns often have no choice but to travel long distances to play competitive prep sports.

Students who live in places like Eugene-Springfield, Medford and Salem do not expect to, and should not have to. South Eugene and Sheldon students live in a metro area of more than 300,000 people, within 10 miles of seven high schools with more than 1,100 students each. To put them in a league where they are required to travel 70, 141, 169 and 170 miles to play creates an unnecessary burden with respect to loss of academic time and risk associated with increased travel.

In terms of road miles, having Eugene teams play in Medford is like sending Portland schools to play in Seattle! Our letter (co-signed by more than 500 community members) to Susan Castillo outlines these and many other harms resulting from OSAA's arbitrary redistricting.

When Hood River Valley was forced to play in the Intermountain Conference (Bend) in a 2002 redistricting decision, athletic participation dropped 20 percent. The OSAA has made athletic parity its first priority; we think that education and safety should come first.

KATHERINE BEAL

Eugene

CAPTION(S):

The Register-Guard sports department welcomes letters on all sporting topics. Our length limit is 250 words. Writers are limited to one letter per calendar month. Mail letters to: Sports Mail, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188 Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]