SPORTS MAIL.Byline: The Register-Guard The Register-Guard sports department welcomes letters on all sporting topics. Our length limit is 250 words; all letters are subject to condensation. Writers are limited to one letter per calendar month. Because of the volume of mail, not all letters can be printed. Letters must be signed with the writer's full name, address and daytime telephone number. Mail letters to: Sports Mail, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188 Fax: 687-6674 E-mail: sportsletters@guardnet.com Make the penalty hurt Training and baiting innocent animals to rip each other to shreds is pretty horrific and inexcusable; if NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga celebrity Michael Vick's indictment for dogfighting leads to a felony conviction, he should receive the maximum sentence. Vick's actions set an example for countless young people, so if he's allowed to prance away from what amounts to animal torture with little more than a slap on the wrist, then what message does that send? But here's the rub: a $250,000 fine and a year's suspension are but a drop in the bucket for Vick, who rakes in (millions) a year in salary alone, which is the equivalent of a traffic fine to your average Joe. And that figure doesn't include kickbacks from corporate sponsors or public appearances. How, then, can Vick's indictment become a bane BANE. This word was formerly used to signify a malefactor. Bract. 1. 2, t. 8, c. 1. for the future of dogfighting? Here's a thought-make the penalty outweigh the payback. For Vick, that might mean losing his sponsors (Nike) and getting the boot - permanently - from the NFL. (After serving time for a felony, where would you get rehired?) Then, institute a substantial cash reward for each tip leading to a dogfighter's arrest - funded, of course, by fines from people like Vick. With dollar signs in their eyes, dogfighters will be at each other's throats. DANIELLE ZEGHBIB Eugene Color 'em green with envy While peering into the crystal ball of our state's Division I sports programs, a distinct pattern is seen developing. Oregon State will benefit from a monopoly of in-state recruiting of male high-schoolers in various sports over the coming years. 2011: The Beavers' team finishes in the top five at the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association wrestling tournament. A jealous U of O reinstates wrestling, drops men's tennis and adds women's ultimate frisbee as a varsity sport (nominal equipment cost and no new facility necessary). 2014: Two Beavers tennis players qualify in the men's bracket at the U.S. Open The term U.S. Open is applied to "open" United States national championships in a particular sport, in which anybody, amateur or professional, American or non-American may compete. These include:
n. A children's game having rules similar to baseball but played with a large ball that is rolled toward homeplate instead of pitched and kicked instead of batted. (equipment and playground at a local elementary school elementary school: see school. are contracted form, making a new facility unnecessary). 2018: Remarkably, two Beaver men's golfers are invited to play as amateurs in the Masters in April. A jealous U of O reinstates men's golf, drops men's wrestling again, and adds women's varsity tai chi Tai Chi Definition T'ai chi is a Chinese exercise system that uses slow, smooth body movements to achieve a state of relaxation of both body and mind. (a horde of participants more than satisfies Title IX compliance, and no new facility is needed). Etc., etc. KEN RAYMEN Springfield Next stop: new UO arena Congratulations to Pat Kilkenny. Pat handled a most bittersweet bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. press conference with class and dignity. No one but Pat knew how difficult it was to reach his decision. He agonized ag·o·nize v. ag·o·nized, ag·o·niz·ing, ag·o·niz·es v.intr. 1. To suffer extreme pain or great anguish. 2. To make a great effort; struggle. v.tr. (as well he should) over his decision to restore Oregon's very first varsity sport - baseball. It took sensitivity, courage and a strong business mind, all of which Pat has displayed since his arrival in Eugene. Pat was up to the task. The arena cannot be far behind. RAY HAROLDSON Lake Oswego Lake Os·we·go A city of northwest Oregon, a residential suburb of Portland. Population: 35,800. Students are not product I am responding to Ron Bellamy's July 14th column titled "Business sense says it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a for baseball," which details the University of Oregon's reasons for dropping wrestling for baseball. Although, like other readers, I regret the move from wrestling to baseball, there were other parts of Mr. Bellamy's column that I found more disturbing. Mr. Bellamy states that the new athletic director Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic is a businessman who "made a business decision," that he brought back a sport "he believes his customers want," that the athletic director believes these customers are ready to "buy this product," and that this will help the athletic department's "other business enterprises." So, when did the University of Oregon's students become "a product?" The University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. is publicly funded, so when did they begin having "business enterprises?" Athletics were created at universities to be recreational and educational for students, so why is a businessman, with no training for higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. , in charge? When did the desires of potential customers become more important than student development at the University of Oregon? Mr. Bellamy's article makes it remarkably clear that college athletics College athletics refers primarily to sports and games organized and sanctioned by institutions of tertiary education (colleges or universities in American English). In the United States, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Association of Intercollegiate has nothing to do with student development and everything to do with profiteering prof·it·eer n. One who makes excessive profits on goods in short supply. intr.v. prof·it·eered, prof·it·eer·ing, prof·it·eers To make excessive profits on goods in short supply. . Therefore, as a taxpayer, I urge that all athletics be dropped from the entire system of higher education, and let them be run like the private enterprises that they truly have become. MARK J. WEISS WEISS Workshop on Industrial Experience with Systems Software Corvallis Three cheers for ... what? OK, I have stopped laughing long enough to write. How could any real university athletic department possibly justify dropping a competitive sport (wrestling), and replacing it with "competitive" cheerleading The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. ? Perhaps I have been lucky to have lived in other areas of the country, where common sense and reality are part of athletic programs at academic institutions. Maybe I have not ingested in·gest tr.v. in·gest·ed, in·gest·ing, in·gests 1. To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption. See Synonyms at eat. 2. enough of Eugene's water to be able to understand this ludicrous decision. Most likely, those who made the decision would be moving their lips as they read this. Wrestling takes strength, speed, endurance and a total commitment to a competitive situation, and the victor is decided definitively. (Competitive cheer) reminds me a lot of the synchronized swimming event, except synchronized swimmers have to know how to tread water. ... Is this where all the beauty pageant washouts finally find solace at school? Somebody wake me up and tell me this was a big joke. CRAIG SULLIVAN Eugene Draining dollars from arena The announcement that Oregon wold wold 1 n. An unforested rolling plain; a moor. [Middle English, from Old English weald, forest. resume a baseball program is hard to understand. Mr. Kilkenny was hired to build a new basketball facility. Reviving baseball is a distraction and drain on resources that should be going to the new arena. I think it will be years, if ever, before Oregon is a force in Pac-10 baseball. Look at the difficulties that women's volleyball and softball have had to be competitive in a tough conference. Mr. Kilkenny is said to be an astute businessman. It is hard to believe that such a person would announce a product line that required a new factory and not know where he would build it, and that it would cost between $5 million and $10 million. In my opinion, this whole thing is driven by the desire to show OSU (Open Source UNIX) Refers to the Unix variants that are maintained as open source, which were primarily BSD Unix and Linux until Sun made its Solaris operating system open source in 2005. that Oregon can be a baseball power too, and that the difficulties have been vastly underestimated. In the two previous days, Ron Bellamy has written columns about things Oregon would have to consider and do if it restarted baseball. Why he pretended not to know what the decision would be, I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. . I do remember his writing about being feeling conned by the U of O athletic department about the real reason for Bill Moos stepping down as AD. I now have the same feeling about him and his credibility has taken a big hit. NED BRITTAIN Waldport Baseball builds six ways I want to express my delight for the reinstatement of the Oregon baseball program. I don't want to say it's great that the wrestling program is having to be eliminated, but here are my thoughts about baseball. Baseball is more like life than any other sport. It teaches you: 1. How to perform and work hard as an individual. 2. How to work together as a team for the benefit of the team. 3. Adversity. In no other sport can you fail seven out of 10 times and be called successful. You are going to fail, how do you deal with it ... get over it and move on. 4. Critical thinking. Pitcher vs. hitter, baserunner vs. defense, etc. 5. How to stay mentally tough. A game is about 240 pitches long and being mentally prepared for every pitch is tough. 6. It's the only sport that the defense has the ball and no time clock. Another example of needing to be mentally tough. Besides a baseball coach, I am a small business owner. We need more young men and women who are critical thinkers and know how to deal with adversity. Baseball is a great sport for that. MIKE KELLER Portland A sport by any other name If competitive cheerleading does not involve leading cheers for a crowd of fans attending a spectator sporting event, why is it called cheerleading? Dan Cotton's letter says that these teams "exist only to compete against other cheerleading teams." Clearly, judges of this activity will not be considering a team's success in leading a crowd in rousing cheers on behalf of another team's competitive efforts - teams like football, lacrosse lacrosse (ləkrôs`), ball and goal game usually played outdoors by two teams of 10 players each on a field 60 to 70 yd (54.86 to 64.01 m) wide by 110 yd (100.58 m) long. Two goals face each other 80 yd (73. , soccer, etc. Perhaps a name that better represents the athletic abilities that competitive cheerleading is said to require - gymnastics, tumbling, dancing, cheering, stunting - would help in this activity's claim to being a sport. Something like advocacy gymnastics and dance? DORIS M. WILLIAMS Eugene |
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