SPORTS MAIL.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Give frisbee its due

It is interesting to me that ESPN televises the National Spelling Bee and poker, yet the Register-Guard does not consider ultimate frisbee a real sport, thus consigning its recognition to the City/Region section. When are we going to get a real sports page?

KATHLEEN DUGAN

Eugene

Recognition for Davis

On May 23, Brandi Davis played 20 minutes for the Los Angeles Sparks (seven points, three assists, one steal, two rebounds, one blocked shot). This is significant not just because she rarely got to play 20 minutes for the Ducks, but because she made a WNBA team.

Many of you may not know just how good the players of the WNBA are. In the last seven years of Pac-10 players, only six of them are on WNBA teams. There are 154 active players. Brandi joins Cathrine Kraayeveld, Nicole Powell of Stanford, Ebony Hoffman of USC, and Lisa Willis and Nikki Blue of UCLA. The non-Ducks were first-team all-conference all four years in the Pac-10. In fact, almost everyone in the WNBA was first-team all-conference in college; most were All Americans.

What a great achievement. Brandi has endured her lack of quality coaching and quality playing time, stayed positive through the adversity, gotten herself a degree, and now taken her skills to an advanced level where she is appreciated.

MIKE MORRIS

Pleasant Hill

Kudos to Coach Bellotti

After attending the Muscular Dystrophy Association/Mike Bellotti tailgate party and golf tournament, I realized how lucky we are to have Mr. Bellotti in our community.

It was announced that more than $800,000 has been raised for the kids who need it the most.

While this week's events won't make the front page of the sports section, some would say this might be Coach Bellotti's biggest win of the year.

JERRY MCCALL

Eugene

Back off of Arendsen

In reference to the letter from John Guarno of Eugene (Register-Guard, May 11), I suggest he do his homework before he starts lambasting Oregon softball coaches and players, in particular Coach Arendsen.

Kathy has been here for four years, and three of those years she has taken the team to the regional playoffs. She belongs to at least four halls of fame, including the University of Michigan's, the State of Michigan's and the University of Alabama's, and is the third American woman to be enshrined in the International Hall of Fame. She also struck out Reggie Jackson.

As for our girls "lounging" around, they don't do any more than other schools do. They line the rail cheering on their teammates and sitting in line for their turn at bat.

For a person that is a "longtime softball supporter," I suggest he do some research before he tries to come across as some sort of expert.

JUDY MATTHEWS

Eugene

Gymnastics overlooked

It's very disappointing that The Register-Guard chose to ignore the NCAA gymnastics championships in Corvallis.

Yes, I know there was a short wire story reporting that OSU failed to make the finals, but your excellent sports staff could have done so much more.

This was, after all, a national championship featuring two American Olympic medalists (Courtney Kupets and Terin Humphrey) as well as several other Olympians from the U.S.A. and Canada, and dozens of incredible gymnasts from all over the country. A number of people have since told me they might have taken advantage of this opportunity if they had known in advance.

On the other hand, I am thankful for the recent story on OSU's Jami Lanz, the Pac-10 freshman of the year who graduated from Springfield's National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics. As a follow-up, you might consider that the NAAG just won two team state championships (Level 7 and Level 10) as well as a number of individual titles, or that one of this year's graduates, Casey Jo Magee, has accepted a gymnastics scholarship to the University of Arkansas, one of the teams in this year's championship.

Now, if we could just convince the Ducks to revive women's gymnastics we wouldn't have to go watch these great athletes in that darn orange gym.

BOB ZAGORIN

Eugene

Indy 500 was slighted

I paged through twice this morning's Register-Guard and could not find a starting lineup for the Indianapolis 500. The greatest spectacle in racing and the Register-Guard does not even have a mention the day before this huge national event. Why do I continue to keep my subscription? This happened last year exactly the same way! Your sports editor needs help or a breath of fresh current events air!

JIM CAVANAUGH

Cottage Grove

In support of redistricting 

For the record, since South Eugene's high school football Web site states that all letters to the editor oppose the OSAA plan, I would like to stand for putting higher enrollment schools into a 6A classification.

It doesn't matter if it's South Eugene, Marshfield, or Creswell. I know that Sheldon and South Eugene don't want to travel to Southern Oregon, but it's clear that they would rather travel than eliminate the open enrollment, or to balance out the school size.

They want to protect their precious sports program, so South Eugene can dominate in cross country, and Sheldon can dominate in football. With their logic, Junction City and Marist would be in the Midwestern League.

SEAN SCOTT

Coos Bay

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. An address and daytime telephone number are needed for verification purposes; this information will not be published or released.

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