Sound Off.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Tennis ignored

When I read Monday's Register-Guard sports section, I was amazed at the contrast in the way the Guard covered two major sports events.

Under the banner headline "Tournament goes from weird to Weir" (a great headline), almost the entire front page of the Sports section was devoted to coverage of the Masters golf tournament. Of 100 available column-inches on the page, 59 inches were consumed by the Masters.

Turning to page three, I found that of 120 total available column-inches, Masters golf covered 105 inches.

Then I looked for coverage of the women's tennis tour final match at Charleston, S.C. And do you know what I found? Nothing. No headlines or photos, not one column-inch of news space, not one word.

And this was a match in which Serena Williams, the No. 1 women's tennis player in the world, lost the championship match to Justin Henin-Hardenne.

I concede that the Masters golf tournament is a much bigger event and more newsworthy, but 164 column inches for the men's golf to zip for women's tennis?

I found this discrepancy in male-female coverage particularly ironic, since the Masters tournament was beset by a big flap over the fact that the Augusta National Golf Club is a strictly male domain - no women allowed.

JACK R. CRISWELL

Springfield

Hall out of line

Ever since former Ducks baseball coach (Oregon did once play baseball) Mel Krause described for me his excitement over visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., it has been a future destination for me. Now I'm afraid I'll not choose to go - at least, not so long as a neanderthal Hall president Dale Petroskey stays on the job.

Petroskey recently chose to cancel the late April celebration of the baseball film "Bull Durham" because he disagreed with the public political stance of the movie's co-stars, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon.

Petroskey, once on the presidential staff of Ronald Reagan, was upset because of the public criticisms by Robbins and Sarandon of President Bush.

They helped, he complained, "undermine the U.S. position (in Iraq) which ultimately could put our troops into even more danger."

I disagree with Petroskey. That doesn't mean he is right or that I am right. It does mean this nation and its national game still honor freedom of expression.

To cancel the honoring of the film is the act of a petty man. It suggests we need to stay watchful as the politics he supports continue to threaten the rights of a people, as well as their national game.

GEORGE BERES

Eugene