Letters To The Editor

Super Bowl participants lacked class

The gyrating, pelvis-thrusting, robot-like antics of some players reduced the (Super Bowl) football game to second billing, especially when all the taunting, jeering and shoving is added to the mix.

The cheap, tawdry halftime show would have been disavowed by any decent burlesque house. If New Orleans leads the nation in criminal acts, this statistic was reinforced Jan. 26! Isabelle Woods Spokane

Pay Fredrick what male peers make

The Jan. 23 Spokesman-Review reported that WSU women’s volleyball coach Cindy Fredrick recently received a pay raise. That same article informed readers that WSU football and men’s basketball coaches Mike Price and Kevin Eastman make $25,000 to $30,000 more per year than Fredrick. I do not begrudge Price or Eastman their earnings, but I take exception to the considerable disparity between their salaries and that of coach Fredrick.

Fredrick was Pac-10 coach of the year in 1995, and is nominated for the same award for 1996. The WSU women’s volleyball team ended its 1996 season ranked ninth nationally among women’s college teams and earned a second-round spot in the NCAA Tournament. Fredrick has guided her team to the NCAA Tournament for three seasons running, and her efforts on behalf of WSU’s women’s volleyball have made our team’s home games among the best-attended in the nation.

I am aware of the argument that college football and men’s basketball programs are “self-supporting” and “moneymaking” ventures that supposedly justify the higher coaches salaries. WSU should take the initiative in stepping beyond the shameful sexist parameters, so closely tied to finances, that often relegate women’s sports to second-class status. Pay Cindy Fredrick a salary at least equal to that earned by her male peers. Pay Cindy Fredrick what she is worth, and in doing so add immeasurable value to WSU’s commitment to women in sports. Deb Sutphen Pullman

GU women deserve better

I am writing because of two concerns.

My first is: Why does the Gonzaga University women’s basketball team receive such small recognition in your newspaper? The women on the team work just as hard as the men’s team. They have regular practices they must attend, and when game time rolls around, the women mean business when they play. The GU women’s team played a tough team from California (Feb. 1) - Loyola Marymount. The women never gave up throughout the whole game. They played their hearts out and ended up beating Loyola 79-74. Sunday morning when I looked for the article in the Sports section, it took me a while to find it because it was so small. I think the GU women’s basketball team deserves to have more than three sentences written about it. They played a great game. We, the public, should support them wholeheartedly.

My second concern is directed to the public: Why do so many people attend the men’s basketball games at GU but not the women’s? The women’s team needs the public’s support just as much as the men do. Anyone who has attended the women’s games knows they are very exciting. The price of admission isn’t that high. People of Spokane, how about giving the GU women’s basketball team a chance? Come to their games and support them like you do the men. N. Wright Spokane

Let owners go it alone

Sports is a big business. What about other businesses that want to improve their buildings? Are the taxpayers asked to pay?

The players are overpaid. Some of their actions are a disgrace. Kicking, spitting, drugs and rapes. Are these the kinds of people we want our children to look up to?

Let the owners of the teams build their own stadiums. L.L. Stone Newport