Letters To The Editor

State fans keeping the faith

As the 2000 season passes, Washington’s pro teams have come up short once again.

Year after year, the same end result, which leaves all us sports fans totally disappointed. We’re used to it, though. We long to say we’re No. 1.

We hope maybe next year our teams’ players have the same desire to be No. 1 as do their fans. We want the players to realize how bad we all want to be national champions and hopefully it will inspire our teams’ players to play harder and better. So, hey players, give us what we have all been waiting so long to happen. We will all be eternally grateful and immensely relieved, because we’re tired of losing out every year. We’ll keep the faith, though. There is always next year. Steve Carpenter Spokane

Attitudes, they are a changing

Fenton Roskelley hit the nail on head (“Renegades a threat to all,” Dec. 20). Public views have changed regarding gun ownership, fishing and hunting. The in-your-face approach will fail at the ballot box.

Fishers who trash shorelines, exceed take limits or use illegal equipment, threaten not only the health of fish and wildlife, but their sport. Crying about too many regulations ignores the reality of the ever-increasing pressures of population growth and habitat destruction.

Hunters who take an NRA approach - any restriction is bad - to hunting regulations are on the wrong trail. Convincing voters their cause is just requires coming to terms with changing attitudes. People like wildlife - they understand tradition, but not cruelty or illegal behavior.

Hunters and fishers have historically made up the bulwark of the conservation movement. Today, however, the majority of conservation-minded citizens care more about observing wildlife than catching them. Recognize where support is strong and where it’s non-existent or weak - and move on.

For personal reasons, I oppose trapping and the sport hunting of predators. Unfortunately, this puts me at odds with some hunters and hunting organizations, even though I otherwise support hunting. The approach: you’re either with me or you’re against me is a cancerous divide-and-conquer strategy. Perfection is the world around us, not what we do to it. Tim Coleman Republic, Wash.

BCS: Big Confused Situation

In response to Richard Rosenblatt’s article “Take another Bow, Bowden” (Dec. 26):

Is the BCS the Bowl Championship Series, or the Big College Screw-up?

How can you say this new bowl system is better than before when the BCS has Florida State ranked No. 2 even though Miami, who is No. 3, beat them? Then how can you say Miami should be ranked ahead of No. 4 Washington, which beat Miami?

If the Seminoles beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl and Washington beats Purdue in the Rose Bowl, why shouldn’t the Huskies be co-national champions?

It was also stated that Oregon, Oregon State and Washington shared the Pac-10 Conference title. I seem to remember Oregon lost two games, Oregon State lost one game, and Washington lost one game. If the win-loss record applies and gives the Beavers and Huskies (even though the Huskies beat the Beavers) a Pac-10 championship, what’s so different about the national championship? Are there any other sports venues that ignore head-to-head win-loss records? I’m confused. Ron Robert Lowell Jr. Spokane