_______________ STONED ON ICE BY GARY KAMIYA (02/11/98)
	I am offended by your comments regarding whether curling should be an Olympic sport. I live in Manitoba, Canada. Here curling is very popular and enjoyed by all ages. The comments we have heard from a majority of U.S. reports are very negative. I don't understand why you even sent representatives to Nagano if this is how you feel. What about the team members you have in Nagano on your country's behalf? Don't you think all this is a put down about a sport they believe in and love? It has come up in many discussions how any sport that relies on judges can be a sport. This is very controversial in determining a winner -- and politics seem to always be involved! In sports that include judges, you also detect favoritism: Marks are presented to participants who have made a name for themselves in the media! We could go on for hours about who should or shouldn't be in the Olympics, but we have little say in the matter. I don't think we should become judges ourselves, but support and cheer for those who have made it to Nagano to represent their countries. Let's watch and learn about all the sports there. Remember the saying, "Don't knock it till you try it!" GO SANDRA AND MIKE, BRING HOME THE GOLD !!!! -- Denise Bazinet Winnipeg, Manitoba While I am glad that Mr. Kamiya eventually enjoyed watching the curling matches at this year's Olympics, I find it vaguely distressing that he doesn't consider it a "real sport" because the competitors "look like they work at the local 7-Eleven." Perhaps if Mr. Kamiya participated in the game as one of the sweepers for 10 ends he might then have a better idea if curling can be called exercise or not. At the moment, I'd have to say he doesn't know enough to make that kind of judgment call. Not all athletes are "buff" ... or even "buff" in the same fashion. -- Anita Kilgour Gary Kamiya has revived the Olympics for me. Mr. Kamiya has slipped under the radar of slick television coverage and returned with wonderful dispatches that are both witty and revealing. Keep up the good work! -- Dari FitzGerald Arlington, Va.
_______________ JUST PAY FOR IT BY ANDREW LEONARD (02/11/98)
	I would like to point out the absolute fallacy of Andrew Leonard's depiction of the evolution of sports coverage on the Web regarding "alternative" sports. Major media, such as CBS Sportsline and ESPN Sportzone, will only devote resources to innovation in the coverage of sports that are already well covered by traditional media. Lesser sports, such as curling, will continue to get slim coverage, and then only in the context of major events like the Olympics. Despite the opportunities presented by new technologies, followers of second-tier sports still have few opportunities to get complete, timely and informed coverage of events and athletes. The irony is that the Web provides the potential to economically provide comprehensive sports coverage to increasingly narrow niche markets, but organizations with the resources and professionalism to produce the coverage choose to slavishly adhere to news values inherited from their traditional predecessors: football, basketball, baseball, hockey and the Olympics rule at the expense of nearly all other sports events. In the hands of the major media, substandard coverage of non-mainstream sports has just migrated to the Web, rather than experiencing the opportunity to evolve into something better. -- Erik Palmer Online Producer www.trackwire.com SALON | Feb. 17, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| THE HORNY DILEMMA BY FRED BRANFMAN

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