Add Kournikova ... The Women's Sports Foundation released a statement slamming SI's Kournikova story. "We see a 19-year-old, #15 ranked tennis player primarily illustrated by photographs of her in short skirts, slit skirts, off-the-shoulder gypsy blouses or with eligible men with only two tennis action shots out of 11 photos," the statement read. "This is not about journalistic integrity. This is about selling magazines. When circulation declines, put sex on the cover ... Female athletes should be portrayed as athletes in athletic uniforms displaying their sports skills. When have we seen major sports periodicals depicting Michael Jordan or other male athletes stuffed into tight-fitting uniforms that display their genitalia as a way to get more women to buy magazines?"

Add Kournikova ... Billie Jean King, the founder of the Women's Sports Foundation and a pretty darn good tennis player in her own right, commented that, "It doesn't bother me at all if some of the guys come out to watch women's tennis because they want to see a beautiful woman. Who could hold that against Anna? Still, it is unfortunate when others with a high skill factor don't win the endorsements. Sure, the good-looking guys get more endorsements, but the difference in men's sports is that the ugly ones get their share, too." Who could she be thinking of?

Last Kournikova ... What is it about racket sports? At the same time that SI's Kournikova cover was selling out at newsstands across the country, Squash Magazine put American player Latasha Khan on its cover. Coincidence? We don't know, but we do know that unlike Kournikova, the 27-year-old Khan has actually won a major singles title in her sport. The Seattle-based Khan, who is the top-ranked U.S. pro and is ranked 20th in the world, took the U.S. Women's Open in March, defeating Princeton University's Julia Beaver.

If you think Sports Illustrated is unique among so-called general interest sport magazines in its treatment of women, consider ESPN: The Magazine, launched in 1998. Our crack team of SportsLetter bean-counting specialists tallied how many times the bimonthly magazine featured female athletes on the cover. Of the 58 issues published since its inaugural March 23, 1998, edition, the magazine has featured an individual female athlete on the cover only once (track star Marion Jones). ESPN's 1998 "summer" issue featured volleyball star Gabrielle Reece, along with Phoenix Suns guard Jason Kidd, in a non-sports pictorial, while one issue in 2000 pictured two cheerleaders. We're not counting the issue in which running back Ricky Williams posed in a bride's dress alongside Coach Mike Ditka.

Frank Deford, in his June 21 National Public Radio commentary on Tiger Woods, claimed that pole vaulter Cornelius Warmerdam "ruled his discipline to an extent no one has ever approached in any sport." Not so fast Mr. Kournikova-cover-story-guy. Warmerdam's record was indeed quite impressive. He was the first man to clear 15 feet. Warmerdam cleared or surpassed the height 43 times and set seven world records. He won or finished in a tie for first place seven times from 1937 to 1944. His world record, set in 1942 with a bamboo pole, stood until 1957, when Bob Gutowski broke it using an aluminum pole. But SportsLetter believes that an equally strong case can be made for Romanian high jumper Iolanda Balas, the first woman to high jump over 6 feet. As the Encyclopedia of Track and Field Athletics puts it, "Probably no other athlete in history has enjoyed such a wide measure of supremacy over such a long period."

Add dominant athlete … Balas reigned supreme from December 1956 until June 1967, setting 13 world records, winning 140 consecutive competitions and capturing two Olympic gold medals. Her final world record stood for more than 10 years. She won her first Olympic championship, in 1960, by more than 5 inches over the silver medalist. Balas cleared or exceeded 1.80 meters (about 5 feet, 11 inches) 93 times during her career, and 72 times before any other competitor did so.

"Choking" has always meant one thing in sports: making an error at the most crucial moment of the game. The bigger the contest, the more noteworthy the miscue (e.g. Bill Buckner and Greg Norman). But recent events suggest that Webster's traditional definition of choking may be more suited to sports: "to check normal breathing of by compressing or obstructing the windpipe."

Add choke ... In 1997, Latrell Sprewell choked his coach P.J. Carlissimo during a heated practice. In that same year, Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight was caught on videotape grabbing the throat of one of his players, Neil Reed, during practice. Earlier this season, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Chad Kreuter went into the Wrigley Field stands and choked a fan who swiped his cap. And then there is Christina Fernandez Rice, the wife of Lakers forward Glen Rice. Upset about her husband's lack of playing time in Game 3 of the NBA Finals and Coach Phil Jackson's lack of communication with Glen, Fernandez Rice told Los Angeles Times reporter Bill Plaschke that "If it was me, I would have already been Latrell Sprewell II." Aren't role models wonderful?

Beware the luxury box ... When singer Bruce Springsteen opened Los Angeles' Staples Center last year, he damned the three layers of luxury boxes that dominate the new arena, noting that music (and sports) are best enjoyed en masse. Even the Boss, however, couldn't have imagined a worst scenario than what occurred at Staples in January at a regular-season game between the Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers. An unruly fan hurled an empty Corona bottle from a luxury box, striking a woman sitting below. The victim's nose and eye socket were broken, and doctors say she may lose her eyeball.

Add Staples ... The man who threw the bottle was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and faces a civil suit. Since the incident, glasses and glass bottles are no longer allowed anywhere in the Staples Center.

Add drinking ... Yankee Stadium no longer sells beer in the bleachers because the fans there have become so unruly. Beer is sold in other parts of the stadium, however, and one fan who had a few too many recently fell from the upper deck. Luckily, he fell into the netting above home plate.

It seems we can't get enough of Bruce Lee. More than a quarter century after the "Little Dragon" passed away, Sideshow Toy, Inc., in cooperation with the Bruce Lee Estate and Universal Studios, has produced a pair of 8-inch-tall action figurines and three Little Big Head figures. Featuring "12 points of articulation" (must be a technical art term) the action figures sell for $15 a pop. An oversized-cranium set-of-three goes for the same price. Check it out at www.sideshowtoy.com along with the Monster Wrestlers series and the Bride of Chucky Doll.

Speaking of the Internet … A recent troll of eBay revealed one of our favorite auction items in recent memory: "Old Cricket Jock Strap Cup Athletic Protector." The description of said object read in part: "The lower cup shaped portion is made of metal with leather stitched over the outside. The upper portion is a metal and cloth frame bound by leather on the outside with 9 grommeted ventilation holes in the center...Great rugged looking piece for display or use." Starting price: $15. We'll pass, thanks.

Add eBay ... And from the pool/snooker section comes this book, with an opening bid of $1.50: "How to be Really Interesting," by Steve Davis. Pray tell.

Fight facts ... Boxing statistician Bob Yalen reports in this year's Computer Boxing Update that there were 163 sanctioned title fights in 1999. The U.S. played host to the most title fights (81), followed by Germany (18), England (15) and Japan (10). A total of 18 countries hosted title fights.

Add fights ... The WBA sanctioned the most title fights (45), followed closely by the IBF (44), the WBO (42), and the WBC (41). Only three title fights -Holyfield-Lewis I and II, and Roy Jones Jr.-Reggie Johnson (light heavyweight), were sanctioned by all three of the most prominent governing bodies (WBC,WBA and IBF).

More fights ... Of the 163 title bouts, 68 were determined by decision. Three were scored a draw (including the controversial draw from Holyfield-Lewis I). The two divisions with the most title fights were the junior lightweight (130 pound limit) and the lightweight (135 pounds) divisions, with 15 each.

After the Hurricane ... Boxing films continue to be a popular sub-genre in Hollywood even though Denzel Washington got aced out of the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. According to trainer Darrell Foster, who prepared Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson for Ron Shelton's "Play It to the Bone," Will Smith is currently in the gym training to play Muhammad Ali in an upcoming film. Foster says Smith is "looking good so far. We've got five months to get him ready, and he will be ready."

Add Foster ... The busy trainer has worked with actor Ving Rhames, who will play Sonny Liston in a feature film to be directed by William Friedkin (Blue Chips). The on-again, off-again project is slated to begin filming this fall. No word as to whether Smith and Rhames will face off in the gym.

Green facts ... Sydney Olympic organizers have promised the "greenest ever" Games. Writing in the May 2000 Harper's Magazine, Sharon Beder, the author of Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism and a professor at the University of Wollongong near Sydney, calls Homebush Bay, site of the Olympic Stadium and several sport venues, "the dioxin capital of the world."

Add green facts ... Near the Olympic Park sits Kronos Hill. Beder calls the area a "petrified hummock of pestilence sludge." She continues, "Here, hidden beneath three feet of topsoil and a few eucalyptus trees, lies a sixty-foot-deep landfill so contaminated - with heavy metals, asbestos, lead, hydrocarbons, pesticides and dioxin - that before it was capped in 1995 workers were required to wear respirators and plastic suits just to get within thirty feet of it."

Last add green facts … Greenpeace, the international environmental watchdog organization, presents a more balanced assessment of the situation in Sydney. In a September 1999 report card, Greenpeace gave Sydney an overall grade of B- for its Olympic environmental effort. Greenpeace in its most recent assessment (see www.greenpeace.org.au/campaigns/olympics.htm) notes progress on several fronts, but remains concerned about the clean-up of Homebush Bay and the planned-use of hydrofluorocarbons in the Olympic Games refrigeration units of sponsors Coca-Cola and McDonald's.

The Sydney Games will feature two new sports and several new events. Taekwondo first debuted as a demonstration sport in 1988 in Seoul. Now, it's a full-fledged Olympic sport, in four weight classes each for men and women. Triathlon has also been added for men and women, comprising a 1.5km swim, a 40km bike segment, and a 10km run.

Add events ... Several new events have been added to the already busy schedule, including women's pole vault, women's hammer throw, men's and women's trampoline gymnastics, men's and women's synchronized diving, women's water polo, women's weightlifting and women's modern pentathlon. In addition, several events have been modified or expanded (e.g., the women's 10km walk is now 20km, the same distance as the men's race). No ballroom dancing.

Add Sydney ... NBC and sister cable networks, CNBC and MSNBC, will offer a record 441.5 hours of televised coverage. According to the network, which paid $715 million for the TV rights, 172 hours of Olympic action will be shown on cable TV.

Speaking of TV rights … The International Cricket Council recently announced that World Sport Group and News Corporation will represent the sale of commercial rights to major cricket events. WSG/News Corp. will guarantee ICC a minimum of $550 million as part of the seven-year deal that includes the 2003 (South Africa) and 2007 (West Indies) World Cups.