Los
Angeles, June 27, 1997 Dear Reader: For the love of pigskin! ... If you've noticed the smoke coming from Los Angeles, it's from the heat Cal State University, Northridge is taking over its decision to dump four men's varsity sports, eliminating nearly 80 varsity positions, in favor of increased funding for men's football and basketball. Of course, the school and L.A.'s two major dailies blame the move on the convenient "whipping girl," of gender equity. ("School says it must dump teams, including baseball to meet gender equity laws ..." - L.A. Times headline; "Budget deficit, gender inequity force demise of four sports" and "CSUN: The cost of equity" - Daily News headlines.) In truth the slashing has less to do with gender equity than CSUN administrators' infatuation with the sacred cow of men's football. The roughly $500,000 that CSUN plans to cut isn't being diverted to women's sports, but toward erasing a budget deficit and increasing funding for men's football, which will have a budget of about $1.2 million next year not counting "overhead" and other indirect costs. The Matadors, according to the Daily News, plan to add 25 football scholarships so that they can fare better in their new conference, the Big Sky Conference. Come on guys, stop blaming the girls.
Who needs football, anyway? ... While Seattle and San Francisco fret over the future of local professional football, Los Angeles' local sports economy continues to grow even without an NFL team. A new study sponsored by the Los Angeles Sports Council and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce shows that L.A.'s sports economy has actually expanded since the loss of the Raiders and the Rams. Although total 1996 sports industry revenues remained at the 1993 level of about $800 million, total combined attendance grew 8% to 17 million and the number of full-time employees in the industry grew 53%. Moreover, the local sports economy should get a boost from several new ventures including the opening of the California Speedway, construction of a new downtown arena and the presence of two women's professional basketball teams. The study does not estimate the economic damage caused by the loss of the two NFL teams. Add sports economy ... The L.A. Sports Council estimates that the $800 million in Los Angeles sports revenue "translates into an overall economic impact of $2 billion" annually. Watch out Mike, there's a Tiger on your tail ... Had enough Tiger mania? In the 78 days from April 1 - June 17, there were only 11 Tiger-free days in the L.A. Times. Tiger still trailed his Airness Michael Jordan, though, who was mentioned during the same period on all but five days.
Hello, Tiger? This is Kathy Lee ... Now that Tiger Woods is being marketed as civil-rights symbol in the U.S., how long will it be until someone in the press asks him about Nike's labor practices in southeast Asia? How does he feel about the wages earned by workers in Nike-producing factories in Thailand, his mother's birthplace? Based on figures published by Christian Aid, a relief agency consortium of U.K. and Irish churches, it would take a Thai worker, at the going rate of $.46/hour (about $1,000 year), nearly 22 years of full time work to earn what Nike pays Tiger Woods in a single day. Add shoes ... Looks like sneaker-sellers are reacting somewhat to the criticism of their Asian labor practices. Reebok recently placed a want ad in the May 15, 1997, issue of Sports Careers newsletter, seeking a human rights monitoring manager to support the rapid expansion in monitoring of workplace conditions in factories making Reebok products." Nike created a "labor practices" department last October, just before CBS' 48 Hours aired a piece on Nike's involvement in Vietnam. The more things change ... Two years ago, SportsLetter ran a story on the dearth of women, African-American and Hispanic-American coaches on the board of directors of the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA). We're sad to report some things just won't change. The April 1997 issue of Texas Coach Magazine once again pictures the organization's current board of directors, and once again it's a sea of white male faces with no women and no African-Americans to be seen. Hard to believe that the board accurately represents the organization's membership.
Add Texas coaches ... The THSCA claims a membership of 14,000 coaches in "all sports," though originally it was the Texas High School Football Coaches Association. Among it's stated aims is maintaining "the highest possible standards in athletics and the coaching profession" and having a "representative group of coaches." Representative of what? Can't be the state's student population. Texas' public high school student population is 51% Anglo, 32% Hispanic, 14% African-American, 3% Asian and 1% Native American. Last add Texas coaches ... The big event for the THSCA each year is its time-honored "Coaching School" attended by some 10,000 coaches. The event even has spawned a concurrent clinic sponsored by the Texas High School Coaches Wives Association. (Sorry husbands.) While the big guys are out doing the hard work of learning the shotgun offense, the wives can choose from such scintillating topics as "Toe the Line" (Beginning Line Dancing), "Bundles and Bows" (Florist Tips), "10 lbs. Thinner, 10 Years Younger" and "Angelic Accessories" (Angel Doily Pin Craft). We are not joking. A letter to the sports editor of the Los Angeles Times, on June 7, 1997, called sportswriting icon Jim Murray to task for too many references to old-time sports legends. Raymond Luca of Manhattan Beach, CA says he has a standing bet with a pal. If Murray mentions Jack Dempsey in a column, the buddy buys lunch. If Murray mentions both Dempsey and Babe Ruth, the friend buys lunch and a beer. If Murray fails to mention the Manassa Mauler, Luca buys. Luca claims he's way ahead on the year. SportsLetter did a little checking and found that Luca is fibbing, but just a bit. Murray posted 54 by-lines in the Times from January 1-June 10, 1997. In 23 of those columns, Murray mentioned either Dempsey or Ruth or both. Jack and the Babe were mentioned together four times. And then there's Gene Tunney, who popped up in Murray's columns seven times, always with Dempsey. Still, looks like Luca's been eating a lot of free lunches.
When the Detroit Red Wings won this year's NHL championship, players Viatcheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov joined a rather exclusive club. The two Russian Red Wings became part of the select group of 15 athletes that have won both a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal. To no one's surprise, six players competed for Canada and five of the nine played Olympic hockey for "the country formerly known as the Soviet Union." Here they are:
Add hockey ... Just how good was the 1992 Unified Team (a.k.a. Soviet) Olympic gold medal hockey squad? Check out these numbers. All 23 members of the team went on to play professional hockey. Twenty of those 23 players are currently playing, or have played, in the NHL. One player was drafted by the St. Louis Blues, but elected to play in Sweden. The other two play professionally in Switzerland.
Gives new meaning to the phrase "Ship of the Desert." ... The ISAF World Sailing Championship will be held March 2-13, 1998, in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai. In pre-competition mailings to competitors, the host Dubai International Marine Club states that it "will do its utmost to provide the best possible facilities, nevertheless competitors are reminded that this accommodation will not be a hotel." In fact, it's a tent. The flyer adds, "Competitors are advised to bring their own sleeping bags." Good thing the regatta is not being held in July, when the average daily temperature in Dubai is a toasty 105° F. Although "We Got Next" threatens to join "Just Do It" and "Show Me the Money" as the most over-used phrases in the English language, the new WNBA certainly promises to bring a new dimension to the sporting world. From the get-go, the WBNA will have a truly international flavor. Women from 15 countries outside the U.S., nearly 20% of the new league's players, took to the hardwood as the WNBA started play June 21. Add WNBA ... A press release from Lifetime Television, heralding their broadcast involvement with the WNBA, is guilty of some self-serving revisionist history. The missive depicts the WNBA as "the first ever professional women's basketball league." Lifetime must have the historical memory of a gnat. What about the WNBA rival, the American Basketball League, which just finished its first season of play, and the Women's Professional Basketball League formed in 1978, and the Women's Basketball League of the mid-1980s, not to mention the many professional leagues that have operated in other countries for years?
What do women want? ... Recent Nielsen Media Research figures refute the belief that women don't watch television sports. Women account for 41.7% of all sports viewers in the United States. They also account for the majority of viewers in tennis (56.4%) and were the majority of all viewers (54.6%) of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. What do tennis and the Olympic Games have in common? A significant percentage of female athletes. If you broadcast it, they will watch. This bipedal rodent was the mascot of the 1996 World University Orienteering Championships in Veszprém, France.
Copyright 1997, Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles. SportsLetter is published bimonthly. Reproduction is encouraged with credit to the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles.
The AAF Paul Ziffren Sports Resource Center 2141 West Adams
Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90018. E-mail: Library Staff: Wayne Wilson, Vice President Research; Edward Derse, Research Director; Shirley Ito, Librarian; Michael Salmon, Librarian; Bonita Hester Library Assistant; Carmen Rivera Research Associate. (323)730-4646. SportsLetter Editorial Staff: F. Patrick Escobar, Managing Editor; Wayne Wilson, Editor; Edward Derse, Associate Editor.
Copyright, 1997 Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles. All rights reserved.
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