Dear Reader:

How much do kids follow sports? A lot. Children and Sports Media, a study commissioned by the Amateur Athletic Foundation, finds that 94 percent of youngsters ages 8 to 17 watch, read about or listen to sports using television, movies, video games, newspapers, magazines, books, the Internet and radio. Nearly a third of the 480 respondents in the national survey conducted by Statistical Research, Inc., of Westfield, N.J., reported using some form of sport media every day. Seven in 10 estimate that they use sport media two times or more each week. Kids identify television as their most frequently used medium, followed by video games.

Olympic broadcasts, occurring every two years, are seen by more children (80 percent) than any other type of sports programming. Young people mention NFL football, NBA basketball, and baseball as the sports they watch most frequently on television.

Boys and girls exhibit different patterns of consumption. Among boys, 98 percent report using some type of sport medium. For girls, the figure is 90 percent. Eighty-five percent of girls have watched the Olympic Games, compared to 75 percent of the boys. Boys list NFL football, NBA basketball, baseball and professional wrestling as their most frequently watched sports. Girls cite NBA basketball, NFL football and ice skating as their top three. Gymnastics and baseball end in a virtual tie for fourth place among girls.

AAF President Anita L. DeFrantz, commenting on the findings, notes that broadcasters, print journalists and "new media" producers need to be mindful of the young audience of sport media consumers. "It is obvious that almost all young people receive information about sport through the media," says DeFrantz. "The way in which the sport media present sport to this vast audience is important. Now that we know the magnitude of the young sports-consuming audience, we need to begin asking questions about the values being conveyed to children by various media as they frame and interpret the world of sport."

Children and Sports Media is available on the AAF Web site at www.AAFla.org. You also can obtain free copies by e-mailing library@AAFla.org or calling (323) 730-4646.

Impressive as the Women's World Cup was, media claims that the games at Giants Stadium and the Rose Bowl set records for the largest crowds ever to see a women's soccer game, and/or a women's sports event, may not be accurate. The Rose Bowl final drew 90,185. However, more than a quarter century ago, in 1971, six nations played a well-attended women's soccer tournament in Mexico. John Williams and Jackie Woodhouse, two researchers from Leicester University, report in British Football and Social Change (Leicester University Press, 1991) that the tournament "backed by South American business interests, was run on crassly sexist, showbiz/commercial lines." Goal frames were pink, and games were preceded by "rodeos, baseball games and displays by semi-clad majorettes." Despite that, or perhaps because of it, 108,000 spectators, "mostly men," attended the opening match between Mexico and Argentina. Furthermore, according to a 1991 video, It's a Women's Game, produced by FIFA and Trans World International, another crowd of 100,000-plus turned out for the final between Denmark and Mexico, which the Danes won 3-0.

Large crowds for women's soccer predate even the 1971 Mexico tournament. The first women's clubs developed in England in the 1890s. The best-known women's team of the early 20th century, Dick Kerr's Ladies, regularly attracted thousands of fans to charity matches. The high point of interest in the women's game came in 1920, when Dick Kerr's Ladies played a series of matches, in April and October, against a French side. On Boxing Day 1920, the team played a charity match against St. Helen's Ladies, at Goodison Park, in Liverpool, before a crowd of 53,000. Another 10,000 to 14,000 people were turned away at the gate. The following year, the Football Association, Britain's ruling body for soccer, banned member clubs from making their fields available to women, claiming that "football is quite unsuitable for females."

Speaking of soccer attendance, Major League Soccer has played fast and loose with its statistics recently. We reported in the last SportsLetter that WWC and MLS had created two doubleheaders on the 4^th of July, pairing the semifinals of the women's world championship tournament with two regular-season MLS games. In San Jose, 73,123 showed up to see Brazil and the U.S. women square-off. Most of those people did not stick around for the San Jose Clash – D.C. United MLS game that followed. The Washington Post (July 5) reported that about "25,000 lingered for the first half, [and] by game's end the stadium had emptied." But, guess what? The next day on the MLS Web site, attendance was listed as 73,123.

Not to beat this horse much further (we actually like soccer), the MLS, on a per game basis, is drawing fewer fans than the NFL Europe League drew in summer 1999. North American-style football enjoyed an average attendance of 17,845 in four European countries, while European-style football is averaging 15,174 a game in America, even counting the bogus 4^th of July attendance figure. In fairness to MLS, we should note that total MLS attendance for the year will far exceed NFL Europe's numbers. In addition, the 1998 MLS championship game drew 51,350 fans compared to the 39,643 who turned out for this summer's NFL Europe title game.

Spanish-language television soccer announcer Andres Cantor has perfected the art of bellowing "GOOOOOOOAL!!!" every time someone puts the ball in the net. But, if you think Cantor gets worked up, check out our nomination for goal call of the year: www.broadcast.com/sports/soccer/club/arsenal/goal030699.ram

Who is the world's fastest human? Sprinter Maurice Greene set a world record in the 100 meters, in June, with a time of 9.79. So, he must be it. But, wait a nanosecond. Five-foot-four-inch Japanese speed skater Shimizu Hiroyasu, the 500-meter gold medalist at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games, covered the first 100 meters of his race, from a standing start, in 9.54.

Shufflin' along . . . After in-line skating, step classes and golf, what will be a future sport for aging baby boomers? According to a Florida company, it's shuffleboard. Winning Shuffleboard, of Largo, Fla., is so upbeat on the prospects of this "major recreational sport for senior citizens," that they have produced an instructional video titled – you guessed it - "Winning Shuffleboard." Master shuffleboard champion Glenn "The Golden Bear" Peltier shows you how to "Shoot and Score!" Learn techniques such as Tampas, St. Petes, Snuggles, Kitchens and Bump-Ins! Peltier even reveals his "personal game strategy." Send check or money order.

Practically speaking . . . Recent press reports have noted the campaign of the so-called sport of practical shooting (originally known as combat shooting) to achieve Olympic status. These stories follow the release of a report published by the Washington D.C.-based Violence Policy Center, titled "Gold Medal Gunslingers," portraying the efforts of gun enthusiasts and the firearms industry to give combat shooting the appearance of a mainstream competitive sport. Practical shooting features competitions (also known as run-n-guns) in which people armed with semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and large bore pistols shoot their way through target courses based on "real life" combat scenarios, such as a home invasion or hostage rescue. Targets suggest human figures with the highest points awarded for "head" and "heart" shots.

The International Practical Shooting Confederation is working to establish itself as a legitimate international sports federation, hoping to someday gain a spot for practical shooting on the Olympic program. The IOC acknowledges that IPSC has applied for status as a recognized international federation, but adds that the application is not being actively considered. The IOC also states that despite erroneous reports to the contrary, practical shooting will not, "in any way," be part of the Olympic program in Athens.

The VPC's (www.vpc.org) detailed study traces the growth of practical shooting and its connection to the gun industry and pro-gun interest groups such as the National Rifle Association. The report argues that the sportification of combat shooting is a thinly–veiled attempt by these interests to promote gun culture, increase the worldwide market for firearms and counter gun control efforts. It also depicts attempts by combat shooters to draw children into gun culture and practical shooting. The VPC notes that Andrew Golden, the 11-year-old shooter in the 1998 Jonesboro, Arkansas massacre that left five dead and 11 wounded, had recently been introduced to the sport. Golden's father reportedly was the founder and head of the Jonesboro Practical Shooters Association.

The IPSC claims more than 50,000 members in more than 60 countries. Aside from its sporting aims, the IPSC also seems to have a political agenda. In 1998 the IPSC, along with the NRA and others, founded the World Forum on the Future of Sports Shooting Activities "to counteract the growing international gun control movement." More recently, IPSC announced plans to form the World Shooting Federation, designed to bring all shooting sports under a single umbrella, giving "all shooting sports, and subsequently the firearms and shooting industries, the clout we need to be taken seriously in the center stage of world politics." The IPSC was founded in 1976. Its first president was former U.S. Marine Corps officer Jeff Cooper, who now serves as honorary life chairman. Cooper, the editor-at-large of Guns & Ammo magazine and an NRA board member, is noted for his strident anti-government views. He also has some appalling opinions on gun violence. Writing in Guns & Ammo, in April 1991, Cooper stated, "the consensus is that no more than five to ten people in a hundred who die by gunfire in Los Angeles are any loss to society . . . It would seem a valid social service to keep them well-supplied with ammunition."

Normally, we end with a mascot from an international sport event. This time, though, we thought we would leave you with more sobering images from the sport of practical shooting. Meet a couple official IPSC targets. And remember, a head shot counts for more.