Sports Fan
Dear Ace,
I want to let you know how much I enjoyed Jeff Zurcher's article, "Red Smith & Uncle Gene" in the September 14 copy of Ace [sportspeak]. My condolences to Jeff, and congratulations on this deeply touching first article.
Mark Bridges
Georgetown, Ky
Regarding the 9-21-2000 sportspeak column on Booby - oops, I mean Bobby - Knight, I must voice disagreement on a few points of Mr. Zurcher's.
1. Unlike Knight, Machiavelli was the epitome of diplomacy; 2. Although he suggests that Knight had the qualities of "generosity, compassion, humor and discipline," this is, at least, debatable.
Most of us can have no idea whether Knight exhibited the first two of these qualities privately, but the only humor I've ever seen him convey is bitter sarcasm. As for discipline, if he had any, he would also still have a job; 3. Finally, the suggestion that his record of winning somehow puts Knight's monomaniacal coaching style in a different light carries a hint of the self-justification that bullies/tyrants always seek and which at its worst, has given us such pathetic excuses as, "At least Mussolini made the trains run on time," and "I was just doing my job."
Darryl Weaver
Lexington
Not an ad...
Dear Ace,
Your smug tag on the 9/7 letter about WRVG ["Is it an ad? Is it a letter?," Sep 7, Letters] confirms how badly you missed the mark in your 8/31 article about morning radio in Lexington [InMediaRes, August 31]. The letter was not an ad; Ms Belleville was trying to politely say what I will now spell out since you didn't get it the first time.
I agree that corporate radio homogenizes programming and that the syndicated fare is imaginatively challenged at best, and that WRFL and Mr. Friendly deserve congratulations for their new morning show. However, Robinson bafflingly failed to mention the most obvious standout exception on the air.
Tom Martin's "Early World" on WRVG 89.9FM has for the last two years answered these criticisms.
(Incidentally, Martin scooped you six months ago when he reported on a more thorough article about conglomerate radio in the Kentucky Enquirer.) Immune from the typical journalist's schizophrenic fear of advocacy, Martin constantly reports on the Central Kentucky community and the people, organizations, and events that make it and work to keep it special.
Urban renewal, music and arts, education, science and literature are topics on "Early World," and the intelligent blend of real jazz, blues, bluegrass, folk, and Americana music makes one want to set one's alarm thirty minutes earlier.
It's more than disappointing that your article on radio failed to mention the station that won your own reader poll [Best of Lex, July 27]! Wake up! When you do an important story on this community, research it! Maybe if you listen to "Early World" you'll be better informed next time.
M. Boso
Lexington
What's next on the Ace letters page? Mail from the record stores about some sale, disguised as "commentary" on Chris Webb's latest CD review??
I'm not surprised some "listener" would write Ace a letter bashing WUKY and promoting WRVG [Letters, Sep 7], but I am surprised you would print it.
W.J. Cobb
Letters Policy: Ace LOVES to publish our mail (250 words or less please); please include name and daytime phone. No photocopies. No bulk mail. First come, first served. We may edit for space and grammar; we will limit frequency; and, on popular issues, we may print one or two letters to represent a segment of public opinion. Private correspondence should be labeled “NOT FOR PUBLICATION.”
Mail: 486 West Second St , Lexington, Ky 40507
e-mail: editor@aceweekly.com
The Dames' Games??
I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle... victorious.
-Vince Lombardi
This year's Olympics, with more female competitors than ever before, has been proclaimed the Dames' Games, according to at least one website.
This comes amid much debate about whether or not women athletes are compensated as fairly as men - both for their athletic participation, and in endorsement deals.
As causes go, it's a tough sell for many women.
In some ways, it's hard to get riled up about leveling playing fields where all the players are millionaires. Especially when the debate centers around about one millionth of one percent of the population who can ever expect to have the luxury of even getting to a rarefied playing field like this one.
It's the same way it's difficult to get women to riot in the streets over the fact that Julia Roberts ONLY made $20 million for Erin Brockovich, while Mel Gibson raked in $25 million for The Patriot. Wahhh. Wahhhhh.
With potential actors' and writers' strikes looming in Hollywood, however, we may all be forced to be a little more sympathetic as we're confronted with entire seasons of nothing but Survivor and its clones.
Because ultimately, it's only fair that the laborers in any industry- whether it's athletes or movie stars or screenwriters - share proportionately in the profits that are made on their backs.
By that standard, women athletes are inching their way up the scale (as they build an audience - which is all Madison Avenue wants), and college athletes are still getting the shaft.
As Jamie Foxx's quarterback tells Al Pacino's coach in Any Given Sunday, "at least in the pros, the field hands get paid."
But is sports equity the biggest challenge facing women today?
Doubtful.
Many serious women's issues will be highlighted within the next month. September 30 is the deadline the FDA established to act on the availability of RU-486 in this country. The Race for the Cure will be held locally on September 30, promoting breast cancer awareness and fundraising for research. October is breast cancer awareness month, as well as domestic violence awareness month. The annual Take Back the Night rally is scheduled for October 15 in Triangle Park. National Mammography Day is October 20. On the local level, Title IX's implications for booster funding will be considered by the school board in October. And - with women currently comprising the largest block of undecided voters in the 6th district - the November election will be more critical than ever.
It's a good time to keep an eye on the ball.