for taking my tongue-in-cheek post in the spirit in which it was posted (I should have put on ';-)' in there in hindsight, but I'm glad it wasn't necessary).

I'm a person who takes sports/games seriously (especially ones I actually participate in. Meaning that if I am actually playing the pick up game of volleyball or monopoly or whatever, I want it to be an honest contest & may the best person win). That way, when I win I know I actually won & when I lose I know I actually lost.

As a fan of a team, I only want to win when we 'actually' won, so winning due to cheating or bad officiating is terrible (to me, anyway).

I know it won't ever happen, but I wish there were no bad calls in any sporting/athletic contest & that the only thing that determined the outcome were the good deciaions/bad decisions made by the participants. I wish the ref had made the handball call & disallowed the goal by Argentina.

I guess that makes me an utopian.

That was on the 3rd try that Belov managed to score. It royally pissed me off at the time.

One of the 'subtests' of that competition was that because Henry Iba was the Olympic coach (think Adolph Rupp, only not as touchy-feely), some of our best basketball players either didn't go out or were cut for having too-big afros, etc.

Doug Collins still hit 2 of the most clutch free throws ever (after being klooned by a Russkie at end of the game).

I say no boycott of games. Let's go over there & kick Chinese ass.

who has kick-ass female characters (even though they may not be human) is C.J. Cherryh (I hope I spelled that right).

She has written several SF books about some female spacers (look sorta like lions, only the women generally leave the homeworld, etc.) that don't take no shit from anyone (people or the Kif).

Check her out.

King mentioned in his column: 'the women are still using those dumb city regional names.'

Agree with you 100% King, they should use the old regional names.

One thing you could check on: Back when they used the old regional names (East, Midwest, etc.) there would be records kept for each of those regionals (most points scored in a South Regional, etc.). For record keeping purposes, do they assign each of these 'city' regionals to an old regional format(i.e. New Orleans would be the 'South' regional & all stats would be measured against the prior 'South' regional stats, etc.)?

Inquiring stataholics want to know.

My alma mater (University of Kentucky) is a major power in cheerleadng. They practice constantly & have to be in tremendous physical shape.

What has happened, as the author mentioned, is that all the women are tiny, used-to-be-gymnasts, who get thrown all around by the dudes (all very big, the better to lift and/or throw them).

As a spectator, I would prefer cheerleaders like Southern California has. They don't do competitions, they just cheer & a normal sized woman is what you find in their squad.

What you get at UK is pretty hobbits & dudes that look like they are on steroids leaping & jumping around all the time(while not doing any good 'cheers', IMO).

As long as you weren't on Saddam, Uday or the Other one's shit list, life was better for Iraqis before we invaded.

Anyone who says differently is either insane or a moron.

chiefpayne asked: 'The child is innocent yet it's ok to get rid of them. It is not the child's fault that their mother was raped...so why take it out on them?'

While the 'pre-child' is innocent, it's father is a rapist. Therefore this fetus is the product of a piece-of-shit raping scum (and the poor raped woman). Why should society take the chance on allowing this fetus (who is 1/2 a copy of the piece-of-shit raping scum) to be another criminal (like its father has turned out to be)?

As another poster above mentioned, they all go to heavan anyway, don't they?

all us sports fans are just overjoyed that the 2 games featuring teams from our state are both going to run at basically the same time. Thank's CBS (you jerks).

chiefpayne responded: 'Well ok then, why not just get rid of all "pre-children" who would be a burden on society...after all, "why should society take the chance on allowing this fetus" to BE a burden on society.'

Note I said 'criminal' not 'burden'. There's a big difference between a person having mental/physical problems that require some form of governmental/institutional help & a criminal who preys on other people. That is what we call a 'nuance'.

Another quote from chiefpayne: 'So let's get rid of any children of genetically disabled people, mentally disabled people, and ALL criminals in general...after all, we don't want to have to take the chance on a fetus that is "1/2 a copy of a piece-of-shit" burden on society, now do we?'

No we don't want to take the chance on a fetus that is definitely the product (one 1/2 anyway) of a piece-of-shit raping scum. As for your other red herrings, I never said anything about 'genetically disabled people, mentally disabled people', or criminals who were lucky enough to have been born.

By the way, I note you haven't commented on my & another poster's assertion that all the poor aborted fetuses go to heaven anyway, so what's the big deal?

Here's another one for you to ponder: Why should a woman who has been assaulted in a manner that causes the assaulter to serve a long prison sentence have to carry the result of the assault for 9 months and in doing so possibly damage her long-term health or even suffer a complication that results in her death?