I feel the need to address some of the feedback that my April 3 letter, “America’s pastime cut, but fake sports remain,” has received.

First of all, let me cordially thank the volleyball team for their cordial invitation to an ISU volleyball practice.

But in spite of this, I will not apologize, nor will I retract any of my statements.

I was disappointed to see that those who criticized my letter only remembered one line that was in it.

Perhaps it is my fault; maybe I should have gone into better detail.

I probably should have avoided any sarcasm, seeing that no one was quite able to grasp it.

To clarify things, I would once again like to tackle the issue of gender equality in athletics.

According to the ISU athletic Web site, there are currently 11 women’s sports and eight men’s sports.

Oh, how could I forget, baseball and swimming are out, so now the ratio is 11-6.

How can this be called equal opportunity?

Sounds more like special opportunity to me.

I realize that football has numerous scholarships compared to other sports.

On the other hand, I also realize that football has generated more revenue than probably all other sports combined.

I think it would be nice to have a counterpart of the opposite gender for all sports, such as softball and baseball or tennis for both sexes.

If sports had to be cut, it should have been one from the men’s department and one from the women’s side.

It is naive to treat football in the same manner as the other sports, because we all know that there is much more riding on our football program than just giving young men a chance to compete.

(P.S. Good luck in 2001, ISU volleyball, we’re all rooting for a victory over a team with a state in its name.)

Clint Albertsen

Freshman

Political science