UM field hockey team deserved better story

Saturday’s paper (BDN, Nov. 9-10) brought good news for women at the University of Maine. First, the university has, after 29 years, come into compliance with Title IX, the federal law requiring equal treatment of women in education, including athletic programs.

Not coincidentally, the second piece of news was that university’s field hockey team had won its America East field hockey semifinal and would play for the conference championship the next day. This was especially exciting to me because a talented scholar and team leader is in my news writing class this term.

So imagine my disappointment when I searched my Monday paper and could not find the result until someone told me to look in the middle of a column of news briefs on the third page of the sports section. Count the relentless parade of stories and analysis of big men’s programs and ask: Is it conceivable that the results of a conference championship could be judged as anything other than the lead sports story of the day?

The BDN goofed.

Although they lost the championship game, these young women are all champions to me, and they are more than that. They’re pioneers in a new era of equality.

Congratulations, women, on a great season.

Marie Tessier

Adjunct Asst. Professor

Journalism and Mass Communication

University of Maine

MPBC made right move

As a Downeaster who fully enjoys watching the basketball games (from my living room) each year, I couldn’t be happier with Maine Public Broadcasting’s decision to air the tournament games.

During the winter season in Maine, basketball rules!!

Alberta Farthing-Owens

Baileyville

Basketball beats out tigers, antiques

Apparently Ansley Coe Throckmorton believes that Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation exists only to telecast “important stuff” such as “programs on the arts, public affairs, nature, history, etc.”

I can remember a few years ago when a gentleman named Leo Buscaglia made a good living by going on public television every couple of weeks, trying to convince us that a viable solution to most of the world’s problems was to simply give the other guy a big hug. I think that’s the kind of highly valued public service program Ansley has in mind. Or maybe it’s watching a lion stalk a zebra for 15 minutes before finally killing it in prime time.

I think Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation got this decision right. On a typical Saturday night in late February there are going to be a lot more people interested in watching a good high school basketball game rather than watching someone drag a piece of junk out of their attic to take it to an antique show and have it appraised on national television.

It’s no secret that MPBC’s annual telecast of the “B,” “C,” and “D” tournaments draws a bigger-than-average viewing audience and a higher-than average-level of monetary support than regular programming. Adding the Class A tournament to that mix will only increase the overall attractiveness of the basketball programming and will probably enhance the bottom line accordingly.

The WABI-TV telecast to which Throckmorton refers was really accessible only in the immediate Bangor area because it wasn’t carried on most cable systems, whereas the MPBC telecast will be available state-wide. If my memory serves me correctly, the semifinal games will occur on Thursday and Friday evenings from 7 to 11, the regional finals will take place the following Saturday night from 7-11, and the state finals will be telecast a week later on Saturday night from 7-11.

If my math is correct, that’s a total of four nights out of the year and for this Ansley Coe Throckmorton believes that the Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation has “violated the trust of its donors.” I wonder if Ansley is related to the Tim Throckmorton who does play-by-play for WABI-TV?

Richard A. Langley

Fort Fairfield

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