Is Kerrigan Coverage Simply Latest Case of Male Bashing?

Lowell Cohn of the San Francisco Chronicle says it’s time to get a little perspective on the Nancy Kerrigan affair:

“She’s become so famous . . . that she’s gone from being an almost-anonymous practitioner of a marginal sport to one of the most famous athletes in the world.

“Sports columnists (have been) moralizing about what happened to Kerrigan and calling for more security for athletes, which is amusing when you get down to it. All of us could use more security, not just athletes.�

Add Kerrigan: “On the same day,� Cohn continued, “it was reported that the Washington Bullets forward Larry Stewart was attacked in his home. It generally was buried inside newspapers’ sports section.

“The difference in emphasis between the stories of Kerrigan and Stewart is easy to understand. Kerrigan, after all, suffered a swollen knee. Stewart, on the other hand, was only shot in the neck and stabbed in the thigh after being dragged out of bed at his home at 4:30 in the morning by four men who smashed through a sliding glass door.�

And more Kerrigan: After asking why her attack was so overplayed in newspapers and on television, Cohn reasoned:

“The answer is that, without consciously intending to, news organizations tend to sentimentalize the lives of women athletes, especially white women athletes.

“Clearly, there was no comparison between what happened to her and Stewart, but he did not receive the same attention because he is black and he’s a man.�

Trivia time: What year was figure skating first held in the Olympic Games?

Change of address: Richard Petty, who served for several years as a Randolph, N.C., county commissioner--near his home in Level Cross--while racing stock cars for a living, is being mentioned as a Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina in 1996. His wife, Lynda, had this to say about it:

“I don’t mind if he runs for governor if they could move the capital to Level Cross.�

You could look it up: Don Sutton had more shutouts, 58 to 55, than newly elected Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton.

Lucky No. 13: Many people shun the number 13, but golfer Patty Sheehan says 13 is lucky for her.

She was the 13th woman inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame on Nov. 13 of her 13th season. In the tournament that gave her a 30th victory and automatic inclusion in the Hall of Fame, Sheehan took the lead when she holed a bunker shot on the 13th hole.

Exclusive club: Vermont guard Eddie Benton has entered some select company in college basketball. The Catamounts’ 5-foot-11 sophomore has 1,009 points.

That makes him the fourth player to have scored 1,000 points while he was 18. The others? Mike Gminski of Duke, Otis Birdsong of Houston and Shaquille O’Neal of Louisiana State.

Trivia answer: 1908 for both men and women as part of the London Summer Games. There were no Winter Games until 1924.

Quotebook: Former Texas Tech basketball star Sheryl Swoopes, after having been named Associated Press female athlete of 1993: “Everyone that I talked to, people after the Final Four, said they had never seen a female athlete play the way I did.�