As someone who *LOVES* sports, but is also a concerned man, I think what we (sports-loving but concerned men) should do is clear: do all we can to change the culture of sports. If we host Superbowl parties this year (I'm not), keep the drinking to a minimum and try to invite a gender-diverse crowd (I know plenty of women who enjoy watching sports). Demand the same from Superbowl parties we attend. Put the pressure on NBC to run the public service announcement mentioned in the posting above. Encourage responsible fan behavior when we attend sporting events, and so forth. At it's best, watching an athletic event can be an exciting, interesting experience. At its worst, it can be physically violent and abusive, whether to other fans (this happens among individuals in this country; en masse in Europe and South America) or, in the domestic situation, to innocent female by-standers. Many sports fans revel in these worst aspects and those who run professional sports (and I include TV networks here) take advantage of this because it is to their financial advantage: they emphasize the violence of the action in their advertising, they fail to crack down on violence on the playing field/ice, etc. It is up to us responsible fans (and our many allies among the non-fans) to force the leagues and networks to be more responsible themselves. -- Ben Alpers [log in to unmask] Princeton University (whose views this does not represent)