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In past 25 years, much has changed Commentary By DON HUNT Whether or not we launched ourselves into a new millennium on Jan. 1 is open for debate. What can't be disputed is that on July 17, 2000 I will have reached my 25th year at the Mail Tribune. I'm not sure whether to be proud or ashamed at working the same job for a quarter-century. But I do know one thing: A lot has changed in the local sports world since my rookie year as a journalist. First and foremost has been the proliferation of girls sports. Title IX, the federal mandate that required equal money be spent for boys and girls sports, had passed three years earlier but didn't seem to have much of an impact locally until the late 1970s or early '80s. Indeed, in the latter part of 1975, the sports pages of the Mail Tribune were dominated by football players at Medford High, back when the town had only one high school and crowds of 8,000 were common at Spiegelberg Stadium. Girls were playing sports back then, but nothing like today. A typical score for a high school girls basketball game was 25-20, with each team committing 40 turnovers and neither team shooting above 20 percent. Sports simply weren't a priority for most girls, and the few who were truly interested were often labeled as tomboys. Other than baseball for boys and softball for girls during the summer months, club sports were virtually nonexistent. Soccer was something played in other parts of the world and its star was some guy named Pele. Summer camps were held at mountain lakes by church groups and youth groups -- not on football fields or in gymnasiums, where coaches now routinely hold "camps" as fund-raisers and to get the younger kids interested in playing. Twenty-five years ago, three-sport athletes were the rule rather than the exception. A boy would go from football to basketball to baseball and not have to possess exceptional skills in any to make the team. These days, if you can't make a layup 95 percent of the time in tryouts or throw the ball from center field to home plate with accuracy, you run the risk of getting cut. Playing sports when they aren't in season -- basketball in the summer, volleyball in the spring and baseball in the winter -- is fine, but when kids start getting pulled different directions by three coaches at the same time, something has to give. (Mom's temper, for example.) So what else is different? Size. An average high school football lineman in 1975 was 6-foot-1, 215 pounds. Now, it's not surprising to see kids that go 6-5, 300. Roseburg's offensive line last fall averaged 267 pounds. The Green Bay Packers' offensive line weighed less than that in 1975, I'd venture to guess. Girls are getting into the act, too. Six-footers dot female basketball rosters throughout the Rogue Valley. The best high school girls player in Oregon is Kara Braxton of Westview High in Beaverton, who stands 6-6 and can dunk. Yes, as in slam-dunk. Interestingly, though, there is more room for a short player in basketball than ever before, partly because good ballhandlers are needed to break full-court pressure and good shooters are needed to drill the 3-pointer that wasn't available in 1975. If you can dribble the ball, pass with precision, see the court and shoot from the outside, it doesn't matter if you're a 5-foot-5 male or a 5-foot female, there's a point-guard position available on a team near you. Athletes are also stronger than ever before. Serious weight training was performed by a portion of high school football players 25 years ago, but now boy and girl athletes in all sports are pumping iron. Some things haven't changed. Now, as then, young people have a great passion to play and to win. Now, as then, parents tend to overrate their own kids and can be quick to criticize a coach's decision. Speaking of coaches, most of them care deeply for the athletes, and the lessons they teach extend well beyond the playing fields. Some of life's best tools -- organization, discipline, self-esteem, laughter, humility, teamwork -- were nurtured on a football field or a volleyball court. You may see a lot of despicable behavior on TV from college and pro athletes these days -- showboating, taunting and acting like they won the lottery after sacking the quarterback -- but you see virtually none of it by high school athletes in the Rogue Valley. The coaches won't stand for it. Some things, after all, are best left unchanged. Don Hunt is a Mail Tribune sports writer. Contact him at 776-4469 or [email protected] Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, OR U.S.A.