I have been at four St. Francis games this year, and I have been saddened by the very small albeit loyal fan support there is.
Coach Susan Robinson Fruchtl is doing an excellent job, yet very few people have taken the time out of their day to go watch her and her squad. I think it's a shame that more people don't at least go once or twice a month to show they care about the Lady Flash.
Fruchtl has allowed my sixth-grade girls teams as well as my fourth- and fifth-grade girls teams the chance to play at halftime twice this year.
Our players have taken up 60 people twice, and it seems as though we outnumber the rest of the fans. Our parents as well as our young ladies are very appreciative of the chance they get to play on a college floor.
I am taking nothing away from the loyal people that do show up. They are the small backbone of a fan support base but way too small. I have sat behind coach Fruchtl and listened to how she coaches. She does a great job. She's supportive but firm. She works the officals very well and listens to the input of her assistants.
I think St. Francis made a very wise decision in making her the coach. The former coach didn't recruit local players. That was a real mistake on her part. I know Fruchtl is trying very hard to get some local talent up there.
That will indeed bring a lot more local people to the games. It's a shame she wasn't there when Kristi Little and Sam Reimer were seniors. I am sure she would have tried to get them to commit to St. Francis.
I think next season everybody that is a true basketball fan needs to get up to three or four games and see how much this team has improved. Fruchtl deserves it and for sure her team deserves to hear some applause when they do something special.
Cal Bragonier
Altoona
(Note: The writer is the athletic director at the Jewish Memorial Center in Altoona).`
Creative editing welcome
Last week, John Mehno indicted the honesty of NFL Films and their new Steelers Super Bowl DVD by pointing out that two clips shown together did not take place continuously.
This is what we in the business call ''editing.''
We know that most movies contain little, if any, truth. But not even most documentaries contain the whole truth. In editing, clips are juxtaposed to give each other a certain meaning.
We see Max Starks saying, ''We are built for this'' just before the Steelers score the winning touchdown. These things did not take place at the same time, but that doesn't mean Starks didn't say it during the game, and that doesn't mean his statement was false.
I have no doubt that his statement reflected the mood on the Steelers' sideline when Arizona briefly held the lead. The editor put those clips together to remind us that the Steelers ARE built for that, to add meaning at the critical time.
Earlier in the video, we saw Mike Tomlin shouting ''Turnover time!'' just before Polamalu's game-clinching interception against the Ravens. It is unlikely that Tomlin said that immediately before that play, but he did say it, and putting it there adds drama and meaning to the story.
That's what NFL Films does: They bring the drama out of a true story with editing. But the truth is still there, too.
Raymond J. Kotzatoski Jr.
Altoona
