Fans shared a Badger moment

After the UW Badgers men's basketball team clinched the sole Big Ten title Saturday afternoon at Northwestern, and after the team left for the locker room, came a truly special moment. And anyone at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena knows it.

All of a sudden, one UW student started singing "Varsity" and soon the thousand or so fans left in the stands joined in. No band on hand and no media attention -- just die-hard Wisconsin fans savoring the moment with an impromptu "Varsity." On Wisconsin to this special Badger team!

-- Mary Carr Lee, Madison

A Monday letter writer asked why media coverage of women's sports is minimal compared to the coverage of men's sports. She may have a point about the coverage of Jolene Anderson's honors, but I believe the State Journal consistently gives women's sports excellent coverage. In fact, women's basketball gets more coverage than it deserves.

The level of play in women's basketball can be measured by the number of empty seats at the games, but the State Journal covers women's basketball as if the games are well played and well attended. This situation is not the fault of the players, who can be as competitive and determined as men. The problem is that the fundamentals are not being taught well prior to college.

Basketball is about passing and catching, dribbling and rebounding, body control and reacting, and team defense. If you're athletic, these are all coachable skills that develop with hard practice. Shooting the basketball is fun and easy to practice, but spectacular 3-point shots don't win games. Ball control and defense win games and bring out the fans.

The high numbers of turnovers, lack of body control, poor reactions and other poor fundamentals combine to hurt women's basketball from a fan perspective. Much improved pre-collegiate coaching of the fundamentals is the answer. The girls deserve it.

-- Richard Seaman, Fitchburg

Team play teaches life-long lessons

Basketball is a team sport, yet each year the Big Ten coaches and media outlets pull the teams apart and bestow individual honors on selected players. The coaches and media look for stars, and if none stand out, they look elsewhere.

They look past the motivation, grit, passion, unselfishness, hard work and sheer gut-level determination it takes to transform a group of guys into a team that cares more about each other and winning than they care about themselves. As a fan, I applaud that quality.

This season, the UW men's basketball team experienced something bigger than themselves or their talents. These are the young men we want in our future. They learned to give more because their team needed help. They felt the satisfaction of helping others accomplish more than they did during the last game. They learned to value each member of their team because their goal demanded that each member do his part.

Stars fade, but this accomplishment will not. We should all learn from this.

-- Sue Lacke, Oregon

Push for passage of Great Lakes Pact

I'm happy to see the State Journal is supporting action on the Great Lakes Compact legislation. May I suggest that the paper assist their readers by publishing the text or the salient points of the compact. It would also be helpful to list the points of contention, the legislators who are contesting or seeking amendments, and the contents of said amendments.

It occurs to me that maybe state citizens are being subjected to a legislative stall similar to that which occurred during the last budget season. Contact your representatives and push for action before the Legislature adjourns.

-- Richard H. Pelkey, Madison

Huebsch is stalling Great Lakes Pact

If you've been watching the Wisconsin Legislature debate the Great Lakes Compact, you're probably thinking what I'm thinking: When did state government become populated by such a pathetic group of selfish, immature individuals?

It's both irritating and embarrassing to watch Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and a few others undermine the pact which Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana, not to mention Ontario and Quebec, have all approved or are in the process of adopting. Only Wisconsin and Ohio are holding up the process.

Huebsch tries to hide his obstinate streak, saying he wants to make sure the compact is done right. Sure, all the other hundreds of leaders who have studied and passed the measure are wrong. The fact is, Huebsch and his sycophants don't know how to agree to anything. We pay the Legislature to do our bidding, and by the last poll taken on the Great Lakes Compact, 80 percent of state residents want to pass this compact.

In 2010 the new census comes out, and more seats will no doubt be granted to the Southwestern and Western states that have been eyeing the Great Lakes for some time. The technology exists to transport the huge amounts of Great lakes water out west, and the people who live in the desert don't care where it comes from. Lake Superior, the largest fresh water body in the world, was down eight feet last year.

Wait a minute -- maybe somebody should check to see if Huebsch recently became a member of some golf club out in Nevada.

-- Pete Steele, Madison

State scores high on environment

Each year, the League of Conservation Voters publishes their national environmental scorecard, which scores the voting records of members of Congress on environmental legislation.

The newly released 2007 scorecard highlights the much-needed new direction that Congress has pursued on environmental issues. Among the victories in 2007 was the passage of the first increase in fuel efficiency standards in 32 years, a vital first step to a clean energy future.

Wisconsin earned one of the highest House averages in Congress. We applaud Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, for her perfect score of 100 percent. Reps. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, and Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, scored 95 percent and Reps. Steven Kagen, D-Appleton, and David Obey, D-Wausau, scored 90 percent. We also congratulate Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold and Herbert Kohl for both scoring 93 percent.

The commitment of these members of Congress enabled progress in 2007. We look forward to continuing to work with them to make even more progress in the upcoming session. For more scorecard information, see www.lcv.org/scorecard

-- Gene Karpinski, president, League of Conservation Voters, Washington, D.C.