Scorecard

SET 'EM OP IN THE OTHER ALLEY

It does not require a Solomon to decide what to do when boys invade a girl's sport. Show them the way out.

This is not what happened recently at the Girls State Bowling Tournament in Peoria, Ill. A team from Dixon with four boys starting was allowed to compete. The reason the boys were there was that the school board had funded only one bowling team. It reasoned, if that is the correct term, that since a Champaign County court had ruled earlier that girls could compete on boys' teams if no girls' teams were available, the reverse should be true. Dixon won the tournament. The fact that Vicki Jacobs, its only female bowler, led her side's scoring in the second round with 210, did nothing to lift the pall the authorities cast over the tournament by their action.

Why is it just to allow girls to join boys' teams but not the reverse? Because of their size and musculature, boys, particularly after they reach their middle teens, will inevitably dominate girls' games, as the boys from Dixon did. It is only the extraordinary girl who can ever hope to compete on a par with boys, even in a sport like bowling. The rationale for letting her do so is that until very recently she had no other outlet for her athletic talents. As more sports are funded on an equal basis, and facilities shared equally, there will be fewer girls testing themselves against the boys. So off to your own alleys, gentlemen.

MA BELL'S PERFECT BLENDSHIP

It is no longer a secret who Ron Watts is. He is Bill Russell's friend in the telephone commercial who taught Russell everything he ever knew about basketball.

Bell has been swamped with inquiries about the TV ad and Watts has become a celebrity. A 6'6" native of Washington, D.C., he played for Wake Forest in the mid-'60s. He roomed there with the late Brian Piccolo and, during a two-year stay with the Boston Celtics—where he got into 28 games as a reserve center and averaged 1.4 points a game—with Russell. "Injuries then shortened what promised to be a bleak career, he reports.

Watts is a Washington insurance executive and, as a result of the national exposure, a constant guest at luncheons and on radio and TV shows. "I'm stopped on the streets a lot by people who've seen the commercial." he says. "They always ask, 'Who's that guy Bill Russell I see you with on TV?' "

RSVP OR RIP?
Swimming gamely upstream against a torrent of criticism over the new swimming pool that anonymous donors are building for him in the official residence at Ottawa, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau turned gracious host. "You may come over any time to practice your diving," he told Opposition member Tom Cossitt. "Even before the water is in."

CANNINESS ON THE COURSE