Baseball Transcends Gender

To the editors:

On behalf of women sports fans everywhere, I object to Daniel Habib's sexist and insulting depiction of the relationship between men, women and sports (Opinion, Oct. 2). As I initially glanced at Habib's headline and first few paragraphs, I smiled with recognition. I, too, have fallen victim to the dangerously time-consuming condition of baseball playoff fever, this year and every year. Habib dropped the ball, however, when he embraced stereotypes of sports fans as exclusively male and women as sexual objects competing with sports for men's attention.

This was the latest in a series of Crimson pieces about major league baseball written solely from the point of view of a male fan. Without a doubt, sports are more popular among men than women. But in this baseball post-season, millions of women are avidly watching, refusing to be alienated by the macho culture surrounding sports. For women like me who grew up watching baseball and are independent-minded enough to ignore the stereotypes, love of the game transcends gender. Habib's fantasy of women simply waiting around until after October to get men's focus off of sports and onto sex is way off-base. Error charged to Daniel Habib. LESLIE ALEXANDER '99   Oct. 4, 1998