LEAGUE NOTES

          In Philadelphia, DAILY NEWS sports editor Debbie
     Woodell contributes an op-ed in the DAILY NEWS and writes,
     "[S]avvy business people in the basketball business are
     recognizing the importance of including lesbians among their
     growing legion of fans."  Woodell notes that the ABL Rage
     other teams in the league have taken out ads in gay
     publications.  Woodell: "Frankly, we're not excited about
     being courted because it helps us promote some lesbian
     'agenda.' No, this is something more simple.  It's merely
     nice to be wanted.  So far, I haven't felt that sense of
     welcome being extended by the more powerful, more deeply
     pocketed Women's NBA. ... Nor has such hospitality emerged
     from the college ranks" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 1/6).
          FIGURE SKATING: With the U.S. National Figure Skating
     Championships in Philadelphia this week, the sport's
     popularity is profiled by Jere Longman of the N.Y. TIMES. 
     The rivalry between Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan took
     figure skating "from sport to soap opera and [launched] it
     like a triple axel into popular culture.  The result was a
     larger male audience and television ratings that began to
     challenge the supremacy of professional football."  There
     were reports, denied by Fox, that the network tried to
     arrange a Harding-Kerrigan rematch (N.Y. TIMES, 1/6).