Footbag is online -- big time. The FEATSheet hasn't been. I can explain (sort of). The Internet, a digital communications backbone that now spans the globe, has seen an incredible surge of interest and use in the last few years. "Cyberspace," as everyone has taken to calling the communications medium, includes everything from Rush Limbaugh to the American Communist Party. And everything in between, including footbag.
Jim Curtis and Steve Goldberg, both from the San Fransico, CA area, have spearheaded the inclusion of footbag into cyberspace. It started with footbag enthusiasts at Stanford University putting a footbag interest area on one of the computers there. Jim Curtis, an employee at Hewlett Packard in Cupertino, followed by creating a footbag "listserve" at HP that is accessible via the Internet. Steve Goldberg has been behind the scenes advocating the exploitation of the Internet, as well as preparing a semi-graphical version of the IFAB rulebook that can be browsed via the Internet. Even I have a footbag area on one of the computers at the Columbia Public School district that is Internet accessible, although I have yet to spend the time getting it fleshed out past a simple message that says, "Footbag Here."
And I haven't spent much time on the FEATSheet, either. Here's lame excuse #1: Lame excuse #2: . Shame on me, and alot of people have let me know it. It is the constant prodding of former (and hopefully current) FEATSheet fans that has finally made me aware that 9 whole months has passed since an issue of the FEATSheet went to press. Again, shame on me.
To be honest, I can't promise that the FEATSheet publishing schedule will return to its height of robustness (4 issues in a year). I can promise to try. This issue catches up on some old info and pulls at least one topic of conversation from the footbag listserve for an article. In the next few issues, I'm sure to pull more topics from the listserve. Remember, subscriptions go by the number of issues, so I've got ya hooked for as long as it takes to send 'em to ya. Be sure to let me know if your address changes; I can't always keep up with people.