North Dakota: New Sports Mecca?

Melvin Durslag concluded his column on the Pro Bowl (Feb. 3) by asserting that “North Dakota is no great place to hold winter meeting.” This remark attracted my notice because I’m a North Dakotan wintering in California.

All right, maybe North Dakota isn’t a great place to hold winter meetings, but it’s an OK place--as numerous Canadians have discovered. They pour across the border on weekends to escape the unspeakable wind-chill factors that descend upon Manitoba and Saskatchewan. One of North Dakota’s attractions is legalized gambling (blackjack, bingo, etc.). In addition to wagering their 85-cent dollars, Canadians walk the malls, swim laps in motel pools and quaff large vessels of alcoholic beverages. Let me tell you, those Canadians are hardy indoorsmen!

You may be interested to learn that the city of Fargo is about to begin construction of a 60,000-seat domed stadium on the campus of North Dakota State University, a perennial NCAA Division II football power. Now, Durslag, ponder this: If the NFL is going to stage the 1992 Super Bowl in Minneapolis, why not follow up by playing the Pro Bowl in Fargo, the Paris of the prairies?

RICHARD DOBSON, Vista