Columnist Ron Kantowski: Zeroue Amos getting famous on the Internet

PEOPLE DON'T write like they used to, probably because they have discovered the joy of e-mail. Or the joy of not communicating at all.

Having made the conversion from stationery several years ago, I have both Big E-Mail and the regular kind.

Big E-Mail is reserved for correspondence from Elvin Hayes, of which there has been little. But there doesn't a day go by that the e-mail man doesn't leave a little something in my box.

On Sunday, for example, there was an offer to purchase a new Zip drive, a time share cabin on Lake Tahoe and the greatest hits of some pornographic movie starlet.

Delete, delete ... delete.

But there among the spam (for those who still use stamps, that's computer lingo for e-mail that bytes) was a note from my newest, bestest friend Amos.

At first I thought it might be Amos Otis, the old Royals' center fielder, checking in. Or perhaps it was Andy's sidekick, finally striking out on his own.

But the signature read "Amos #20." Couldn't be Otis. He wore No. 16. Or was it 24? I dunno. But I definitely know that neither Amos nor Andy had a uniform number.

Turns out the e-mail was from Amos Zeroue, the outstanding West Virginia running back (although there was no mention of his last name).

Zeroue wrote casually about his 135-yard, two TD effort in a 42-20 victory over the Maryland Terrapins Saturday, and of getting ready to face Tulsa of the WAC this week. He said the Tulsa game wouldn't be televised, so he'd send me e-mail afterward, to tell me how he did.

In keeping with the spirit of e-mail etiquette, I wrote him back. I told him I had watched part of the Maryland game, and that he looked pretty good. But in that we were e-mail buds and all, I was disappointed that he didn't say hello to me on national TV (ESPN2). I closed by wishing him well against Tulsa, and signed it "Your pal, Ron" with the following P.S.:

"What the heck is a Terrapin, anyway?"

(Psst ... It was a trick question, designed only to solicit an original response from Zeroue. Because I've a hunch that although Amos and I went to different schools, his e-mail was nothing more than a thinly veiled plot of the WVU sports information department to tout Zeroue for the Heisman Trophy.)

Not so, said Mountaineers SID Shelly Poe. "He gets so much e-mail ... that this is just a way to keep fans up to date with what he's doing," she insisted.

Give Poe and her staff high marks for originality, if not honesty. I'm sure that the fact I used to have a Heisman vote had nothing to do with me getting my name on Zeroue's e-mail list.

However, the ploy worked, for here I am writing about Zeroue. Had Poe sent out his stats on one of those picture postcards that are used to promote Heisman candidates, I'm sure it would have wound up in the circular file, along with all the other gimmicky merchandise that is used in Heisman campaigns.

Just the same, I think I'll send an e-mail to the sports information folks at Kentucky before they get too carried away in regard to their fine QB Tim Couch.

There's just no room for a sofa in my mailbox.

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