1.   Barnes downplayed the problem, saying that he felt a slight tug while swinging during batting practice.

2.   After years of downplaying the problem, Microsoft Corp. admitted last week that some of their products will start acting funny come the millennium.

3.   But instead of yelling loudly about labor racketeering, Palomino still prefers to downplay the problem.

4.   But Oakland Police Capt. Ronald Davis told the committee the fact that police chiefs such as Greenberg downplayed the problem showed the need for federal legislation.

5.   Education leaders have downplayed the problem in Texas, where hundreds of thousands of students every year are in classrooms taught by improperly certified teachers.

6.   Educators have downplayed the problem but an increasing body of evidence indicates that unqualified teachers could be the driving force behind poor educational performance.

7.   For over a year, the Clinton administration has deliberately downplayed problems with Iraq.

8.   Hewlett told a Delaware Chancery Court he had been hearing rumors that the companies were downplaying problems of the merger and overstating the benefits.

9.   In an apparent reversal of roles, NASA Tuesday was downplaying the problem.

10.   In so doing, will black writers downplay the problems of racism and somehow falsify the black experience?