Letters

Having the writers describe the sporting events they would like to have attended was like handing the readers a time machine.
—PAUL LOVELACE, Middletown, Ohio

Magical Remembrance
Congratulations on what is the finest issue of any magazine I have ever read (Nov. 29). The text of I Wish I'd Been There is matched only by the sterling illustrations.
DAN DE CARBONEL, Portland

My knowledge of certain events took a quantum leap: Shoeless Joe outside the owner's office, the talent of Don Hutson, Gertrude Ederle...wow. Give me the stories of Althea Gibson and Francis Ouimet over Ryan Leaf and Lawrence Phillips anytime.
MICHAEL RANGEL, Asheville, N.C.

Two things Tom Verducci left out of his article on the heroics of Cookie Lavagetto and the sorrow of Bill Bevens: The next day, Oct. 4, 1947, in Game 5, Lavagetto struck out to end the game with the tying run on second. Two days after that, Bevens relieved starter Spec Shea and put down an early Dodgers threat in an eventual 5-2 victory that gave the series to the Yankees.
JOHN SCIMECA, Kentwood, Mich.

While reading William Nack's article A Match Made in Heaven, I could feel Seabiscuit thundering down the stretch en route to defeating War Admiral! My heart actually began to pound as I felt I was at the rail, beating a program against my hand and urging Seabiscuit to a win. Nack was wrong when he said he wondered what it was like to be there on Nov. 1, 1938. He was there! He relived it for all of us.
DAVE SCHIMPF, Saginaw, Mich.

As I sat stunned (at age 13) with my transistor radio to my ear, I didn't know that the history of Philadelphia sports could have been changed forever if Gary Smith's LOOK OUT!! sign had been there to alert all to Chico Ruiz's audacity. I have felt our pain ever since.
CHARLEY TIRNEY, Downingtown, Pa.

20th-century Superlatives
Congratulations for nominating Otto Graham for the football award (A Gathering of Greats, Nov. 29). If we agree that championships are what sports competition is all about and that the quarterback is the key to pro football championships, then Graham is the choice. Ten years and 10 league championship games with seven wins. Case closed.
RONALD GRIES, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

I thought for sure that Dan Gable would be mentioned. As one of our most visible and inspiring athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Gable dominated the world's best wrestlers in the 149�-pound class, winning Olympic gold without giving up a single point. He won a record 181 straight matches in high school and college. His only loss came in the last match of his college career.
M. CITRO, West Milford, N.J.

Forty-two greatest athletes of the century, and you couldn't find room for Jim Thorpe?
DAVID WUELLNER, Sedalia, Mo.

The Hokies Are No Joke
It would be difficult to find anyone who disagrees with Rick Reilly's assessment of the Bowl Championship Series process (THE LIFE OF REILLY, NOV. 29). I would remind him, however, that neither Virginia Tech nor its fans created this process. Reilly's comments about the school, fans and people of southwestern Virginia were mean-spirited.
JERRY GILMORE, Roanoke, Va.