Letters

Mounting Brackets
My friend's dog, Whiz, picks brackets ( NCAA TOURNAMENT PREVIEW, March 18) by choosing a piece of popcorn placed in front of each team Whiz fared considerably better than your experts in Round 1 of the tournament. Perhaps next year you should use popcorn.
KEN LEGG, Wellesley, Mass.

I love your magazine, but every March I am disappointed by the way you ignore the women's NCAAs. The men's tournament received 12 pages of coverage, including a report rating each team, while the women got only an article on Oklahoma and a blurb about UConn. It may not seem like major news that Indiana made the Big Dance this year, but for the Hoosiers' women's team it's a rare feat. Indiana won its last six games, including wins over conference power Minnesota and a miraculous run to the Big Ten tournament tide with victories over Iowa, Purdue and Penn State. SI didn't even have a women's bracket so fans could see their teams' names on the dance floor.
CHRISTOPHER SCHNEBERGER, Chicago

Burnin' Rubber
Your article on Sterling Marlin (Just Racin', March 18) was the umpteenth source that mentioned how Marlin's repair job under the red flag at Daytona cost him the race. Wake up and smell the tires burning. Every 10-year-old race fan knows no one is allowed to work on a car under the red. Marlin had the choice of leaving his car as it was, thus cutting a tire and finishing last, or being penalized and finishing in the top 10. Marlin was obviously smart enough to do the math, which is why he is the NASCAR points leader.
JEFF HIGH, Northfield, Minn.

Parallel Olympians
One photograph of a lone Paralympian (LEADING OFF, March 18)? You should have devoted an entire issue to coverage of these remarkable athletes.
KELLYE M. CAMPBELL, Seattle

Son Shine
Jeff Pearlman's article on Sean Burroughs (My, How He's Grown, March 18) was refreshing. I watched Sean pitch in the Little League World Series when I was eight. He was exactly the type of ballplayer that every Little Leaguer strives to be. It's nice to see that Sean has progressed into a major league talent and, more important, a quality adult. No matter how his major league career unfolds, Sean will be a baseball player that many of us have looked up to for quite some time.
TYLER LAPPETITO, Plymouth, N.H.

Short Shrift
Your article on short players in the NHL (Small Wonders, March 18) was like your hockey coverage: short. When allowed, your hockey writers give us the best information about these tough and humble athletes. Tell us more about the NHL and less about Kobemania.
MARK LILIENTHAL
Middlebury, Vt.

Beating a Tattoo
Bernard Hopkins says he's willing to have a paid ad tattooed on his forehead (SCORECARD, March 18). I say go for it. Here's the perfect sponsor: Target.
DAVE IVEY, Arlington, Texas

Coyote Ugly
Congrats to Jeff MacGregor (It's a Dog-Eat-Dog World, March 11) for an immensely readable piece on the SoCal coyote hunt. It's not often you get the chance to read an article that holds up human folly to ridicule in such a satisfying way.
JAMES MANGAN, San Antonio

I wait all week for my favorite magazine in the world, and I get an article on Scoo-by Doo chasing Wile E. Coyote all over the California hillsides while billionaires ride Mr. Ed. I can't wait till my issue of Horse & Hound comes and I read that article on how Shaq is dominating the NBA.
DANNY HOLBROOK, Belle Center, Ohio

Getting Along Swimmingly
Your swimsuit issue (Winter 2002) proves that swimsuit modeling is not a sport—as debated in the Feb. 11 SCORE-CARD. Athletes know to keep their eye on the ball, but stickball player Elsa Benitez sure isn't looking at the ball whizzing by her head. And how is she going to run in those shoes?
MARCI SATHER, Greendale, Wis.