19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

CATCHING KELLY
Sir:
Thanks to Rick Telander for the excellent article on New Jersey Generals quarterback Jim Kelly (Life With Lord Jim, July 21). Although I'm not an avid supporter of the USFL, there is no doubt in my mind that Kelly is the best quarterback in any pro league. His great ability, combined with the wide-open run-and-shoot offense, has created nonstop excitement for fans like me who love those 500-yard passing games. Watching him pick apart defenses and ring up points is seeing football at its best—regardless of league.
CHRIS PATTERSON
Spartanburg, S.C.

Sir:
Kelly in the same class as Dan Fouts and Dan Marino? Surely you jest. How can you compare a man who has never played a down of real professional football with the NFL's best?

While playing in the USFL, Kelly has gotten his big passing statistics by throwing through secondaries routinely dissected by former NFL players like Cliff Stoudt. Fouts and Marino meanwhile have had to throw through the likes of Mike Haynes, Lester Hayes and Ronnie Lott.

Granted, passing for 5,000 yards is quite an achievement in any league, but let's not forget the dramatic impact that the last member of the 5,000-yard club—CFL variety—has had on the NFL. Has anyone heard Warren Moon being compared with the NFL's best lately?
JOSEPH LANZISERA
Wappingers Falls, N.Y.

Sir:
I agree that Kelly is a good quarterback. But if he thinks the Generals can score 35 points against the Chicago Bears, he has been in the USFL too long.
JOHN E. WHITE
Michigan City, Ind.

Sir:
Isn't it interesting that Kelly and three of the great quarterbacks he is compared with—Dan Marino, Joe Montana and Joe Namath—all grew up within a radius of some 35 miles in western Pennsylvania?
BRIAN RODENBECK
Beaver Falls, Pa.

Sir:
Kelly was right when he said, "Buffalo needs more than me, more than a quarterback," but how are teams supposed to rebuild when players like Kelly are interested only in money and playing on teams that are proven winners?

Getting Kelly in a Bills uniform would be a step toward respectability for a franchise and a city that are badly in need of a new beginning. Come on, Jim, why don't you climb down off your high horse and get out of that pickup league and help us recapture our championship ways.
GERARD CATALANO
Buffalo

MACKER ATTACKER
Sir:
The SCORECARD item (July 21) on Larry Isenhoff's objections to the Gus Macker Basketball Tournament should have been filed in the WHY EVEN PRINT IT? receptacle. Not only are this man's views detrimental to sports in general, but his blatant bigotry toward blacks is downright disturbing. If nothing else, he is, to use his own words, "as irritating as a...drip, drip, drip."
ALLAN J. HERAUF
Portland, Ore.

Sir:
I'm sure glad Massa Isenhoff doesn't get annoyed by barking dogs, loud cars, chirping birds and various other noises of the outdoors. Lucky for him that he found only a "spear chucker" in his flower bed, because if it had been a bumble bee it undoubtedly would have stung him on his red neck!
MICHAEL D. KORNEMANN
Madison, Wis.