Letters

PREFERRED SPORT
What a relief! I was a closet baseball hater and was afraid to admit it; that is, until I read Rick Reilly's POINT AFTER (Aug. 29). Now I can 'fess up and not feel guilty. I've always wondered why I could watch any football game—teams that I didn't even care about—and enjoy the action and excitement, but had to struggle to keep awake through a World Series game. The only action in baseball that gives me a little thrill is a pitchout when no one is running.
CHARLES McDERMOTT
Claremont, N.H.

I would sell my soul for Redskins season tickets, but I could never get excited about baseball. For years I thought something was wrong with me. Nobody hates baseball. I feared that I would begin to hate apple pie and then mom, and that, finally, I would declare myself a Godless Communist and burn the American flag. But today I can stand up and say, "Baseball is just plain boring." I don't feel an ounce of guilt.
BRIGID KERRIGAN
Great Falls, Va.

Everybody has this misconception about baseball being such a great game. I can watch a morning game of football on NBC, tune in an afternoon game on CBS, then watch the 5 p.m. game on ESPN and still be hungry for more football. Yet I can't sit through more than three innings of an Atlanta Braves game on TBS, let alone a Saturday double-header on NBC. Hats off to Rick Reilly!
LANCE HEMMERT
Spokane

If football is so great, why do the last two minutes of a game take 20 minutes? Sure a "60-yard diving-catch touchdown bomb" is exciting, but is it any more exciting than Kirby Puckett going up and over the wall to save a ball hit 410 feet? Or Carlton Fisk landing on people in the first two rows to catch a pop-up? You can have football.
THOMAS P. BLEAKNEY
South Weymouth, Mass.

After watching the Mariners recently lose a doubleheader in which victory was but one strike away in the first game and two outs away in the second, I thought about Rick Reilly's comments regarding the superiority of football over baseball. Had these been football games, the pitcher on the mound would have fallen on the ball in the ninth inning and let the clock run out, preserving a sweep. Nap Aid II.
ROBERT W. TEGEDER JR.
Renton, Wash.

John Elway has a great arm, but would you rather have to catch an Elway pass or a Nolan Ryan fastball? I haven't heard of a third-quarter stretch—but I have heard of halftime. At football games, they need cheerleaders and bands to keep the fans' attention.
CRAIG THOMAS
Port Clinton, Ohio

The last three Super Bowls were boring blowouts, uninteresting even to partisan fans. The last three World Series matchups were seven-game thrilling affairs. Furthermore, how many baseball players do you know of who have been crippled for life by the game? Now how 'bout football?
JAY GRIMM JR.
New York City

Rick Reilly overlooked the most exciting sport of all: basketball.
DAN MILEWSKI
Bryn Mawr, Pa.

BIDWILL'S BID
Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill and the city of Phoenix deserve each other (One Touchy Love Affair, Aug. 22). Both are self-centered and arrogant. The Cardinals of Phoenix will probably be just as lousy as the Cardinals of St. Louis, despite the contributions of fine men like coach Gene Stallings and linebacker Ricky Hunley. Obviously, the fault lies in the ownership. The Bidwills and Irsays of the world think they can somehow manufacture wins by relocating—by turning their backs on the fans who truly make the game.

The people of St. Louis aren't stupid. They didn't want a losing team, and neither do we. I'm glad the team decided to name itself the Phoenix Cardinals instead of the Arizona Cardinals. I want no part of it.
RANDALL K. SMITH
Tucson