Sirs:
At last, a factual report of the Benny Paret tragedy that did not contain
boxing's epitaph also (The Deadly Insult, April 2; SCORECARD, April 9). Kipling
might have written: "If you can keep your head when all about you are
losing theirs and blaming it on Goldstein ...." Most boxing fans feel awful
about Benny's death, but few have the courage to say they are still fans in the
face of such universal attacks from self-appointed experts.
THE REV. LEWIS P. BOHLER JR.
Los Angeles
Sirs:
In your February 5 issue Dr. Giuseppe La Cava was quoted as saying that he
would like to see fighting revert back to the old bareknuckle days. I agree
with him and would like to see you prove or disprove the point (as you did with
the fiber-glass pole). Also, I believe fighters are most apt to be injured when
they cannot give or roll with a punch. Therefore, when a fighter is being
belted while against or through the strands of the ring ropes, the referee
should stop the fight and rule it a knockdown with a mandatory eight count. I
think many referees delay their decision when a fighter is against the ropes
because stopping it would mean the end of the fight.
JAMES E. O'BRIEN
Elmhurst, Ill.
WHERE'S ROVER?
Sirs:
In a recent article by Robert Cantwell (Show Dogs' Names Shouldn't Happen to a
Dog, February 12) attention was called to the fact that good old-fashioned
names have disappeared from the American show ring. I noted that in the 19TH
HOLE (February 26) readers commented under the head "Here, Fido." Well,
here indeed is Fido, a champion who won the Northern California Dalmatian
Specialty at the Golden Gate Kennel Club Show in San Francisco on January
20.
THOMAS P. E. ROTHCHILD, M.D.
San Jose, Calif.
FLYING SNIPES
Sirs:
With reference to the boating article entitled Voices from the Wings (March
26), my patience for several months has been growing thin over your failure to
do justice to the Snipe class. It finally snapped when I read that the Flying
Dutchman races drew "the most thoroughly international small-boat flotilla
ever seen in the U.S." There were 18 countries represented in the Snipe
races on Long Island Sound September 16-22.
ROBERT F. BIGHAM
Cincinnati
Sirs:
Your Art Zich did a fine job on the Flying Dutchman, but how about giving some
credit to The Skipper's Assistant Managing Editor Hugh Whall who dug out the
information about the Russian cup plans?
VICTOR JORGENSEN
Managing Editor
Annapolis, Md.
?SPORTS
ILLUSTRATED regrets the inadvertent omission of credit to Writer Whall, whose
help was invaluable.—ED.
SPIRIT OF 76
Sirs:
Seventy-six trombones for the big parade is what we had in Bloomsburg for the
NAIA wrestling champs. You had 76 pages of sports coverage and failed to give
one line to a national champ. Thanks 76 times!
CHICK NESPOLI
Bloomsburg, Pa.
SWEDEN SOUR
Sirs:
Your article entitled "Rough Is Not Dirty" (SCORECARD, March 26) is
typical of the bias everyone holds toward Canada in world amateur hockey
circles. Swedes, for instance, have for some time referred to Canadian
pucksters as "murderers." Lloyd Roubell's rebuttal that hockey is a
game "for men, not boys" was quite justified in the face of the Swedish
cry-babying.
As for your
remark that the Canada team included "a re-amateurized ex-Black Hawk,"
one can't help but notice the name Meserve on the American roster. Meserve was
a pro footballer before he turned to hockey—and in Canada, of all places. Since
his assistance to the American team was of dubious value, however, his
"re-amateurization" was not mentioned. Likewise, since Canada gave the
U.S. a 6-1 drubbing, any criticism of Canadian hockey by you can only be termed
sour grapes.
PAUL JONES
Windsor, Ont.
Sirs:
Do we tell you Yanks how to play baseball?
TERRY PYE
Montreal
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