19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

VIEW FROM THE HILL
Sirs:
Your article, France Has a Picnic in Vermont (March 28), was cleverly written, but it did not touch the most significant aspects of the races. When the French, the Swiss or the Austrian skiers have their national championships, competition is restricted to the nationals of the respective countries. In this way the national champions get the recognition, publicity and acclaim they deserve. The Name used to be true of our national championships, except that those countries, like Canada, that granted reciprocal privileges, could enter our championships and win the titles. Recently, however, the U.S. Ski Association changed the rules to permit foreign skiers to run in our nationals despite the ban on American entrants in the similar European events.

I think our American boys and girls deserve the spotlight to themselves when they win a national championship. They should get the honor and acclaim and publicity which they deserve, not he relegated to the also-ran class. Not only is this right and just, but also it stimulates younger, rising competitors to strive for similar honors.
ROLAND PALMEDO
New York City

Sirs:
For too long there has been an ad agency tone to just about everything written concerning American competitive skiing. Thanks to Dan Jenkins for seeing through the clouds and writing something enjoyable and, most of all, believable. For a change someone has maintained a perspective that places us in a realistic position vis-�-vis the Europeans and the Canadians.
DWIGHT W. SMITH
San Francisco

WAVE LENGTHS
Sirs:
Your article, A Stadium Inside a Studio (March 28), could do with some amplification. It treats Gordon McLendon in an almost posthumous way, not even telling whether he is still alive. I happen to know that McLendon is every bit as active as he was during the days of the Liberty Broadcasting System, and I dare say he is even more successful. He is 44, owner of a nationwide chain of radio stations, theaters and has man) international interests in both real estate and oil. While he no longer does sportscasting, he still editorializes over all his own radio stations. I saw him in Chicago the other day. One remark that he made should be of more than passing interest. "Now that both Liberty and Mutual are out of the game-of-the-day business." he said to me. "I think there's room for a brand-new game-of-the-day network."
JAY J. G. SCHATZ
Chicago

Sirs:
Lindsey Nelson's recollections of the baseball broadcasts on Gordon McLendon's Liberty network reminded me of what might have been Gordon's first baseball broadcast. As a member of an Armed Forces Radio Service team building GI stations in the Pacific, I broadcast some Softball games on WVTY at the giant fleet anchorage of Ulithi. I went on to Peleliu in the Palau Islands and later had a letter from the Ulithi program people telling me how Gordon McLendon, then an intelligence officer in the Navy, had showed up one day offering to do a game. Their opinion was that he was sensational.
GORDON PHILLIPS
Los Angeles

Sirs:
I am reminded of an earlier artist of this type of broadcasting—the late Johnny Neblett, who was the announcer for the Columbus, Ohio Red Birds on radio station WBNS around 1936 and 1937. Sportswriters decried his license—he would turn an ordinary pop fly into a thriller where three fielders ran into each other and were knocked breathless in their superb effort to save that ball from being a home run! The writers said they couldn't write such dramatic accounts, because "It just ain't so!" But Red Bird fans, especially the ladies, who adored Johnny, defended him fiercely. His account was what they wanted to hear. Studio parties were held where Ladies' Day crowds sat and watched him read the tape and then come out with his dramatic play-by-play. Sometimes ladies in the studio were invited to announce an inning, and they, too, would try to make it sound exciting.

Partly because we had such an outstanding American Association team in those years and partly because Johnny made the Red Buds sound a little better than they were, the sport fan's day was made a little brighter.
ROSEMARY SPRAGUE
Fayetteville, N.C.

FRIED SCALLOPS
Sirs:
As one very concerned about the increasing number of shanty towns that are making their dingy appearance along most of our country's once-beautiful shores, it did my morale good to read Pamela Knight's article on the work Landscape Architect Lawrence Halprin is doing in California (Shelters on a Scalloped Shore, March 28). SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is doing a commendable job of informing the public concerning advances in conservation.
DAVID H. BREMER II
Allentown, Pa.

Sirs:
Instead of cluttering the pages of your magazine with the stupid results of the NBA season, you gave an account of that grand old sport of shelter-building (scalloped shore division). Now let's see a special on another much neglected sport: knitting!
STANLEY S. PAIST
Glenside, Pa.

SPARKPLUG
Sirs:
The outstanding feature of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is its line staff of writers and photographers who can add that spark of fire and drama that would make even a knitting contest interesting. Given a story like Texas Western's win over Kentucky in the NCAA finals well, the way I rank Deford handled it was terrific (do-do with Bobby Joe, March 28).