19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

Sirs:
I do believe the only reason I subscribe to your magazine is to get my ulcers aggravated by your NFL-minded writer, Tex Maule. For eight years Tex has knocked the AFL from goalpost to sideline. Now that the AFL is in its ninth and probably greatest year, Tex has decided to bury his head in the sand as if we didn't exist. In six pages of script and photos there is not even one aside acknowledging the fact that the young AFL has potentially the greatest crop of future quarterback stars—and superstars—in the history of pro football.

A football writer can ignore acknowledged pros like Joe Namath, Daryle Lamonica, Len Dawson and John Hadl, but how can he overlook the potential greatness of the kids in the league—Bob Griese, John Stofa, Pete Beathard and our own Dan Darragh? I'm sure that if Tex had been writing football in the late 1940s, he would also have overlooked Otto Graham and Frankie Albert of the old All America Conference, which terrorized the NFL for years.

We in the AFL do not expect writers to go overboard for our league, our teams or our personnel, but we do expect that a knowledgeable football expert will occasionally glance in our direction and admit that we do have a football—and that there are a few people in the league who can move it!
RAY MERCER
Buffalo

Sirs:
How could you possibly publish an article purporting to feature the best young quarterbacks in pro football and nowhere mention Beathard, Griese, Namath or Lamonica?

With the exception of Tarkenton, the quarterbacks you tout as stars of the future are privates compared to the AFL's young generals.
ANGELO F. CONIGLIO
Amherst, N.Y.

Sirs:
Yes, Tex, there is an American Football League.
WAYNE A. ROZEN
Binghamton, N.Y.

TIGER IN THE TOWN
Sirs:
Although I enjoyed his article on football at LSU (A Big Night in a Li'l Ol' Town, Sept. 30) more than any I've ever read in SI, I feel that William Johnson enjoyed the game but not the town. Baton Rouge will never be a New Orleans, but it does have a fine night life, thanks to thousands of people who know how to enjoy themselves even when LSU isn't playing football. Of course, the spirit at an LSU game is the greatest in the world. The enthusiasm of the students is something no one will believe unless he sits in the student section. However, Governor McKeithen is not quite the hick Mr. Johnson made him out to be.
STEPHEN ROBBINS
Fort Hays, Kans.

Sirs:
Mere words can't describe the greatness of the LSU Tigers or express our feelings about them, but William Johnson gave it a pretty good try! Thanks.
LOUIS CAMPBELL
Baton Rouge

REPRISALS
Sirs:
I would like to commend you on your College Football Issue (Sept. 9). It gave a most accurate description of the season. A number of your readers seemed to disagree with your No. 1 pick of Purdue. After what the Boilermakers did to Notre Dame, I don't see how there can be any dispute.
DOUG CAVENDER
St. Albans, W. Va.

Sirs:
O.K., Dan Jenkins, what's the idea? Purdue came to our Notre Dame Stadium, played very well and beat us. Does this give you the right to malign the spirit, both past and present, of our school? You went out of your way to give one of the most deleterious reports of a game that I have ever read. The Notre Dame team put forth a commendable effort, not the kind that makes the reader feel that they didn't even belong on the field. The spirit of the students and friends of Notre Dame is the greatest of any school, anywhere, and it's certainly not to be ridiculed. Reprisals are in the offing, man!
DENNIS M. NIGRO
Notre Dame, Ind.