19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

FAT CATS
Sir:
When I turned to the contents page of your Feb. 11 issue I was overjoyed to see there was a story on the New York Rangers (Dashing Through the Dough). So what do I find? A cartoon mocking the Rangers and a highly critical article that says they are paid a lot for doing nothing.

This is ridiculous. The Rangers are one of hockey's best teams. They have been in the playoffs seven years in a row. True, they have not won the Stanley Cup since 1940, but that is no excuse to write them off.

As for their fat payroll, if the club can afford it, fine. What about all those rookies who are making more than $100,000 because of the bidding war between the NHL and the WHA? If rookies who have not even proved themselves are worth that much, then good players are worth at least that much. I hope the Rangers win the cup this year just to show Mark Mulvoy that they are worth every cent they are paid.
ROGER PINCUS
Hightstown, N.J.

Sir:
As a beer-drinking hardhat who invests $5 some 41 times per season to watch the Cat's fat cats in "action," I appreciate your article. You have exposed the high-salaried Ranger players and their spendthrift management to sports fans everywhere. We New York fans are discontented because the return on our dollar is poor. The Rangers win fewer than half their games against top teams (witness their combined 2-3-1 Garden record against Montreal, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia) and seldom display their supposed talents against the weaker NHL teams.

Perhaps the greatest frustration is the realization that the Stanley Cup is beoming less and less of a possibility. The Ranger talents have been diminished by the years. It is time for Emile Francis to jettison his George Allen philosophy and make a commitment to youth. Montreal sacrificed one year to acquire young players, with excellent results. The Rangers have the nucleus of a Stanley Cup champion but the current team and organization will never win it.
ART KORZELIUS
Princeton, N.J.

Sir:
The article expressed a sentiment predominant among Ranger fans for quite some time. Although we give the Rangers more support than Mark Mulvoy does, the fact remains that they rarely show their worth. I was impressed by the caricatures.
JOHN A. HOFF JR.
Geneva, N.Y.

HONEY SHOTS
Sir:
Thank you very much for printing ABC Cameraman Andy Sidaris' views on girls at college football games (SCORECARD, Feb. 11). Now that Mr. Sidaris has all your male readers heading South to find attractive girls, those of us who are left here in the North this spring are going to have a good time when all of our girls take off that "lumberjack" cold-weather gear.
R. BRUCE MATTINGLY
Bowling Green, Ohio

Sir:
I would like to commend Andy Sidaris on picking the state of Alabama as his prime area for girl watching. Notre Dame might be No. 1 in football, but 'Bama and Auburn both outclass the Irish when it comes to belles.
RANDY JINKS
Haleyville, Ala.

Sir:
As a former Michigan State co-ed, now a resident of North Carolina, I feel obligated to defend my frozen sisters to the north.

If you took some of these so-called gorgeous Southern Belles out of the balmy 70� temperatures and put them in the 10� and lower temperatures that I experienced watching football games in East Lansing, they wouldn't be gorgeous for long.