19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

TOUGH SKEDDING
Sir:
Go ahead and give Joe Paterno a medal for Penn State's 1981 football schedule (SCORECARD, June 11), but pin one on Warren Powers of Missouri, too. Mizzou's typically tough 1978 schedule included Nebraska, Notre Dame and Alabama ( Penn State's 1981 opponents), with Oklahoma thrown in for good measure. By the way, Penn State's 1981 schedule also finds the Nittany Lions playing Missouri. Tough schedule, Joe.
MARY HEMMINGER
Columbia, Mo.

Sir:
Because Alabama has an easy football schedule this year, do you suppose the wire services will keep the Tide out of the No. 1 spot, as they did Penn State all those years because of the Lions' weak schedule?
P. L. SAGAMANG
Claremont, Calif.

Sir:
Your SCORECARD piece was little more than biased rubbish. You state that Alabama has "adroitly avoided" Southern Cal and Nebraska—against which Alabama is 2-2 and 3-2, respectively, in recent years—as if the athletic directors of these schools had begged Bear Bryant for games in 1979 but had been stubbornly refused. Why not state that Southern Cal and Nebraska have adroitly avoided Alabama? You later add that Alabama "doesn't even meet Georgia," while omitting the fact that the Crimson Tide does play, among other SEC schools, Auburn, Tennessee and LSU, all of which should be better than Georgia this fall.

You conclude by looking a mere three years into the future to sing the praises of Joe Paterno for his tough 1981 schedule, completely overlooking the fact that Alabama played Nebraska, Southern Cal, Missouri and Washington last year, in addition to a tough SEC schedule. It didn't earn Bear Bryant a medal of honor, but it did win him the national championship.
MICHAEL A. ROBINSON
Savoy, Ill.