19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

Sir:
In regard to SI's cover photo on the NFL strike (Sept. 27), I would like to know what particular empty stadium has the deflated football in it.
JAY OSCHE
Cabot, Pa.

?The picture was taken at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium three hours after the Steelers-Bengals game of Sept. 19. Heinz Kluetmeier, the photographer, had some difficulty acquiring the principal prop. Says Kluetmeier: "The Steelers' p.r. director, Joe Gordon, and I went looking for a football, but the stadium was pretty empty and no one had a key to the equipment room. So we searched lockers, coaches' offices, stacks of boxes, but we couldn't find a single football. Finally, we came across an old game ball in Chairman of the Board Art Rooney's office. It was already partly deflated, but I used a paper clip to let out more air, and took the picture." That "old game ball" on SI's cover was from Super Bowl X, in which Pittsburgh defeated Dallas 21-17 on Jan. 18, 1976.—ED.

SEAT BELTS
Sir:
I enjoyed the cover and Jack McCallum's story on the Penn State-Nebraska game (O.K., Time to Fasten Those Seat Belts, Oct. 4) but he didn't mention that Todd Blackledge is a Phi Beta Kappa and may pass up his last year of eligibility if he is awarded a Rhodes scholarship.
FRED R. HUHN
Weatherly, Pa.

Sir:
Northwestern finally wins a game, and you put a Penn State player on the cover? What does Northwestern have to do, anyway?
BILL SUPHAN
Scottsdale, Ariz.

NAME CALLING
Sir:
After reading N. Brooks Clark's review of Ray Franks's book on college nicknames (BOOKTALK, Oct. 4), I feel I can contribute another version regarding the origin of the tag Hoosier.

In the fifth grade, while preparing a report on Indiana, I came across some information from the state's Chamber of Commerce. It stated that in the 1800s, when a visitor knocked on the door of a settler, the occupant would inquire "Who's there?" which sounded like "Hoosier" when the farmer wasn't particularly drilled on pronunciation.
ERIC HANDLER
Gettysburg, Pa.

Sir:
In the BOOKTALK in your Oct. 4 issue, you asked the question, "Just what is a Crimson Tide, anyway?"

When I was an Alabama undergraduate in the early '20s, Tulane had a very strong football team called, then as now, the Green Wave. As I recall, after a victory by Alabama, a Birmingham sportswriter wrote: "Saturday the Green Wave of Tulane was completely engulfed by a tide of crimson-clad warriors."

You might also be interested in the nickname Million Dollar Band for the Alabama band that plays during halftime. During a game that the football team didn't play well, a sportswriter wrote: "While the football team did not look very good, the band looked like a million dollars."
JACK CRENSHAW
Montgomery, Ala.

HORSE SENSE
Sir:
Thank you for your article on Melanie Smith (A Jump Ahead of Everyone Else, Oct. 4). I've been reading SPORTS ILLUSTRATED for several years now and am happy finally to see an article on equestrian sports. There's more to the sports world than baseball, football, basketball and tennis.
COLLEEN JOHNSON
Barboursville, W. Va.