Letters

To be fair to PETA and its many supporters, you should have explained why the group asked the Phillies' Shane Victorino to stop eating Spam (PLAYERS, Oct. 27). A pig farm in Iowa that supplies to Hormel, the maker of Spam, was recently charged with cruel and inhumane treatment of many of its animals. Is it really a sign of the apocalypse to alert someone to the cruelty behind their favorite food?
Amy LeGrand, Keokuk, Iowa

Crean Rising

In trying to dig Indiana out of the hole that former coach Kelvin Sampson created in his two years there, Tom Crean has made all the right moves (Tom Crean's Big Red Challenge, Nov. 3). He has created excitement at a school where the team is picked to finish last. Indiana knows that it will be a tough couple of years, but for the first time since Bob Knight left in 2000, Hoosier Nation has embraced its new coach.
Brad Kamman, Vacaville, Calif.

Indiana, in about 18 months, has run off two basketball coaches, an athletic director and a university president. Its house spying, alumni posturing and clinging to the past make Indiana look like a program out of touch and out of control. You attempt to make the hiring of assistant coach Roshown McLeod, "an influential and well-connected figure in AAU circles," sound like a good thing. "Street agent" is more commonly used to describe that role. Good luck to Clean Crean, he's gonna need it.
Jeff Leatherock, Oklahoma City

Staph Infections

All athletes understand the need to sometimes keep injuries "under wraps" to prevent opponents from exploiting those injuries (POINT AFTER, Nov. 3). But methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections—virulent staph infections that have been affecting athletes and are potential public health threats—are a different story. As a physician and public health researcher, I have seen MRSA spread rapidly throughout a location and beyond. To benefit from available interventions, sports teams must inform public health officials when and where they have an MRSA problem.
Bruce Y. Lee, Pittsburgh

Intelligence Test

In a story about Brett Favre's phone conversation with then Lions G.M. Matt Millen (INSIDE THE NFL, Nov. 3), some players questioned the value of having inside information. But such information likely played a significant role in determining the outcome of a Super Bowl. Jon Gruden (right) left Oakland to coach Tampa Bay in 2002, and that season the Buccaneers faced the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII. To quote Tampa safety John Lynch from SI's game story (What a Steal!, Feb. 3, 2003): "I've never been involved in a game where everything we ran in practice played out so identically."
Dennis Brian Caulfield, New York City

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