Letters

Boiling Point

In the college preview issue, one of your regional covers featured Notre Dame's men's and women's programs. I would have gone with another school from the state of Indiana. You had the Purdue men ranked ahead of Notre Dame, and then there's the Boilermaker women, who are getting no media respect but are contenders in the Big Ten.
Andy Fix, Shelbyville, Ind.

Wow! You guys are getting really good. North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough actually got hurt before he appeared on one of your covers (College Basketball Preview, Nov. 17). Does the jinx have ESP?
Pam Bordsen, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Crossing Jordan

Your no-holds-barred portrayal of Michael Jordan's "hands-off" approach to the Charlotte Bobcats (Charlotte's Web, Nov. 17) was refreshing. In this era of sports hero worship, few have the courage to be frank about such legendary figures. You mentioned that Jordan still harbors a grudge from a 1994 magazine cover line about his baseball career; it sounds like the chance of him granting an interview in the near future may be as unlikely as his being a daily presence at the Bobcats practices.
M. Alan Bagden, McLean, Va.

Jordan's time with the Bobcats reminds me of efforts by Kevin McHale, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas, and the NFL's Matt Millen, to try to run a team. Apparently, it is one thing to have talent; it is quite another to recognize it in someone else.
Mike Perricone, Amityville, N.Y.

While the temptation is to focus all the blame for the Bobcats' woes on the narcissistic Jordan, he is only one third of the problem. Charlotte is also plagued by an owner who would rather conduct other business and a head coach who can't tell his players apart. As for NBA commissioner David Stern's rosy analysis that Jordan is "deeply engaged" in the Bobcats, that phrase might work better as a description of Jordan in the rough at Torrey Pines.
Karl Zack, San Diego

Closing Costs

In writing about how the foreclosure crisis has affected one high school football team (PLAYERS, Nov. 17), Lee Jenkins says that "an overeager mortgage lender" convinced Chaparral coach Tommy Leach and his wife that they could put nothing down and still afford the payments on a $500,000 house. He also says that three of the team's would-be starters' families also lost their homes to foreclosure and had to move. Were these mortgages forced upon these people at gunpoint? I'm 49 years old and remember when failing to repay debts was not a cause for group consciousness-raising. It was a private shame.
Kevin Dillon, Houston

Saving Face Mask