Letters

Shiny Tim

Tim Tebow, who picked apart the Alabama defense (Comeback Gators, Dec. 15), should have been the choice for the Heisman Trophy. Oklahoma's Sam Bradford has two great running backs. Tim Tebow is a great running back. He carries his team every game with his arm and his legs, and he is a leader.
Austin Christopher Asbury, Bel Air, Md.

Snap Judgments

I'm a high school football coach who likes to use pictures of athletes to show proper, or improper, technique. Your Dec. 15 issue had several good ones: On pages 34--35 Florida receiver David Nelson makes a perfectly formed triangle while catching a touchdown pass, and on the next page Tim Tebow shows how to hold a football high and tight. But the most instructive illustration leads off your story on Northern State basketball coach Don Meyer (The Game of His Life, Dec. 15), who lost part of his leg in a car accident and is now battling cancer. Every player and assistant is looking directly at Coach Meyer, making it obvious that people at Northern State have the utmost respect for him and the lessons that he is trying to teach.
Tim Pruitt, Boone, N.C.

A Higher Court

I thought Baron Davis's return to L.A. was supposed to be a homecoming that would raise his profile as an NBA player, not as a political activist (Point of Contention, Dec. 15). Just a few years ago he was one of my favorite players on the Warriors; I will never forget the excitement of their 2007 playoff upset of the Dallas Mavericks, when every Golden State fan wore those yellow WE BELIEVE shirts. Now Davis has simply become a member of that other team in L.A., and he seems to have lost interest in the Clippers' playoff aspirations.
Sam Bachelder, Wenham, Mass.

Some argue that Davis should drop his outside interests and focus solely on basketball. But if he did, would the possible marginal benefit to his game (and the chance that the Clippers might actually make the playoffs) outweigh the benefits of his documentary work or his assistance to those living in inner-city Los Angeles? Would Mr. Davis and society in general really be better off if he became a one-dimensional knucklehead hoopster?
Brad Cleveringa, Palo Alto, Calif.

It's a long shot, but am I the first to predict a President Baron Davis?
Ryan Donahue, Whitewater, Wis.

Born to Run?

Parents may hope to learn which sport their child can excel at, but the only thing that paying $149 to have a kid tested for the ACTN3 polymorphism will accomplish is the swelling of Kevin Reilly's bank account (POINT AFTER, Dec. 15). Studies of genetic polymorphisms generally ignore the effect of the rest of the genes as well as any potential environmental influences such as diet, training and opportunities.
Elizabeth T. Jacobs, Tucson