Voice of the Fan

Sporting News, The, Nov 6, 2000

Choice voice

`It is written that there is a season for everything. When is the season for the Cubs to be in the World Series?'

--William Carsley, Chicago

Spare A-Rod

Are we ever going to hear the end of this nonsense about Alex Rodriguez (TSN, October 23)? Who cares what A-Rod does? He makes enough money where he is. Sure, he is a great player and contributes to his team. But where is his team now? Let the A-Rod thing run its come. Maybe if the media stops the pressure on him the Seattle fans will still have him next year. Free agency is the bane of major league baseball and seems to rule every time a player nears the end of his contract. If the media concentrated on the game itself instead of asking ridiculous questions and making comments during the game, real fans would appreciate it.

Dom Panzarella, Leominster, Mass.

Hands to remember

Your article on Cris Carter (TSN, October 30) takes me back to an Ohio State Football Camp I attended for quarterbacks and receivers in 1983. I remember coach Earle Bruce getting up in front of all of the campers and introducing the newest member of the Buckeyes from Middletown, Ohio. And what I remember most of all was not how big he was but how enormous his hands were.

Ron Huiss Athens, Ohio

What's a `patsy'?

How can a 1-5 Iowa football team be labeled a "patsy" (TSN, October 16) but bowl hopes for a 1-5 Colorado football team only be "dimmed" (TSN, October 23)? I don't understand.

John R. Van Nostrand, Greenfield, Iowa

Resist the Titans

You put Kurt Warner of the Rams on your cover (TSN, October 23) and then he goes out and breaks his finger and his team loses for the first time this year. Please don't put my favorite team (Tennessee Titans) on your cover-they can't afford the loss!

Jimmie D. Jones, New Braunfels, Texas

Heat for Roger

Mets catcher Mike Piazza wasn't the only person who thought Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens deserved a swift kick after his bat-throwing antics in Game 2 of the World Series.

"This year's overused new buzz word has got to be `intent,' "writes K.M. Treco of West Harrison, N.Y. "Roger Clemens had no "intent" on July 8th, when he nailed Mike Piazza. He had no "intent" of injuring Piazza with the pieces of a broken bat on October 22. I guess that makes everything OK! How come no one checked Roberto Alomar's "intent" in his incident with umpire John Hirschbeck? Each act was reprehensible, but Clemens gets the benefit of the doubt. He continually acts like a spoiled child and gets to hide behind the DH rule. The longer this type of behavior is tolerated, the sadder the state of the game becomes. I'm glad my son is only 4 years old and was in bed at the time the bat-tossing incident occurred. It would have been hard to explain that kind of poor sportsmanship."

Neither the heat-of-the-moment explanation nor any other is working for Bob Crump of Bensalem, Pa. After all, this is supposed to be a professional sport.

"I watched in disbelief at Rogers Clemens' blatant disregard for the health of a competitor when he threw the remains of the broken bat in the direction of Mike Piazza," Crump writes. "Clemens can call it emotion or whatever he wants, but it was a criminal act that could have caused serious damage. Emotion is fine, but one must control it or it becomes violence.

"And what was the umpire thinking, allowing Roger to return to the mound? He should be ostracized along with Clemens. I am neither a Yankees nor Mets fan; I am a baseball fan, and I do not condone this kind of action."

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