Letters to the Editor
kevred
Published Letters: 96 Editor's Choice: 8
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The reason no one's talking about the Patriots here...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...is that they're incredibly boring.
They're a great team. Tons of talent, great organization and planning, and devilishly hard to keep up with, strategy-wise. They've been brought down to a more human level in the last few weeks, and the running-up-the-score and spygate bile has subsided.
But they're still boring. Philly and Baltimore made the last two weeks talk-worthy, not New England. Pittsburgh was supposed to this week, but didn't. In the absence of that, there's no talk about New England. The thesis kinda proves itself, doesn't it? I kid.
Thank goodness two teams with personality (Dallas and Green Bay) are the most likely candidates to meet the Pats in February (that is, if they get by Indy again). Even if the Pats win, at least there'll be a reason to tune in.
Rhetorical question: what's the likelihood of the Pats beating both Indianapolis and Dallas twice in one season?
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Who would want or defend this guy?
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First off, I think people like 3pointshooter should tone down the rhetoric a bit. Describing a 2-year (probably less) sentence for multiple felonies as "The Hanging Judge" is ridiculous. He's not getting hanged. He's getting a couple years in jail for multiple serious crimes.
And as far as "first time offenders" go--this isn't some college kid getting busted for a pot. He was the ringleader, funder and organizer of an illegal gambling operation and participated directly in the torture and killing of animals. That's one hell of a first offense, which he then repeatedly lied about.
But even with the NFL's taste for talent-at-all-costs, who would really want this guy? From a business standpoint, he's proven that he's willing to sell out the entire organization for personal gain, that he's willing to lie and put the careers of every one of his teammates in jeopardy for the sake of some gig on the side. He's shown that his own egotistical pursuits are worth embarrassing his bosses, his city, and everyone who ever supported him.
And even from an athletic standpoint, which seems to be a no-brainer to most people, he looks like bad news to me. This guy's had years to do something special, and yet the Falcons have never been more than an inconsistent, middling team with him. Results are always a team effort, of course, but I think his rep as a superstar is pretty hollow. It's like Peter King's bit on SI yesterday about celebrity coaches--people get fooled by the image when the cold, hard results are mediocre.
Testaverde--who for some reason got dragged into earlier comments just to be slagged--has always been, and still is, a better pure passer than Vick. Vick can run, but what good has it really done for the Falcons?
BenZee's earlier comment is probably the most likely outcome. Someone will give him a chance, and then we'll probably see a quick spiral back into obscurity.
If he can truly turn his life around and change his beliefs and priorities--in other words, redeem himself as a person--then more power to him for that. I certainly wouldn't wish on him a lifetime of failing to do that. But until then, his cost-benefit balance looks like a loser's game.
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@SLCPunk
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]SLCPunk, maybe I wasn't clear enough. I'm not concerned about cost-benefit myself, and am actually pretty dismayed at how much of life gets dragged into that type of judgment. My point was that, even for people who make decisions that way--namely, the people who run teams as businesses--it looks like a bad deal.
A lot of the prevailing talk seems to be, "teams would love to have Vick for his talent, if only there weren't these other issues". My thought is that even from that angle, it would be a bad business decision, especially with all the personal stuff added in.
So no irony intended, though I see how it could be read that way.
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@gttim
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If that's a Life Of Brian reference, I love it! "Whatever happened to the Popular Front, Reg?"
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Not so hard to blame Petrino
[Read the article: Labor war on drugs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Based on what I've read, I'm with the Falcons players in looking at Petrino's actions with a lot of disdain. It sounds like it wasn't so much an inherent disability due to being a college coach as it was simple inability to perform his duties and do what's fundamental in any leadership role: build relationships with and motivate your troops.
Add to that his outright lie to the team owner, his slinking-away-in-the-night with only a typed letter left on the players' lockers, and his incompetence all season long, and it doesn't seem so hard to blame this guy at all. It's one thing to want to leave, but to do a terrible job at your job and then bail out when times are toughest...cripes, even if you're going to quit, do it with some dignity and respect for those above and below you. It does look like they'll be instantly better off without him, but that shouldn't be an excuse for such behavior.
And the college that's hiring him presumably thinks it's somehow immune from ever receiving similar treatment from him...
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What about the stick-thin Broadsheet cartoon woman?
[Read the article: Lose pounds, pad your paycheck?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]After all this time, for some reason it was this story that made me realize how incredibly rail-thin is the cartoon image of a woman that accompanies the Broadsheet section of Salon.
What message is this sending and reinforcing with every reading of this page? And I'm not asking this in a snarky way--I'm serious. In one little image, you're suggesting an ideal of thin, white, and affluent.
Perhaps this section of Salon could put its core beliefs ahead of a whimsical aesthetic, and make a change to better visually reflect its seriousness?