Letters to the Editor
Dan T.
Published Letters: 18 Editor's Choice: 5
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Hardly a "Trap"
[Read the article: "The Trap"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Okay, so I hate to sound like my father, but damn is it hard to shed too many tears for those who feel trapped not by starvation, poverty, or an oppressive government but rather by the fact that a well-paying job generally requires you to do things you wouldn't ordinarily be doing otherwise.
In fact, people who feel this way should consider themselves lucky that they at least have the choice of choosing an altruistic career at all, even if it means not having as much money as they'd like. The great majority of people in human history didn't have such a choice, I imagine.
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There's little more pathetic...
[Read the article: "40 Reasons Not to Have Children"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...than hearing or reading selfish people rationalize their selfishness. I'd have more respect for the "childless by choice" crowd if they'd just acknowledge that their self-absorbtion is so great that they'd rather just let the rest of us do the work of keeping humanity going while they reap the benefits of other people raising children (i.e. every time they interact with another person).
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King, Please Spare Us!
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mr. Kaufman, did we really need yet another sportswriter getting on his soapbox about Michael Vick?
You're the one guy I was hoping would come up with something a little more nuanced than today's judgmental and sanctimonious column.
I mean, we get it. Dogfighting is not a good idea on any level. Salon's bourgeois readership hardly needs to be reminded of this - none of us have any inclination or opportunity to participate anyway.
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King is right...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...about the kids deserving to be paid.
I mean, if a Hollywood studio had hired the same children to be actors in a TV show, they certainly could not get away with calling their program "amatuer" and broadcasting their efforts on commercial television without compensating the kids. So why are children who entertain adults by playing sports any different?
I hate to get into the whole "something's wrong with our society" train of thought but damn if there's not something a little messed up with exploiting young kids for the entertainment of adult viewers and for the enrichment of adult businessmen.
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Cruelty
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First off, let me say that I agree with the majority here that Vick's taste for violent entertainment and lack of empathy for animals is truly sickening. He should be sent to Gitmo for life.
But enough talk of cruelty and violent sporting contests. It's almost football season, and I can't wait to watch guys knock the crap out of each other while I dig into some veal parmesan!
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Moviegoers want to have it both ways
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It seems that there exists an easy way to improve the moviegoing experience: someone should start a chain of theaters that charge higher prices, and use the extra revenue to provide better picture and sound quality, concessions, and hire better employees.
If a theater charged more it would also tend to weed out younger and less refined people and thus create a more polite audience.
However, the same people who complain about rude audiences and lousy theaters are quick to also complain that a couple of hours of high-quality entertainment is not worth $9.50. Very odd, in my opinion.
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Does anybody else have this superstition?
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In college basketball, if my team (the UNC Tar Heels) are doing poorly in an important game, I'll often turn the TV off for about five minutes. Then when I turn it back on, the Heels have more often than not made a bit of a run and gotten back into the game. (If not, I turn the TV off again for a few minutes). This also seems to work in reverse for Duke games - if they're winning big, turning off the set seems to make it likely that they'll falter a little.
Of course, it must be noted that all sports fans are superstitous - we all hold this irrational belief that if we think real hard during the course of a game, we can improve the performance of our team. We call this ritual "rooting" or "pulling".
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The problem with preseason...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...is not that it takes place. There's no doubt that having a few dress rehersals makes the regular season work more smoothly, not just from the point of view of the players but also the coaches, refs, stadium personell, TV networks, and so forth.
The problem is that if you want to own season tickets for a team, you are forced to buy two preseason games at the same price as the regular season games. The NFL literally charges its season ticket holders 25% more than what the eight regular season games would cost if you bought them individually.
If you ask me, this is an abuse of the NFL's legalized monopoly status and should be ended. The gov't should demand that either preseason games not be included with the season ticket package or at the very least be discounted by at least 50% of the current ticket face value.
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The Denial of Football Fans
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I love football, but my fellow fans (and writers) annoy me at times. The Everett situation is one of those times.
I wish we'd all just admit that we like seeing people inflict violence upon each other and that we just don't care that it will lead to injuries. But instead we employ the tool of denial, since we've found that as long as we all agree that injuries are terrible and Really Put Things In Perspective it keeps us from dwelling too much on the fact that guys like Everett are literally breaking their necks in exchange for our money.
Then the teams line up for the next play and we go back to hoping the guys in our city's uniforms knock the crap out of the guys in the other city's uniforms.