19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER

FINGER ON THE ODDS
Sirs:
We in CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) will be the first to admit that our resolution asking the communications media not to mention specific point spreads on college games is not the solution to the gambling scandals (SCORE-CARD, Aug. 14).

But like the boy who put his finger into the hole in the dike, we feel that we have made a start in our campaign to make it more difficult for the gamblers.
FRANK W. SOLTYS
President, CoSIDA
Tucson, Ariz.

Sirs:
Point spreads are not for fans. They are for gamblers, whether they be occasional, habitual, determined, small-time, big-time or just plain crooked. College athletics would be better off without such influences. I cast my ballot with the college press agents—excuse me, information directors.
RICHARD P. McCAULEY
Baltimore

Sirs:
It is ridiculous to censor any kind of sports news, be it the opinion of some expert on a football game or the prevailing odds. Your magazine has always approached the gambling situation realistically.
TOM MAGUIRE
New Orleans

BROSNAN AND THE BUMS
Sirs:
"Nobody likes the Dodgers" (Aug. 14)! Is that why they have the largest season attendance?
GRAYCE DU BOURDIEU
Long Beach, Calif.

Sirs:
You put the Dodgers in their place.
DICK POSNER
Los Angeles

Sirs:
They play to win and that's not dirty.
WALTER R. STEIN
Highland Park, Ill.

Sirs:
Memo to Brosnan: Remember Bill Terry?
HILLER HESDORFFER
Monroe, La.

Sirs:
Please ask Jim Brosnan to write another article about the time Vada Pinson ran over Roger Craig early in the 1960 season and broke Craig's collarbone.
LEW JONES
Allentown, Pa.

Sirs:
While they ridicule and exaggerate, there is a great deal of truth in the views expressed by both Brosnan and James Murray (The Great Coliseum Murder Mystery, Aug. 14).
BOB BLAKELY
Bloomington, Ind.

LOWELL AND THE LADIES
Sirs:
We enjoyed the pictures in your August 7 issue of two of the most attractive members of our Quaker Hill Country Club. However, Edith (Mrs. Clifford) Smith is afraid some people will get the impression that she was looking for her own golf ball in the rough instead of someone else's. And we don't want people to think that Lowell Thomas wasn't with us at least part of the time on Ladies' Day. He played a round of golf with our club pro, MacGregor Jessamin, then was our gracious host at lunch and arranged for a wonderful exhibition afterward by Joe Kirkwood Jr.
MRS. WILLIAM C. McLAUGHLIN
Pawling, N.Y.

TOUGH TEST
SO PAUL BROWN GIVES INTELLIGENCE TESTS TO HIS FOOTBALL PLAYERS (Scorecard, Aug. 7). SAMPLE QUESTION: "IF SEQUENCE OF NUMBERS IS 4, 6, 3, 7, 9, 6, 10, WHAT IS NEXT NUMBER?" SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME. APPARENTLY NONE OF MY FIVE HIGH-SCHOOL-GRADUATE FRIENDS WOULD MAKE HIS TEAM AS THEY HAVE COME UP WITH THREE DIFFERENT ANSWERS.
JOHN R. WATSON
Healdsburg, Calif.

Sirs:
Is 12 the next number in the sequence?
JERRY TURNER
Monticello, Ill.

•Yes.—ED.

FOOD OF CHAMPIONS
Sirs:
One week you tell us some big football hero lives on nothing but steak, then along comes Murray Rose (Seaweed, Speed and Sunflower Seed, Aug. 14), who never ate meat in his life. How is a guy supposed to know what to do?
DEAN GOETZ
New York City

Sirs:
A good insight into the philosophy and life of a world champion.
LOUIS E. MUENTER
Fond du Lac, Wis.

Sirs:
The most remarkable thing about this great athlete is his uncanny sense of pace. In the 440-yard freestyle at the NCAA meet in Seattle, Rose allowed his opponents to take the lead in the first 100 yards and then clicked off 100s of 59.8, 59.6, 59.5 and sprinted to a new NCAA and American record (4:17.9).
HOWARD THAYER
Long Beach, Calif.

COOPERATIVE CHAMPION
Sirs:
The article Queen of Knights and Pawns (Aug. 7) is terrific, and both you and Chess Champion Lisa Lane are to be congratulated: you for such detailed and objective reporting, and she for having cooperated with you to an extent which made such a complete and sympathetic presentation possible.
FRED M. WREN
Perry, Maine

VIRTUOUS TV
Sirs:
I am continually upset when viewing a sporting event on television to see the cameramen turn away from some incident occurring on the field as in the example you recently pictured at Yankee Stadium (Cubans, Cops and a Shy TV, July 17).

Having attended games where youngsters run out on the playing field and seeing the enjoyment this causes spectators, it concerns me when I realize the various commissioners have a ruling against showing this on television.

Why?
HOWARD N. KING
York, Pa.

Sirs:
Perhaps it is obvious, but just in case it isn't, we here at Yankee Stadium have been trying to stop raucous youngsters from going onto the field and demonstrating on their own. For two or three years they were convinced they were getting on television and were showing off just because of this television appearance.

We stopped the photographing of people running onto the field some time ago for the simple reason that if these extroverts realize they are not being seen on television they may be less likely to disturb the game.

Despite the fact this may not be reporting, we think in the long run it is much more practical from the viewpoint of putting on an attractive baseball show.
ROBERT O. FISHEL
The New York Yankees
New York City

PHOTO

HOST THOMAS WITH HOST OF LADIES