19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER

MAULE IN THE FALL
Sirs:
Tex Maule has done it again. Boy—he must hate the Chicago Bears. Last championship game he picked the Giants to beat the Bears. Now he has the audacity to pick the Bears fourth. Did the Bears ever cut Tex Maule from their squad because he wasn't good enough?
CHET SMITH JR.
DON PIKE
Arlington Heights, Ill.

Sirs:
You should do away with Maule's predictions so he can devote more time to his novels. They're all fiction, anyway.
DANNY MATAROZZI
Vineland, N.J.

Sirs:
Does Tex Maule really sleep in the Giants' locker room?
BENJAMIN S. WARREN III
Chicago

Sirs:
In Tex Maule, SI has a good sportswriter with one drawback: he's still a Texan, and pro-Cowboy—even though he has dropped the Cowboys down a notch from last year.
TERRY CASEY
Coshocton, Ohio

Sirs:
As Mr. George Plimpton, the ephemeral quarterback, said during his brief tour with the Detroit Lions, "The linebackers were all close up shouting, 'Jumbo!Jumbo! Jumbo!' " The rest of the league will be hearing this all year. When the chips are down, defense wins, and the Lions will be the winners.
MALCOLM BACCHUS
Flint, Mich.

PRO PLIMPTON
Sirs:
As a devoted fan of professional football, I would like to thank George Plimpton, the Detroit Lions and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (Zero of the Lions, Sept. 7) for a real insight into the everyday training routines of a professional team.

Once again we armchair quarterbacks have been treated to an article that will make us appreciate the game even more.
TIM GARNER
Chagrin Falls, Ohio

YOO-HOO, PROS!
Sirs:
Your pro football issue was extremely interesting, especially the beginning article (A Year of Change, Problems and Prosperity, Sept. 7). Why do New Orleans and Atlanta rate so high as future pro cities? Why not try the football capital of the nation, Columbus? Everyone knows how popular Ohio State is here. The Cleveland Browns and local high school football are just as popular. Here little league football is probably more popular than Little League baseball. Face it, the pros can't overlook one of the nation's fastest-growing cities for long, so I hereby place Columbus in line for affiliation in either the NFL or AFL.
MIKE SCHOONOVER
Columbus, Ohio

Sirs:
Your references to New Orleans as a city with tremendous pro football potential are deeply appreciated and very accurate. Our city has demonstrated overwhelmingly its readiness for franchise. And we will accept whichever league makes the first offer beneficial to the people of New Orleans.
DAVE DIXON
New Orleans

RELUCTANT ROOKIE
Sirs:
I would like to take issue with your report on Richie Allen and his comments on the Rookie of the Year award (SCORECARD, Sept. 7). Your article gives the impression that Allen scorns the award as of no value at all—which is false. In effect, he actually stated that while being made Rookie is a great honor, he is more interested in helping his team win a pennant, adding that the Rookie of the Year would be a greater prize to work for if some money were included.
MICHAEL P. KUROCZKO
King of Prussia, Pa.

Sirs:
What Richie said was that he is only interested in helping the Phillies win the pennant. He also explained that the rookie award, without any cash benefits, would not help him to support his family—which is his primary intention.

Let me caution your writers to abstain from such remarks when they come to the City of Brotherly Love in October. They may find that knocking a Phillie in Philadelphia can be more dangerous than scrawling "I like Lyndon" on the Kremlin wall.
LOWELL MILLER
Wynnewood, Pa.

RAPID RYUN
Sirs:
Grand story on Jim Ryun (A Kansas Boy with a Man-size Task, Sept. 14). It makes me realize how tough it is to be a winner, especially against guys like Burleson, O'Hara and Grelle.
JIM WATSON
Miami Beach

Sirs:
May I congratulate Mr. O'Leary on an excellent article. Not only does the story point out Ryun's great incentive, but it also shows Coach Bob Timmons' strategy and technique in attempting to mold Ryun for this year's Olympic Games.
GREG HARE
Roseland, N.J.

SINKING FEELING
Sirs:
While reading your article (Sail It Now, Sink It Later, Aug. 24), I found myself recalling a summer seven years ago when I was 12 years old and we had finally talked Dad into buying a boat. The first time out of the harbor I virtually took two other boats and a mechanic with me. Doesn't it seem stupid to jeopardize the life and property of others by allowing inexperienced 12-year-olds—or even inexperienced 40-year-olds, for that matter—to handle such a lethal toy?

Now, having mastered, somewhat, the art of powerboating, I am most happy to assist those in trouble. But of late I find myself wanting to wave gaily back at those who frantically signal with broken skis (no paddle) rather than bother to help them. A number of times after I towed a rental in from trouble—occasionally breaking my towline in the process—the ungrateful greenhorn would nod and be on his way as if saving him were my duty.

I agree that something must be done about boat operators. Too often have I seen small, low-horsepowered runabouts far offshore when a storm was approaching; or even more often seen large boats—with skiers-cutting inside shallow-water markers.
ED MALLEY JR.
Crystal Bay, Nev.

FOLLOWING JOE
Sirs:
SI's comments in "Arrivederci DiMaggio" (SCORECARD, Aug. 24) sickened me. I think it's great that Italian youngsters will be told how much money DiMaggio made, thus serving as an inspiration for prospective baseball superstars of the future. However, I'm wondering what can be done in this country to create an interest in amateur sports like track and field where professionalism is almost unheard of.

Just the other day I was talking with a 15-year-old boy from my home town. This boy was coached by me as an 11-year-old and again at 12 with sights set at possible world records in track and field. During our conversation he stated that he was more interested in baseball and football, since these sports had money as a draw while this did not exist in track and field.

I not only lost a fine long-distance running prospect but I also lost a little of my love for professional sports like baseball, basketball, football, etc.

I think professional sports are great, but there's still a place for the amateur athlete in this nation. I only hope that professionalism doesn't kill off too many potential world record-breakers. After all, not every athlete can be a Mickey Mantle or a Bob Cousy.
TODD JONES
Nazareth, Pa.

ROBERT IN RUNYONLAND
Sirs:
Re: To Fight or Not to Fight? (Sept. 7): "Nothing is simple in boxing," says Robert H. Boyle. Nothing but the boobs who run it.
JAMES LANSON
Los Angeles

Sirs:
James Beattie may be the new hope for heavyweight boxing (The Prick of Kid Galahad, Inc., Aug. 31), but if he has to contend with those Damon Runyon types featured in your story on the WBA meeting, my hope for him is that he gets out right now.
JANET McLEON
Chicago

Sirs:
All right. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. You took a pretty firm stand on the Yankee-CBS fiasco. How about something definite on boxing?

It seems to me your problem should be how to write or not to write about boxing. Is it ludicrous or serious? In the Boyle story the approach to boxing is that it is a ridiculously funny sport with all sorts of laughable characters like those at the WBA convention, running around Norfolk trying to decide to pledge allegiance to the flag, boxing or "rassling."

Don't get me wrong. I think it was a hilarious story, and I laughed as hard as anyone else. But if this is how you feel about the subject (and your previous fun with Cassius on a camel wasn't exactly solid news reporting), why not give the same type of coverage to the next heavyweight championship fight? After the first Clay-Liston waltz, certainly the second (WBA-sanctioned or not) can't be much more than a funny fox trot.
C. J. DAVIS
New York City