19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER
THE BAD EARTH
Sirs:
It is encouraging to see a government official taking action on behalf of the people despite opposition from vested interests and from status-quo Administration members The Earth as Seen from Alaska, May 4). But Secretary Hickel's blithe dismissal of the present population crisis is appalling. Someone must convey to Mr. Hickel and to all of us Americans the idea that, because of our extremely high standard of living, one new child in this country puts a demand on the environment many times greater than that of a new child in an underdeveloped nation. Some people have estimated that the American's demand is as much as 50 times greater than that of the poor Hindu peasant. It is indeed myopic to cite vast areas of empty space and contend that population is a future problem for the U.S. It is a very present menace.
TERRY W. LIGHT
Annville, Pa.
Sirs:
Secretary of the Interior Walter Hickel's views about population explosion simply don't make sense. When I fly above 30,000 feet in an airplane, I see a brown cloud of polluted air and every bit of arable land plowed up. I see forests disappearing and lakes whose shores are covered by housing. Why not realize that those "empty" spaces, where the Secretary sees room for 10,000- and 15,000-population towns, are even now feeding the cancers of Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles—you name it? Look at the arithmetic:
1850 world population—one billion
1950 world population—two billion
2000 world population—seven billion
2050 world population—14 billion
It takes only high school mathematics to realize that the curve is exponential, but apparently this does not convince either the Pope or the Secretary of the Interior.
B. J. SOLAK
Secane, Pa.
Sirs:
If Walter Hickel views the butchery of Alaska's North Slope by a few powerful oil companies as progress, I shudder to think what he has planned for the rest of the world.
CHRIS NORBY
Fullerton, Calif.
MARYLAND'S REPLY
Sirs:
You were right to say of Peter Carry's story: They're Not Going to Like It in Maryland (May 4). We didn't like it; the article, that is. Although it is true that lacrosse has found another home in Long Island, Baltimore still is the lacrosse capital of the world, and the Maryland Scholastic Association still produces the finest lacrosse players. Right now, I don't think that there is one high school team in New York that could beat Towson High School, St. Paul's School or Loyola High School. Mr. Carry was correct in stating that Maryland prep schools no longer completely dominate Maryland lacrosse. Now, many public and Catholic high schools have become lacrosse powers. And these Maryland high schools are every bit as tough as Long Island high schools. For instance, the Maryland Scholastic Association, the toughest conference in the country—or for that matter, the world—is being led by Loyola and St. Paul's. Eleven of Loyola's 24 team members played on its varsity football team, which won the MSA championship last fall, so they're not on top just because of fancy stick handling.
BILL LOVING
Baltimore
Sirs:
As an avid Baltimore sports fan, I noticed that the alleged New York Syndrome started not when the Jets beat the Colts but when the Long Island Athletic Club defeated the previously invincible Mount Washington Wolfpack for the club lacrosse championship in 1968. But because lacrosse teams are not accorded the publicity received by the Colts, Bullets and Orioles, we lacrosse fans were able to suffer in silence and escape national ridicule and shame. This year, however, the Pack is back. So what do we read in SI? That club lacrosse is again dominated by New Yorkers. It just so happens that this season Mount Washington has whipped the Long Island A.C. and the New York L.C. by scores of 8-6 and 11-8.
How about that, New York fans?
MARTI NOONAN
York, Pa.
TROUBLED WATERS
Sirs:
Since I am an overseas reader of SI it was just last week that I received the issue of your magazine that contained Robert Boyle's article on pollution and the Penn Central pipe (My Struggle to Help the President, Feb. 16). As I read it the idea came that the cure for a bad situation such as the oil pipe and its effect on the ecology of the Hudson may not be fines or merely preventive measures.
Many roads in rural areas of the U.S., the South especially, are dirt-surfaced. In dry months they create minor air-pollution problems, and in wet they become bogs. Why shouldn't the waste oil from railroad engine shops be used to oil down these roads instead of being dumped into America's streams? Then two problems would be solved at once.
Having worked two summers with the Christian ministry in the National Parks program, I have a heightened awareness of man's responsibility as steward of the natural riches God has granted us. Thus I am pleased to see your publication take up the cause of saving the good earth from man, for man.
THE REV. RICHARD F. McCLEERY
Hong Kong
CONVERSELY SPEAKING
Sirs:
Maybe the people who advertise in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED should keep in closer touch with the events reported in the magazine. I specifically refer to an advertisement by the Converse Rubber Company in the April 27th SI, page 27. In this ad Converse claims that every team in the latest NCAA basketball finals wore Converse basketball shoes. Unless Converse has surreptitiously introduced a three-striped model basketball shoe, your photograph on page 17 of the March 30th SI seems to indicate that the majority, if not all, of the UCLA and Jacksonville players were wearing Adidas, not Converse, shoes.
WILLIAM E. FISHER
Middleton, Wis.
BALL FOUR
Sirs:
I am writing this letter in response to Mr. Gallagher's remarks on the intentional walk (19TH HOLE, April 27). Being from the commissioner's office he was able to blurt out a great many useless statistics. A fan doesn't care if there were .738 intentional walks a game or what percent of the batters were intentionally passed. All the fan cares about is seeing a good baseball game. In opposition to Mr. Gallagher's obviously biased opinion I feel the intentional walk should be removed from baseball and the pitcher and hitter should face each other on equal terms.
STEPHEN ZUCKERMAN
Bronx, N.Y.
Sirs:
Regarding Mr. Gallagher's statistics on the intentional walks issued in the American and National Leagues in 1969: the problem appears not to be how many were issued, but rather to whom and under what circumstances. Most of the excitement of the game is generated by scoring or the threat of scoring. In a critical situation the intentional passing of a .200 hitter in order to face the pitcher does not necessarily detract from the game: however, that same intentional walk issued to Frank Howard does indeed detract.
The statistics would be more meaningful if they reflected how many of the 1,946 intentional walks were issued to the top 10 or 15 hitters: leaders in average, RBIs, home runs and slugging percentage.
CARL D. BOND
Lansing, Mich.
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