19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER

BACK IN THE SWIM
Sir:
Congratulations on bringing back to the cover of your swimsuit issue (Feb. 14) the eternal nymph whose charms defy time, Cheryl Tiegs. The entire portfolio of photographs ("The Fairest Island That Eyes Have Beheld") was presented with taste, style and élan, but Tiegs reigns supreme. Let's face it, Cheryl is to modeling what the Yankees have been to baseball, Notre Dame to football and Joe Louis to boxing. There never has been a substitute for the best.
FRANK R. WYNNE
Los Alamitos, Calif.

Sir:
Thank you for covering—or, in this case, uncovering—one of the greatest comebacks in sports. Four years without Cheryl Tiegs was just too long.
TOM KEANE
Trumbull, Conn.

Sir:
Well, you people have done it again! Having Cheryl back is like getting a breath of fresh air on a smoggy morning. And where you found Kim Alexis and Paulina Porizkova I don't know, but it couldn't have been on earth. Absolutely heavenly!
TOM SCHNEIDER
Houston

Sir:
Bravo! SPORTS ILLUSTRATED strikes again. In the middle of a cold winter we readers are delightfully warmed by the appearance of some of the prettiest faces—and bodies—SI has ever displayed. In addition to being gorgeous, Cheryl Tiegs is a sophisticated, intelligent woman who adds nothing but class to SI's annual assault on the hearts of men—I've already taken up tree climbing. And Paulina Porizkova and Carol Alt are visions of beauty in a world that can sometimes be anything but beautiful.
PAUL R. FRANKLIN
Plainview, N.Y.

Sir:
I know you usually receive rave reviews of your annual swimsuit edition from those readers who are snowbound in the Northeast and Midwest, but believe me, we Southern Californians look forward to it just as much as our cold-weather friends do. Thanks for another terrific issue.
ROBERT T. KNIGHT
Arcadia, Calif.

Sir:
A perfect "10" for your Jamaica journey.
CRAIG WICKS
Ringwood, N.J.

Sir:
Jamaica me very happy.
BOB MITSCH
Riverside, Calif.

Sir:
Christie Brinkley, where are you when we need you?
JIM BRACEY
North Providence, R.I.

Sir:
Don't pay any attention to my son Jim [above]. Your more mature readers need someone like Cheryl, an All-American woman. Right on!
LEE BRACEY
Wood-Ridge, N.J.

Sir:
We were appalled when the Feb. 14 issue arrived in the mail this week. How dare you invade our home with that trash? We do not approve of pornography in any form. Our SI subscription was purchased for intelligent, informative and enjoyable articles about sports and the talented people involved in them. It seems you forgot what you were all about.

This issue was nothing more than smut. If we had wanted that sort of thing, there are numerous girlie magazines we could have purchased. We don't patronize such things; we don't have cable TV and we don't go to R-rat-ed movies, because we choose not to. However, you have taken that choice away by sending us this week's edition of SI as part of our subscription. If you plan to continue on this course, we would appreciate being so informed, at which time we will promptly cancel our subscription.

How awful that we can't trust anyone in these times. The magazine was quickly disposed of. We were going to mail it back to you. However, we didn't want it to be available for any further viewing.
THE ART COLLIN FAMILY
Lenexa, Kans.

Sir:
I'm returning the cover and inside pages of your "swimsuit" feature. I'm disappointed, appalled and downright angered by them. My teen-age daughter was given a gift subscription to SI because of her—and our entire family's—interest in sports, not in sexploitation. We all agree this was out of place and distasteful and degrades what we thought was a decent magazine. Are you that hard up to sell more issues? Any more of this and we'll find another sports publication.
ALICE M. PRALL
Landing, N.J.

Sir:
I thought SI was a sports magazine, not a girlie magazine. We were very disappointed with the Feb. 14 edition. We love and enjoy reading SI in our home. Please tell Jule Campbell and Walter Iooss Jr. that if they want to attract their readers' attention, they should do more articles on athletes who have kicked drugs or been born again. We read your magazine to learn more about sports, not to see the kind of filth we can see on the newsstand all the time. Our young people need more good things to look up to and less sex to mess up their minds. Believe me, your magazine is tops without it.
CAROL BIBBINS
Tipton, Ind.

Sir:
I thoroughly read and enjoy your magazine each week—except one. Scantily clad women are not "illustrated sports." Your swimsuit issue came out of the mailbox and went straight into the garbage can.
DANIEL J. FORTE
Fairfield, Conn.

Sir:
I realize that your swimsuit issue is a tradition. However, I subscribe to this magazine to encourage our grade school boys to read and become interested in sports. Each year I watch for this issue and remove it from our magazine rack. Our school faculty finds it extremely offensive and considers it inappropriate for our students.

Thus, if you cannot assure us that such pictures will not appear in the future, you may cancel our subscription and refund the money. I hope you will cooperate in our goal of educating moral citizens for a world that is sadly lacking in this essential area.
JANE HENSEN
Christian Librarian
SISTER SARA KOCH, O.P.
Principal
St. Malachy School
Rantoul, Ill.

Sir:
Again this year I firmly object to your swimsuit edition and, in effect, condemn it with the words of St. Paul to the Galatians (6:7-8): "Make no mistake about it, no one makes a fool of God! A man will reap only what he sows. If he sows in the field of the flesh, he will reap a harvest of corruption; but if his seed-ground is the spirit, he will reap everlasting life." These inspired words speak for themselves.
THE REV. PHILODORE H. LEMAY, M.S.
Attleboro, Mass.

Sir:
No doubt your latest swimsuit issue will inspire angry tirades and canceled subscriptions from various religious individuals. However, a quite different reaction to viewing such beauty is found in the Babylonian Talmud, in which it is related that Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel was standing on a step of the Temple in Jerusalem when he saw a particularly beautiful woman. His reaction was to exclaim, "How great are Thy works, O Lord!" (Psalms 104:24). To that I can only add one word: Amen!
RABBI DANIEL L. PERNICK
Temple Emanuel
Worcester, Mass.

Sir:
Another year, another swimsuit issue. Where are the men models? Come on, I'm dying to see Jim Palmer in a sexy, suggestive swimsuit. I've been reading SI for more than 10 years and I'm sure the percentage of women readers has climbed during that time. Don't we merit at least an insert?
MERLE L. MYERSON
New York City

Sir:
I read with considerable interest in your LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER (Feb. 14) that most of the models featured in the swimsuit issue stay in shape by doing aerobic exercises. I've been taking classes in aerobics for the past three years. Why, oh why don't I look like Cheryl & Co.?
DEBORAH A. KEOUGH
New Martinsville, W. Va.

Sir:
Have you no heart? How could you publish a bathing suit issue just before Valentine's Day? I've had enough. Please cancel my husband's subscription immediately.
DONNA (MRS. ALLAN) HOFFER
Seymour, Ind.

Sir:
My wife [above] just made a trip to the post office. I know why she did it, so please renew my now-canceled subscription. Thank you.
ALLAN HOFFER
Seymour, Ind.

Sir:
Please reprint your swimsuit issue, this time without the swimsuit section. I just cannot pick up my magazine without instinctively turning to those pictures and then forgetting why I picked up the magazine. I'm sure I'm missing some excellent reading.
GERARD CATALANO
Kenmore, N.Y.

Sir:
Thanks for the three finest successive covers I've ever seen on any magazine: 'Skins (Jan. 31), 'Skins (Feb. 7) and skin (Feb. 14).
BRENT LARSON
Reston, Va.

Letters should include the name, address and home telephone number of the writer and be addressed to The Editor, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, Time & Life Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, N.Y. 10020.