19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER

BETTER LATE...
Sir:
I finally finished your extensive special Olympic preview issue (July 18). Good job.
RICHARD ALEC KIRCHNER
Gainesville, Fla.

SPORTSMAN, SPORTSWOMAN
Sir:
The SI Sportswoman of the Year (Dec. 24-31) was a good choice, but the selection of Edwin Moses as the Sportsman was not. Moses is great at what he does, but he achieved his victories over a period of years, and there are men who outperformed him in 1984. The Rams' Eric Dickerson should have gotten the award. He broke a record that had stood for 11 years, and he's only the second NFL player to have rushed 2,000 yards in a single season. I was a running back in high school, and I know how hard each yard comes.
PATRICK MINGARELLI
Buffalo

Sir:
If there is any dispute about Edwin Moses's selection as Sportsman of the Year, just check the man's record. In the past seven years there hasn't been a more successful athlete worldwide. Year after year Moses is put to the test, and he never loses. Wayne Gretzky can't say that. Neither can Larry Bird, nor even Carl Lewis.
VINCENT DALEY
Chicago

Sir:
I agree with your selection of Edwin Moses as Sportsman of the Year. However, Walter Payton should have shared the honor because of the valiant effort he displayed during the 1984 season when he broke Jim Brown's longstanding NFL career rushing record. I do not mean to take anything away from Mary Lou Retton's accomplishments in the Summer Games. She unquestionably is an amazing and talented athlete. Walter Payton, however, is more deserving of the award.
JONATHAN NIEMEYER
Brentwood, Tenn.

Sir:
You guys blew it! Oh, sure, I was excited about the Olympics, too! Mary Lou Retton and Edwin Moses (or, for that matter, Greg Louganis, Carl Lewis and many other fine U.S. athletes) are excellent choices, but the choice should have been the woman who has dominated her sport for three straight years and won practically every match she entered. Yes, gentlemen, Retton and Moses are good, but Martina Navratilova is truly incredible. She should have been the Sportswoman of the Year.
JEFFREY L. YORK
Chicago

Sir:
They are deserving champions in a year that also featured Carl Lewis winning four Olympic gold medals, Doug Flutie's amazing exploits on the football field and Martina Navratilova's impressive dominance of women's tennis.

There is, however, a wondrous athlete your selectors overlooked, whose exploits in 1984 are unique in the annals of sport: John Henry, at the age of nine, winning the Arlington Million and several other major stakes races. And he won his races in most convincing fashion, putting on powerful stretch drives to defeat proud, tough horses many years his junior. For Moses and Retton to equal John Henry's performance in 1984, they would have to win Olympic gold medals again sometime around the turn of the century.
GEORGE MOSS
El Cerrito, Calif.

MA$$$$COT$
Sir:
After reading the item on the new four-year, $230,000 contract of the Phoenix Suns' mascot (SCORECARD, Dec. 24-31), I wonder if we won't see a giant increase in the number of college underclassmen who apply for the NBA's hardship draft for mascots.
DOUG GOLLAN
South Salem, N.Y.

NAME CZECH
Sir:
I suggest that Frank Deford check his Slavic language usage (Done In Down Under, Dec. 17). Only the a is added to change the masculine name to feminine. For example, Sukov/Sukova; Navratilov/Navratilova; Mandlikov/Mandlikova.
ROBERT P. HILTON SR.
Alexandria, Va.

•The "ova" is the common Czech suffix denoting female gender: Helena Sukova's father is Cyril Suk.—ED.

HONOR
Sir:
My thanks to Robert Sullivan for his fair and accurate article (Acquitted But Still On Trial At Virginia, Dec. 24-31). As a graduate of the University of Virginia, I am committed to the ideals of its honor system. As a fan of the Virginia basketball team and coach Terry Holland, I am also committed to the basketball program. Olden Polynice was tried, as any other student would have been, and therefore is entitled to be presumed innocent following his acquittal. Criticism should be focused not upon Polynice or Holland, but instead upon the honor system standards that made possible such an acquittal and also upon the individual who saw fit to breach the confidentiality of the proceeding. Criticism is appropriate, and your article should help to direct it appropriately.
RUSSELL O. SLAYTON, JR.
Lawrenceville, Va.

Sir:
In an episode that has made me question the ethics of all involved—the player who plagiarized, the trial participant who broke the confidentiality pledge and the fans who snubbed the player in the name of "honor"—I was glad to find that at SPORTS ILLUSTRATED honorable does not mean hypocritical. Olden Polynice is getting what systems of honor and justice are supposed to ensure: a second chance for those who deserve one.
DEONA HOUFF
Mount Sidney, Va.

Sir:
As a former cadet at VMI during and after World War II, it is reassuring to know that one institution has not compromised its principals or modified its definition of the word "honor."

I can assure you that even if Olden Polynice had been 7'11" and averaging 45 points and 25 rebounds per game, were he a student at VMI, the honor court at that institution would have sent him packing.

If the purpose of Robert Sullivan's article is to inform your readers that UVa's honor code is a sham, he has accomplished that objective.
WILLIAM G. HAUGHTON
Atlanta, Ga.

TOO ROUGH OR JUST HARD-NOSED?
Sir:
In E.M. Swift's article on hockey's Hunter brothers (Rough Chips Off The Old Block, Dec. 10), their father complained that it is wrong to play for fun. Nonsense! Not every kid who competes in sports is going to become a star athlete. For every star created by the "win-at-all-costs" system, there are plenty of other kids who lose interest in sports for life. The win-at-all-costs attitude is also what got Darryl Stingley paralyzed.

Today's kids have enough pressures on them. When they compete in sports, it should be for fun.
GARY OREM
Baltimore

Sir:
Having just read the article on the Hunter brothers, I am left with a nagging question: If being a farmer's son is justification for what amounts to felonious assault with a hockey stick, what unsportsmanlike mayhem can a suburban boy like me (my father sells cars) get away with and still be excused by your magazine as being just "hard-nosed"?
DANN WULF

TRIBUTE TO MANOLETE
Sir:
In 26 years as an SI subscriber I have never read anything as moving as Gilbert Roland's ode to Manolete (NOSTALGIA, Dec. 10). I knew the story of Manolete; now I feel I know the man. Pundonor, as described by Roland and exemplified by the bullfighter, is not an easy quality to find nowadays; yet, as the author says, a man is nothing without it. My thanks for printing this touching piece written by one great man in honor of another.

One request: Please translate the Spanish inscription on the gold ring.
ROY C. HARRIS
Carrollton, Texas

•It says, "My son, don't worry, don't be frightened."—ED.

NOT PILLS
Sir:
I was very glad to see an article on what I believe is the most demanding, affordable motor sport in the world, Supercross (FLYING BIKES AND WEALTHY TYKES, Nov. 12). I am a 28-year-old bank examiner for the state of Texas and have been riding dirt bikes with family and friends for half my life. This widely read article will no doubt contribute to the growth of the sport. However, one apparent misprint could set the sport back many years. The sentence in question read, "In what other sport could you find motorcycles flying beneath the peristyle of the Coliseum and completing a Carl Lewis-style long jump to the stadium floor while 62,699 sudsed-up whackozoids scream for more noise, dirt and pills?" I hope that the intended word was "spills," not "pills."
JOSEPH C. KIRKLIN
Houston

•The intended word was "spills."—ED.

STREAM OF GAMES
Sir:
To illustrate the difficulty in ranking college football teams, consider this string of games pairing common opponents, in which Boston College is the first winner and the last loser. If Boston College is capable of beating itself, as it would seem from the pairings, then playoffs must be the only valid means of establishing a No. 1.
JEFFREY HOGAN
New Vernon, N.J.

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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.

Boston College	38
Alabama	6
Penn St	15
Rutgers	19
Syracuse	17
Nebraska	62
Kansas St	24
Kansas	28
Oklahoma	42
Pittsburgh	21
Tulane	35
Southern Miss	13
Alabama	31
Penn St	0
Rutgers	12
Syracuse	0
Nebraska	9
Kansas St	14
Kansas	7
Oklahoma	11
Pittsburgh	10
Tulane	10
Southern Miss	7
Mississippi	10
Mississippi	22
Memphis St	17
Florida St	38
Miami	20
Auburn	60
Cincinnati	40
Louisville	30
Houston	29
Texas	13
SMU	38
UNLV	30
San Jose St	33
California	19
Arizona St	28
Stanford	34
Illinois	34
Purdue	23
Notre Dame	30
LSU	21
Florida	43
Tennessee	24
Army	24
Air Force	52
Memphis St	6
Florida St	17
Miami	3
Auburn	18
Cincinnati	0
Louisville	21
Houston	28
Texas	15
SMU	7
UNLV	21
San Jose St	15
California	18
Arizona St	14
Stanford	10
Illinois	19
Purdue	20
Notre Dame	21
LSU	22
Florida	21
Tennessee	30
Army	24
Air Force	12
Colorado St	10
Colorado St	59
UTEP	35
Wyoming	59
New Mexico	29
Texas Tech	30
Texas A&M	35
TCU	32
Arkansas	33
Navy	38
So Carolina	17
Georgia	62
Vanderbilt	23
Maryland	41
Clemson	55
Virginia	26
Virginia Tech	38
Wm & Mary	23
Delaware	34
Temple	19
West Va	21
UTEP	31
Wyoming	22
New Mexico	21
Texas Tech	24
Texas A&M	12
TCU	21
Arkansas	31
Navy	10
So Carolina	21
Georgia	10
Vanderbilt	35
Maryland	14
Clemson	23
Virginia	0
Virginia Tech	23
Wm & Mary	14
Delaware	21
Temple	19
West Va	17
Boston College	20