Letters

UNFIT KIDS
Robert Sullivan's comments (SCORECARD, March 13) on the "Unfitness Boom" of the '80s are timely. As a student in the '60s and a physical educator today, I have been concerned about the reduction of physical-education requirements in the public schools over the past 10 years.

There will come a time, in the near future, when our lawmakers will rediscover the importance of having a healthy and fit population. The impetus will come not from a cold war with the U.S.S.R., as it did in the late '50s and '60s, but from the threat of a nation bankrupted by skyrocketing medical costs.
BILL WORSHAM
Beaumont, Texas

AGASSI'S ACTIONS
I enjoyed the article on Andre Agassi (Born to Serve, March 13). My uncle, who is 79, and I are both big fans of this hard-hitting court jester, so it isn't just the little girls who like to watch Agassi in action. I thought it was odd that you used quotes from John McEnroe to describe Agassi's court conduct—and hypocritical of McEnroe to make the critical statements he did. We all have had to suffer through years of Mac's crybaby antics, although it has been worth it to watch him play. I hope Agassi sticks around long enough to win many more tournaments.
ERIC AGNEW
Jacksonville

Your story on Andre Agassi should have been stamped: WARNING: THIS IS A HATCHET JOB. Since when is John McEnroe the arbiter of proper tennis behavior? And how can Ion Tiriac decry the turning of tennis matches into "shooting contests" when his own protègè, Boris (Boom Boom) Becker, hits every shot in cannonlike fashion? I suspect that the real reason for Curry Kirkpatrick's vitriolic pen emerges three quarters of the way through the article: Agassi wisely refused Kirkpatrick's request for an interview.
ANITA STORK
San Francisco

STANDING TALL
Three cheers for Chuck Nevitt (Stretch, March 6). I live in Houston and follow the Rockets faithfully. Many a time I have muttered under my breath that Nevitt doesn't get enough credit. He always comes through for his coach, and that is not easy to do when you're sent into the game—sometimes for your first playing time in a week—in the fourth quarter and asked to perform miracles.

I hope Nevitt is one Rocket who doesn't take off. His great attitude and soft shooting touch may be just what Coach Chaney needs to bring the team rings this season.
ELIZABETH A. HEYN
Houston

How nice to read a feature about someone who doesn't have to be psychoanalyzed, tolerated, detoxed, renegotiated with, investigated, explained or apologized for. The story was as refreshing as Nevitt himself.
DONALD R. SUTHERLAND
Guilford, Conn.

DURABLE CHAMP
I salute Roberto Duran's remarkable and unprecedented achievement of four titles across 17 years (Stonehands Rules Again, March 6). Unlike Sugar Ray Leonard, Duran has remained a genuine warrior—ducking no one, taking on the best anytime, anywhere and earning every title he has won.

Roberto Duran, whose name, appropriately, means "gleaming fame that endures," stands alongside the real Sugar Ray—Robinson—as the greatest of all time.
TONY SCOTT
Phoenix

MEMORABLE COACH
Your picture of Oregon State basketball coach Ralph Miller (COLLEGE BASKETBALL, March 6), who is retiring, was typical of him. He never could sit still. I recall a photo you ran (Cry Havoc from the Bench, Dec. 7, 1964) of him gesticulating from the sideline during his first season at Iowa (left).

Incidentally, it was in that same 1964-65 season that coach Miller's previous team, Wichita State, made its only Final Four appearance. Although the Shockers were then coached by Gary Thompson, Miller's former assistant, they were Miller's team all the way. He recruited them and taught them how to play. Thompson even used Miller's style of play. Coach Miller might not be eager to claim that team, though, because Princeton's Bill Bradley scored a Final Four-record 58 points against Wichita State in the third-place game, which the Tigers won 118-82.
LARRY W. CRACRAFT
Spencer, Ind.

PHOTO

RICH CLARKSON

Letters to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED should include the name, address and home telephone number of the writer and should be addressed to The Editor, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, Time & Life Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, N.Y. 10020-1393.