Letters

"Like Lett, the Cowboys overcame adversity, proving that America's Team is the team of the '90s."
PETE DAL BELLO, SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.

Super Bowl XXVIII
As a longtime Dallas Cowboy fan, I thoroughly enjoyed Paul Zimmerman's article on the Super Bowl (The Fumble, Feb. 7). While I was thrilled to see the sidebar on James Washington, I was somewhat surprised that Leon Lett's name did not appear a few more times. Lett turned in a great performance, just as he did all season, and forced the fumble that changed the momentum of the game. Unfortunately, more attention is paid to his infamous blunder in last year's Super Bowl than to his excellent play in this year's.
MARC REY, Los Angeles

Although Emmitt Smith got the recognition he deserves on your cover, there might have been more about him in the article. Could the Cowboys have won had Washington not returned the fumble for a touchdown? Of course they could have. The fumble was a big play, but the second half always belongs to Smith.
JASON REYES, Lompoc, Calif.

The Buffalo Bills were stronger than almost every other team for four straight years. Criticism is to be expected, but the Bills should not be put down for losing to an unstoppable Cowboy team, which no other AFC team would have been able to beat either.
JASON J. CLARK, Champaign, Ill.

Let's face it: If the Bills played in the NFC instead of the AFC, they wouldn't have gone to any Super Bowls, so they should thank their lucky stars that they have been Super Bowl losers for four years in a row. To keep cold-weather teams like Buffalo and Denver from having an unfair advantage, isn't it time to move the conference championship games to neutral sites?
KEVIN G. GOUGH, Bellevue, Wash.

Longtime Cowboy fans can remember when Dallas, too, was marked as a loser. It won its first Super Bowl on Jan. 16, 1972, but before that, as a result of its two losses to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Championship Games of 1966 and '67, playoff losses to the Cleveland Browns in '68 and '69, and a last-second loss to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V, the Cowboys were nicknamed Next Year's Champions. Buffalo should take heart.
SCOTT LEHOTSKY, Camp Hill, Pa.

It's hard to be too sympathetic with the plight of the Bills in losing their fourth straight Super Bowl, especially if you are a Houston Oiler fan. For seven consecutive years the Oilers have made the playoffs, and not only have they not made it to the Super Bowl, they haven't even made it to an AFC Championship Game.

Most Oiler fans would give their right arms to have their team go to the Super Bowl just once.
LANCE LASKOSKY, Houston

Ultimate Winners
In your list of losers (SCORECARD. Feb. 7), I found it hard to believe that you forgot the Brooklyn Dodgers, who lost five World Series between 1941 and '53 to the New York Yankees. But the sixth time those two teams met in a Series, in 1955, the Dodgers beat the Yankees in a heartstopping seventh game. Good luck next time, Buffalo.
JOY SINDERBRAND, Brooklyn

Chàvez's Upset
The cause of my ire is your omission of the most important upset in boxing in a decade. Julio Cèsar Chàvez is news. Don't even suggest that he's not. He was at 89 wins, going for 100, as he headed for a rematch with Pernell Whitaker. He was pound for pound the greatest fighter active today.

On Jan. 29 Chàvez stumbled over a hard rock named Frankie Randall and was knocked down for the first time in his career. Once again ubiquitous referee Richard Steele came into Chàvez's life. In an earlier encounter with Steele, in March 1990, Chàvez received a gift when Steele stopped his fight against Meldrick Taylor with two seconds remaining and Taylor ahead on all cards. This time he evened it out by taking two points away from Chàvez for low blows, thereby costing Chàvez the fight.

If these elements don't make for an SI story, I don't know what does. The picture of Chàvez on his back, legs in the air, would have made a fine cover.
FERDIE PACHECO, M.D., Miami

PHOTO

NASSER "THE FIGHTMASTER"

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.