Letters

You mean to tell me that an offensive lineman is the most important player on the field?
SAGE ROSENFELS, MAQUOKETA, IOWA

NFL Preview
Congratulations on an outstanding NFL Preview issue (Sept. 5). Viewing life in the NFL from the left tackle's perspective was refreshing (Don't Cross This Line). Your tributes to these men in the trenches were insightful and overdue.
DAVID E. PURCELL, Traverse City, Mich.

I'm glad that someone has finally given left tackles the attention they deserve. People are so obsessed with stats that they forget about the linemen who protect the quarterback and make room for running backs.
TIM FOLLERT, New Hartford, Conn.

If, as some coaches suggest in Richard Hoffer's story Get Smart!, there is a correlation between a high IQ and success in football—particularly the notion that the closer you are to the ball, the smarter you ought to be—San Francisco should win the Super Bowl easily. Both quarterback Steve Young and center Bart Oates are law school graduates.
RYAN E. TIBBITTS, Park City, Utah

In your article about Raider coach Art Shell (A Block at Tackle), you said Ken Stabler was MVP of Super Bowl XI. In fact the award went to Fred Biletnikoff. I know because he's my brother.
TIGER BILETNIKOFF, Erie, Pa.

Thanks for the piece on Mean Joe Greene—who doesn't give autographs (He Does What He Wants Out There). At Pittsburgh's victory dinner after Super Bowl IX, I found myself seated with Greene and his family and friends. Unaware of Greene's no-autographs policy, I pushed my program across the table and asked for his signature. Everyone at the table suddenly grew silent. Greene hesitated for a moment and smiled. "I guess I can't refuse a reverend," he said. Everyone at the table relaxed. The lady on my right was kind enough to tell me what I had done.
THE REVEREND WILLIAM F. CROWLEY
Pittsburgh

NFL, Week 1
For four decades you have found ways to improve your magazine. The Sept. 12 issue was your best ever. With every NFL game having its own article, "complete coverage" has reached a new level.
RICHARD W. DODD, New York City

Well, you have finally done it. You have reduced me to complaining about having Dan Marino on your cover. I have always marveled at his ability and admired his determination and class, but when Jerry Rice, the greatest receiver ever to play the game, breaks the league's career touchdown record held by Jim Brown, the greatest athlete this country has ever known, Rice just has to be on the cover.
MARK R. KENNON, Burke, Va.

I don't understand why a 26-9 romp by Dallas over Pittsburgh, with no spectacular plays or records broken, received four pages, while Cleveland's victory over Cincinnati got a measly one-page, one-photo report. This when the Browns' Eric Metcalf scored on the longest punt return in team history (92 yards), and Tom Tupa scored the first two-point conversion in league history. Even the game between the pitiful Cardinals and the Rams received three full pages with four photos. Ridiculous.
KATIE L. LUEKENS, Huntington Beach, Calif.

As much as we like the Redskins in Anchorage (hometown of Washington guard Mark Schlereth), what kind of story was that on the Seattle-Washington game—seven paragraphs about the losers and one about the winners?
LARRY CLARKE, Anchorage

Eating Disorders
Your article Dying to Win (Aug. 8) suggests that Christy Henrich's coach, Al Fong, is responsible for her eating disorder. I am writing in support of Fong. I was once a gymnast under his supervision, and although I was nowhere near the caliber of Christy, I had similar dreams and similar concerns about weight.

I have had several friends who have had eating disorders. They are all overachievers and perfectionists, and all became addicted to controlling their weight. You can't blame sports or coaches. Fong has always been a caring coach who makes his gymnasts as good as they want to be. He would never steer his students in a dangerous direction.
JILL BARKER, Kansas City, Mo.

Collectibles
Robert E. Lee Tice's letter in your 40th Anniversary issue (Aug. 16) saying he has saved every issue of SI since its inception terrified mc. My husband has an SI collection dating back to 1977. We recently moved, and I told him he was crazy to pack up all the magazines, which are carefully bundled by year. Then he showed me Tice's letter. Forty years of magazines? Maybe my husband isn't so crazy after all.
AMANDA RITZ, New York City

PHOTO

WALTER IOOSS JR.

Stabler (right) shone in super Bowl XI, but Biletnikoff was the game's MVP.

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.