LETTERS

No wonder Steve Young is having a hard time finding a wife. His
decision making is simply not up to Joe Montana's level.
DAVID DECAMILLA, Sacramento

STEVE YOUNG

As a single Mormon woman, a part of that microscopic pool from
which Steve Young is determined to choose a wife (Chief Worry,
Aug. 4), I thought a story about the challenge of finding a
Mormon wife would be interesting. Imagine my surprise when I
read that the "numbers and the clock are against him." Cry me a
river, pal. Try being on this side of it for a while--an
attractive, funny, educated Mormon woman your age trying to find
herself a Mormon husband. Here is some unsolicited advice for
Young: Expand your search beyond BYU coeds. Your first mistake
is trying to find a girl to do a woman's job.
DIANA TRIGGS, Burnaby, B.C.

I agree that Young is a great guy and a great quarterback, but
to say that he has better stats "despite having a team around
him that isn't as good as the one that surrounded Montana" is
ridiculous. The 49ers team that Joe Montana led to victory in
1982 is without a doubt the worst team that has ever won the
Super Bowl. The proof of the pudding came in 1994 when Montana
led a terrible Kansas City Chiefs team to the conference
championship game.
JONATHAN MANSON RUTLEDGE San Francisco

ARCTIC GOLF

Poor Steve Rushin. He risked getting a lump of coal, or a dozen
range balls, in his stocking for his expose on Santa, and he
didn't find a true links reindeer while playing the world's
northernmost 18-hole golf course (The Caddie Was a Reindeer,
Aug. 4). I enjoyed the tale of his journey and will never again
complain about the rigors of springtime golf in Wisconsin.
MARK CONCANNON, Milwaukee

This was a tale Hans Christian Andersen might have penned had he
thought of it. I envisioned Rushin and photographer Bob Martin
as perhaps Lewis and Clark exploring another vast, uncharted
region. Congratulations to the only magazine that would embark
on such a journey.
JUSTIN S. CURZI, Phillipsburg, N.J.

Since Steve Rushin enjoyed the northernmost 18-hole golf course
so much, he might want to consider playing the southernmost
course in the world. It is located in Argentina, between Ushuaia
and Tierra del Fuego National Park. With luck he might be joined
by an alpaca, a condor or even a penguin.
KENYON STEBBINS, Morgantown, W.Va.

IRON MAN

I have heard countless times the suggestion that Cal Ripken Jr.
should take a rest from the Streak and sit down for one or two
games (INSIDE BASEBALL, Aug. 4). Not a week later the same
people will praise Ripken for all that he has done for baseball.
It's a fact of the game that players go through slumps, but has
anyone ever said that Ken Griffey Jr. needs to take a rest from
hitting home runs and work a little more on his batting average?
Ripken is a superb fielder and has a streak that no one will
break. He will end it when he is ready, not when a slump says so.
DAN SCHMIDT, Derwood, Md.

There's an easy solution. For several days in a row Ripken could
come in as a pinch runner in a nonsteal situation, or he could
play the field in the last inning. While perhaps subjecting him
to a drop of criticism, this would officially keep his streak
alive.
ELLIOTT A. WEINSTEIN, Baltimore

GLEN RIDGE (CONT.)

This letter is in response to the July 28 letter from Cindy
Claeys of Kenwood, Calif., about the Glen Ridge incident (The
Boys Next Door, June 23). Claeys wrote, "I strongly object to
your printing this story. There are so many outstanding sports
figures worthy of a story; what was the point of running this
sexually explicit article?" This attitude further trivializes
the plight of the girl who was sexually assaulted and the
brutality of the Glen Ridge boys. To declare the SI audience
immune from exposure to horrifying sports-related crimes would
be to forfeit a measure of the magazine's integrity.
LAURA HENINGER, Whittier, Calif.

B/W PHOTO: UPI/CORBIS-BETTMANN [Cornelius (Dutch) Warmerdam pole-vaulting]

DUTCH WARMERDAM

As a former high school pole vaulter and longtime fan of the
event, I take exception to Tim Layden's contention that Sergei
Bubka is "history's most dominant pole vaulter" (Relay an Egg,
Aug. 18). Bubka is wonderful, but he's hardly king of the vault.
That title belongs to Cornelius (Dutch) Warmerdam of California
(above). In the 1940s Warmerdam, using a bamboo pole, was the
only man to break the 15-foot barrier, which he did 43 times. It
wasn't until 1951, seven years after Warmerdam's final jump,
that Bob Richards, using a metal pole, became the second man to
vault 15 feet.
LEE DE BROFF, Wheeling, W.Va.