Letters
Maybe coaches should recruit more intelligent players who can
pass a remedial college writing class while also being able to
shoot a layup.
--BECKIE FISHER, Champaign, Ill.
SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
As a university professor, I was appalled by your story on the
ills of the Minnesota basketball program (The Passing Game, June
14). Clem Haskins's arrogance in approaching faculty to
manipulate the grades of his players is made more unpalatable by
his shameless race baiting. To accuse faculty of racism when
they attempt to give a failing grade to a student who doesn't
show up for class is political blackmail.
BRYAN GIBSON, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
What bothers me most is that these players have no idea what
they're throwing away. They are given a free education and free
room and board. Above all, they are given an opportunity that
most of them would not otherwise have had. Yet this is not
enough. On top of that, they expect someone else to do their
academic work.
GENNARO DEANGELIS, Springfield, Mass.
MEANWHILE, AT OHIO STATE
Although Don Yaeger didn't miss the point that Andy Katzenmoyer
didn't care about an education or Ohio State (Black Eye for the
Buckeyes, June 14), he failed to bring up the point that
Katzenmoyer took an education away from someone who did.
JERRY MUZAR, Norman, Okla.
Last August our Office of Academic Affairs conducted a thorough
inquiry into the academic eligibility of Andy Katzenmoyer,
including allegations in the two unsigned letters you quoted. It
found no university regulations broken and no privilege granted
to Mr. Katzenmoyer that was not available to all other students.
Mr. Katzenmoyer was within his rights to take only elective
courses during the summer term.
Nevertheless, during this past academic year, our Colleges of
Arts and Sciences--in which the majority of our undergraduates
are enrolled--have strengthened regulations for progress toward
a degree. Two thirds of credits each year must be earned in
courses that count toward an identified degree. This will move
our students more efficiently toward graduation. Also, all
retroactive grade changes must be co-signed by the relevant dean.
Ohio State's academic requirements for its scholarship athletes
already surpassed those of both the Big 10 and the NCAA before
these adjustments. It is important, I believe, for your readers
to know this and to understand that these new rules apply to all
students whether or not they play a scholarship sport.
WILLIAM E. KIRWAN, President
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
FORGET ABOUT THE NFL
Your article (Happy on the Inside, June 21) was the best you
have published on arena football. I have been a fan of the
league since the inaugural season in 1987. I can still see coach
Tim Marcum receiving the Hardee's Cup when the Denver Dynamite
won the first league title. The trophy had been dropped before
the game and was dented.
D.W. DONAHOO, Overland Park, Kans.
Although I'm a lifelong Packers fan, I've grown tired of
spending a couple of hundred dollars watching millionaire
ballplayers through binoculars from seats 200 yards from the
action. I have given up my Packers tickets and now have season
tickets to the Milwaukee Mustangs. I park 50 yards from the
Bradley Center for $5 and spend three hours watching a game that
seems to have a score on every other possession. Is it the NFL?
No, and that's why we're there.
RANDALL C. PACK, Greenfield, Wis.
TELLING IT LIKE IT IS
Finally, somebody said what I've been thinking (SI VIEW, June
14). We need Howard Cosell. I was a kid when he did the sports,
so I couldn't truly appreciate him, but I always loved him.
JONATHAN SOLIN, Los Angeles
I agree with Leigh Montville's article on Cosell, with the
exception of his comment that there is no place in today's bland
version of televised sports for "a weird accent, a smoker, a
weird face, a nonathlete with a quick mind, a big mouth, a
limitless vocabulary and an ego the size of the solar system."
O.K., Brent Musburger is not a smoker, but....
NICHOLAS C. RICHARDSON, Towson, Md.
COLOR PHOTO: WALTER IOOSS JR.
Master of His Environment
In his article on the French Open, S.L. Price got it wrong,
claiming Jimmy Connors as the only man besides Andre Agassi to
have won Grand Slam tournaments on three surfaces (String
Quartet, June 14). Mats Wilander (right) won the Australian Open
on grass in 1983 and '84; the French Open on clay in '82, '85
and '88; and the U.S. Open on the hard courts in '88.
ANDREW MURRAY, Bedford, Mass.
