Letters

Tales from the Super Bowl

Your Feb. 2 cover was great. For those readers who were
wondering, the Green Bay Packers were Willie Davis (87) and Bob
Skoronski (76).
Fred Everding, Arvada, Colo.

Let me see if I have this right. Roger Director is given tickets
to the biggest game of the year, scalps them to pay for a "fat
slice of his daughter's tuition," then spends part of Super Bowl
week getting drunk and buying lap dances (The Greatest Stories
Never Told, Feb. 2). His daughter must be very proud.
Jeremy Hurwitz Atlanta

The Leading Off picture of all the Super Bowl tickets at first
made my stomach turn as I imagined the future price of such
ducats. However, I forgot entirely about that when I saw the
Super Bowl XXXVI ticket: section 09, row 11, seat 01. It reminded
me what the country had been through in the months before that
game and the lessons we learned on 9/11 about what really
matters--life, family and liberty.
Eric Rodriguez, Houston

For your Leading Off look at Super Bowl coaches (Feb. 2),
couldn't you have included Chuck Noll, the only coach who took
the winner's ride four times?
William R. Smith, Indiana, Pa.

Maine Lines

Over one weekend in January 2000, I got stuck in Camden, Maine
(Slide Show, Feb. 2). I asked some local colleagues if there was
anything to do and was told the National Toboggan Championships
were that weekend. Wow, I said, can I go watch it? Watch it, they
asked, you want to be in it? Thus I and three teammates--the
backs of our heads rather too intimately nestled into one
another's crotch--made our run, screaming all the way down,
hitting the finish line at 43 mph, crashing some 10 or so seconds
later into a snow bank, laughing until we peed in our snowsuits.
So which national championship can you say you were in?
Mike Todaro, Marietta, Ga.

According to your poll (Feb. 2), Mainers' favorite baseball team
is the Boston Red Sox, their favorite football team is the New
England Patriots, their favorite basketball team is the Celtics
and their favorite hockey team is the Bruins--but their biggest
state rival is Massachusetts. Talk about a conflict of interest!
Duane D. Carpenter, Buckhannon, W.Va.

Your list of Maine's alltime best sports figures overlooked
Shirley Povich, a 17-year-old Bar Harbor caddie who wangled a
ticket for himself to a 1923 Giants-Yankees World Series game at
the Polo Grounds. The next year, he covered the Fall Classic as a
reporter for The Washington Post and in 1926 became the paper's
sports editor, at age 20. His "This Morning" column ran six days
a week for the next 47 years, winning him international acclaim
and a flood of reader mail addressed to Miss Shirley Povich.
Along the way he became the father of Maury Povich, the talk show
host, and father-in-law to Mr. Connie Chung.
Roger Angell, New York City

Two for the Show

North American tennis commentators can take much of the blame for
the decline in popularity of doubles (Inside Tennis, Feb. 2). The
few occasions when doubles are on TV, the announcers spend most
of the time gossiping or talking about the players' singles
records. Hardly ever do they comment on what's going on during
each point, even though the tactics employed are far more
interesting than those in most singles matches.
John J. Furedy, Toronto

Matt's Cup Runneth Over

I am tired of hearing how Matt Kenseth won the Winston Cup title
with only one win and that he would have been eighth in the new
points system (Scorecard, Feb. 2). Too bad, Ford haters! In 2002
Matt won five races--the most of anyone that year--and finished
eighth in the Cup race. This was a long-deserved title.
Matt Zukowski, Palm Desert, Calif.

Full of Grace

Does Roger Staubach, an otherwise brilliant man, really believe
that he coined the phrase Hail Mary pass in 1975 (Scorecard, Feb.
2)? When I was a freshman at Massapequa (N.Y.) High in '73, my
coach, Joe Sella, told us that when all else failed you could
always throw a Hail Mary pass: "You know what that is, fellas?
That's when you throw a pass downfield and then say a Hail Mary
that a teammate catches it." He said he had learned about the
Hail Mary playing high school ball in the mid-'40s with Joe
Paterno at Brooklyn Prep, a high school run by the Jesuits.
Michael Watt, Babylon, N.Y.

Big D

Why doesn't anybody respect the Dallas Mavericks (Three's a
Crowd, Feb. 2)? Last month they had a nine-game winning streak
and are 8-3 against the T-Wolves, Kings, Lakers and Spurs. Jack
McCallum complains that the Mavs have too many power forwards,
but that gives them great depth and an overwhelming presence on
the boards. The Mavs could easily be the hottest team heading
into the playoffs.
Blake Skinner, Salem, Va.

Not So Smart

Regarding Rick Reilly's piece on Rod Smart (The Life of Reilly,
Feb. 2): Me Hate Columnist for glamorizing flash-in-the-pan,
morally absent, fashion-challenged special teams player.
Henry Howard, Penfield, N.Y.

COLOR PHOTO: NEIL LEIFER

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