LETTERS
A Long Time Coming
Your cover (Nov. 8) showing goofy grins on the faces of Johnny Damon, David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling certainly brought a smile to my face. After all those years when Tom Yawkey refused to integrate his team and, as a result, had one bad season after another, I'll happily take a long-haired Jesus look-alike, a blond guy with a bleeding foot and a few Dominicans any day of the week. Let us remember the 2004 baseball season as the year that a bunch of idiots, as diverse as the occupants of a New York subway car, came together and gave us one of the best rides of our lives.
John D. Kevari, San Bernardino, Calif.
For 86 years those of us in Red Sox Nation have subsisted on "Wait till next year." Finally, 2004 is next year! Let us enjoy it for a while. Why is Tom Verducci immediately writing about issues we have to deal with for next year (Now Comes the Hard Part, Nov. 8)? Long live the 2004 gang!
Jack Walsh, Chesapeake, Va.
Thinking about free-agent signings is too much reality for me. I just fulfilled a long-awaited sports fantasy.
Jim Gilhooly, Nashua, N.H.
As a member of Red Sox Nation, I would like to thank the 2004 Boston Red Sox for taking me on a roller-coaster ride that simply cannot be replicated, and for proving that dreams can in fact come true. Congratulations, you bunch of idiots, it's your time to shine.
John Asimakopoulos, Dracut, Mass.
Wow! At long last the Red Sox have won the World Series! Now all they have to do is put together about 20 more world championships, and they can lay claim to being the second-greatest team in the history of baseball--right behind you-know-who.
Robert Cole, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Boston, stop pretending to be the Little Team That Could and own up to being what you in fact are--a big-market team with a fat wallet. Yankees--Red Sox is not the Evil Empire versus the Jedi, it's more like U.S.A. versus U.S.S.R.: two superpowers that dwarf everybody else.
David Chapus Rochester, N.Y.
Life sure is great as an ex-lifelong-suffering Red Sox fan.
Kevin Kelleher Mansfield, Mass.
I'm disappointed that SI chose for This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse an item on deep-sea diving (Scorecard, Nov. 8). I don't see how it could have been anything other than, "Wednesday, October 27, 2004, the Boston Red Sox won a World Series."
Brandon S. Kelley, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Horse Sense
As a horse racing fan for more than 30 years, I hope and pray honors for achievement in the sport are not too influenced by television ratings--as Tim Layden's nod to Smarty Jones for Horse of the Year suggests (Inside Horse Racing, Nov. 8). Ghostzapper missed the first half of 2004 due to an injury; Smarty Jones missed the last half of '04 so the owners could grab $39 million from syndication fees. Smarty Jones's efforts were limited to racing 3-year-olds; Ghostzapper beat the best of all ages. Maybe I'll try to find somebody that can breed a fast colt with big floppy ears and a curly tail. That would ensure plenty of media coverage and at least give my horse a shot at Horse of the Year honors.
Bill Rauscher, Hanover Park, Ill.
Ads Infinitum
I've read more than a few articles echoing Steve Rushin's column about corporate America taking over, and I agree with all of them (Air and Space, Nov. 8). We're subjected to 15 minutes of commercials before a 90-minute movie, ads dancing across the actors' chests in the middle of every TV program and pop-up sales pitches on the Internet, and what can we do about it? How about some writer proving to ad agencies and billion-dollar corporations that instead of increased revenues, all that Invesco, SBC or Monster will get is resentment--and, in some cases, a boycott.
Chris Sutherland, West Haven, Conn.
Once I made my way through 10 pages of messages about cologne, cars, hospitals, DSL and E.D., I really enjoyed Rushin's column about rampant commercialism.
Brent York, Greensboro, N.C.
As the senior director of corporate partnerships for the Memphis Grizzlies, I am proud to say that our fans enjoy games in beautiful FedExForum, park cars in the Ford Parking Garage, entertain clients in the First Tennessee Club Level, socialize in the Jack Daniel's Old #7 Sports Bar and host pregame gatherings in Ledbetter Landing. Rushin earns a living writing for a magazine that exists because of corporate advertising. He should be proud that SI has loyal readers and loyal advertisers.
Chad Bolen, Memphis
Rushin touched a nerve with nearly all sports fans in his article on the constant in-your-face advertising taking place in sports today. While watching the MLB playoffs, I could not help but notice the Fox emblem in the scoring line, the Fox logo burned into the bottom right of the tube or The Simpsons on Fox's billboard directly behind the batter. We all know it is just a matter of time before we are cheering for the Boston Red Fox.
Lou Rosetti, Archbald, Pa.
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