Letters
Walking Tall
This is perhaps your best cover ever, showing five men walking together with a common purpose. Your photo of San Antonio's starting five should be hanging on the wall in every company's board room and meeting room as a symbol of teamwork and the success that can result from selflessness.
Bob Koprivica, Las Vegas
Can sports fans please put the idea to rest that the Spurs are boring (Super Model, June 25)? Every feeder league and high school program stresses teamwork, team defense, rebounding and assists. San Antonio has managed to put team first, and that is a huge reason why the Spurs win consistently, while flashier players have nice long summers to spend their ridiculous, unearned salaries.
J.D. Williams, Fort Collins, Colo.
I was surprised that Robert Horry was not the fifth Spur to grace your cover instead of Fabricio Oberto. How could the player who made the playoff's biggest "shot"—his knockdown of Steve Nash—not be included? Maybe David Stern and Stu Jackson, who handed down suspensions of the Suns for Game 5 of Phoenix's playoff series against San Antonio, should also have been included for their contribution to the championship run.
Michael Deardoff, Peoria, Ariz.
Jack McCallum wrote that the Spurs, with their key players returning, "are heavy favorites to win the 2008 NBA title as well." But it shows how underappreciated this dynasty is that, according to the Las Vegas Hilton oddsmakers, San Antonio is actually only the third choice (at 5 to 1) to win next year's championship, behind both Dallas and Phoenix, which are each priced at 7 to 2. I'm sure that Gregg Popovich & Co. wouldn't have it any other way.
Al McMordie, Los Angeles
Viva Argentina
With Open champion Angel Cabrera and the Spurs' Manu Ginóbili and Fabricio Oberto, you had three Argentineans on the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED! ¬°Vamos todavía!
Agustina Lodoen, Portola Valley, Calif.
For the Birds
Wow! Seamus Murphy's incredible image (LEADING OFF, June 25) of Bodahna bird fighting in Afghanistan captures the essence of the Middle East. I felt like I was right in the middle of this scene with all its sights, sounds and smells.
Bob Casey, Western Springs, Ill.
C'mon, SI, just because a culture thinks it is acceptable for birds to peck at each other so that men with nothing better to do can make money off of them, it doesn't make it right. You know better than that!
Maks Schneider, Madison, N.J.
Blog Rolling
The networks pay the NCAA to broadcast games from which they, the networks, hope to derive advertising revenue. Bloggers receive that same opportunity for profit but without any monetary investment. Thus, by asking bloggers to leave the press box at its baseball championships (PLAYERS, June 25), the NCAA was merely protecting the interests of itself and its clients. Bravo to the NCAA for doing the right thing.
Ben Goodrich, Ruxton, Md.
What is the NCAA going to do when technological advances allow fans to transmit live video with their cellphones? Every ticket-paying customer will have the ability to broadcast the game.
Jim Cain, Nashville
Error in Judgment?
For the last 21 years I have endured countless vitriolic and vituperative comments regarding my husband, Bill Buckner, and his career. I have held my tongue. Now you have crossed the line. My son Bobby's first SPORTS ILLUSTRATED article (PLAYERS, June 25), and you refer to him as the "kid" of a "goat"? Your headline was not only yesterday's news, it was mean-spirited and in poor taste.
Jody Buckner, Boise
Downhill Lie
I have been a single-digit handicap for 50 years and a high school coach, and I am a golf addict. Rick, I enjoyed The Wrath of the Golf Gods (LIFE OF REILLY, June 25), but when you shook your club at the heavens, you were pointing in the wrong direction if you were looking for the guy who controls the golf action.
Lee Megginson, San Jose
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Correction
Desmond Howard (below, in 1991 and today) was misidentified in a LEADING OFF photo of 16 Heisman winners in the July 16 issue. Also, the last names of Johnny Rodgers and George Rogers were reversed. SI regrets the errors.
PHOTO
AL TIELEMANS (COVER)
PHOTO
GETTY IMAGES (HOWARD IN 1991)
PHOTO
JENNIFER POTTHEISER (HOWARD TODAY)