Letters

Winning Move

Though I'm a Cubsfan, I am nominating the Rockies (Rocktoberfest, Oct. 15) for Sportsmen of theYear—not because of their winning streak but because the team voted to give afull share of their postseason money to the family of Mike Coolbaugh, the minorleague coach who was killed when struck by a foul ball (SI, Sept. 24). That istrue class.
Jonathan Davis, Oklahoma City

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Carving UpCarville

I can appreciateJames Carville's love for LSU football (PLAYERS, Oct. 15), but his constantneed to bash Michigan is beyond laughable. When you compare the footballprograms in regard to national championships (Michigan 11, LSU 2), conferencechampionships (Michigan 42, LSU 13), alltime wins (Michigan 867, LSU 687) andconsecutive bowl seasons (Michigan 32, LSU 7), it becomes obvious that Carvilleis a wee bit of a homer.
Matt Velthouse, Byron Center, Mich.

After all the timeCarville spent trashing Michigan, wouldn't it be ironic if the talk about LSUcoach Les Miles returning to his alma mater after this season to coach theWolverines actually came true?
Michael F. McCarthy, Atlanta

Carville describeshis dream BCS scenario of LSU losing a game by one point and being left out ofthe BCS title game, thus sparking justifiable outrage among LSU fans. Maybesomeone should remind Carville that almost that exact scenario happened justlast year—to Michigan, which lost by three points to top-ranked Ohio State.
Brian Soble, Highland Park, Ill.

A Hard Turn

Tim Layden's storyon Marion Jones's admission of using steroids (PLAYERS, Oct. 15) was entitledDisgrace Jones. Let's try to keep things in perspective. It is hard to believethat Jones was alone among her competitors in using steroids. While her pastdrug use deserves condemnation, her decision to confess, which she knew wouldhave personal and financial consequences, deserves at least some praise. It isa difficult thing for someone in her position to do, and not many othershave.
Simon Lester, Wellington, Fla.

Pearl's Wisdom

I enjoyed readingabout how Bruce Pearl (Oh Boy, Oct. 15) has resurrected his career in the faceof adversity. His metamorphosis from villain into savior parallels theturnarounds he has led at Southern Indiana, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and nowTennessee. It is good to see his name in a positive light for once—he hasearned it.
Davis Oldham, Champaign, Ill.

I was sickened toread Pearl's characterization of the 1989 Deon Thomas recruiting incident ashis "trying to right a wrong." (Pearl, then an assistant coach at Iowa,secretly recorded a conversation with Thomas which seemed to confirm thatThomas had been offered $80,000 and a Chevrolet Blazer to attend Illinois. TheNCAA found Illinois not guilty in the Thomas incident but sanctioned Illinoisfor other unrelated violations.) While I view Pearl as an exceptionalbasketball strategist and an aggressive recruiter, I also view him as unethicaland untruthful for unfairly accusing Thomas and Illinois. Pearl deserved hisyears as a pariah within the coaching ranks. I wish him no success.
James T. Frakes, Rockford, Ill.

Listomania

The Packers'season-ticket waiting list is perhaps the best evidence of the neverendingdevotion of sports fans. Rick Reilly's Be the 74,659th in Line! (LIFE OFREILLY, Oct. 15) gives me a slight ray of hope.
Mike Risley, Number 65,663 Louisville

Waiting 1,067years for Packers season tickets—that's like waiting 10 minutes for a table atyour local steak house compared with the situation in Philadelphia. I got myname on the Eagles' list last year, and my number is somewhere over 60,000.Considering only 15 people received tickets last year, I will have to wait4,000 years to get mine.
Ryan Coombs, Conshohocken, Pa.

VolunteerNeeded

Your story aboutformer quarterbacks who are now on the Rockies (PLAYERS, Oct. 15) should havementioned hitting coach Alan Cockrell. Like Todd Helton, he played forTennessee, leading them to the 1982 Peach Bowl and the '83 Citrus Bowl.
Bernadette Vielhaber, Cleveland

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JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES (COVER)

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UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE SPORTS INFORMATION (COCKRELL)

PASSING THROUGH

Cockrell threw for 13 touchdowns in 1983 and led the Vols to a 9--3 record.