Letters

Mets over thePhillies? Who knew that joke would still be funny three years in a row?
Jim Cummings, Peoria, Ariz.

The NationalLeague has no excuse for not winning this year's All-Star Game. According toyour Player Value Ranking (Scouting Reports, April 6), eight of the top 10position players and four of the five highest-rated pitchers play in the SeniorCircuit.
Ken Tippery
Royal Oak, Mich.

Big Business

Until 2008 it hadbeen 26 years since the Brewers made their last playoff appearance. Now to seeCC Sabathia on your cover in his new uniform (Big Love, April 6) is a painfulreminder of how MLB is mishandling its small-market clubs. The only consolationI will have is watching the Yankees, with the players they bought, fall shortof their World Series expectations for a ninth straight year.
Mike Kozak, Waukesha, Wis.

NumberCruncher

As a formerfinancial analyst, I'm a big fan of statistical modeling. I'm also a big fan ofthe Angels, and any statistical model that says Torii Hunter cost the team fourruns with his outfield play last season (Baseball's Next Top Models, April 6)still needs some tweaking.
Jim Bendel
San Clemente, Calif.

Rough andTumble

The physicality ofcollege basketball (Only the Strong Survive, April 6) has soured the sport tosuch a degree that a great many of the games have become unwatchable. The NBA,says Villanova assistant Doug West, "legislated a lot of physicality out ofthe game"—and that's because the physicality nearly killed the game in thelate 1990s. The pro game is now high scoring and free flowing, and it's aspopular as it has been since Michael Jordan's heyday. In recent years the NFLand the NHL have also moved to free up their sports. College basketball,meanwhile, has moved in the opposite direction, and the results have beendisastrous.
Daniel Cohen, Astoria, N.Y.

The article endswith the following words: "Bodies on the floor, fouls on the scoreboard,blood in the air." That's exactly why I've stopped watching collegebasketball.
Cameron Lind, Omaha

Truth inNumbers

Phil Taylor writes(POINT AFTER, April 6), "What kind of man could preside over a 100--0 game?Maybe a better man than you thought." I believe a man's character isrevealed by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. Micah Grimes, thecoach of the winning high school basketball team who was subsequently fired,revealed his character.
John L. Licciardi, Naples, Fla.

When I told mychildren about a coach being fired after a 100--0 basketball game, my15-year-old daughter's response was, "He deserved to be fired." But sheassumed that the losing coach was the one who lost his job. If theadministrators at the losing school, Dallas Academy, were smart, they wouldfire their existing coach and hire Grimes.
Rod Smits, Green Bay

Correction

Due to a writer'serror, a quote in March Madness Comes to High School Hoops (April 13) wasincorrectly attributed to ESPN RISE senior vice president James Brown. No ESPNrepresentative commented for the story.

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