Thursday, Jul 24, 2008
Readers respond to King Kaufman's assessment of the World Series and to a critique of Michael Jordan.
Nov 6, 2001 | Read "Surprise ending" by King Kaufman.
Come on, King Kaufman.
Your big sloppy wet kiss to the finally-defeated Yanks misses all the important points. Why don't you focus on those "hunches" by (rookie manager!) Bob Brenly that won the game, instead of the can't-lose Yankees, who lost at last? Nobody outside New England wanted to see New York overcome the scrappy D-backs anyway.
The story you didn't want to tell was out-of-nowhere Arizona fielding warhorses like Johnson and Schilling against the Yankees' expensive lineup. What other team can start Orlando Hernandez and Roger Clemens -- with Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera waiting to relieve? Hall of Famers all, like many of New York's big-ticket names. That's the soul of baseball that we saw in the Series -- the willful resistance by old hawks like Mark Grace and young turks like Craig Counsell over stardust-sprinkled chosen ones like Jeter and Alfonso Soriano.
The lesson we should learn from this amazingly enjoyable Series is not that the bought-and-paid-for Yankees managed to miss their "date with destiny," but that Arizona stole the show.
-- Ryan Goudelocke
Your story about Game 7 of the World Series is one of the best pieces of sportswriting I have read in many, many years. I was a sportswriter in an earlier life, including a stint as national sports correspondent for the Gannett New Service, so I know what it takes to write such a fine story on deadline. Congratulations!
-- John Wilheim, Wichita, Kan.
I'm still glowing and excited about the series this morning of course, and it was great to read your column that captures so much of what I was thinking and feeling during this series.
Born a Red Sox fan, and having endured what seemed like decades of disappointment as the Yankees kept dominating the Sox, I moved to the northwest in the '60s. I began warming up to the Mariners this year, but watched the old movie as the Yankees overwhelmed them in the American League finals. They were better, period.
Then came this series, and my wife and I, not really sports fans at all, got hooked. I was so elated after the first two games, so amazed after games 3, 4 and 5, and so unprepared for game 6. Then in game 7 wasn't there such a sense of inevitability. I had seen this before. The Diamondbacks went ahead, and then here come the Yankees once again. But as you say, this was a different script. Thanks for the column.
-- Ed Sheridan, Bainbridge Island, Wash.
The closest, most back-and-forth World Series in years didn't seem quite movie-esque to you? What about the homesick young Kim's chilling, two-night-in-a row, agonizing final-inning mis-pitch? What about the big, monster, established team being knocked on its butt by the underdog?
You're wrong, life is a movie that's playing everywhere at all times, you just need to know what movie you're watching.
-- Jason Eness
Read "Don't be like Mike" by Tom Schaller.
Who sprinkled itching powder in Tom Schaller's jock?
Where is it written that an athlete has to pop off on every social issue that comes along? Who the hell cares who Michael Jordan supports for U.S. senator from North Carolina?
A boxer for a role model? Puh-leeze! Why should I look for moral guidance to a man who makes his living beating other men senseless?
-- J.A. Goodpasture
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