Seahawks
Jenks, headline writer
should be flagged
Jayson Jenks’ article assessing Russell Wilson’s weaknesses and (oh, yeah) strengths as a quarterback (“How the Eagles game captured Russell Wilson’s polarizing perceptions,” Saturday) was accurate but not timely before an important football game. It is one thing to say the Seahawk field general “can be both brilliant and clumsy in the same game,” but to say he “remains a polarizing figure” is uncalled for. It is inaccurate and mean-spirited, conjuring up the old brouhaha of his relationship with Percy Harvin and Wilson’s not being “black enough.”
And whomever wrote the headline ought to be ashamed of himself.
— Steve Lequire, Des Moines
Hall of Fame
A vote against
Stone’s ballot
Larry Stone used to be my favorite writer at The Seattle Times, but after seeing his Hall of Fame ballot and his very lame reasoning for voting for two known steroid users (“Edgar Martinez for Hall of Fame? Road to Cooperstown gets a lot tougher,” Dec. 14) he has lost a lot of credibility with me.
— Dennis Roggenbuck, Renton
Soccer
Disappointed in
soccer placement
I was disappointed with the coverage of the NCAA Men’s Soccer championship in your paper. AM Briefing? Really?
That is what soccer at the highest collegiate level merits? This is so discouraging to someone who has given his life to the game — at the professional level, at the youth club level, and at the high-school level. It sends a dismissive message to those kids who play the game and who aspire to greatness. Greatness on the back page of the Sports section lumped with Sidney Crosby’s mumps?
Sorry, but I find this offensive and discouraging.
— Tony Chursky, Federal Way (former Sounder)
High schools
Erase those
code words
While I enjoy a whiff of condescension as much as the next guy, perhaps Josh Liebeskind — and the person who edits his copy — could be more creative (“Shadle Park’s Brett Rypien, Marysville-Pilchuck’s Austin Joyner are Seattle Times High School Players of the Year,” Tuesday). Just for laughs, why not flip the field next time?
Praise the “instincts” of the white quarterback and credit the black defensive back for being a “leader” and “student of the game.” I’ve been reading these code words for five decades now, in the same lazy, prejudicial context, and it gets a tad old.
— Rial Cummings, Vashon
Jim Harbaugh
Ann Arbor native
back to Michigan
Jim Harbaugh grew up in Ann Arbor, where he went to high school and played football in Ann Arbor. He went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he played football and will soon become the next football coach at Michigan.
— Vernon C. Bryant, Bellevue
UW volleyball
Bad calls
deserve replays
ESPNU replays clearly showed that two bad line calls cost the Huskies the decisive fourth set of an NCAA regional volleyball semifinal, which Nebraska won 29-27. Coach Jim McLaughlin challenged at least one of these calls, to no avail.
College basketball officials routinely use video replay to review three-point shots and and out-of-bounds calls.
Available replays should likewise be used to review important marginal line calls in volleyball and other Olympic sports in college.
— John McCaslin, Kirkland
Rod Belcher
Stone’s story
captured essence
Larry Stone truly caught the essence of Rod Belcher in his tribute to him (“Rod Belcher was an essential voice in Seattle sports history,” Tuesday). My education from Rod was in fishing the Sauk River in the early 1970s. I remember Rod catching a steelhead on Rock Creek with a trout rod. He tossed rocks into the river to move the fish where it could be landed. One trip he out-fished me using flies. He caught nine Dolly Varden trout, while I landed three with hardware.
Thanks for remembering a very special person in the Pacific Northwest.
— Doug Wilson, Monroe
Sharp mind,
love of sports
Rod Belcher, who we lost just over a week ago, was one of the broadcast legends on the Northwest sporting scene. In his later years, he remained in the local conversation through this very forum, where he forcefully and eloquently drove home many a sharp insight.
Be it in the calling of football, baseball or hydro races, his sharp mind was never overshadowed by an infectious love of the games.
We’ll miss you, Rod.
— Lew Witham, Seattle
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