The American Spectator

Reader Mail

The Breaks of the Game

10.4.02 @ 12:01AM

BALL FORE
Re: Paul Beston's Confessions of a Front-Running Turncoat:

Paul Beston's essay is interesting. I lived in the New York area for two and a half years, and loved listening to the Yankees on the radio, particularly in the last year with their wonderful new broadcast team of John Stirling and Charlie Stiner. Stirling said something interesting about the difference between the Yankees and other teams.

It's not just money or markets, he said. Chicago, as he pointed out, is every bit as vital and powerful a commercial marketplace as New York. And the last time any Chicago team made a run at a national championship was 1959, when the White Sox met the Dodgers. "Forty years without a national championship," Stirling said, "is not just a matter of money. That's bad management."

And I have to agree.
-- Lawrence Henry
North Andover, MA

I loved Paul Beston's piece on baseball. He offers a deep understanding of baseball and its fans, as well as the humorous side of baseball loyalty. I enjoyed reading his article and hope there are more like it in the future.
-- Veronica Delora

Obviously Mr. Beston voted for Al Gore. Go with the favorite, and that's what you get.
-- Jim Stevenson

Paul Beston replies: Alas for Mr. Stevenson, the more I rooted for the Yankees, the further I moved to the Right. But that's another story. Sorry to disappoint him, but I suppose I already have.

GRANITE CRAGS
Re: The Washington Prowler's A Republican New Jersey:

I had voted for Buffalo Bob Smith in previous elections but his RINO behavior (running as an "Independent" for President, refusing to back the ANWR drilling, the caving in to PETA-philes, etc.)in the last couple of years definitely made it a no-brainer to vote for John Sununu in the primary. This latest idiocy (his agreeing to a write-in campaign for himself) only proves his unworthiness for re-election. His supporters say it's better to elect the wretched Shaheen than support John Sununu. How about a few choruses of "The World Turned Upside Down"?

Shaheen, by the way, is playing strictly by the Clinton/McAwful Rule Book. She proclaims herself "independent" rather than a DemocRAT, at least for the election, hoping that people forget her liberal twittism as Governor.
-- Gene Smith
Contoocook, NH

The Sununu camp and Judd Gregg are trying to get Bob Smith to attend the rally with the President this Saturday morning in Manchester. If Smith appears, it will be a great coup for Sununu.
-- S.C. Selby

MARYLAND UNARMED
Re: Reid Collins's To Be Tried By Twelve?:

Mr. Collins is right on the money, but I don't agree with the part "it would be useless to speculate ..." (What if the victims had been armed? What about the pilots on Sept. 11, 2001?) What the hey? How's it useless to speculate?

The answer is: Then, even if the confrontation with the murderer in Maryland had turned out bloody, he would not have gone on to kill more (at least, the next day). So, if the first possible victim had been armed, he might be alive and unhurt today, and definitely the other four would be.

Other answer (Sept. 11): I don't see any argument against the fact that 3,000 New Yorkers would be alive today (and many thousands more not maimed), if at least one flight officer, or cabin crew, on the aircraft that hit the World Trade Center had been armed. Whether any of the aircraft would have gone into the ground in the struggle, that is hard to figure in hindsight. They wouldn't have gotten to New York City, though.

Letter to the Editor

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