The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Goodbye, Ohio State

1.8.03 @ 12:01AM

SORE WINNERS
Re: Editor's Note A Football Hero:

"Miami defeated Ohio State, a referee's personal foul notwithstanding." By definition, sour grapes. If you play the game so that a referee's call makes any difference you have no more legitimate claim to have won than crying that the coin toss was unfair.

A conservative e-publication, heir to fifty years in the cultural wilderness, should know better.
-- Steve Malynn

Who wrote this "Miami defeated Ohio State, a referee's personal foul notwithstanding"? A myopic Miami Hurricanes fan or a blind man, er, person?

The game should have never gone to overtime thanks to the incompetent referees. Watch it again this weekend on ESPN if you can recover from your denial by then and specifically check out the last OSU drive prior to overtime with the incomplete pass call on 3rd down. This was, in fact, a complete pass made in bounds by the talented Mr. Chris Gamble. And, oh yeah, he was interfered with too -- which was not called either.

With that first down Miami's punt return and the game-tying field goal would have never happened.
-- Michelle Heisler
Proud OSU Buckeye
Champion by proxy

Wow, talk about perpetrating a myth. Miami never even would have had the opportunity to get to overtime had the refs not botched the call on Gamble on third down in the last minute of regulation. Not only was there holding on the play, but Gamble caught the ball in bounds nonetheless. There are plenty of bad calls to go around -- why focus only on the one that hurt Miami? Finally, the official himself has said that the PI flag was for the holding before the ball got to the receiver, something the replays never even show -- it was not thrown for the tussle between Sharpe and Gamble when the ball arrived. Ohio State pounded the crap out of Miami, how can you say Miami beat Ohio State -- call or no call????? I'm disappointed. American Prowler usually doesn't give credence to whiners.
-- Yvonne Lundwall Twiss, Esq.
Columbus, Ohio

Your statement, "Miami defeated Ohio State, a referee's personal foul notwithstanding" was a stupid remark, for several reasons. First, Ohio State won the game. Second, no one would have questioned the call by the referee if he had thrown the flag more quickly. If you had done your homework, you would have known that the reason he threw the flag late is because he was trying to decide whether the call should be defensive holding or pass interference, not whether a foul had been committed or not. Third, and probably the stupidest thing about the remark, is that you are insulting the 2nd largest university in the country, which not only happens to have more alumni than any other university, but is also one of the most conservative colleges in America. You are alienating a large part of your audience, including myself. Unlike liberals, conservatives do not believe in rewarding stupidity. You may have eliminated a substantial part of your audience with one stupid remark.
-- Louis Burwell

IN COMMUNICADO
Re: "Long Time No Hear" letter in Reader Mail's Dividend Divisions:

"Unsigned" asserts: "There has been no communication between Pyongyang and Baghdad for the past 22 years. Period."

Except, I suppose, for the visits by Saddam Hussein's son to Pyongyang for the purpose of buying WMD technology.

There is a difference between formal diplomatic relations and "communication" -- as anyone less naive than "Unsigned" would know from the persistent back-and-forth between the United States and Cuba over various issues.
-- Kevin McGehee
Coweta County, GA

LOTT RULES
Re: The Washington Prowler's Santorum's Sacrifice and Peter Hannaford's Slipping Into Minorityhood:

To Trent Lott: Please remember that despite the traditional manner of Senatorial address, Daschle, Leahy, Kennedy, Jeffords and the others are not really your "friends". Soviet style discipline dictates that all personal loyalties must be suppressed in the Party's pursuit of power and attainment of ends--and the ends justify all means. All of these "friends" are ready to line up and stab you in the back; as they, of course, already have many
times.
-- J. R. Wheatley

Peter Hannaford's "Slipping Into Minorityhood" was a good article and I liked his optimism.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Business, Law, NATO, Africa