The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Fan Mail

1.9.08 @ 12:01AM

RATTLING THE CAGE
Re: Reid Collins's Root, Root, Root for the Home Team!:

Enjoyed reading this article by Mr. Collins, and agreed with many of his points. There was one point I take exception to, concerning NBA fans and the clappers they use to distract visiting players when they shoot free-throws.

Mr. Collins wrote, "There was a time when a fan would not want to be seen demonstrating in such a way."

Mr. Collins may not be aware that basketball players used to be nicknamed "cagers." This came from journalists in the first half of last century and it described many university gyms where basketball games were played. These gyms had a lower level, where the court was, and an upper balcony, where fans could watch the games. The basketball goals were suspended from the ceiling and fans in the balcony could easily grab a support and shake the goal when a player on the opposing team shot, which they did quite often. This led to the universities fencing off the balcony to prevent this interference. The lower gym now looked like it was in a cage, hence the term "cagers."

Things may have worsened, but boorish behavior from the home-team fans is nothing new.
-- Kent Thomas

Why was this article allowed to be on the website? If Reid Collins is so upset at the thought of fans cheering for their teams, then maybe Reid shouldn't bother to watch sports at all. This was an idiotic, pointless article that demonstrated nothing so much as Reid is a know-nothing killjoy who doesn't understand anything about sports.

The rant against instant replay was incredibly dumb. Apparently, in Reid's world, the "authorities" are always right and just, and if anyone questions them, it's because of "disrespect." Or it could be that the officials screw up occasionally and there's a system in place to prevent abuses. But hey, for Reid, the authorities should never be questioned. That, my friends, is a totalitarian view.

On the subject of free throws, Reid has a fit that fans are allowed to make noise during the act. Please. I don't even know where to begin.

This article diminishes the Spectator. Again I ask, why was this allowed to be on the website?
-- Joel Natzke
Kansas City, Missouri
P.S. Remind me to never take Reid to a game at hallowed Lambeau. The experience just might upset him.

With all the really important and critical things going on in our culture today, you choose to fixate on home team crowd noise. May I respectfully request that you get a life? I suppose you want Congress to hold hearings and have the EPA set decibel levels so as to avoid such "boorish" behavior. Or perhaps, have the Justice Department promulgate a set of regulations for "fairness." Have you ever been to Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium during a playoff game? Can we now get back to something important here? Oh, and do you think you might just let folks have some fun, or do you wish to control that as well?
-- A. DiPentima

Reid Collins's article was poorly written, poorly argued, and seemed to miss the entire point of being a sports fan.

Someone tell Mr. Collins that the little girls' room is just down the hall.
-- Jim Hunter
Ann Arbor, Michigan

HATING ON CELL PHONES
Re: Eric Peters's Driving While Talking:

Contrary to Eric Peters's January 8 column, "Driving while Talking, the study mentioned in the column is NOT a Transportation Research Board study, nor was it funded by the National Academy of Sciences.

The study was conducted and funded by the University of Utah. The study was prepared for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, along with many other studies by researchers and engineers nationwide.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Transportation, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Business, Sports, Law, Iraq, Pakistan, Conservatism