* Cheer, cheer,for old Notre Dame
While they look for someone to blame
Keeping Manti safe and sound
And hoping the truth
Just won’t be found.
PHIL PETERS
Staten Island
* I bet Manti Te’o wishes the Alabama offensive line had been imaginary!
ANDY ROMANIC
Freeport, N.Y.
’Strong rebuke
* Lance Armstrong destroyed the dreams of countless others in his ruthless, despicable pursuit of glory. His mea culpa is a load of garbage. He deserves only scorn and contempt for the rest of what I hope is a miserable life.
MICHAEL MAURER
Long Branch, N.J.
* Lance Armstrong’s confession to Oprah Winfrey of his use of performance-enhancing drugs brought the seedier side of professional sports into sharp focus this week. Anyone who believes anabolic steroids aren’t a major component of professional sports across the board is kidding themselves. The drug culture is so adept at developing countermeasures to escape detection there is really no effective way to stop it. Not only that, but the product is so entertaining the fans don’t seem to care. One day, the whole thing will come crashing down in a way that can’t be ignored, and when that happens both the fans and the leagues which turned the other way should accept their role in what is becoming a national tragedy.
KEN DREXLER
North Woodmere, N.Y.
* Will the Yankees fans who have forgiven Andy Pettitte forgive Lance Armstrong?
EDWARD DROSSMAN
New York City
Hall of an idea
* What the recent Baseball Hall of Fame balloting proves is that a substantial majority of the voters believe there should be consequences for cheating. I would like to think that those who voted for the likes of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens agree with that principle, but despite this, think exclusion altogether is too great a consequence. Raw numbers of the kind compiled by Bonds and Clemens, as well as those compiled by Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, clearly suggest inclusion. Perhaps the solution for both sides of the consequences issue would be to declare that “tainted” candidates are ineligible during their lifetimes and that upon death, there name would be restored to the ballot. As for identifying “tainted” players, let the voters decide by majority vote.
DAVID A. LUTTINGER
Manhasset, N.Y.
Found in translation
* I extend my hearty congratulations to baseball, for by allowing a foreign language interpreter to go to the pitching mound when a foreign pitcher is pitching, it is finally entering the 21st century. In doing so, baseball has finally caught up with the rest of the world, where foreign language interpreters are commonplace, as you see them at schools, companies, voting booths, police stations, city halls and various other places. With the large influx of foreign players into baseball in recent years, this move makes sense. I wonder, though, if the interpreters will forward to the players all the obscene words their coaches and managers are saying to them.
KENNETH L.
ZIMMERMAN
Huntington Beach, Calif.