Letters

OUTTA HERE!

It was a pleasure to read about the resurgence of baseball and home-run hitters Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa [SPORT, July 27]. As a lifetime fan of baseball, I have more trouble enjoying this great game as its keepers continue to try to destroy it. I do have one complaint. Your list of the leading Cy Young award winners for best pitcher showed Steve Carlton winning four of them with St. Louis. While Carlton started his career with the Cardinals, his greatest success came with the Philadelphia Phillies. I know because at times he was the only reason to watch the team. It may not seem like a lot, but I'm a Phillies fan, and we don't have much. Please don't take Lefty away now! JACK LYNCH Drexel Hill, Pa.

Joel Stein wrote that baseball is "a game full of the fat and unfit." Granted, baseball players are not conditioned to run up and down a basketball court or soccer field, but I would like Stein to go to a baseball game and calculate the percentage of players who are "fat and unfit." It is probably about the same as the percentage of people in the U.S. who have a Mohawk haircut--not counting the Berkeley area. EDDIE FORD Berkeley, Calif.

Baseball is a game invented by morons, watched by morons and played by morons. A more boring sport is difficult to find. Baseball exemplifies all that is simple, inane and childlike in the minds of Americans. What other sport is egocentric enough to have a World Series without world teams involved? PETER T. LOCHTIE Laval, Que.

Before the 1994 strike, I lived and breathed baseball and attended two to three dozen games a year. I knew it was a business, but I thought that--for the lords of baseball--the sport came first. When the postseason was canceled, and there was no World Series, I learned that baseball is a business first and a sport second. If the owners and players don't care about the outcome of a season, then why should I? Baseball may be back, but this disgruntled fan isn't. MARC I. WHINSTON New York City

Baseball is on top now among competitive sports. Basketball is ugly. Hockey is merely cool, and football is weird. The kind of baseball being played today is as good as that of days gone by, and we are filled with the sense that teams are playing for the fans again. This type of play is what we deserve. This is a sport worth supporting. Spectators almost forgot to demand quality. BEAU TIMKEN, Founder National Spectators Association San Francisco

Just a few days ago, I went to see the Mets play. It was the first time I had ever seen a live baseball game. The roar of the fans, the home runs, the announcer's penetrating voice, the freshly cut green grass all made for a great experience. I was never a fan of baseball before, but now I am! All you women out there, go see a baseball game, and you'll understand why men like it so much! SHAHLA HUSAIN Trumbull, Conn.

I am an almost-50 baby boomer who still loves the fun of baseball. I remember coming home from school in the spring and fall holding a transistor radio to my ear and listening to the announcer describe my favorite team's game. Will it be the same for my eight- and 11-year-old children? Nostalgia may appeal to us boomers, but what about the kids? Want another generation to grow up fans of baseball? Schedule more day games! Time after time, I have to tear my kids away from televised baseball in the early innings because it's their bedtime. During the play-offs and World Series it gets even worse. Wake up and revise schedules so kids can go to games, watch them on TV and listen to them on the radio before they have to go to bed. NEIL TOLHURST Winsted, Conn.

Excuse me, but your statistics chart was wrong to state that in 1961 Roger Maris hit his record 61 homers as a St. Louis player. He wore a Yankee uniform. JOE MCGRATH Tacoma, Wash.

It is disgraceful that baseball, a sport abounding with overpaid players, graces your cover while the virtual holocaust of famine occurring in Sudan is tucked inside. It is shameful that a sport and its millionaire players can warrant more of TIME's attention than 2.6 million starving Sudanese, of whom 350,000 may be facing death. KRISTIN CAM Springfield, Pa.

MORE "UNBREAKABLE" RECORDS

Your list of 20th century baseball records that won't be broken anytime soon [SPORT, July 27] should have included Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski's astonishing 1966 mark of 161 double plays in one season. JOHN T. BIRD Birmingham, Ala.

You omitted one record that may be further out of reach than any other: consecutive no-hit games by a pitcher. The number of games is two, and it is held by Johnny Vandermeer of the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched his two historic games against the Boston Bees and Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938. Just imagine the media frenzy that would erupt if Roger Clemens or David Cone were to pitch two no-hitters in a row! KENNETH WIMMEL Bethesda, Md.

THERE IS NO FOOD

Thank you for writing about the desperate situation of famine in Sudan [WORLD, July 27]. You made me think about life and death. Children are our hope. And that is why I work as an obstetrician. We have to do our best to save the children in Sudan. TOMOMI OZAKI, M.D. Yokohama, Japan

You portrayed a crisis in Sudan without adequately understanding the aid efforts of the U.S. government. Let there be no mistake: this famine was caused by protracted civil war and human-rights abuses by the Sudanese government, including support for scorched-earth militia raids in the famine zones, the bombing of relief centers and denial of access to relief supplies. These abuses have made the relief efforts in the country more difficult and dangerous. Last fall there was no possible way to predict the series of events that led to this tragic famine. USAID is the world's largest donor to relief efforts in Sudan, providing more than $75 million so far in 1998 alone. But, ultimately, only a comprehensive peace that allows for equality and religious freedom for all people will end the suffering of the Sudanese. J. BRIAN ATWOOD, Administrator U.S. Agency for International Development Washington

Are we that emotionally detached from the African continent that we can refer to the possible death of tens of thousands of people, as you did in the subhead for this story, as just "another shocking famine"? DANIEL M. CONDYLIS Berkeley, Calif.

My heart goes out to the starving people of Sudan. Your pictures were very unsettling. The U.S. is always ready to help these foreign countries, but where do we draw the line? Don't people in Washington realize there are homeless, starving people right here? MELANIE MALORZO Utica, N.Y.

While the human-rights record of the Khartoum government is one of the worst in the world, the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army is doing its best to overtake it. In the past three years the U.S. has supported S.P.L.A. leader John Garang with an incredible abundance of money, even footing the bill for an S.P.L.A. representative abroad. In short, with American money, Garang has built a personal empire that terrorizes the whole of southern Sudan. His misguided political tactics have forced many Sudanese patriots to surrender to Khartoum or end up murdered. The U.S. government knows what is happening but does not want to act. JANE MACHARIA OCHIENG Nairobi

KILLING WITH A CAMERA

After reading photographer Eddie Adams' account of taking the famous photograph of South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan as he shot a bound Viet Cong prisoner [NOTEBOOK, July 27], I felt so sorry for Loan and his family. Adams wrote that he had killed the general with his camera and messed up his life because people weren't aware that the prisoner had just shot American soldiers. I apologize for having thought so badly about Loan. My brother, who was a sergeant under Loan's command when the photograph was taken, always defended the general, saying "Anh Loan" (Big Brother Loan) was a very kind man who cared about his soldiers. As a Vietnamese Buddhist, I will pray for him, and hope he achieves Nirvana. DANG THI BACH LIEN Parma, Italy

No amount of eulogizing by photographer Adams can ever exonerate the late General Loan for the cold-blooded extrajudicial murder of a patriot. ZAFAR IQBAL Karachi, Pakistan

This photograph taken by Adams did as much to affect American opinion on the Vietnam War as any other single thing. But this photograph represented only half the story. The media, dwelling as usual on the more sensational aspects, failed to tell us the other half: the Viet Cong victim had just blown away some American soldiers! As Adams so poignantly wrote, "What would you have done under the circumstances?"

The rules of war make a difference and can skew your behavior. Had the media presented the kinder side of the general, who behaved like a warrior, was admired by his troops and pursued charitable causes, like trying to get hospitals built in Vietnam for war casualties, the American public would have made a fairer judgment. HAROLD J. EBURY Coalinga, Calif.

ANSWERED PRAYERS?

I am a Christian and was appalled by Margaret Carlson's column on Anne and John Paulk, two homosexuals who embraced Christianity and are now a heterosexual couple [NOTEBOOK, July 27]. Carlson ended her piece by saying, "Maybe the lame walk and homosexuals become heterosexuals, but I doubt it." I do not know whether Carlson is a Christian, but what she said was inappropriate. Why is it that when a person claims to be a homosexual to further the left's agenda, it is applauded, but when a person claims to be a former homosexual who was saved by Christ, that person is immediately battered? I do not hate homosexuals; I hate the act of homosexual sex. And I am fully in favor of turning people away from homosexuality to Christ. CLINTON M. LATSHA West Grove, Pa.

"Ex-straights" seem to be far more abundant than "ex-gays," and they're a whole lot more believable. BRIAN JUDGE Washington

As a lesbian who was involved with Fundamentalist churches for 20 years, I can tell you that when members of these churches say that being gay can be cured by submission to Jesus Christ, they are deceiving themselves as well as others. My ex-husband, who is also gay, and I are out of the closet and finally happy and at peace with ourselves. Our attempts to let God "heal" us led only to depression, suicidality and infidelity. NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST Bloomfield, Conn.

I have known both Anne and John Paulk for several years. Gays can change. After living for 25 years as a gay man, I am no longer sexually attracted to other men. The change did not happen in an instant or after just one prayer, but after many, many prayers and a river of tears. Thank God for people like the Paulks, who stood with me through it all. HOWARD W. HERVEY San Rafael, Calif.

As the mother of a gay son, I know that my son did not choose to be homosexual. I knew when he was three years old that he was "different." Why would gay people choose this sexual orientation when they must endure ridicule and discrimination every day of their lives? Homosexuals do not need to be "cured." They simply need the freedom to be who they are. JANE BROWNLEY Lauderdale by the Sea, Fla.

BUYING BOOKS--IN STORES

Your report on shopping by computer [THE INTERNET ECONOMY, July 20] noted the dispute between Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble over which one is the "Earth's Biggest Bookstore." Those of us who are independent booksellers find their claims need clarification. The 2.5 million-book database that both Amazon and Barnes & Noble use is virtually the same one that is used by any bookstore. The two giants don't have a large warehouse stocked with 2.5 million titles available at hefty discounts. Instead, they may stock several hundred titles of best sellers, for which volume sales allow cheap prices. All other books they supply their customers are ordered from the same national distributors that many independent bookstores use. But as a plus, specialty bookstores have in stock many titles that Amazon and Barnes & Noble don't usually carry and cannot quickly acquire. SHIRLEY BLAKLEY Professional Book Sellers Nashville, Tenn.

BLACK AMERICA'S KEY CHALLENGE

In his piece on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and its new chairman, Julian Bond [DIVIDING LINE, July 27], Jack E. White was very supportive of Bond's leadership. But Bond's devilishly elegant plan of affirmative action is primarily for the black fortunate, the black elite. There is little benefit in it for anyone but a group of handpicked nonwhites and middle-class white women. Bond's affirmative action works best for professionals and those in the middle class. He suggests that the black community can be developed without a preference for its most needy element. This is hardly a civil rights remedy, and Bond, an elitist, has never seemed comfortable with any plan to empower the masses of black people. Despite what he believes, white racism is not black America's most important challenge. Black elitism and the lack of self-empowerment are. TONY BROWN, Host Tony Brown's Journal, PBS New York City

SEEING PRIVATE RYAN

The devastating and realistic portrayal of wartime violence in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan had a profound effect on me [CINEMA, July 27]. With each shot, sound, struggle and death, I felt like jumping up and screaming, "Stop!" And I couldn't leave, because even as a viewer I felt I would let the troops down. I left the theater trembling and in a cold sweat. This movie should be seen only by people who are desensitized to violence and those who don't appreciate what all those who have fought in wars have sacrificed. Spielberg has constructed a compelling and serious wartime reality, the likes of which I hope will never grace the screen again. RONALD L. TARTAGLIA Boston

Nice try, Spielberg! You think perhaps we can bring back the deep pride we once felt in our own flag with a mere movie? Pride is a reflection of doing the right thing and doing it well. When was the last time the decision makers of the U.S. deserved that feeling? Our government has always "asked" the sons and daughters of this country to uphold the values we believe in. What the government hasn't done is keep its end of the bargain, by placing a value on the lives of its servicemen and -women. Weeks before the end of World War II in Europe, our government "asked" its soldiers to take part in a dubious mission to rescue an American prisoner in Germany, the relative of an influential general. The prisoner made it home. My father, Private Clarence W. Boyd, did not. JOAN BOYD HANDTKE Schererville, Ind.

As a veteran of Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm, I thought my generation had served through trying times. However, after seeing Saving Private Ryan, I am awed and ashamed. I did not realize what my father and his generation went through to ensure our nation's freedom. If Spielberg, Tom Hanks and the excellent cast do nothing more for the rest of their lives, their epitaphs should make note of Saving Private Ryan. MICHAEL LAUGHLIN Katy, Texas

After viewing Private Ryan, I headed to the rest room, only to discover a significant number of other men who were also washing their faces, drying their eyes and blowing their noses. Not since Field of Dreams have I seen a movie so perfectly hit the spot in male emotions. Way to go, Steven! REID P. GERRITT Middletown, Conn.

Saving Private Ryan should be mandatory viewing for everyone under age 40. The battle scenes magnify the bonding of people from different backgrounds in a unified sense of purpose and a belief in something. There is a message: the freedom we enjoy should be earned, not just taken for granted. DAVID MARRONE Urbana, Ill.