Love/Hate Mail
Some golf points
I understand the point Randy Horick is trying to make in his PGA/Casey Martin column (Sports, June 7), but his anecdote about Ben Hogan has no legs. Horick is probably thinking of the most famous incident in which Bobby Jones called a penalty on himself (as he did a total of four times—in national championships, by the way, not ordinary tournaments). In the 1925 U.S. Open, Jones insisted on penalizing himself because of a tiny movement of his ball that not even his caddie observed. Upon being congratulated for his action, Jones was indignant. “There is only one way to play the game,” he said. “You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.” Jones lost that Open title to Willie Macfarlane by a stroke.
The red flag in Horick’s story is his assertion that Hogan insisted on a penalty “because it was the gentlemanly thing to do.” No professional golfer, especially not Ben Hogan, would have said such a thing under those circumstances. The penalty under discussion is called for by the rules of golf and has nothing to do with being or not being a gentleman. Hogan being Hogan, he probably would have simply stared down anyone foolish enough to praise him for following the rules. But Jones is the source of Horick’s poorly told anecdote, not Hogan. Also, Hogan’s head-on collision with a bus happened in his prime as a golfer, not “late” in his career, as Horick asserts.
Bill Fisher
jocbill@earthlink.net (Nashville)
Snakes are people too
I read Matt Pulle’s article, “Overlooked by the Census” (May 24). I would like to offer some comfort to those who fear snakes. Close your eyes and imagine you were a garter snake (the snake feared in the article). You would be 50 times smaller than a human, and you would have no way to defend yourself to humans’ ruthless attacks because you have no arms or legs. The only thing you could do is bite, but even that doesn’t compare to a 5-year-old human’s bite. To add insult to injury, those humans’ roads, strip malls, and homes are destroying you and your fellow snakes’ homes every day. What a life!
I encourage everyone to see how truly harmless most snakes are by having the chance to touch one at your local pet shop or nature center. Maybe you might realize that snakes are all bark and no bite.
Elizabeth C. Bush
1422 Holders Cove Rd., Winchester
Beyond stereotypes
Excellent review by Jim Ridley of The Mummy Returns (“The Wizard of Gauze,” May 10). My compliments for exposing cinema’s Arab stereotypes. Most critics cannot see the images, let alone write about them. You are a treasured exception. Again, thanks.
Jack G. Shaheen
jgshaheen1@juno.com (Hilton Head Island, S.C.)
Ode to Jim
Jim Travis, the last of the real journalists at Channel 4, has left the building. Would someone please turn out the lights?
Jon Johnson
CJJ@TNFinancialResources.com (Nashville)
A critical time
The next few weeks are a most critical period for the mayor, the school board, and the Metro Council. The final budget decisions for public education weigh in the balance. Metro schools are improving, but there is much work yet to be done. Now is not the time to relax. Rather, this is the time to redouble our efforts. May our mayor, school board, and Council members provide the necessary funds and the needed resources to complete the task. With new school construction, fewer portable classrooms, less busing, and other improvements, we (all of us) have no excuses.
It is up to each of us to serve in every way possible so every pupil can rise to his or her potential.
Norman C. Truxton
1037 Elliott Ave., Nashville
The ad war
So now it is not enough to bash The Tennessean in a 20-quadrillion-word, 85-week-long series, which, by the way, was mind-numbingly boring and a total waste of space (to say nothing of being journalistically reprehensible). But now your ads have to bash the readers of The Tennessean as well? “So, if you’re selling Grandpa’s Olds, AARP memberships, or shuffleboard equipment, advertise with them!”
Come on, guys, give us all a break. You have now hit an all-time low. Why don’t you concentrate on making the Scene the incredible publication it can be and just forget about The Tennessean? What is this absurd obsession? Do you not know where to take your own paper, Dobie, so that you have to expend so much time and energy being so critical of another publication? Who are you to judge? It is sort of like a gnat crawling up an elephant’s leg with rape on its mind.
Someone needs to write a series called “Grading the Weekly.” Maybe Willy Stern is available. He is objective and fair. NOT.
Edward Ditterline
edward@spankthemind.com (Nashville)
Clarification
In “Clash of the Titans,” last week’s article about the Tennessee Titans license plate, state Sen. Steve Cohen was quoted as saying that there is no guarantee that the Titans Foundation spends its money in Tennessee. Although he’d made this argument to reporters months before, he didn’t make it to the Scene last week. The Titans Foundation recently told Cohen, and now the Scene, that it only gives money to charities based in Tennessee.
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