I’m a sharing kind of guy.
I care about my readers – all 12 on a good day – and try to give back whenever I can.
Today’s the day. Frequently, I receive e-mail from readers who peruse what’s here and care enough to comment. I simply must make these public – not because I consider them to be savagely incoherent and want to make fun of them, but because they raise good points and try to put me in my place.
Wherever that is.
I respond to nearly everything written to me. Some appreciate it; my feeling is that most want to hear from me as much as they want to hear from the IRS. But if they care enough to write, I care enough to share their work.
Read and enjoy some selected excerpts. I certainly did.
Many objected to a recent column I wrote in which, in effect, I rolled my eyes at Washington’s victory over Idaho and suggested that maybe, considering the overwhelming one-sidedness of the series, that the Husky-Vandal “rivalry” should end.
Ray Mcpheeters disagreed: … “I would expect to see just as scathing an article about the Cougar football program, to be fair, but I doubt that will ever happen coming from you … John, your Cougar-loving Husky-bashing has become legendary. But to kick these Dawgs when they’re down has got to be a low point in your writing career.”
Mcpheeters won’t get any quarrel out of Michael Davidson of Knoxville, Tenn.: “It is unfortunate that Idaho has been down for the last 4-5 years. It happens. It’s cyclical. Note the glorious Huskies. It’s bad enough to have your team lose without having them kicked while they’re down with an illogically-written column by a mediocre sportswriter with a chip on his shoulder stuck in Everett. Get a life.”
Scott A. Searing jumped right in: “Are you kidding me? … You called for patience and asked Husky fans to take a deep breath! Now you totally discount this HUGE win for a team and a program that is struggling with its confidence! All I can say is look in the mirror and shame on you!”
Idaho. Huge win. Hmmmm. Anyway …
Edmonds reader Chris Tufts (remember the last name), a native of Exeter, N.H., liked a column about Isaiah Stanback, especially a reference to Tufts University: “Where on Earth did you pull the Tufts reference from? Not too many folks out this way have any notion about the Jumbos, who play in the little-known New England Small Athletic Conference. Certainly, if Isaiah were to read the article, he’d probably say, ‘What the … ’ Keep up the good writing. Go Dawgs. Go Jumbos. Fear the elephant!”
Robert Van den Akker responded thusly to a column having to do with Matt Hasselbeck: “Hasselbeck is a milquetoast dweeb who couldn’t lead a Boy Scout troop to a Sanikan in broad daylight … He’s an expensive mistake and so is Holmgren. So are the Seahawks.”
Amie Logan wrote all the way from Roeland Park, Kan., ripping me for ripping Nextel Cup driver Scott Edwards for sending our beloved Kasey Kahne spinning into the wall in a recent race: “You seem to be a hack out to make Carl Edwards the bad guy. Well, he isn’t. He, too, has the aw-shucks attitude that you seem to like so well in Kasey. I know you are from Washington, but don’t demonize one nice guy to make another guy look better.”
Leo from Missouri, another Edwards fan, had similar sentiments in an e-mail headed “Pretty-boy driver”: “Kasey Kahne is in danger of being the next Mikey Waltrip. Cute, but no cigar … Kahne has talent, but what’s the problem? Equipment? Afraid to stick his nose into the danger zone?”
Jim Jensen of Marysville thinks I missed a huge point when I wrote about Randy Johnson showing Felix Hernandez what a Hall of Famer does in a recent Yankees-Mariners game: “Johnson could have gotten by with tossing underhand to the pathetic wimps that masquerade as Major Leaguers in Mariner uniforms. In diving, Hernandez’s degree of difficulty would probably been around 9.9 (against the Yankees hitters). Johnson’s would have been, at best, a 6.2. While Johnson gets the ‘W’, Hernandez should be awarded the style points by a solid margin.”
Nice job, readers. I love it all, even the ones who think I need a vast number of IQ points just to achieve “moron” status.
After all, even my mother frequently thinks I need a lobotomy.
And she subscribes.
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