Letters

Chris Webber is an arrogant punk. He's the epitome of everything that is wrong with the NBA.
—BRADLEY SMITH, Atlanta

Webber, Pro and Con
As a Chris Webber fan, I enjoyed your article about his new life in Sacramento (A Whole New Rap, April 12). Despite the infamous timeout in the NCAA final and his problems with the law, he has turned his life around.
JEFFREY MORRIS, Atherton, Calif.

Surely you can find a more worthy subject for a feature than a man who claims to stand for something and has made a career out of doing exactly the opposite. Webber has no credibility. Enough searching for a heartwarming story in pro basketball—there probably isn't one.
TIMOTHY DE WITT, Clinton, Okla.

Give Us a Break
The assertion in INSIDE BASEBALL (April 12) that Washington, D.C., is not worthy of a major league baseball franchise because of the attendance at two exhibition games is both misguided and insulting. Those of us who live in or near the nation's capital have suffered through nearly 30 years of dashed hopes and broken promises. In exactly how many prospective season tickets, old-timers' games and overpriced exhibitions must we invest before Washington is again considered a big league town?
JAIME WRIGHT, Indian Head, Md.

Jeff Pearlman reports that "only" 50,577 fans showed up at RFK Stadium to watch two Cardinals-Expos exhibition games and that conditions at the ballpark were substandard. What he failed to mention were tickets that were expensive ($45 top price) and a promotion so limp that many fans learned about the games only after they had been played. Let me also point out that the Expos failed to draw 51,000 for any three-game series in Montreal last year. Moreover, it's unfair to expect D.C. to have first-class baseball facilities when it doesn't yet have a team.
KEVIN BROOM, McLean, Va.

All about Duval
I had little interest in golf before reading Gary Smith's article on David Duval (No Man Is an Island, April 12) because I viewed golfers as pretty boys with minimal athletic ability and less charisma. Golfers seemed like members of an elitist group who never had to sweat, endure, overcome or conquer. Smith's article changed my opinion. I now have someone to cheer for.
JOE LOCASCIO, Denver

While what happened to Duval as a child was a tragedy, thousands of people around the world suffer through equally devastating events every day. What happened to him doesn't make Duval special, nor does it excuse his behavior.
S. GRANT, Burlington, Vt.

Nothing is more appalling to me than the concept of golf as a sport, but even I was able to take something positive away from this article.
TIM NAULT, Juneau, Alaska

One of my ninth-grade English students stopped me before class today to show me your April 12 issue because he had noticed Gary Smith's name on the cover. Smith was brought to my attention by our librarian after his story about Jamila Wideman appeared in your magazine (Out of the Shadows, March 17, 1997). I was so impressed that I read the story aloud to my class. Next my students were looking on the Internet to find more articles by Smith, and one of them was inspired to become a writer thanks to him. I've not found another author who has aroused as much attention.
JILL SIANO, Mukilteo, Wash.

Duval comes across as a churlish, self-centered brat badly in need of a spanking. His brand of self-absorption belongs more in the NBA. Give me a champion with the grace of a Mark O'Meara, not this current crop of sullen egotists.
PAUL SMITH, Moraga, Calif.