Letters

I enjoyed reading about how Bruce Pearl (Oh Boy, Oct. 15) has resurrected his career in the face of adversity. His metamorphosis from villain into savior parallels the turnarounds he has led at Southern Indiana, Wisconsin- Milwaukee and now Tennessee . It is good to see his name in a positive light for once—he has earned it.
Davis Oldham, Champaign , Ill.

I was sickened to read Pearl 's characterization of the 1989 Deon Thomas recruiting incident as his "trying to right a wrong." (Pearl, then an assistant coach at Iowa , secretly recorded a conversation with Thomas which seemed to confirm that Thomas had been offered $80,000 and a Chevrolet Blazer to attend Illinois . The NCAA found Illinois not guilty in the Thomas incident but sanctioned Illinois for other unrelated violations.) While I view Pearl as an exceptional basketball strategist and an aggressive recruiter, I also view him as unethical and untruthful for unfairly accusing Thomas and Illinois . Pearl deserved his years as a pariah within the coaching ranks. I wish him no success.
James T. Frakes, Rockford , Ill.

Listomania

The Packers' season-ticket waiting list is perhaps the best evidence of the neverending devotion of sports fans. Rick Reilly 's Be the 74,659th in Line! (LIFE OF REILLY , Oct. 15) gives me a slight ray of hope.
Mike Risley, Number 65,663 Louisville

Waiting 1,067 years for Packers season tickets—that's like waiting 10 minutes for a table at your local steak house compared with the situation in Philadelphia . I got my name on the Eagles' list last year, and my number is somewhere over 60,000. Considering only 15 people received tickets last year, I will have to wait 4,000 years to get mine.
Ryan Coombs, Conshohocken, Pa.

Volunteer Needed

Your story about former quarterbacks who are now on the Rockies (PLAYERS, Oct. 15) should have mentioned hitting coach Alan Cockrell. Like Todd Helton , he played for Tennessee , leading them to the 1982 Peach Bowl and the '83 Citrus Bowl.
Bernadette Vielhaber, Cleveland

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