Letters

Pac-10 would be different story

RE: Dan Bartell’s letter published July 10 regarding Gonzaga basketball. Even though I agree with his comments about professional basketball compared to the college game, he ignores the bigger picture as to why Gonzaga players have not usually succeeded in the NBA, brushing it aside by saying “Who cares?”

From my perspective, Gonzaga players do not succeed for two basic reasons: (1) lack of talent and ability and (2) not playing consistently against high-caliber competition. These reasons explain Gonzaga’s early exit from the NCAA Tournament every year except their Cinderella season.

If the Bulldogs were in the Pac-10 or some other major conference, they would be fortunate to finish in the upper half of the league standings. Gonzaga fans will likely point to wins over UW, UCLA, Stanford and even WSU as evidence that they could be an elite team in the Pac-10. However, these were all just single games and undoubtedly Gonzaga prepared much more than their Pac-10 opponents. The Bulldogs would have much less success against the Pac-10 if they had to play the entire, grueling, 18-game schedule.

Sid Houpt

Pullman

Woods needs some manners

Your department was so kind as to print an article, several years ago, whereby I commented on professional golfers who acknowledged the fans sparingly after leaving the green, forgetting that they are the ones partially helping them drive those fast cars to their six-bedroom abodes.

Today, I would appreciate knowing if Tiger Woods at least got reprimanded for cussing over national TV. Our crazed young golfers now think it is OK to use a profane term after he hit an unimaginable bad fairway shot to the green.

Also, can we get to the TV announcers who described a shot that a player hit as Tiger-esque, you know, as though he was copying the above hitting a particular type of shot? This player, whom I unfortunately cannot remember the name of, is perfectly capable of executing the shot without being compared to you-know-who. I am not taking any thing away from you-know-who, but enough is enough.

Is this an example of sour grapes … no, just a casual observation.

Pete Bruni

Osburn, Idaho

Frustrated with public launches

On Tuesday morning my alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. By 4:45 a.m. my fishing buddy and I were backing down onto the boat launch at Deer Lake. “Funny,” I commented, “we’re the only ones here.” Then, as I backed and backed and backed until my truck tailpipe was completely submerged and my boat was still completely out of the water, I realized why no one else was there! It is impossible to launch … no “dropoff” to get into deep water to float the boat. How depressing. We were all geared up for trolling for “macks” but couldn’t get to where they were. How frustrating. We then abandoned that lake and went to yet another pathetic “Washington State Fish and Game Commission” launch site at Loon. Now that place is a joke, too. What a mud hole that is to feed your motor’s water pump with! How about Davis Lake or Diamond, for that matter? One has to navigate the sharp rocks and boulders after launch to keep from gouging your hull or grinding off precious prop metal. I would hope that some reasonable portion of our license fees, tax dollars, etc., could be used to make these public launches more attractive and useable. Maybe some more frustrated fishermen like myself might call the state Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Dary Liepelt

Colbert