Letters To The Editor

Re: Say it Again by Louis Alling

I am only 16 years old, but I already possess more NBA knowledge than Louis Alling of Warden, Wash. Mr. Alling’s comments that John Stockton and Karl Malone are not “great players” is completely unfounded. In contrast to Mr. Alling’s opinion that John Stockton is not the best point guard of all time, let’s review what it takes to be a “great” point guard. John Stockton is the NBA’s all-time leader in assists and steals. He has appeared in nine All-Star games. He has been selected as a member of the All-NBA first team or the All-NBA second team eight times. Furthermore, he is considered the best point guard to ever play in the NBA by Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Charles Barkley.

As to Mr. Alling’s statement that Karl Malone is not a “great” player, I have a few statistics to suggest. Karl Malone has appeared in 10 All-Star games. He has been selected as a member of the All-NBA team nine times. He is 10th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with more than 25,000 points. Also, he is one of only five players that have scored 25,000 points and have 10,000 rebounds.

Stockton and Malone were both members of Dream Team I and Dream Team III. They were named Co-MVPs of the 1993 NBA All-Star game. Combined they have only missed eight games in their careers. And one more thing, Malone and Stockton were both named as two of the greatest 50 players in NBA history. So Mr. Alling, please take time to think before you reveal your ignorance to NBA fans around the world about John Stockton and Karl Malone: Respectively, the best point guard and power forward of all-time. Drew Piper Spokane

Stockton deserves respect

Louis Alling of Warden, Wash., watches NBA basketball from a different perspective than most people. The Chicago Bulls of the ‘90s are probably the best team in NBA history and Michael Jordan is the greatest player ever. Chicago should have beaten Utah in four straight games. In the final minutes of Game 6, Stockton twice made great passes to inexperienced Shannon Anderson that resulted in missed lay-ins.

If winning a championship is the difference between very good and great players, Elgin Baylor must have been a very good, but not a great, basketball player. Ted Williams and Ernie Banks must have been very good, but not great, baseball players.

Most of us in Eastern Washington are proud of John Stockton’s career and where he leads his team. Each year, the Jazz advance one level farther in the playoffs. Next season, a self-righteous blow-hard with a negative attitude in Central Washington just might choke on his words.

P.S. Sorry, Alling. Rick Rogers Spokane

Merkel enriched us all

The loss of a good friend is never easy. The death of Dwight Merkel was especially tragic because it was not only a loss to his friends and family, but to the entire community and the state of Washington. His life touched literally tens of thousands of children and adults in a positive way.

When I first met Dwight in the early seventies, we had just moved to Spokane from Seattle with our two young children. That was when Spokane Youth Soccer first got started under Dwight’s leadership, and it soon had 6,000 children enrolled annually. The cardinal rule of Spokane Youth Sports was that every child who enrolled got to play, regardless of his or her skills.

I don’t mean to imply that Dwight was just a leader, he was a tireless worker. I have fond memories of Dwight and Sharon, his wife, digging postholes and sowing grass seed during the construction of the original northside sports complex.

In this short life, few of us are privileged to have a friend and colleague like Dwight Merkel. Rest in peace, Dwight, because your community and its children are enriched by your life’s work. Jerry Overton Arizona State Representative

Hayes had class

I would cordially suggest that the next time the particular writer of ‘Cheap Seats’ in The Spokesman-Review sports section makes a value judgment on an individual, (A Stamp of Approval, June 26) that the writer first consider doing better research.

Coach Woody Hayes, with all his flaws (as we all have), was a great humanitarian, and class individual. His treatment of his players is already documented. If you were to interview the majority of Coach Hayes’ former football players and their parents, they would, without a doubt, tell you of a man of high principle, integrity, and character.

Perhaps Archie Griffin, the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner to date, could enlighten the writer on how Coach Hayes treated his players from every social, ethnic, and cultural background. Because of one incident you label this as no class? If we were to review the films of the Ohio State-Georgia game, you would see that particular Georgia player giving a cheap shot on the sidelines to an Ohio State player. Maybe Coach Hayes was frustrated, and upset about the play - it was critical to its outcome. Granted, Coach Hayes shouldn’t have grabbed and punched the guilty party, but he did, and that’s history.

Perhaps he should have retired earlier, but that wasn’t the case either. History will show that Bryant, Lombardi, Halas, etc. each had their special moments of frustration. Perhaps as we look at the total picture, and not an isolated incident(s), we won’t be so quick to cast the first stone; or cheap shot. Perhaps Coach Hayes will be considered for a commemorative stamp at least in his native Buckeyeland as a CLASS Humanitarian. Harold J. Voltz Spokane

Wants more shooting results

I must protest the inadequate coverage of the ‘State Trapshooting’ article in Monday’s paper.

There are thousands of us ‘has-beens’ that would like to know who shot, who won and their scores. You do a fair job on The Spokesman-Review’s 10-week shoot. Is this one too much trouble? I am a 70-year-old ex-shooter, life member of the Spokane Gun Club. I am sure the stats are available. Howard M. Foos Electric City, Wash.