The Readers Sometimes E-mail

By Ron Kantowski

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Readers have opinions and fill my e-mail box, letting me know when mine are right (sometimes) and wrong (often). From time to time, I’ll share their comments.

I was stunned to see you make a glaring error in what was otherwise an excellent article (“Stories of Perfection,” Jan. 31). You correctly listed Secretariat’s 1973 Triple Crown achievement as one of the most dominant performances in sports history. However, you also stated “no horse has won the Triple Crown since.” I would remind you that not one, but two great horses have won the Triple Crown since Secretariat — Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978.

Nolan Dalla, Las Vegas

Nolan: See how hard it is to be perfect? Thanks to you and many others for pointing out my mistake. I must have heard from two dozen Seattle Slew and Affirmed fans. And all were very respectful in filing their steward’s inquiry. All except one, that is. I guess his money was on Sham.

OK, I confess — I e-mailed every living relative I have the article Rob Miech did on my daughter, Lindy (“Brains, sensitivity ... and a jump shot,” Jan. 22). The article was neat, but the audio on the Web site was way cool. It was neat that Grandma and Grandpa, aunts and uncles, and cousins in California got to hear her.

Al La Rocque, Las Vegas

Al: I recently saw your daughter score 24 points against an outstanding Bishop Gorman team that practically ran a box-and-five defense on her. You should be proud. As for the new Sun Web site, it’s just like Memorex, only better, because you don’t have to rewind the tape with a pencil.

I am still chuckling over a few of your suggestions about how UNLV can offset the budget shortfall (“... how UNLV’s athletic department can help Gov. Gibbons close the state’s budget gap,” Jan. 25). I know it was meant to amuse (and it did) but at least a half-dozen made darn good sense.

Lloyd Lahti, Las Vegas

Lloyd: Thanks for the nice words. But I heard from David Cassidy and he says Mike Sanford is not getting the keys to the Partridge Family bus until the Rebels start playing football better than Suzanne Crough played the tambourine.

Thank you for writing a special article to commemorate a special day for the Rancho baseball program (“Legends of the diamond,” Jan. 24). It was a really neat experience and the way you explained it made it even better. Thanks, too, for putting me in the story. The Sun interviewed me in 1997 after a ballgame and put my name in the headline and featured me in the article so I’m very grateful once again.

Michael Villa Jr., Las Vegas

Mike: I just wish I could hit like you. Don’t you know that guys who weigh 150 pounds aren’t supposed to hit the ball over the fence? They’re supposed to bunt and hit behind the runner.

How many of your readers care about girls high school basketball? Probably very few, certainly not me.

But I read your story about the Bishop Gorman girls (“Gorman’s got its game face on,” Jan. 22) and enjoyed it. That’s a tribute to you. I hope you’re still in town when we get a major league team to write about.

James Price, Henderson

James: That would mean I will still be writing sports when I am 105. But I have to confess that I enjoy watching girls basketball, even when I’m not working. Girls run the plays as they were designed and usually don’t talk back to the coach.

I am the boys basketball coach at Bonanza High School, where, contrary to what your comment suggests, each of our sports has won at least one divisional or regional championship in the past four years. Our school has always been one that did its best to do things the right way, whether on the court, on the field or in the classroom.

George Jaekle, Las Vegas

George: Maybe I was being a wise guy in saying that Bonanza hasn’t been very good since Little Joe’s senior year. But as you point out, that last part, about doing things the right way, is way more important than championships won — or lost.