Letters: Readers discuss NCAA athletes, leaving the Catholic Church and Royal Mondesi
A big do-over
I read with interest the recent Supreme Court ruling on the NCAA antitrust case and hope it can lead to other improvements in college athletics. (June 22, 1A, “High court sides with ex-athletes in NCAA compensation case”)
It is time to end the sham of the college “amateur” athlete. Athletic scholarships should end. College sports should be on the level of organized clubs, which generate limited fan interest.
Ending athletic scholarships should be done only in concert with the expansion of the outdated and truncated K-12 public educational system. Higher education and advanced vocational opportunities should be provided to all, not to just those with means or athletic ability. Disadvantaged or non-athletic youths need and deserve this, especially considering today’s competitive, technologically driven world.
Don’t worry — the NFL and NBA would be fine. They would develop their own developmental and minor leagues. This would provide opportunities for those whose interest is to play professionally.
It is interesting that colleges generally don’t make much profit, if any, in the only popular professional sport that already has its own well-developed minor league system: Major League Baseball.
- Brian Pietig, Overland Park
Circus is coming
The Monday commentary, “Losing the circus leaves us lonelier” by Les Standiford, (7A) really strikes at my heart. I have always been a fan of the circus, and my late son Cristian Petrea Disney was an aerialist performer with a great circus some years ago.
The circus is always a show for the entire family, and while the great Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is no more, there is another circus coming Nov. 18-21 to the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence — the annual Ararat Shrine Circus, presented by Circus Hollywood. This circus is quite thrilling and exciting, and includes many daring aerialists, countless clowns, performing animals and many other performers who will thrill everyone.
And for what it is worth, my late Uncle Walt Disney enjoyed this annual Shrine Circus when he visited Kansas City, many years after he had established his first enterprise in Kansas City, known as Laugh-O-gram studio at East 31st Street and Forest Avenue.
- Charles Elias Disney, Kansas City
New faith home
A note to Roman Catholics scandalized by bishops’ vote to possibly bar President Joe Biden and other practicing Catholics from receiving Holy Communion: (June 19, 1A, “Catholic bishops consider rebuke of Biden, other politicians”) The purported issue is Democrats’ support for a woman’s right to choose in her reproductive health.
Brothers and sisters, be assured that leaving the church is much easier than you might imagine. My wife and I left the church in 2004 when this was threatened in this local diocese.
Yes, we missed our friends when we left, but we found other friends. We found a home in a different denomination, a denomination that leads but does not bully, a denomination that recognizes women as equal and deserving of respect.
- Stephen Harlow King, Kansas City
Learn the lesson
As a physician, I ask all the COVID-19 vaccine abstainers who get their information from questionable news or internet sources: If Walter Cronkite had told Americans not to take the new, supposedly poorly tested and rushed polio vaccine, polio would still be with us, as well as millions of children afflicted with polio.
- Charles Ragland, Prairie Village
Back in shape
I suggest injured Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi talk to another performer, Prairie Village native Joyce DiDonato, about rebuilding his body. (June 23, 1B, “Royals and Mondesi have the same problem, and it’s a tricky one”)
Relatively early in her singing career, DiDonato had to “remodel” her vocal cords to keep performing at a high level and not ruin her voice. She was successful and has gone on to be one of opera’s greatest performers.
Plus, she’s a big baseball fan and has sung at our games before.
- Mary Stine, Prairie Village
This story was originally published June 24, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss NCAA athletes, leaving the Catholic Church and Royal Mondesi."