Should paid college players be allowed to play in bowls? Debate on fairness arises | Opinion
Bowl fairness
Mike Bianchi’s Jan. 4 commentary, “If college stars are getting paid, they should play in bowl games,” was right on. (4A) After fans have bought “their” jerseys and invested time, money and travel to sit in the stands in all kinds of weather to cheer them on over one to four years of loyalty, the least the schools could do is show their appreciation by letting the student-athletes play out the year in a bowl game.
How would the absence of players affect the attendance and the pocketbooks of fans if they knew ahead that their commitment to tickets, lodging, taking days off work and travel would result in a standout player being a no-show, and possibly affecting the outcome of the game? What about the effect on coaching and game plans? As the Beach Boys sang in 1963, “Be True to Your School.”
- Dean Lovig, Paola
Superb care
I want to yell a huge shout-out to every member of the staff of the Kansas City Veterans Administration Medical Center. In June, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (Vietnam — the gift that keeps on giving) and have been going to the Kansas City VA at least once weekly since.
The staff is professional, efficient and friendly. Communication is great, interaction is fantastic and I am absolutely confident in my doctors and everyone else.
The VA gets blasted often, and I’m sure there are bad experiences. But I used VA in New York for a decade, and the Kansas City VA and my kidney doctor in Leavenworth have been stupendous.
People always find time to gripe but rarely make time to praise or thank. I don’t want to be guilty of that.
Sure, it’s a long drive, but very well worth it.
Thank you, Kansas City VA staff, from the doctors to the techs to the custodians. Fantastic job!
- Jack Hager, St. Joseph
Act for Gaza
The heart-wrenching conflict between Israel and Hamas seems to be at an impasse while the carnage continues. I would like to offer a psychiatrist’s perspective.
On one hand, Hamas is determined to hold on to more than 100 hostages they took Oct. 7 during their horrific attack on Israeli citizens, while Israel is intent on destroying the Hamas leadership responsible for those attacks. Both parties are behaving as if the more than 2 million people of Gaza are less than human, unworthy of protection or even food, water or shelter.
What can Americans possibly do to stop the carnage? A lot, actually. First, we need to wake up and realize that the goal of eliminating Hamas is unlikely to succeed, certainly not in the long term: Regional support for Hamas has increased dramatically since the war started. Second, we need to make the roughly $8 million per day we provide to Israel conditional on a commitment to maximizing humanitarian aid to Gaza and negotiating release of the hostages.
If we don’t, history can’t help but repeat itself. New generations of fearful, hate-filled young people will perpetuate the cycle of violence. And the whole world will suffer. Please call your members of Congress today.
- James L. Fleming, Kansas City
Gem in Andy Reid
Boy, are we blessed in Kansas City. Not only do we have a future Pro Football Hall of Fame coach in Andy Reid but truly one of the nice guys, not only in the world of sports, but in life. Thanks to Vahe Gregorian for his insightful Jan. 9 column, which showed the human and talented side of Reid outside of football. (1B, “Reid’s Los Angeles embodied in a tree of life”)
Let’s not take this coach for granted, but enjoy his presence every second we are blessed with it.
- Marianne Weber, Roeland Park
Simpler reason
If one watches the clip of Nikki Haley that Melinda Henneberger refers to in her Dec. 31 commentary “What Nikki Haley said about Civil War no ‘gaffe,’” (15A), one sees a really terrible and surely not calculated response to what was essentially a junior high school history question.
After she is asked the cause of the Civil War, Haley hesitates, closes her eyes and walks back (in retreat mode) to where she had been standing on stage. She then says, “Well, don’t come with an easy question.” The slightly sarcastic manner in which she says it implies she does indeed think it is not an easy question. Haley then provides a very short initial answer of, “Well, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, what people could and could not do.” She then unsuccessfully attempts to throw the question back to the man in the audience member who asked the question. Later, Haley alleged that her questioner was a “Democratic plant.”
This was obtuseness on display, not an attempt to curry favor with white supremacists. In addition, a calculated, intelligent response would not only have mentioned “slavery,” but also “secession.”
- John A. Christiansen, Kansas City
Editor’s note on letters
Beginning Dec. 24, The Kansas City Star began running letters on Sundays only. Here is why.
We long have had two ways to have your thoughts published, in the letters to the editor and through guest commentaries. Now, we are beginning to focus more on the commentaries, which allow non-staff writers to say more and get their thoughts out in a less restricted way. Letters have a maximum of 200 words, while guest commentaries can go as long as 675.
We know it is difficult to make an argument on an issue in 200 words (though some of you are quite brilliant at it). Running more op-ed columns has allowed us to include more and more diverse voices that make more complete and often more compelling arguments.
In the time since we have had only weekly letters, our local op-ed count has increased. So far in January, we have run 17 guest commentaries. During that same period in December, we published three.
We also have the opportunity to run more and varied opinion columns, on different topics and ideologies, and from different voices. We are running this editor’s note here, in the letters, so those who love letters will see it.
We know many of you miss reading letters to the editor several times a week (previously running Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.) From now on, look for them on Sunday. We will run as many letters as possible.
- Yvette Walker, Opinion editor