European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 24 the stars and stripes saturday. November 1,1989 some Curren f laughing of 8-Man joke dear editor i am writing to object in the strongest possible terms Loben Abrams article entitled coach Tab is eight Man football a it is emphatically not a joke and for anyone to say this is to be irresponsible unprofessional and worst of All to demean the efforts of one of the finest coaches and some of the or East kids i have Ever worked Wajih. By simply verifying his information with coach Fiedler Ben Abrams would have discovered thai this school s decision to play eight Man football was mad solely with the interest of the kids in mind and not for some cheap tactical reason. This school has a total of 48 males grades 9-12, from which to choose its Aih letes. Faced with this coach Fiedler and his staff Felt that our football team would not be deep enough nor big enough to be even moderately successful. He Felt thai we would be pulling kids in harm s Wayand subjecting them to unnecessary injury if we played 11-Man football. Furthermore the coach and school did not want Good kid demoralized by defeat and injury. By electing to go the 11-Man route our worst fears for kids would become a grim reality. If everyone associated with the newspaper article will refocus on what is Good for kids maybe we can re Evalu Alc eight Man football and give inc players the recognition which they deserve. Thomas Cave rough principal Brussels american school Brussels Belgium disinformation dear editor i am writing in regard to Ben Abrams article coach labels eight Man football a As a Mother of one of those boys who practices hard each Day and gives his All for the Brussels Brig ands i resent the Lack of professionalism in this so called piece of journalism. Here we Are in an uproar Over the slate department giving out disinformation to the Media but what about the disinformation that the Media project such As the article in question this Story is full of innuendoes and surely a Good journalist would give the coach who is the one using eight Man football time to make som sort of rebuttal. I am so grateful hat our coach Joe Fiedler cares More about athletes than athletics. He is the finest example of what parents want in a coach for their kids. The article does the Brussels brigands a great injustice. Ii seems to me that the eight Man football theory needs to be evaluated by All the people involved not just the few who happen to want it overturned to suit their own purposes. I wonder if coach Sherri s shape spartans would be better off playing in another league More their site that is More realistic from my perspective. 1 Hope that our Side gels a Little air time. , Belgium recruit leaders not athletes dear editor i find it interesting that the announcement by the sports letters Secretary of the Navy to let Ensign Napoleon Mccal Tum play professional football should come so soon after the articles about the declining rate of West Point career officers. Both merits allude to the same problem affecting the . Service academies. Too Many people Are attending the service academies for the wrong Rea sons. The academies themselves however Are mostly to blame. Why do inc service academies recruit athletes and then shield them from Rosl of the usual first year harassment through the use of training tables another benefits if the academies want to spend taxpayers Money on recruiting Why Don t they recruit Poten tial leaders an ath tev is Fine As Long As he s the team Captain and is in the top of his academic class. Guidon t give him her special treatment either before or after graduation from the Academy. Furthermore something needs to be done to remind potential cadets and midshipmen thai the purpose of the academies is to produce professional office. Whynot restrict graduates to combat oriented positions within the services West Point graduates for exam ple would be placed in combat and combat support branches Only. An infantry or artillery officer with Only a Bachelor s degree is More Apt to keep the Amyas a career than a doctor who had his entire education paid for and can make a lot More Money in the civilian world. As an Roth Cadet i competed with my fellow Ca Dols to receive the designation of distinguished Mili tary graduate dog m order 10 receive a regular army a appointment. An a appointment is automatic upon graduation from West Point was con stantly reminded that even though i was going to get an a appointment f would always be behind the West Point graduates. Therefore i entered my Caree Choice with a realistic Frame of mind. Could Many of the Academy graduates be suffering from the opposite delusion Are they becoming dissatisfied when they find themselves in the minority and still receive Man of the displeasing assignments and duties that Roth and oct graduates also receive it s time that the academics Realius the role the should play in today s military and produce graduates who Are aware of that role. The academies should Bethe prime source of dedicated career officer and not professional athletes or seekers of free educations. Lit u. Paul m. Steele Milne Al then Germany Fox narrow minded dear editor i read your paper of october 24 and Felt there was a need to Clear up a few things in Bucky Fox s commen tary met ready to give Boston the i feel this article was extremely narrow minded and one sided. This year s playoffs for both he american and National leagues were exciting and produced the finest in the sport. Both the players of the winning and losing teams have nothing to be ashamed about. And As it turned out the two Best teams made the finals known As the world the met had inc Best year in their Short but proud history. They had a sound pitching staff Good Fielding and Hilling. The Boston red sox had their Best Pilch ing staff in 20 years. They were a Little behind in the Home run department but in terms of batting average and on base percentages they had a Good year. Whatnot them in the world series was their come Man behind pay. They played much belter in August and on the Road than they have in Many years. I might even say that if the red sox get out More Good left handed Pitcher who can win in Fenway Park regularly they could have a decade like the reds a s or Baltimore o softhel970 s. What Bucky Fox said was offensive and degrading to a True red sox fan such As myself. I be been a fan since my dad look me to Fenway Park in 196s for the first time. I lived Wilh the disappointment of 1978.1 Felt horrible watching Bob Gibson beat us in 1%7 j seventh game i Felt like i could conquer the world when fist hit the Shol heard around the world in the sixth game of 1975 Only to be shattered the the next game. 1 saw a sure Hall off Amer Yaz have the Best career of any ballplayer since Ted Williams but both never won the big i feel that Bucky Fox should go Back to his old Job of predicting inc upward movement of the . Dollar i Germany. A mind is a terrible thing to waste the Man has no idea of what this game is All about it in t about winning it s about giving it your 100 percent just like Bill Buckner did he May not be Able to run the 100 in 9.3, but 1 doubt i d have the courage to play baseball in front of millions of to viewers with the pain the Man must have been in and not being Able 10 Range for those pop he missed. He still kept at ill Bucky Fox May you have one half the guts Bill Buckner has. Lenonard m. Rosin Llull plan muons Germany new England s glory year dear editor it is finally Lime for the sports fans of new England to have bragging rights. 1986 has been a very Goodyear for the major sports teams. The Bruins made the play offs in hockey the patriots ground their Way to the super bowl the celtics made it Sweet 16." and now tiie red sox won another Pennant. And let us not forget that the marvelous one is still middleweight Champ and Pat a King Ewing was Rookie of the year in the Aba. Let it be known thai All the sports fans from Maine Vermont new Hampshire Rhode Island Connecticut and Massachusetts Are very proud of the accomplish meals and thrills that the Boston based pros have provided us this year. In my 29 Yean of watching the patriots play Kavli cock stealing the Ball Jim Lonborg s Pennant winning game third raw right behind the red sox dugout 1967 and the dramatic Fisk or 1975 i was in Basic training with a portable radio i was t supposed to Havethe a biggest thrill is that this year the sox won on their pitching defense and base hitting rather than the Home run Power of the past. Thank you Boston pros for a Job Well done. Robert a. Skelto from Page 22 to no avg Mung. Ido Blu a. 70. Of Boh 004
