Sports Letters

Published: Sunday, June 29, 2003 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, June 29, 2003 at 12:00 a.m.

Minor league hockey is a family event

To the editor: Mr. Wagner, I would like to respond to your most recent article about minor league hockey returning to your fair city (June 22). I am a southerner who has become a huge fan of the sport. I live in Memphis, Tenn., and have the option of driving to Nashville to watch the NHL or to Desoto County, Miss., to watch a minor league team. Being a father of two boys who also love the sport, the minor league option is the most convenient and affordable. Although the talent level in the minor leagues might not be that of the NHL and the arena may not be of big league quality, we truly enjoy the time we share together. The ride to and from the arena is spent talking about our day. At the game we often notice a great number of charitable organizations that provide a fun evening out for those who are less fortunate. I have also noticed that there are a number of small businesses that are able to grow their companies by advertising with the team. As long as the team is not a burden on the tax payers of your city, and that a private investor is willing to take a risk, give the team a chance. Please allow me to make you this offer. If a team lands in your city, I would like you to come to the game with me as a guest of me and my family on opening night. Just watching the excitement in my boys' eyes is worth 10 times the cost of a ticket to me. They won't point out peeling paint or broken chairs, their only concern will be getting a hot dog without missing any of the action and the hopes of an autograph after the game. Although minor league teams may come and go, the memories do truly last a lifetime.

Clyde Harden Arlington, Tenn.

Hockey should wait until Civic Center is addressed

To the editor: I'm astonished that Ron Wagner (in his June 22 column) tries to be a bigger pessimist about hockey returning here than I am. Equally astonishing is that it follows this newspaper's almost complete lack of coverage on this issue.

Inferring Asheville is not a sports town because Tourists' players are subsidized by the Colorado Rockies is illogical. Most minor league baseball teams through AAA (like Charlotte) have subsidized players. The selling points of both the ACHL and WHA2 are a lower budget than the UHL, and teams closer to Asheville than Flint, Mich.

A few NASCAR fans go to hockey games just for the fights. So what? (The Toughman Contest may not even return until they get their safety act together.) There are many things to enjoy from hockey games for a diverse audience. If there's a sport that can unite the natives and the Yankee transplants here, it's hockey. Hockey also brings ice skating.

I do agree on one thing: Hockey should not come back this year. Not until the Civic Center is addressed first. The market is here, the infrastructure is not. Bringing hockey now only gets in the way of addressing the arena, dramatically increasing renovation costs. The season starts in four months. This late start would guarantee little practice ice and weekend dates. People do have "Civic Center fatigue" and wouldn't be shamed or conned to supporting hockey very long in a worsening arena.

What either league should do is support efforts to renovate or rebuild the arena first. By staging one game, an exhibition, they can easily gather 2,000 petition signatures to motivate certain state legislators to help Asheville's efforts. It's already proven that in the current arena, hockey alone doesn't work, and certainly doesn't work sharing with basketball. Hockey must wait on an improved arena.

Dennis Justice Fletcher

Sorenstam didn't belong with the men

To the editor: It's too bad Vijay Singh didn't do better in the U.S. Open. I admire him for saying what everyone should have said about Annika Sorenstam playing in a man's tournament. He said simply "She doesn't belong." How true!

There are reasons why leagues and groups are set up to be open only to men, or women, or children of certain ages, or whatever. Can you imagine the howls of protest if one of those guys playing in the U.S. Open were to decide to play in any women's tournament?

Now, if there are no designations of who play is open to, I have no problem with women competing in every way, as long as the rules are the same for all. When Billy Jean King beat Bobby Riggs I applauded! If she, or any other woman, had wanted to be a firefighter, I'd say great, but only if she could do everything required of a man applying for the same position.

Instead of defying differences between men and women, why not celebrate them? It is sad that Annika and others seem unable to honor women's abilities exclusive of whatever men can do.

Stephen Jones Hendersonville


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