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To the Editor:
I would like to applaud the people of Memphis for not attending Oilers games. I am a "glass is half full" kind of person, so I won't get angry at the 17,000 or so idiots who line Bud Adams' pockets with their own hard-earned dollars. You will soon learn why only a few thousand people in the fourth-largest city in America care that the Oilers are gone. Bud Adams is not only the biggest loser in the National Football League -- he's a whiner, an extortionist, and basically just an imbecile, (with apologies to imbeciles who can read and see this). I applaud your efforts, or lack thereof. Keep it up!
Fred O. Hull, Jr.
e-mail (Houston, Texas)
To the Editor:
So 17,000 fans showed up to watch the Oilers lose to the Ravens? So what? Why should the Nashville, Memphis, and the national media blame the fans of Memphis for failure to come out and support the team? Since when does living in proximity to a sports team bind you to spending your money to attend their games?
I have grown tired of the media in both Memphis and Nashville bending over backwards to try to drum up support for "our" team. If anyone should be embarrassed over the attendance, it should be those who threw out wildly optimistic monetary figures before negotiating the Oilers lease with the Liberty Bowl.
If the Oilers are unhappy with the attendance of the game; they should redouble their marketing efforts. They should make some attempts to give the market (Memphians) some reason to try their product. If the prices are too high -- lower them. They should also fix the very shoddy ticket-order system they have in place.
Of course, one does have to question if this whole controversy is really much ado about nothing. We are, after all, only two games into a 16-game process (eight home games per year), so all of the gloom-and-doom predictions are rather premature. The poor attendance is a wake-up call. The Oilers can focus on their product, Nashville can focus on itself and its decision to bring the Oilers to Tennessee instead of Memphis' "responsibility to the team," and Memphians can decide to go to games based on their entertainment value rather than some sort of "civic duty" placed on them by the onslaught of public and media commentators.
Barry Jackson
e-mail (Nashville)
St. Louis Not a Model City
To the Editor:
In response to Johnathan E. Turner's letter [September 25th issue] in favor of annexation, I must state that his argument is fallacious.
I would hardly think that because St. Louis has three pro sports teams that it's in good shape. It can support those teams only because it has 2 million-plus people in its metro area. However, if St. Louis were not hemmed in by the dozens of toy towns that surround it, it could perhaps still be the cutting-edge city it was when it hosted the Olympics earlier this century. Today if you mentioned St. Louis as a possible Olympic city, you would be laughed off the planet!
St. Louis still suffers from its decision of long ago to allow itself to be hemmed in. Memphis would suffer, too, but in this case before it could even get off the ground toward prosperity. And as for Atlanta (which is where I now live because of my job), most of its growth is in the suburban north, while the city itself struggles with a dwindling population and tax base, just like St. Louis. North metro Atlanta is the real "jewel of the modern South" to which you refer.
Things were finally beginning to progress with the new agreements between Memphis and Shelby County after years of irrational strife, until the state stepped in to foil Memphis' growth yet again (isn't it funny how this issue does not affect Nashville? Wouldn't the fight be different if it did?).
And as for the racial connotations of toy-town incorporation -- it's there, just admit it! That's why it's called "white flight." Please don't try to cover that up by mentioning the numerically insignificant people of color who have joined in your fight as if race has nothing to do with it. African Americans make up nearly 41 percent of metro Memphis. Are African Americans even 10 precent of the pro-toy-town clique? Hardly. You should stop "fanning the flames of racial discord" by trying to separate.
Get real! Why do some of us have to live and breathe elitism? We all pay for that in the long run -- look at the city of St. Louis and the city of Atlanta!
Nnaemeka Egwuekwe
e-mail (Memphis)
Why Give Up?
To the Editor:
Dennis Freeland's suggestion that U of M drop football [September 25th issue] is sickening and unworthy of his usual level of excellence. Why give up now after a long, bitter struggle to reach the verge of success? Why now, when there is frequent television exposure, bowl alliance revenue, conference affiliation, and bowl opportunities? In a couple of years the young Tigers program will have matured. Winning can make all the difference. If Memphians are too stupid or too busy with casino gambling to support our valuable university, then perhaps mostly road games should be played. Tiger football is essential. Giving up is not an option.
Ronnie Burrage
Memphis
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