Letters to the Editor Orange Britches To the Editor: So Mark Bialek is the one to blame for the Lady Tigers’ lopsided loss to Tennessee. I listened to the game on WUMR and I could have sworn it was Tennessee’s aggressive defense and potent offense that forced the Lady Tigers into 46 turnovers that resulted in a 74-point margin of victory. Silly me. And to think that Pat Summitt would only need one phrase — “bitches in orange britches” — to motivate her team. As for Mark’s broadcast of the game — most of it was filled with personal comments that dripped with his dislike for Tennessee. Sure, he mentioned their “dynasty” and added a little praise here and there, but that was usually preceded or followed by a negative comment about the Tennessee crowd or a whine or two about the officiating. If he loses his broadcast job it won’t be because of that comment about the “bitches” — most likely it will be because he is just not that good of an announcer. I personally thought he was a student honing his broadcast skills when he made several inane comments about the game. After Tamika Whitmore was called for traveling on a move to the basket, he stated that in C-USA games the officials give the women that “little extra step.” Well, welcome to the real world of basketball and the SEC, where the sport is not considered a training class. When Tennessee’s Tamika Catchings tipped the ball in off the glass, he said he’d never seen that before in a women’s game. Hello?! He might as well have said that he’s never seen a reverse lay-up in a men’s game either. If Joye Lee-McNelis is intent on building up the Lady Tiger program, then she should surround herself with professionals and fill her schedule with talented opponents. … S.K. Lowe e-mail (Memphis) To the Editor: Poor Marky B. His big mouth cost him his radio job with the U of M. I feel so bad for him I want to help him find another job. Last summer the Flyer allowed Marky B to write a couple of columns concerning the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx and owner David Hersh (Bialek’s former employer). The columns were nothing more than rear-end kissing and inflated press releases. He ended one of them with “I can’t wait to get back to Jackson.” Hey, Marky B, now’s your chance. Mark T. Mitchell Memphis Picking Up the Gauntlet To the Editor: Flyer music writers had been challenged by the Lewds to do a “Moment of Truth” for their show with us, the Jackballers, on February 20, 1999. … While I am more than appreciative that the Jackballers also got prominently mentioned in the article, our inclusion seems to go against the unwritten rule of the “Moment of Truth.” Not only did it severely give the Lewds the short end of the ax handle, but it diluted the coverage of our own spectacle. … However, rock-and-roll is all about breaking rules, written or otherwise. So now, since the gauntlet has been thrown, I ask you to make yourself accustomed to the sting of my lash. In the opening paragraphs, the Lilliputian wordsmith Mark Jordan calls for a return to balls-out Southern Rock. Admirable sentiments, indeed. However, it is impossible for me to resist finding fault with your inclusion of BTO in the Southern Rock genre. Perhaps you intended to mean that those working-class Canucks were from the south of British Columbia. Later on in the piece, as you are recounting the rock pedigree of the Jackballers, you refer to me as a “local scene guru.” Zounds, man! If I can garner no sense from that statement, what do you expect of the rest of the Flyer’s readers? … Mark Jordan, resembling a doughier, balding Scotch-Irish Herve Villechaize, continues to write that I “look like Chris Farley playing Robert Plant in the Led Zep biopic.” Admittedly, the imagery is damn funny. I personally would rush out to see such a local band. But I am compelled to ask you: Did you lose all of your manners before or after you lost your ability to write well-crafted articles? … Finally, you rightfully point out that many members of the audience left after our performance and missed a much-needed amplified hiding from the Lewds. Yet, you do them the same disservice by focusing so little of your article on them. Even more, the one Lewds’ song that you write about, “Rama Lama Ding Dong,” is actually a Jackballers song. … All in all, this “Moment of Truth” was … whelming. David L. Dunlap Jr. Memphis Biblical Justifications To the Editor: The responses by your readers about the Tinky Winky issue was poetic justice. One reader claimed that Jesus said that homosexuality is wrong, but she loved her gay friends so much. The next reader claimed that Jesus never said homosexuality was wrong, but God told Moses it was. The fact is, Christians and non-Christians alike all have their own views on this subject that they form and then recite continually like some nursery rhyme from childhood. The Bible has been used in the past by America to justify discrimination of black, Jews, women, and homosexuals by people with good intentions, I am sure. These arguments have been made even in our Congress at points in our nation’s history. Did our country sweep the old views under the rug because they are not pretty in public anymore? Lastly, I disagree with the response from a reader saying that Jesus was not searching for a worldwide “love-in.” That is precisely what Jesus wanted; he wanted us to love one another. It is sad that some of us strip that out of Jesus’ message. Our hatred is rooted in our fear, and we fear what we cannot understand. Barry Godwin Memphis The Memphis Flyer encourages reader response. Send mail to: Letters to the Editor, POB 687, Memphis, TN 38101. Or call Back Talk at 575-9405. Or send us e-mail at letters@memphisflyer.com. All responses must include name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters should be no longer than 250 words. Editor’s Note Death was too much with us last week. First former Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, then singer Dusty Springfield, then director Stanley Kubrick, and finally baseball icon Joe DiMaggio. With each of these deaths we felt sadness, but it was grief from a distance, not the sort of personal shock that confronted us on Sunday when we learned that Chad Eatherly had died just a day after celebrating his 21st birthday. A CBHS grad, Chad was a journalism student at the University of Missouri. He hoped to be a reporter some day. He spent last summer working as an intern at Memphis magazine, our sister publication. We had planned to bring Chad back this summer. That’s how good he was. That’s how much we liked him. Our deepest sympathy goes out to Chad’s family and friends. He will be sorely missed.