Morning Read’s subscribers deserve an escape, not a thrashing
While I don’t always agree with some of the columns that appear in Morning Read, I usually find that most have some redeeming value. However, I found Thursday’s commentary by Dave Seanor to be a bit hard to swallow (“Smokescreen clears, so PGA Tour players rush back to work,” June 4).
I have had it up to my eyeballs with fear mongering regarding COVID-19, and I’m willing to bet a large number of Morning Read’s subscribers have, as well. Yet, here we go, a sermon from Seanor regarding the apocalyptic possibilities of the spread of the coronavirus caused by the PGA Tour’s decision to begin play next week and how irresponsible that decision is for the tour and the players.
In addition to the dire prediction of gloom and doom suggested in the article, Seanor also included some social and political innuendos that I found inappropriate for an article in Morning Read. Just as with COVID-19, I’m thinking that most readers would like an escape from that topic, as well.
Bill Boutwell
Jacksonville, Fla.
With livelihoods at stake, pros will return to PGA Tour
Well, I guess Dave Seanor did get to the real issue with Zika virus, birth defects, at the end of his commentary, but only after trashing the pros who chose to stay home from the 2016 Rio Olympics for being willing to play now during the coronavirus pandemic (“Smokescreen clears, so PGA Tour players rush back to work,” June 4).
From his picture, Seanor appears to be past his childbearing years, unlike most of the young pros who declined to play in Rio de Janeiro. If so, I wonder what Mrs. Seanor would have said if it had been, “I’m off to Zikaland, honey!”
Let's not forget that the Olympics was a single event and not one, in my opinion, that is particularly significant for golf. It's nice, but it will take a true golf fan to identify who won Olympic medals in just a few years.
Now we're talking about livelihoods and no real end in sight to the current situation. It may well be with us when next April rolls around. Some pros will choose not to play as the season re-commences, but unless a miracle occurs, they will return after a few events because they will have to choose between losing their tour status or playing.
Unless, of course, new infections cancel the season entirely.
Blaine Walker
St. Paul, Minn.
Advice to Seanor and Miceli: Sky is not falling
What is wrong with your writers, the doom-and-gloomers Dave Seanor and Alex Miceli? (“Smokescreen clears, so PGA Tour players rush back to work,” June 4; “Will PGA Tour’s plan to return be enough? May 14). Any talk about trying to get the country back to normal, and they step up their production of “We need to stay at home indefinitely” stories, while a bunch of “scientists” who have proved they are not equipped to decide what an entire nation should do rattle on.
We were told to shut down businesses and stay home to flatten the curve so our hospitals wouldn’t be overrun. Never came close to happening. In fact, hospital employees were furloughed. These claims were based, as they nearly always are, on incredibly flawed models. Yet we destroyed the economy, and many people’s lives, based on these models. In my town in Northern California, you can count the coronavirus cases on one hand. Yet nearly two months into the virus, we suddenly had to wear masks per the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. Does this sound like the “experts” you want to blindly follow?
There was outrage and threats of repercussions when business owners and people whose lives were in turmoil because of jobs lost finally got fed up and tried to protest peacefully the draconian measures taken by the state and local governments. You’re putting lives at risk by not socially distancing! they cried. But the current “protesting,” the looting, the mayhem, well, I guess that doesn’t matter anymore. There are still places where you can’t open your business. But someone can sure throw a pallet of bricks through the storefront window and take everything inside, right? And you wonder why average citizens feel like the entire response to COVID-19 is politically motivated?
You don’t see a scenario where those in power could have recommended people take additional precautions, create some distance between you and the next person, wear a mask if it makes you feel more secure, wash your hands frequently, strongly recommend that the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions think about staying home while we get a handle on it, encourage restaurants and bars and hair salons and clothing stores and bowling alleys to adjust their businesses to create a little more space between humans – rather than shutting down the entire country, forcing millions out of work and essentially ruining many lives? And, even now – now that we understand that this is serious but it isn’t the black plague, and millions are not going to die like all the original models and projections warned – businesses are still being threatened by our politicians: Don’t you dare open until we decide.
And then, when we try to get our minds off this crap and inject a little sports into our upset lives, we’ve got Seanor and Miceli there to make sure they scold everyone for daring to think about getting back to normal. I see you guys haven’t missed a paycheck, though.
Mike Barnett
Winters, Calif.
Tiger Slam does, indeed, stand out
As the subjective analysis and debate continues on a GOAT, I agree with John Hawkins about Tiger Woods (“20 years ago this month, Tiger Woods begins greatest feat in sports,” June 1).
However, should we consider other candidates? How about gymnast Simone Biles’ excellence over a period of time? Sprinter Usain Bolt also might be mentioned. Pick your favorite, Pepsi or Coke?
While everyone has a favorite worthy of being a GOAT, I believe comparing accomplishments of athletes in different sports is an apples-to-oranges comparison.
Even ranking athletes in the same sport but different eras is very subjective. Who was better, Babe Ruth or Roger Maris? Both are icons, but which is the GOAT?
The Tiger Slam in any analysis is pretty darn good. I'm with you, Hawk.
Dave Richner
St. Johns, Fla.
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