Some people just watch television. Others read and write about it too. Amazingly, some of the people who watch pro wrestling and the XFL are included in the reading-and-writing group. These are their stories:
In regards to your trashing the XFL, I say “lighten up.” It’s entertainment, it’s a continuation of what I feel is too short a football season, and it’s not as low-class as professional wrestling.
Robert, Valparaiso
Bringing a bag of Doritos to the opera isn’t as low-class as professional wrestling.
I am disturbed by your article’s gross bias, particularly against the XFL and Vince McMahon. I read this article on the Internet and was shocked to read that it had been printed in the Chicago Tribune, and not some tabloid. Vince McMahon does control the admittedly scripted WWF and the XFL, but that is hardly reason to accuse him of unduly influencing the XFL.
Joseph, via e-mail
You’re right, Joseph. How could I possibly have forgotten that Vince McMahon is a great man, a patriot and a defender of the purity of athletic competition? Must be all these steroids I take.
It was the first week of the XFL. Give them time before you completely rag on them.
Anthony, via e-mail
OK. The second week stank like a fish-processing plant too.
The XFL will go far.
Charley, Staley, N.C.
Yes, when “far” is defined as “into the gutter.” NBC’s ratings tumbled in week two, despite the featured game being closer.
PS #3. Thank goodness that a press person didn’t go to the moon with Neil Armstrong. No telling what you’all would have written.
Charley, Staley, N.C.
Probably something about how embarrassing the XFL would someday be.
PS #4. Has all that wind in Chicago blew your brains away?
Charley, Staley, N.C.
Almost. Just a few more years and I’ll be ready to watch the XFL.
I would have to guess from your picture that you were not a football player or, if you were that you were some highly specialized position (read puny) like wideout or safety. You are probably the type to spend hours tracking the achievements of your favorite players for your fantasy football league. You probably get together with friends to more fully expose your incredible zealot, gawkiness at a bar where you shout at the bigscreen TV if one of “your” players gets good stats. Perhaps you have an unrealistic expectation of the XFL based on your fantasy involvement in the sport.
Michael, via the Internet
You sound pretty familiar with the fantasy football rituals, Michael. And I congratulate you on inventing a new pastime: fantasy armchair psychoanalysis, in which your team is doing very badly.
But you have learned well the Vince McMahon rule that insult and bluster — a sort of numb machismo — are preferred to rational argument. If we ever return to a feudal society, you and Vince’s minions will go far.
Your Tom and Nicole column was great! I have told my daughter for several years, if a couple is on the cover of People, they will be divorced in 1 or 2 years.
Mary Kay, Evanston
And if they appear on the cover of Field & Stream or Psychology Today, their publicist will be fired in one or two days.
Will you please be so kind as to sign the enclosed clipping?
Greg, Chicago
Yes, but only if you will be so kind as to not access, then empty my checking account.
You said your household had 125 catalogs in a two-month period. My husband and I received 365 in that period.
During 1997 my total came to 1,207 catalogs. For the entire year of 1998, I received 1,577. In 1999, I only received 1,491 for the entire year.
Marylou, St. Charles
As a result of my December column on catalog abundance, I have learned two things: 1. Despite what my mailman and I thought, I am comparatively unpopular with the mail-order folks, a piker, really; 2. Many, many people devote much time to cataloguing their catalogs.
For the year 2000 we received 407 catalogs from 131 companies. I also kept a record of the weight of these catalogs and the junk mail. The junk mail has been consistent — between 15 and 24 lbs. a year. But the weight of the catalogs has grown from 64 lbs. in 1991 to 130 lbs.
Grisella, South Bend
See what I mean?
So let me get this straight. This woman [Stacey Stillman] appears on a program [“Survivor”] which is specifically based on practicing deception and betrayal, and then complains that the values she has implicitly endorsed have actually been applied to her. She is shocked to learn that while she was plotting against other people, other people were plotting against her.
The poor, poor thing.
Dan, Sullivan, Ill.
Rumor has it Stacey is also helping the XFL cheerleaders file a class-action lawsuit against the league alleging “gross exploitation via an unrelenting focus on their physical selves.”
Twice every weekday, at the conclusion of “Blind Date,” as the credits are rolling, we read on the screen: “executive in charge of production Tzvi Small.” TZVI? I’m curious. Is this a man or woman?
Phil, Northbrook
It’s Volvo’s new sport-utility vehicle. Happy motoring!
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Write Steve Johnson at the Tribune either the old-fashioned way (435 N. Michigan, 60611) or the newfangled way (sajohnson@tribune.com).
