“Baseball. Each at-bat often presents a number of circumstances in which to hurt your opponent. And the defense has to be aware and try to prevent the offense from doing things. Many times you’ll see a gifted player just invent something defensively for an out. And other sports copy it, like sending signals to the field, just as an example. Compared to baseball players, other athletes resemble the brain-dead.”
–Robert Mings, El Dorado, Kan.
“Soccer, hands down, has the most creative players because they cannot use their hands. The coordination and creativity required to manipulate a soccer ball in any of 1,000 different ways is unmatched in any other sport.”
–Adam Simon, Highland Park
“The things Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Sakic, Kariya, Oates, Makita, Trottier, Richard, Sundin, Lafleur, Savard, Modano, Beliveau (just to mention a few) did with a puck at anytime during the season the past several decades is almost unbelievable, unless you were there to witness it. The fact they did this on a thin sheet of ice with artificial feet moving at twice the speed of any other major team game is utterly amazing.”
–Bob Richter, Lake in the Hills
Update: Best GM in Chicago right now?
“How can you ask this question again? [Ken] Williams is still having the better year! Nomar [Garciaparra] is just a name.”
–Angel Carrasquillo, Chicago
“This isn’t even a question. [Jim] Hendry just strengthened the Cubs immeasurably for practically nothing. Garciaparra should bring more consistency to a lineup that already has plenty of power.”
–Ryan Tennant, Orion
“Jim Hendry hands down. Yes, he was helped by the cash but Nomar wanted out of Beantown and rightfully so. Treating your franchise player as trade bait? Imagine the Wrigleyville faithful if Hendry had tried that with [Sammy] Sosa?”
–Mark S. Suarez
To P.J.
“I stumbled upon your articles today. I’ve been wondering how things have been going for you, always watching ‘SportsCenter’ to see if they mention you. Anyway, just wanted you to know that I learned a lot about heart and determination from playing basketball with you at [Kaneland High School]. It sounds cliche, but I learned to ‘leave it all on the floor’ from you and that is a standard I try to live my life by today, thank you for that.”
–Ken Lippold, Elburn
“Glad to see you are fulfilling your dream P.J. Hope to see you playing on Sundays when I turn on the NFL Ticket!”
–Brian Grider, Oswego
———-
RedEye sports loves mail, especially the electronic kind. Remember, you can always reach us at redeyesports@tribune.com. Here are some recent responses to our regular columnist’s questions.
