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Perryman top-notch

First a disclaimer: I have been a close friend of Don Perryman for over 10 years. Now a statement of fact: Don Perryman has been the best sportswriter in this area for over 10 years. Don’s forte is not a flashy, high brow “let me impress you with my verbal acumen” style. Rather, Don has a great knack of capturing the spirit of athletics, especially at the scholastic level. Always with humor, always fair and accurate. He wrote honestly (too honestly for some) and never wrote a humorous line at someone else’s expense. His writing made me laugh out loud on too many occasions to mention.

I have watched many sporting events with Don over the years and always marveled, when I read his written account, how much more he saw than I did. He always has the big picture in mind. Highlighting a game-turning moment, asking the question no other writer or broadcaster thought to ask or uncovering the truth behind the events, these are the attributes that make Don a special writer.

It is a sad day for the BDN to be losing such an asset, but it’s a great day for Don in his family. We wish them well in their new adventure below the Mason-Dixon line where “the weather suits your clothes.” Good luck Don and best wishes from all of us that enjoyed your work over the years. You will be missed.

Dan Hart

Bangor

No money for Husson

Husson College and associates presented a dramatized, flowery and overblown “Economic Benefit Picture” for Bangor at a recent meeting of the City Council’s finance committee. Husson is requesting the city of Bangor donate $380,000 toward building a baseball field/complex on this private college campus.

Tax dollars are not to be used to fund these type of requests, and this council in good conscience and liability must step up to the plate and start saying “no,” on these funding requests that are seemingly becoming more and more frequent.

The talk around the Greater Bangor Area is, “Bangor is a soft touch,” all a good money seeker has to do is put together a economic benefit package, and dramatically present it to the council. But, important questions need to be answered: Is taxpayers money to be spent for this? Where is the money coming from?

The council seems to look for reasons to say yes! Bah, humbug, money must be managed much tighter and no’s must be more frequent. I strongly urge the councilors to vote no on giving any money to Husson College. They play, they must play, and taxpayers will decide if they will pay to end their activities.

The only vote each of the councilors should take is money spent to operate our municipality and public school system and provide the necessary essential services. This is not the time to be generously giving taxpayers’ hard-earned money away on dramatic economic benefit values, toward a private endeavor. We simply cannot afford it.

Charlie Birkel

Bangor

Don’t whine, just play

To the PGA Tour Policy Board:

I have played this wonderful game for 51 years. All my life I have competed against better players, bigger players, stronger players who hit it 40 yards past me all day long. The joy of once in a while actually beating them is what has brought me back to the course day after day, year after year, decade after decade.

Anyone who has put themselves in that position will root for Annika Sorenstam or anyone else who will attempt, in front of the world, to overcome the improbable. What makes golf the greatest game in the world is that you play the course one shot at a time, not the opponent. Anyone, from anywhere, from any social standing can become one of the best there ever was and only their game can stop them. If the PGA Tour is the goal of Michelle Wie, then God bless her. What a wonderful game.

The recent notice that the PGA Tour Policy Board would discuss a male-only policy at its next meeting smacks of sour grapes and wounded egos. Do PGA Tour players really want the right to play on the LPGA Tour because they want to play on yours?

How about the amateur circuit; they play on your circuit through sponsor exemptions; remember Tiger at the LA Open when he was a kid? Should they go back to where they belong also? That wouldn’t bode well for the Masters. Maybe even club championships? Come on, if you are the best and embody the best, then give everyone the chance to be the best. Do you want to be a private “good old boy” men’s club or do you want to stand as the best of everyone? You can have your choice; you have that right, but you can’t be both. Ask Hootie.

Those sponsors along with their sponsor exemptions have made you all rich beyond what any of us deserve as human beings, both in money and in letting you pursue your dreams and earn a living playing a game. How much better can it get? Considering that the rest of the sponsor exemptions all went to men, do they not deserve to be there? How many sponsor exemptions did Vijay Singy jump at on his way up? Should he have not taken them?

If Annika earns enough money at this tournament to become exempt on the tour for the rest of the season, does she not deserve it because she did not qualify like everyone else? If so, then without sponsor exemptions we wouldn’t be able to watch a wonderful story like Hank Kuehne, the longest hitter on the tour, would we? Does anyone remember that even Tiger didn’t qualify for the Tour. He got on the Tour through sponsor exemptions and won one of those events making him exempt from qualifying.

Even Nick Price is complaining that this reeks of marketing and publicity. Nick, did you think you guys are all flying around in those private jets because you all found a cure for cancer? Come on boys. “Quit whining and hit the damn ball.”

Neal Grover

Appleton

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