Little deserves credit

Does anyone remember the Red Sox of a few years ago? Dugout and bullpen full of distrust, apprehension, anxiety, fear, and confused thoughts.

Today we have the “A-Team” approach, friendship; hitting and fielding their way to the top and having fun doing it.

This is Grady Little’s accomplishment. A fine one and I hope the front office appreciates it.

Barbara Elliott

Southwest Harbor

‘Bread and Circus’

Pastime: “… Something that amuses and serves to make time pass agreeably.” (Webster’s Dictionary)

The National Pastime (baseball to the non-sporting dunderheads) has certainly taken an ugly turn. At a time when billion-dollar, white-collar CEO thieves steal jobs and money, at a time when child molesters and drug kingpins garner nary a shrug, never mind a call to lynching, we have finally been thrown back to the heady days of the Roman Coliseum.

“Bread and Circus” was the distraction of the day. The crowd’s daily trials and tribulations would be washed away by the blood of innocents. “Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh my!!” Especially if you were the unfortunate entr?e du jour. We may be apathetic about politics, about crime, and even war (unless our loved ones are involved), but don’t mess with THE GAMES!

An own-goal soccer player is killed in Colombia, hundreds are injured or killed in sports melees, fathers kill fathers, sons and daughters are spurred on to acts of violence in the name of youth sports. A fan is driven, singlemindedly to get a souvenir, not realizing he would become a sacrificial lamb on the altar of sports gone awry.

Forgiveness is not the question or the answer, perspective is. Those Cub fans (media included) calling for a pound of flesh have crossed the time barrier. Thumbs up or thumbs down. The black and white choice of the adrenaline-rushed, boozed-up, irrational “fan,” short for “fanatic,” “frenzied… marked by excessive enthusiasm.” The world is full of them.

Roman Dashawetz

Machiasport

Perplexed by YWCA

A little over two years ago a Masters swim group left the YWCA after being rebuffed in its attempt to get expanded early morning swim time. The 20-plus YWCA members now swim at Husson College. Among other things, we were told that our group, composed of small businessmen, bankers, school principals, firefighters, and healthcare providers, could not be trusted to be in the YWCA unsupervised. When last week the Bangor Daily News reported on the Hurricane Swim Club’s difficulty with the swim club, I had the uncomfortable feeling “here we go again.”

While the YWCA administration puts its own spin on the “hows” and “whys” behind their decisions, there is a basic disconnect between their actions and the YWCA’s purported mission of serving the greater Bangor community. The YWCA “talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.” How can terminating a long-term relationship with the Hurricane Swim Club and forcing 60 or more age-group swimmers out of the YWCA be in the best interest of these children?

From my perspective, it appears that the YWCA is more interested in serving its own narrowly defined needs rather than the youth and community of Bangor.

John Jentzer

Holden

Note to readers: The NEWS asks that letters be kept brief and reserves the right to edit submissions for libel, taste, clarity, and to fit available space. Letters should include a signature, full name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be mailed to: P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402, or e-mailed: bdnsports@bangordailynews.net