What’s the rush?
Re: the March 12 letter “Baseball needs to speed up.”
The game of baseball is over 140 years old. One pitch, one throw, one catch, one swing of the bat and the whole outcome of the game can change. Baseball requires a longer attention span than TikTok. What’s the rush? In our everyday lives we face deadlines, face-time, screen time, lost time, too much time, streaming time and every other waste of time. Baseball is the last place where time doesn’t matter. There are no penalties, no contact and no time limit. If baseball isn’t fast enough and it gets boring for you, just don’t watch the game until the ninth inning. That will make the game shorter for you and you can hurry up and spend time doing something important, like Facebook. We mess with everything in our culture. Don’t mess with baseball. It starts when it starts and ends when it ends. Baseball is timeless and I will make time for baseball. Relax, stretch and get a hot dog and chill out.
Richard Bechtold
West side
Unjustified deference
It seems that every time any individual who has attended, or graduated from Harvard University is mentioned in the media, their attendance at that institution is afforded a considerable degree of almost religious deference. Their attendance at that university is always mentioned, apparently intended to impress the reader/listener with that person’s level of credibility.
I suggest it is well past time to stop granting such devotion to an institution, now referred to by some as, “Kremlin on the Charles (River).”
Harvard has produced such questionable “geniuses” as Peter Navarro, George W. Bush, Kayleigh McEnany, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Ted Cruz.
Plato suggested that not participating in politics, i.e. voting, results in being governed by your inferiors. Those individuals, among others, clearly illustrate the critical need for every eligible citizen to vote.
Eric Maurer
Northwest side
How about nuclear winter?
Re: the March 13 article “Is Tucson still a nuke target?”
Reporter Henry Brean did a fine job with his Sunday article. I think readers need a follow-up article on the issue of nuclear winter.
Robinson Meyer in his recent article in the Atlantic, “On Top of Everything Else, Nuclear War Would Be a Climate Problem — even a “minor” skirmish would wreck the planet,” provides more news we do not want to hear.
We old folks just sometimes read obituaries. We expect and kind of hope the deaths will be of us old folks.
But with nuclear war the deaths will be of our kids and grandkids and the world as we know it. Of course we will never read this because our newspapers will be gone possibly along with our civilization.
Today we have the boys with nuclear toys yelling at each other. Sadly their mothers are no longer alive to tell them: “Boys, now you stop that immediately.”
Peace!
Buzz Davis, Veterans for Peace Tucson
Southwest side
Unsupported beliefs are dangerous
According to polls, many Republicans believe — without a shred of objective evidence — that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” to cheat their candidate, from what they seem to believe was his rightful ascension to the throne of dictator-in-chief. A similar fraction of Republicans also believes that all of humanity descended from a woman who — supposedly molded from the rib of a man who himself was molded from a lump of mud — was told by a snake to cover her naked body after it enticed her to eat a piece of forbidden fruit. Evidence is also nonexistent with this assertion. Unrelated coincidence? I think not.
It’s no wonder such thinkers are trying to win elections by suppressing the vote, rather than on the strength of their ideas.
Rick Scifres
Green Valley
Russia oil embargo
On March 8, Biden enacted an embargo, with the companies dealing with it to have 45 days to wind down contracts. What this means to me is that the oil will continue to flow until April 23.
Question, can Ukraine hold out that long and if it doesn’t start until then why did the cost at the pump jump up so high immediately?
Jack Walters
Northeast side
Trump’s true love
Re: the March 16 letter “Trump ‘patriots’ cheer on Putin.”
Since Trump supports Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the letter postulates that if Trump were around in 1939, he would have supported Hitler’s invasion of Poland.
Yes, I think Trump never met a tyrant he didn’t like, writing “love letters” to Kim Jong Un and being Putin’s puppy dog. It seems likely he would have swooned over George III, best known as the “tyrant.”
You remember George III. His redcoats killed many of us in an attempt to stifle the American Revolution. Trump would have been his No. 1 buddy, his BFF.
So don’t count on Trump protecting your freedom. In my opinion, Trump will only protect the freedom of dictators.
Robert Mann
Northwest side
Smith being a great husband
Will Smith stood up for his wife. I think he proved the point nobody should make fun of another person because of their illness, color of skin, lack of education, looks and being not well off.
Thank God there is still a place for being a good person.
Way to go, Will.
Patrick Allen
Northwest side
Take a deep breath
Watching the carnage taking place with the Russian invasion of Ukraine makes me ever more aware of how well-off we are here in America. Yes, inflation is an issue for consumers with high gas and food prices stubbornly hanging on. But, come on people, we are doing quite well compared to so many other areas of the world. How about we collectively take a deep breath, stop whining over petty grievances and appreciate for a moment what we have here. Fighting among ourselves, especially in the political arena, has become a national pastime that is sounding increasingly petty and self-serving. It does not reflect our better nature or the American spirit.
Tony Banks
Oro Valley
Arizona’s banner year
All week I’ve read, from so-called professional sports writers, about Arizona basketball and its failure to advance. Too many foreign players, point guard inadequate and coach not used to the finals.
First, I am a season ticket holder and nuts about the Wildcats. Let’s see, they only beat Michigan and Illinois on their home courts, knocked off UCLA twice, finished the season 33-4, reached a No. 2 national ranking and advanced to the final 16. Of course I, and all the Wildcat nation, wanted more but it wasn’t meant to be. I question whether these pundits of sports are aware that other good programs want to win too. Do they remember that Gonzaga lost in the 16 also. I wonder what would have been enough for them. A Final Four, national championship or possible a shot at the Boston Celtics. I’m thrilled at what they did and anxiously look ahead to next year. Be satisfied with near perfection.
Phil Reinecker
East side
Republican follies
Republicans are at it again. They ignore real problems like homelessness, climate change and refugees. Those problems are hard!
Instead they take nonproblems, act like they are crises and then dream up solutions so they look like they are doing something.
There is no voter fraud, CRT making white children feel guilty, lack of citizens carrying guns or now men changing into women to steal the glory and prize money.
Republican legislators should get to work and quit being lazy publicity hounds.
Robert McNeil
Midtown
