No Fun League suspends Brady over deflategate
If anyone ever doubted that NFL stands for No Fun League, we now have the four-game "deflategate" suspension of future Hall-of-Famer Tom Brady.
One hopes the commish will overturn the suspension — he may wish to review some baseball history for guidance. Since MLB changed its rules in the '70s, corked bats have resulted in 10-day, seven-game and eight-game suspensions — all amounting to 5 percent of the regular season. Pitchers caught throwing spitballs get 10 games (about 8 percent). The George Brett Pine Tar Incident was worth one out (about 0.2 percent of his plate appearances that year). That one was overturned by review of a protest.
I'll help the NFL by stating that four games is 25 percent of their regular season. Need we point out that, unlike corkers and spitballers, Brady didn't actually deflate the ball?
Baseball is more fun in other ways. Note the "rhubarb" whereby a manager furiously chews out the umpire for blowing a call. Manager Lou Pinella was a master — he would wave his arms and kick dirt, sometimes on home plate. Once Sweet Lou picked up a base and threw it into the outfield in protest.
(Do head coaches get nicknames like that?)
This is all regarded as entertainment — part of the show — even by the umpires.
What would happen if an NFL coach did such a thing? The guillotine? At sunrise?
— Jim Susky
Anchorage
We should throw the book at lawbreaking drivers
No, I'm not white and I don't just care because Jeff Dusenbury was white, and there are many of us in the biking community of diverse backgrounds culturally and economically. It may have hit us because he was one of us in many ways, cyclist, friend, husband, father … and we are finally the community that said ENOUGH!
I didn't know Jeff, I am a cyclist, I'm of Hispanic descent and while this horrible homicide is what brought me forward, the incident that drives me even more is the drunk driver who killed two adolescent girls walking home on Abbott Drive after buying school supplies.
Keep this in mind: Jeff Dusenbury was at the edge of his own yard and was hit, thrown and left to die by this young, drunken girl who wouldn't even stop when Jeff's neighbor tried to wave her down. If you do any tracking of this young girl, you will see she has a history.
The other accidents you mention are full well known by the cycling community. We are outraged that the heartbreaking accidents you mention, plus the next few — and many more we are just not listing right now — continue to happen without due punishment. These are not due to prejudice against skin color, it's definite prejudice in how we allow DUI and texting offenders to continue to drive and kill and then walk away. Let's instead prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
Please, let's put all of our energy together to stop these horrible tragedies.
— Lupe Marroquin
Anchorage
Longer sentences won't prevent bad behavior
I understand the sorrow and anger expressed by Brian Litmans (Commentary, May 12) about the sentence Alexandra Ellis would receive under her plea agreement for causing the death of bicyclist Jeff Dusenbury. However, a longer sentence would not, as he asserts, "deter future reckless and inhumane behavior." The National Institute of Justice recently summarized a 2013 study of the "current state of theory and empirical knowledge about deterrence," which concluded that "the certainty of being caught is a vastly more powerful deterrent than the punishment," and "increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime." ("Five things about Deterrence," http://nij.gov/five-things/Pages/deterrence.aspx)
Ms. Ellis was promptly caught and under the plea agreement would face a year in prison, a felony record, and the shame and the economic costs of a conviction. These are not trivial consequences. The proposed sentence would both affirm society's judgment of the unacceptability of Ellis' conduct and serve as a deterrent. Prison is ineffective at rehabilitation (in fact, it breeds more crime) and longer sentences do not increase deterrence. In my view, long sentences should be focused on individuals who pose an undue risk of ongoing criminal behavior.
— Mark Worcester
Anchorage
We should stick together
Regarding Mr. Minshall's letter "Where was outcry for other victims of drunk driving" (May 15), I believe when those drivers chose to drive drunk that they were all guilty of premeditated murder when they killed their victims. Yes, they should all be handed a heavy sentence.
But let's not turn this into an ethnic issue. As adults we should all shoulder the responsibility for our own actions. We are all Americans, we should all stick together instead of dividing ourselves among ethnic lines or religious beliefs. After all, we are all on this Earth together.
— William Lewis
Anchorage
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