Dear Ann Landers: As someone who reads your column every day, I took exception to the letter from Bill Phar, ex-member of George Halas’ Taxi Squad, who said football can be dangerous and kids can get badly hurt.
I played football for 13 years, and have been a high school teacher and football coach for the past 19 years. I understand Mr. Phar’s concern, but football is not a “contact” sport. It is a collision sport. There will always be injuries, but let’s get some facts out there. More young people will die from car accidents than will ever get seriously hurt playing football. Cross-country and track cause a greater number of lower-extremity injuries (hamstring, hip, knee, ankle, groin and so on) than any other sport. Soccer causes more injuries than all other sports combined.
I agree that no child should be forced to play football if he has no interest in it. Overzealous parents are a problem in any sport. We athletic coaches are the last line of discipline in our public schools. I have changed and influenced more lives on the football field than I ever have in the classroom. Football is a tough, demanding sport, but it also teaches character, discipline, commitment and dependability.
There are risks in every sport, but you cannot stay locked in your room because you are afraid of being hurt. The head of the English department at Erasmus High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., stated, “Football may be the best taught subject in American high schools because it is the only subject we haven’t tried to make easy.” — Mike Foristiere, Boise, Idaho
Dear Mike Foristiere: Thank you for your eloquent defense of high school football. I agree that team sports can provide a wonderful learning experience, but no child should be forced to participate. Mr. Phar pointed out that children are too often injured because they are not matched appropriately by weight, or are forced to endure unnecessary pain in order to “toughen them up.” There are good and bad coaches in every sport. The good ones are priceless. The bad ones should shape up.
Dear Ann Landers: I hope you can stand one more letter about smokers and cars. As a police officer, I have investigated many automobile accidents. I’d say that cigarette smoking played a part in many of these accidents. Sometimes, a driver would drop a lit cigarette in his lap or on the floor, and then spend valuable moments searching for it. Other accidents were caused by distracted drivers trying to light up, open their cigarette pack or brush ashes out of their eyes.
If these people want to smoke themselves to death, it’s OK with me, but they should not be harming others in the process. Driving is complicated enough these days. The addicts should pull over for their nicotine fix. — Highway Cop in New York
Dear N.Y. Cop: You’ve seen it all. Advice from you is much more meaningful than anything I might say. Thanks for sitting in my chair today.
Dear Ann Landers: My husband and I recently visited a city where we have several friends. We asked another couple to meet us for dinner at a pricey, five-star restaurant. We told them the prices on the menu ahead of time because we didn’t want to surprise them. They agreed to join us, and we made reservations for four.
When we arrived in town, we called our friends to reconfirm. They said they were looking forward to seeing us. An hour before they were due to pick us up at our hotel, they phoned and casually mentioned they were going to have dinner with another couple at their home and would join us at the restaurant for dessert.
What would you have done? — Houston Diner
Dear Houston: I’d have picked up the entire check, including their dessert, paid it with a smile and considered it “The Last Supper.”
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To find out more about Ann Landers and read her past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.