LETTERS

Sanford must own up to his mistakes with UNLV

To the sports editor:

I read Mark Anderson's interview with UNLV football coach Mike Sanford on Tuesday and had a few thoughts:

Sanford needs to stop blaming the players during his weekly TV show and start blaming his staff. It gets old hearing how the players aren't doing this or that when he praised these same kids when he was recruiting them.

Sanford makes the same blunders on the field year after year. How many times is the team going to go for it on fourth down only to give up the ball? The play-calling is disastrous during critical situations.

RYLAND WHITAKER

To the sports editor:

I have two solutions regarding the validity of UNLV football coach Mike Sanford's "bright future" promises:

• Offer to rip up his remaining contract and put him on a per-game performance contract that would see him collect up to double his current salary if the team wins six games next season. If he thinks the future is bright, he'll jump at the chance.

• Call him into a meeting to test his "bright future" answers. But before the meeting, measure the length of his nose, then measure its length afterward. If there is any difference, then school officials will know the validity of his answers and whether it is time to cut their losses.

LLOYD LAHTI

Sanford making UNLV attractive for recruits

To the sports editor:

This has been an upside-down season for UNLV football.

UNLV needs to build on its depth and experience. For the first time in long memory, UNLV is receiving early commitments not from Pac-10 Conference dropouts but from players choosing UNLV.

Mike Sanford is turning UNLV into a place where players want to come to play, not have to.

STAN DAVIDSON

Owens trumps Moss in strength, talent, heart

To the sports editor:

I was irritated at the reviewjournal.com poll results in Tuesday's paper.

To think so-called football fans believe New England's Randy Moss is a better receiver than Dallas' Terrell Owens?

Moss played on a great team in Minnesota, but since then he has been on a steady decline. He had admitted to not playing hard on every play. He was traded from Minnesota to Oakland. Now, he is with the NFL's best team.

Owens starred with San Francisco, was the best receiver with Philadelphia (but had personal problems with teammates) and is the best in Dallas.

Owens is not afraid to go over the middle, a receiving route Moss refuses to take, and is bigger and stronger.

Moss is not even close to Owens in strength, talent or heart. Moss is only faster.

CHRISTOPHER BRODY

Fans in Las Vegas won't support NBA franchise

To the sports editor:

So our mayor and other city bigwigs want an NBA team in Las Vegas?

UNLV played sixth-ranked Louisville recently and drew 14,000 people to the Thomas & Mack Center, a facility that seats 16,500.

If that's all the Rebels can draw for an opponent of this magnitude, how is Las Vegas supposed to support an NBA team, which would require a minimum 15,000 fans a game?

KIPP ALTEMARA

The Review-Journal welcomes letters from its readers. Letters must include the author's name and phone number. Send letters to: Letters to the Sports Editor, Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070. Letters also can be e-mailed to: jhawk@reviewjournal.com.