Editor’s Letter from Terry McDonell: Letters to the Presidents
Posted: August 24, 2011 Filed under: Alex Wolff, Editor's Letter, Terry McDonell | Tags: donna shalala, hurricanes football, miami scandal Comments OffNote: This Editor’s Letter appears in the Aug. 29, 2011, issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands now.
When soon-to-be managing editor Bill Colson decided to call for the University of Miami to drop football, on the cover of the June 12, 1995, issue of Sports Illustrated, he was looking at a program that had become like a cancer, diseased with violations in every category: “improper benefits; recruiting violations; boosters run amok; academic cheating; use of steroids and recreational drugs; suppressed or ignored positive tests for drugs; player run-ins with other students as well as with campus and off-campus police; the discharge of weapons and the degradation of women in the football dorm; credit-card fraud and telephone credit-card fraud.”
It would be a jaw-dropping move for SI, and one that Colson also knew would be painful to his own roots. He had grown up in Coral Gables, Fla., as a fan of Hurricanes football, and his father and brother were graduates of the law school and university trustees. “I remembered going to the Orange Bowl as a little boy, and I wanted a school that I cared so much about to do something bold for its own good,” Colson says now. “Miami had been a serial offender since 1986, when Rick Reilly did the first national story about its bad behavior.”
Another Letter to Miami Asking Them to Drop Football, Why a 154-Game Season Would be Good for Baseball, Jim Harbaugh Channels the Spirit of Bill Walsh, The Day That Damned the Dodgers and More from the Aug. 29 Issue
Posted: August 24, 2011 Filed under: Alex Wolff, Joe Posnanski, Jon Werthiem, Lee Jenkins, Phil Taylor, Weekly Issue, Weekly Press Release | Tags: bryan stow, dodger stadium beating, donna shalala, jim harbaugh, miami scandal, most popular baseball managers, nevin shapiro, shorter baseball season, us open Comments Off
You’ve seen the Brewers “living the high life” on this week’s cover. This week’s Aug. 29 issue also includes the following:
1. Time for Miami to Get Real: Sixteen years ago, senior writer Alexander Wolff asked then University of Miami president Tad Foote to dismantle a Hurricanes football program that had run amok and then some. Now, history has repeated itself. Read Wolff’s updated letter – this time addressed to Donna Shalala – addressing the Nevin Shapiro scandal by visiting Sports Illustrated’s official Facebook page. Click “Like” at the top of the page if you are not already a fan, then click “Fan’s Only” on the left-hand side of the page to read Wolff’s letter.
2. The 154-Game Solution: Senior writer Joe Posnanski argues that shortening the MLB season by eight games would not only shorten a season that seems endless as it is, it would also lend proper context to the home run records warped by the steroid era.
3. Jim Harbaugh: The new Niners coach is looking to the past and embracing the teachings of Bill Walsh – who, like Harbaugh, also made the jump from Palo Alto to the pros – hoping to achieve the same level of success as San Fran fans hope they’ve finally found a worthy successor.
4. The Day That Damned the Dodgers: When Giants fan Bryan Stow was beaten into a coma in the Dodger Stadium parking lot on Opening Day, it marked the latest black eye for a once-proud franchise. Senior writer Lee Jenkins finds out more about what the team – and the city of L.A. – have done in response.
5. 2011 U.S. Open Preview: Senior writer L. Jon Wertheim lists seven players to keep an eye on and takes a closer look at what makes the last tennis major of the year so profitable – and why U.S. tennis is in the dark ages in spite of that.
6. Which manager would major league players most like to play for? 291 players weighed in for this week’s MLB Players Poll.
Read on for more.
