Letters to the sports desk

Barnett classy, honest man

Geez, I thought UCLA was supposed to offer a good education.
Don’t they teach you to research your “facts”
before writing them in the paper?

In Elizabeth Newman’s column, “Response of CU coach
to rape allegations deplorable,” (Feb. 27) Gary
Barnett’s quote about Katie Hnida was in response to a
reporter asking why Katie wasn’t back on the team for her
junior year, not why Katie deserved to be raped. I guess you
advocate letting girls play football regardless of their abilities.
It is OK to be a girl, but it is not OK to get special treatment
just because you are a girl.

I am a former player for Coach Barnett, and for you to make
assumptions about his character based on what you have read from
other reporters is asinine. He has more integrity and
conviction for doing things right than any other coach I have been
around. I also played for, and with, some of the members of
your current football staff. If you must point fingers about what
is wrong with college football, you may want to start in your own
backyard. As for Katie, the truth will eventually come out,
but the Colorado program has been too classy to indict Katie in the
media for some of her past transgressions.

Will an apology be forthcoming when this information becomes
more well-known? 

Maybe you will eventually learn to look below the surface for
your stories, but in the meantime you need to realize you are
indicting a good man without any foundation in the truth.

Your power to have your words read by people must not be taken
lightly. I am sure you wouldn’t want someone doing the same
to yourself or someone you care about.

Remember there are always two sides to a story.

GO BUFFS.

Bryan Dyet Colorado,
1990-1993

Barnett’s comments are clueless

In response to Elizabeth Newman’s Feb. 27 column,
“Response of CU coach to rape allegations deplorable,”
I thoroughly enjoyed and agreed with it. Gary Barnett is utterly
clueless, and it is appalling that he is the coach of a major
college football team. What I found especially enjoyable was his
retraction the next day, when, in contrast to his fluently
off-the-cuff remarks of the day before, this time he is reading
haltingly from a paper, as though someone had to write it for him.
The best part was when he (as they always do!) winds up sort of
conditionally apologizing to anyone who might ““ MIGHT???
““ have been offended by taking his comments out of context.
Out of context?

Incredible. And this guy makes ten times what any other faculty
member there makes.

Ron Richards Indo-European
studies

Howland’s aim for future does present a
disservice

I’m a ’71 Bruin alumnus and it goes without saying
how awful the past few seasons have been. However, coach Ben
Howland has to realize that when he tells the press that the Bruins
are “a work in progress,” that the benefits will come
in a year or two and the current team isn’t going to play its
heart out for him.

It’s nice that he has Jordan Farmar, Arron Affalo, Josh
Shipp and Lorenzo Mata coming in, but we also need some big
men.

Bob Kiernan Class of
’71