Listener Letters and a Correction

On last week’s program, Charlie Pierce and I briefly discussed a race walker named Rani Yadav who had been disqualified from the competition at the Commonwealth Games after a positive drug test.

Ashish Shah, who hears the program on WBUR, wrote to ask for a correction in that conversation, because I referred to Rani Yadav as “he.” Ashish Shah wrote, “NPR should at a minimum get the gender right in its broadcasts,” and that’s true. Rani Yadav is a woman. A woman who was disqualified from competition as a race walker because of a positive drug test at the Commonwealth Games. My apologies.

Stewart Winograd, who hears “Only A Game” on KIOS
in Omaha was unhappy when Charlie maintained that Nebraska had played a more challenging schedule than Boise State so far this football season. Nebraska has played Western Kentucky, 0-16 the past two years, and there is not team on their schedule currently ranked higher than number 20. If you’re going to criticize Boise State’s schedule, don’t pick Nebraska as a better alternative.”

Speaking of my weekly conversations with Charlie, Bill Ball, another WBUR listener wrote this week to say “I’m upset with the way Bill Littlefield thinks every exchange is funny, which in turn causes him to cackle. I don’t know whether he’s trying to imitate Heckle or Jeckle. I suggest that he give up on the phony comedy and concentrate on his day job.
My favorite tweet of the week came from someone identifying himself as “at roost,” and he or she is responding to a music choice we made last week. “Ahhh! My earz, zee eadphones, zay do nothzing. Only A Game is now the second NPR program to trick me into listening to a Justin Bieber song.”

And finally, we heard this week from Eric Peterson, the head of school at St. George’s Academy in Rhode Island. Mr. Peterson is the guy who pulled his school’s football team out of a game in which the St. George’s linemen would have been outweighed by one hundred to one hundred fifty pounds. “We’ve had a great many schools and school personnel express their support,” he wrote. “And there have been many, many other expressions of support from parents, alumni, friends, and strangers. Now we’re moving on with the season. It’s time to get back to our work of teaching and coaching some talented, promising young people.”