Letters

POTHOLES VS. POTSHOTS

I loved the interview you did with Jerry Sanders [Dialogue with Tom Blair, September]. You kept it professional but did not let Jerry off the hot seat on issues that matter.

I wanted to hear him say, more affirmatively, that he will not let the Chargers leave San Diego without a fight. He should watch the HBO special called The Ghosts of Flatbush, about my beloved Dodgers leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles.

And just for the record, the potholes in the Del Mar area, where I live, are way worse than in Point Loma.

DANA SHERTZ
DEL MAR

MATTERS OF TASTE

I am a subscriber and enjoy the magazine. I supported Jerry Sanders, but after reading your interview with him, my reaction was: My goodness, he appears to be nearly clueless and at times bumbling. Scary. You did a terrific job of asking the difficult questions without turning it into an inquisition.

On another subject: Los Angeles magazine runs this disclaimer in their back-of-the-book restaurant guide: “These listings are a guide to establishments reviewed and recommended by our dining critics and staff and have no relationship to any advertising in Los Angeles magazine. Visits are anonymous, and all expenses are paid by the magazine.”

Since I don’t find this in your magazine, should I assume the mini-reviews in your section do have a relationship to advertising, and/or that they are paid listings, or that your reviewers are comped at these places?

RON SATALOFF
SAN DIEGO

San Diego Magazine has compiled the most-comprehensive list of restaurants in the region. While we do not consider the listings reviews, we do include both advertisers and nonadvertisers. Our regular restaurant reviews, by veterans David Nelson and Robin Kleven Dishon, have no connection to advertising in the magazine. All expenses for their meals are paid by San Diego Magazine, and their visits are as anonymous as possible.——EDITOR

COOPERSTOWN RECAP

San Diego, you did yourselves proud. My daughter and I just returned from our trip to Cooperstown to see the Hall of Fame induction of Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken [“Haul of Fame” by Ron Donoho, Journal, September]. Being former, longtime San Diegans (we now live in Missouri, but we’ll always be San Diegans at heart), we knew we just had to go support Tony in this great moment in his career.

Cooperstown is a beautiful little village that doesn’t usually have to manage this big a crowd (75,000-plus), and there obviously were long lines and long periods of waiting. Because of Baltimore’s proximity to Cooperstown, there were, of course, considerably more people in Orioles shirts than there were in Padres shirts. But there were many, many Padres shirts there, which did not go unnoticed by Tony.

It was interesting to compare the demeanor, attitude and behavior of the two “camps,” if you will. When the lines got long and the wait seemed interminable (especially in the hot, humid weather), the Orioles fans became agitated, angry, rude, sarcastic and pushy. The Padres fans struck up friendly conversations with whomever they were near, waited patiently, laughed a lot and yielded to someone pushing their way through. Obviously, not every Orioles fan was that ugly; some were pleasant. But I did not see one person in a Padres shirt act in any way other than friendly and patient.

During the actual ceremony, we Padres fans also cheered for Cal, another fine player and human being, very similar to Tony in many ways. To be fair, most of the Orioles fans also cheered for Tony. It was the behavior before and after the ceremony that showed itself to be so disparate. People wearing Orioles shirts appeared angry a good share of the time. People in Padres shirts seemed so excited to just be there that they were smiling all of the time.

When my daughter and I arrived at our hotel in Albany the evening before induction day, wearing our Padres shirts, there was a small group of people also wearing Padres shirts standing outside. They yelled out a greeting, “Hey, San Diego . . . go, Padres!” One man from the group came over and offered us a ride to Cooperstown the next morning, as he had rented a large vehicle. To me, that’s a true San Diegan. I can honestly say I have never felt prouder wearing a Padres shirt than during that weekend. San Diegans, you should pat yourselves on the back . . . no, that would be too much like the Orioles fans. You should pat each other on the back.

MARY LOU LOHR
ASH GROVE, MISSOURI

CHEER UP

Maybe you aren’t responsible for the looks of the models in your magazine’s fashion layouts, but after receiving this month’s issue, I think maybe it’s time for a change [“Fashionable Fall Girls,” September].

They are rather attractive-looking women, but is there a reason they can’t show any emotions? The look of absolute boredom really needs to go. Why can’t they look happy and smile, and give the reader the impression they actually care about what you are looking at or what they are trying to convey. I’m sure it’s not the attitude those woman have, but a happier expression would at least make me, the reader, feel better about what you are trying to show to the public.

These women just contradict what I see as I look through the rest of your pages, where everyone is smiling and happy. Obviously, the entire world isn’t that way, but for those moments, or even minutes, while I thumb through the pages of San Diego Magazine, I can’t help but think that San Diego is doing just fine.

CHRIS PRUSAKOWSKI
PHOENIX

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