Backtalk: Seattle Times sports letters to the editor for the week.
1996 Sonics
McMillan would have changed tone
Kudos to Jayson Jenks and Bob Condotta for an entertaining look back at the NBA title that almost was (“Nearly Our Time,” June 12).
It’s reasonable to assert that had Nate McMillan been healthy, the Sonics would have taken the series, as the team was firing on all cylinders, and the Bulls didn’t have an answer for Shawn Kemp.
In McMillan’s absence, coach George Karl made the tactical error of allowing Gary Payton to run the offense, which promptly ground to a halt. I wish Karl had simply let Payton focus on what he did best, and run the offense through Deltef Schrempf.
Instead Scottie Pippen was allowed to wreak havoc in the passing lanes and spent most of his time double-teaming Kemp.
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David Arntuffus, Shoreline
Golf
A great spring for the sport in NW
Matt Calkins, referring to the Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee, began Monday’s column by asking, “Did you see it? Did you care?” (“A sport worthy of your attention,” June 13).
To both questions, I give an emphatic, “Damn right I did.”
Anyone watching saw a star emerge, the incredibly likable winner, 18-year-old Brooke Henderson. She was equaled in charm by her teenaged playoff opponent, Lydia Ko.
That tournament was matched by the NCAA women’s national championship, played just a couple weeks before in Eugene, with the Huskies facing Stanford, the defending champs. The match was pace-the-floor tense, with Washington bringing home the trophy.
Another aspect was just as memorable: The shining personalities of the young golfers, not only those of the Huskies, but Stanford’s, too, and of both teams’ classy coaches.
What a fabulous spring for women’s golf.
Steve Graham, Seattle
Mariners
What’s up with Cano?
As a baseball fan of 50-plus years, I find the erratic play of Robinson Cano very disturbing. On the one hand, he is clearly one of the top baseball players in the major leagues. The flip side is that he appears to not be mentally in the game.
He personally took the Mariners out of two games at home against the Rangers:
• He did not run hard to first base after a called third strike that got by the catcher (he would have been safe with a normal effort). This third out ended the game, resulting in a 2-1 loss June 11. As a result, cleanup hitter Nelson Cruz never got to bat.
• He displayed poor judgment trying for a double and was thrown out at second base making the third out, thus ending the game. Had he stayed at first, Cruz would have represented the tying run. The Mariners lost this game 6-4 on June 12.
These were two losses in a critical series against the division-leading Rangers.
My concern is: Why management and sportswriters do not hold Cano accountable for his blunders? This man is not a sophomore on a high-school baseball team. He is a veteran major-league player making $20 million a year.
George Holmgren, Tacoma
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