It’s been pretty eventful at TennisWorld since my original Cañas posting (scroll down to the item entitled “Good Son Willy”), and I’m going to publish portions of three replies from Irate Readers who took exception to the content or tone because each of them raises an interesting, tangential subject.
First, from Alfonso Jose Acosta Roa:
OK, let’s leave the side effects of Viagra out of this. This was just one of the letters that took strident exception to my mention of the bizarre Falkland Islands war episode in Argentine history. I’m amazed at what a nerve I hit with that throwaway line. Aren’t we being a wee bit touchy?
This, from a lady named Caro:
This leads me to wonder, what exactly would it take to convince her that “her men” are cheaters? I think we all know the answer. Nothing will convince her, as long as they protest their innocence. So in a way, having a debate about it is kind of futile, no?
Interestingly, Jon Wertheim tackles the credibility issue in the most recent SI Mailbag as well. Full disclosure: Jon and I are friends. But both of us ended up using the “dog ate my homework” line without having read the other’s comments on the Cañas affair.
Lastly, we have this model of civil discourse, from one Terry House:
Sooo, let’s see . . . if “chick” is some kind of “neo-con” reference, then every rock musician in the history of the world must be secretly plowing big bucks into the American Enterprise Institute’s coffers, or contributing to the “Wolfowitz For President” campaign war chest. And all along I innocently thought that the “Vote or Die” crowd and all those gazillionaire, man-of-the-people rock stars had been for Kerry (helping to explain why Bush won)!
All in all, this Cañas controversy has proved to be kind of fun. The best line of all may have come from my co-conspirator in our little TennisWorld universe, Chris Chung. I forwarded him one of the more vituperative e-mails I got, and he came up with a three-word response: “Another satisfied customer.”