Mailbag Monday, 1973-'75: Those dang women libertarians

Rebecca Shore | Oct 26, 2014

Dayle Haddon in the Bahamas

Walter Iooss Jr./SI

FLIPPING THROUGH today's batch of ghosts of letters past, we find ourselves on the sh*t lists of some, the thank-you-note lists of others.

1973

WE HATE TO BE NAGS

Sirs:

How can you put such a picture on the cover of your magazine and call it SPORTS ILLUSTRATED? Shame on you. Don't just sit there, nag the guilty ones and apologize to your subscribers for your bad taste.

FR. PHILODORE LEMAY, M.S.

Attleboro, Mass.

ODDLY ENOUGH WE DON'T OFTEN HEAR FROM THOSE WOMEN LIBERTARIANS

Sirs:

No doubt you have already begun to receive your annual quota of letters from irate wives, women libertarians and so-called pure sportsmen who can find myriad half-baked reasons why you should restrict your reporting to stories and pictures about baseball, football, basketball, hockey, etc. and leave the "provocative, chauvinistic" pictures to the men's magazines. Please be assured that there are still many of us who anxiously await the arrival of this particular issue and hope that this will continue to be the case for many years. Any charges of chauvinism can be easily refuted by a magazine that named Billie Jean King its Sportswoman of the Year. Jule Campbell and Walter Iooss Jr. are to be commended for their collaboration on the excellent article and superb pictures.

DAVE RISHER/WILLSON BLAKE

Athens, Ga.

FUTURE HEADLINE WRITERS OF AMERICA

Sirs:

I know someone will write and say George Foreman's picture should have been on the cover since he is the surprising new world heavyweight boxing champion, but isn't Dayle Haddon a knockout?

STEVE WILSON

Lynchburg, Va.

WE NEVER DID SHOW THIS ONE TO DAYLE

Sirs:

Perhaps the pose of Dayle Haddon on your cover was intentional, but it brings to mind that famous picture of a wet ape waist deep in water that appeared in LIFE some time back. Certainly the posture and facial expressions are almost alike.

LANGLEY U. MORANG

Miami

• Last week's Mailbag Monday, 1970–'72

1974

Ann Simonton in Puerto Rico
Jay Maisel/SI

AS LONG AS YOU'RE NOT 'WEIRD'...

Sirs:

I don't believe it! In a week in which Johnny Miller wins an unheard-of triple on the golf tour and UCLA has an 88-game winning streak brought to an end, you have the nerve to put an article concerning bathing suits on the cover (Palmy Future for a Balmy Resort, Jan. 28). I'm not weird or anything (I can see more on the covers of at least three other magazines that I receive), but your priorities are a little mixed up.

JOE ALMEIDA

Northridge, Calif.

ERM...THANKS FOR THE SENTIMENT, WE THINK

Sirs:

I know you'll get the usual deluge of letters from outraged mothers and narrow-minded people about your article. The only thing I can say is that if my son gets to be 13 or 14 years old and doesn't look, I'll take him to a psychologist. If my husband stops looking, I'll know he is dead.

FLORENCE WHALEN

Pittsburgh

• Mailbag Monday, 1967–'69: Atom bombs and angry wives

1975

Cheryl Tiegs in Cancun
Walter Iooss Jr./SI

OUR HOLINESS

Sirs:

When friends told me that SI had not featured our Bruin-beating Irish on the cover of your Jan. 28 issue, I was outraged. However, when I examined your coverage of such divine shapes as Cheryl Tiegs', I cheered just as loudly as I did when John Shumate brought down his last rebound on the most recent Catholic holy day, Jan. 19. Color coverage seems almost wasted on mortal athletes when compared with the article on heavenly swimsuits.

NORMAN BOWER

Notre Dame, Ind.

NO OFFENSE INTENDED

Sirs:

I would just like to know why a good magazine has to turn into a girlie magazine. My teen-age children read it. Two of my friends called and asked what I did. I told them that my husband took the magazine apart and removed the offensive pages; my friends destroyed their copies. You can terminate my subscription if it happens again.

MRS. GEORGE BRENNAN

Shamokin, Pa.

FWIW, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED FULLY SUPPORTS YOUR LITERACY EFFORTS

Sirs:

Our school has been subscribing to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED for three years, and we have found it very helpful in our reading program. However, this week we will be unable to use your magazine. If this format continues we will have to cancel our subscription. This type of picture in the classroom causes so much disturbance there is no reading done.

JOYCE WAUGH

Principal, Paden City Grade School

Paden City, W. Va.

Published Oct 26, 2014

REBECCA SHORE