Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com. Letters are lightly edited for clarity.
On sports and dehydration
Good day, Mr. White: I am writing today as a way to draw attention to and greater awareness of the need for proper hydration for youth athletes. As a coach of over 20 years and the parent of two youth athletes, I have unfortunately seen too many players impacted by dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Just this past weekend while attending a lacrosse tournament for my younger child I witnessed multiple players go down with heat stroke.
I encourage coaches, parents and players to learn more about the warning signs of dehydration and heat exhaustion. To talk to your players about proper hydration and what to wear during activities on hot/humid days. Finally, for coaches to build in additional hydration times during activities and make sure players are drinking appropriately and not skipping. As I always told my players, if you get to a point where you have extreme thirst, you are too late. Again I send this in as awareness, to hydrate early and hydrate often.
Steven Fields, Gahanna
Good day, Mr. Fields: Great guidance. I'm not ancient, but I'm old, and I recall seeing coaches who thought water breaks were a sign of weakness. In reality, skipping water breaks is a weakness.
On Ohio State football
To Brian: I was intrigued by Rob Oller's column on Scottie Scheffler: the "what ifs" of different circumstances and outcomes. I immediately thought of Bill Buckner's 1986 World Series embarrassment. Then he referenced Kyle McCord. His portal exit was premature, but any harsh criticism of his play was forgotten and forgiven after the loss to Missouri. What if? His future success remains to be seen. I'm not thrilled with the Buckeyes having to win with experienced transfer Will Howard trying to end Michigan's three-game streak. But Devin Brown is even greener than McCord and possibly more injury prone. Others will disagree, some loudly. A win's a win (insert asterisk), right? Nor do I think McCord's new school, Syracuse, has the horses, front and rear, needed to surprise the ACC.
Is it going to be "deja vu all over again"? Who wants another "What If...?" on Nov. 30. Or coach Day will get one last try (vs. Sherrone Moore). Gladly, he'd take a Big House win just to "get out of Dodge" i.e. Columbus - fans waving.
Larry Cheek, Dublin
On paying college athletes
To the editor: I am a lawyer, but my profession is ruining college athletics. Lawyers caused the advent of NIL, which is causing greed to run rampant in big-time football factories like our beloved Buckeyes. Pay-to-play is more relevant than take-one-for-the-team. Lawyers caused all of this with their damn lawsuits, just like they killed medicine. I prefer watching athletes compete without calling them plaintiffs.
Michael Oser, Columbus
On the Griffeys
To Brian: It must have started when Cal Ripken Sr. managed Baltimore for a brief time with Cal Jr. playing for the Orioles. It was certainly necessary when Ken Griffey Sr. joined Seattle to play with his son, Ken Jr. But other than circumstances like that, why do players now have suffixes routinely included with their name on their jersey and announcers continually repeating it?
One interesting thing I noticed is that while Griffey Sr. must have been disappointed when the Reds granted him free agency when batting .206 at age 40 in 1990 and wasn't a part of that championship at season's end (although he did receive a ring), he must have been revitalized when the Mariners signed him. In his 51 games over those two seasons at ages 40 and 41 while playing with his son, he hit .327.
Dennis Singleton, Dayton
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