Madden was an original
Re: “Madden spawned imitators throughout amazing NFL run,” by Tim Cowlishaw, Wednesday SportsDay column.
I loved watching John Madden on the sidelines of an Oakland Raiders game. He was the polar opposite of my Dallas Cowboys coach, Tom Landry, with one exception. They both wore white short-sleeve shirts. As to their differences, Landry stood stoically on the sideline with his arms crossed, while mathematically determining the correct defense for every play. Madden would be disheveled, harried, with arms flailing, fighting for every inch of turf.
Madden was youthful in his oversized body. He was full of energy. The energy carried over to his Raiders teams, which he clearly hand-picked. His players were different from the other guys. They looked mean and played a different kind of tough.
After he transitioned from coach to analyst, Madden broadened my understanding of the game with his incredible insight and homespun humor. What I will never forget about Madden was his love of food. He invented the tailgate parties. He was one of us. He shared his fear of flying with us. He was a regular guy who we all knew.
Years ago, I stopped in Van Horn for dinner a restaurant called Chuy’s. To my surprise, there was a shrine to Madden, who was a regular during his trips in his Winnebago back and forth from California.
I will miss you, John Madden. You were an original.
Barry Rothschild, Dallas
Put this stereotype to rest
Re: “Advertisements fuel fire over stereotypes — Online storm centers on companies using ‘slanted eyes’ images,” Wednesday Metro & Business story.
This article discusses the issue of whether Chinese models have “slanted eyes.” This is a stereotype that should have been put to rest years ago. In his 1946 book The Natural History of Nonsense, the late professor of English at Northwestern University, Bergen Evans, wrote, “The most superficial observation ought to suffice to show that the eyes the Chinese and Japanese do not slant. They are set in their heads exactly as all other human eyes are set. Their unusual appearance (unusual, of course, to us; since they outnumber us, we perhaps are the unusual ones) is due to the presence of a fold of skin, the epicanthic fold, at the inner end of each eye.”
Arnell L. Engstrom, Dallas
Very different Baptist pastors
I was brought up in the First Baptist Church of Madison, Wis. When I was a kid I was unaware of just how progressive the church was terms of theology and civic action. Later, as a high school student I began to realize how committed to social justice our church was as I marched around the state capitol building with other members of the congregation, carrying signs supporting Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement.
How different the church in Madison is from First Baptist Dallas. While the church in Madison openly accepts gay and transgender members, Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas conducts lecture series on the evils of homosexuality.
Recently Donald Trump, arguably one of the greatest spreaders of hate and division among people in this country, visited the church in Dallas and received a standing ovation …….