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From the fans

Airing it out

By TOM JONES
Published January 9, 2007

Your turn

Subject: NFL playoffs

I just watched a real team with a good coach win a playoff game. I could say I'm a Colts fan because I'm from Indiana, but the truth is I've lived in Tampa Bay since five years after I graduated from college. I like the Colts because they are good people playing well, and they have a top-flight but humble coach who keeps his language clean so that the kids can go to the games without having to wear ear protection.

GO COLTS! GO COACH DUNGY!

Sharon Turk, Largo

Bruce Allen must take the fans and owners for fools if he thinks he can sell that story about quarterback woes being the cause of the losing season. If anyone buys that, I have several bridges in the area for sale. Does anyone remember how bad the team looked before the injury to Chris Simms? Bottom line: Jon Gruden is a loser. He has a losing record, which is unforgivable considering he took over a Super Bowl-winning team. It's one thing to take over a losing team and lose, which coaches get fired for, but quite another to take over a world champion team and turn it into a loser. A coach with class would resign if he came back the year after a Super Bowl win and performed the way the Buccaneers did.

Robert C. Gilley, Tampa

Subject: Lightning

I know exactly what the problem is with the Lightning. It's the coaching staff. How could they mess with the only thing that is working? The combo of Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis should not be put on separate lines. Together, they're dynamite. Apart, the Lightning's chances are down the drain. Second, Tim Taylor has no business being the captain of the team. He is not even a fair player performance-wise. Any one of the "Big Three" would make a fine captain. Third, Johan Holmqvist should be the starting goalie. Fourth, if GM Jay Feaster trades Ruslan Fedotenko, he'll be making a big mistake. If it weren't for Fedotenko, the Lightning would not have won the Stanley Cup. It's bad enough that he let Fredrik Modin go for a mediocre goalie. Last, Dan Boyle is the most overrated defenseman in the league. The Lightning doesn't need more offense. It needs better defense. I know, John Tortorella doesn't pay attention to statistics. That's why his team has one of the worst records in the league. His abrasive style doesn't help, either. Thanks for letting me vent.

Ann Witt, Clearwater

Other voices

You knew the day was coming.

None of us expected it to be Sunday night.

But University of Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino, at 9.p.m. in a regularly scheduled meeting with his players about academics, told them he was leaving to coach the Atlanta Falcons.

If I had a nickel for every time I'd begun this story over the past three years - well, I'd have a nice pile of nickels. And a pretty fair pile of something else that's not so shiny.

After the Auburn fiasco and the Louisiana State interview a week after signing a million-dollar contract extension and the Oakland Raiders interviews, Petrino at last showed that he learned to conduct a job negotiation in secret without it becoming a fiasco.

Eric Crawford, Louisville Courier-Journal

Check it out

The starting lineups for next month's NHL All-Star Game will be announced tonight during the first intermission of the Red Wings-Avalanche game on Versus. The game starts at 9, so our guess is the first intermission will be around 9:30, or something like that.

No Pizza

Did you notice there was no Cold Pizza on ESPN2 Monday morning? New York City officials evacuated a number of buildings, including where Cold Pizza is shot, and shut down some trains because of a mysterious gaslike odor in and around the city. Officials eventually determined the odor was of no threat, but well after the show's time slot.

He said it

"It makes mine look sort of just in the middle of the pack, which is okay. We're all happy."

South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier, who doesn't sound all that happy in this quote from the State (Columbia, S.C.), on Nick Saban's $4-million a year contract at Alabama. Spurrier signed a new deal last month that will pay him $1.75-million a year.

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[Last modified January 9, 2007, 06:07:39]