Letters to AFM

We want your input! Letters to AFM should include the name, address and telephone number of the writer. Mail to: AFM, P.O. Box 13079, North Palm Beach, FL, 33408. Or, you can e-mail your letter to us at letters@americanfootballmonthly.com or reach us via fax at (561) 627-5275. Visit AFM online at www.americanfootballmonthly.com.

Dear AFM:

I had to send you this poem that one of my seventh graders wrote for his fitness class. I thought it was pretty darn good considering this kid is in the seventh grade. Enjoy.

Yours in football,
Bob James
Assistant Football Coach
LaPorte High School
LaPorte, IN

The following is the poem James forwarded,

Linemen

Halfbacks dance and halfbacks flirt, while linemen crawl and eat the dirt.
When game time comes, backs run the ball. When glory comes, they get it all.
But if 100 yards they gain, it's through the linemen's sweat and pain.
While halfbacks cry when they see blood, linemen hide it under mud.
Some backs have moves and others speed, but spirit's all a lineman needs.
Backs are good and some are fine, but they'd be nothing without the line.

A halfback loves and then he weds, but linemen only love their sleds.
The fans all see the halfbacks run, but few see what the line has done.
And that's why those who know agree, there's half a game the fans don't see.

Josh Sabinas
Seventh grade football player
Kesling Middle School
LaPorte, Ind.

Dear AFM:

I am very disappointed to see you did not include coordinators from NAIA schools in June's article on coordinators of the year. American Football Monthly has established itself as the leading periodical for football coaches. That makes it more disturbing to me that you made this omission.

NAIA schools play great and exciting football. This year saw our schools play outstanding football. Your magazine has given NAIA football coverage in the past when it has made coach of the year selections. Why did you choose not to this year?

Dale Carlson
Head Football Coach
Tri-State University,
V.P. NAIA Football Coaches Association

Thanks for the letter. Indeed, AFM is committed to honoring the top professionals from all levels of the game. This year is no exception, though the NAIA honorees were erroneously omitted from the June edition. The 1998 AFM NAIA Offensive Coordinator of the Year was Jae Sim of the University of Sioux Falls, a repeat winner from 1997 after the Cougars averaged over 40 points and 499 yards per game. Defensively, our staff chose Gary Knecht of national champion Azusa Pacific, which allowed just 126 points in 14 games.

Also, we credited Savannah State head coach Daryl McNeil with making the calls as 1998 AFM NCAA Division II Defensive Coordinator of the Year. Steven Wilks actually served as coordinator, for the Tigers, and was elevated to head coach when McNeil departed in the offseason.