2nd-string treatment

I would like to say that Garrett Gilbert, substitute quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, did a great job in the national championship game considering he had no actual playing time before that. This could have been avoided had he been given playing time during the regular season, when Texas had a comfortable lead over its opponent, instead of worrying about Colt McCoy’s statistics and his winning the Heisman Trophy.

We see this at every football game, from Pee Wee to pro. The coaches are only worried about putting as many points on the board as they can. What about the substitute players who need some playing time in a real game to get better at filling a position if the starting player gets injured? Then if a starting player gets hurt and a substitute has to go in, the team would be able to function better since that player has experience during a game and not just practice.

Substitute players work just as hard at practice as the starters do and deserve to play during a game and not just stand on the sidelines and watch.

Coaches, just once try playing substitutes and watch how their confidence levels improve. They’ll develop into better players who will feel like they’re contributing to the success of the team.

I’m not an Alabama fan, but I give credit where credit is due. Their players deserve victory. Texas, better luck next year.

Calvin Hodde

Waco

Adios, Harry Reid

I hope that power-mad bully in the U.S. Senate from Nevada, Harry Reid, is feeling as sold-out as the American public does. One must wonder why Reid’s remarks about the president’s race — made some time ago — seemed to become an issue after Reid worked so hard to help get Obama’s health care bill passed.

Unlike the ordinary American taxpayer who loses his job, Reid won’t have to worry. He’ll retire to a huge pension and superior health insurance, courtesy of the same American taxpayers whose outcries were ignored as he and other legislative bullies in Washington, D.C., rammed Obamacare down our throats.

Come Election Day, we the people will send a message to Reid and those like him that we will not continue to tolerate being ignored by those we put into office. However, we must also acknowledge that the significant damage done is likely beyond repair — and that we still have three more years of wretched leadership at the top.

Rita W. Jones

Axtell

What about Bush’s delay?

In response to the outcry over President Barack Obama’s supposed delay in speaking out about the attempted terrorist attack on Detroit, I suppose a lot of people out there have selective memory. I’ll remind them. During the Bush/Cheney era, there was yet another failed terrorist attack on our nation. It took President George W. Bush and his people six days — nearly a week — to respond to the attempted shoe-bombing attack by Richard Reid in December 2001.

Obama and his people took half that time — just three days — to issue a response. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quick enough for those who claim Obama doesn’t care about his nation and is not on our side.

People out there shouldn’t be so hypocritical and let their hate for Obama cloud their political thought process.

Zach Flaten

Waco

Cheering on the Lady Bears

Let me start by saying what a great job Coach Kim Mulkey and the Lady Bears did in their win over the Sooners. One concern I have had the last couple of years is the way the fans stay in their seats instead of standing up and cheering for our team. They seem to have to wait for Coach Kim to wave her arms, telling everyone to get out of their seats and make some noise. But when we do stand up and cheer, we have people behind us griping because they can’t see.

These young ladies and the coaching staff deserve to have a loud home court. We need to make the Ferrell Center one of the toughest and loudest arenas in the country to play. That is going to take us, the fans, getting up out of our seats and making some noise.

Don’t wait for Kim to wave her arms or the cheerleaders to start a chant. Do your part as a fan and show your support for our team. Against OU, Mulkey’s mob was outstanding, in my opinion, and at times I thought we did a great job as fans. Now it needs to carry over to other games.

Shelley Sonntag

Waco

Perry or Hutchison? Bad choice

I have just finished watching the gubernatorial debate among Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina. The rhetoric was the usual political nonsense until a girl attending Johns Hopkins University dropped a bombshell. She asked Perry, who in her view opposes any government takeover of the health care system, if he was aware that by law Texas has a medical panel that has authority to deny medical care, treatment and hospitalization to anyone it chooses.

The girl cited chapter and verse about all this, and when Perry was asked about “Texas’ seven-year-old death panel,” he said he wasn’t aware of it. Hutchison answered likewise. Only Medina said she was aware of it, adding that she was at the side of someone who suffered because of the panel’s decision.

This is classic Republican duplicity. This election, I urge that we vote out the incumbents in every position, including voting in a Democrat as our governor.

David Fisher

Bellmead