Fields of Dreams

With the dramatic end of the 2006 World Cup, fans around the globe emerged from a month of shattering defeats and exhilarating victories. Readers cheered the host nation, grappled with a certain star's confounding use of his head and made decisive calls on how to improve the role of the game's referees

Re "Italy's cup" [July 17]: time was enthusiastic about the success and drama of the monthlong World Cup saga, and described in superlatives various aspects of the games and their positive effect on Germany in particular. As a TV viewer who witnessed most of the matches, let me protest that on the whole, the World Cup was one long soporific. In particular, the final stages (the knockout rounds) were unspectacular, with long periods of passing the ball back and forth. Unless FIFA takes action to improve the flow of the game — for instance, reducing the number of players to nine or 10 — I certainly will not be among those who view the next series in 2010.
Jeff Lederer
Kfar Hess, Israel

Germany was a first-rate host of the World Cup and made all nations welcome. The police did a magnificent job handling vast crowds of rowdy fans and dealing with the unruly element with as little fuss as possible, so the majority could get on with their enjoyment of the games. Germans should no longer feel collective guilt for World War II, as the majority of them are under 60 years old and could not have had anything to do with it anyway. I experienced that war and its horrors, but I have worked quite happily for two German companies and promoted their products. It's time Europeans moved on, combined our strengths and forged a stronger European Union, with all conflict confined to the football field.
Desmond Connelly
Stafford, England

I really enjoyed your articles and magnificent photographs of the World Cup. It is unfortunate that decisions by the referees were sometimes questionable, and obviously so, since television viewers could see what really happened through slow-motion replays. FIFA's refusal to introduce modern technology for referees to consult on difficult calls is a great loss for the fans and athletes. The human eye is not always able to determine correctly whether a player is offside or has committed a foul. Today, any decision has a great impact on everyone involved, both financially and emotionally.
Kees van der Pligt
Amsterdam

It was heartbreaking to see Italy's triumphant World Cup team on the cover instead of Zinédine Zidane and the French squad he led. Zidane was punished for head butting Marco Materazzi, but what about Materazzi? Won't he be punished too? He must have said something awfully offensive to provoke Zidane. Zidane cost France the World Cup title, but he still stands as a legend next to Pelé, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini and others.
Mubarak Shamim
Dhaka

I am so pleased that World Cup 2006 is over. It took up far too many of the TV sport channels. Football is without a doubt the most boring game to watch, especially at the World Cup level. What other game played by such enormously talented players has to resort to a penalty shoot-out after 90 minutes of normal playing time and 30 minutes of extra time to decide the outcome? And then, that outcome ultimately rests on the goalkeeper's guessing correctly which way to dive!
Tuan Pickard
Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Controversial Cleric
I was saddened by your interview with Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop–elect of the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. [July 17]. When asked about her focus as head of her church, she mentioned feeding people, providing primary education, promoting sustainable development and healing people with aids, tuberculosis and malaria. She made no mention of God, let alone Jesus Christ. Her answers would have been more fitting coming from the head of the Gates Foundation than a national religious leader. For 2,000 years the church has taught that our works must flow from our faith. Sadly, Bishop Jefferts Schori spoke only of works and of a church whose focus doesn't include God.
(The Rev.) Canon Francis C. Zanger
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.

After reading the interview with Jefferts Schori, I have no doubt as to why the Episcopal Church in the U.S. is "rocked by controversy." Any denomination guided by "a reasonable conclusion and consensus that gay and lesbian Christians are full members," instead of following God's word, the Bible, is on the road to destruction. Not only are the Presiding Bishop and the Episcopal Church wrong in their consensus that practicing gays and lesbians can be Christians, but they are also horribly wrong when they conclude that Christ is not the only way to get to heaven.
(The Rev.) Paul Clarke
Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland

Time to Hang Up the Spurs?
Those in the white house have apparently realized that going it alone is not a feasible strategy in international relations [July 17]. But anyone who has matured past childhood knows of the need to cooperate with others to do anything constructive. Bullies may win for a while, but they never succeed in the end — and their end is always ignominious. The Bush Administration must be held accountable for what it should have known.
Tom Ehlinger
Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S.

Missile Madness
Re "The Kim conundrum" [July 17], on the problem posed by North Korea's nuclear program and missile tests: Your story said, "Despite the fact that the government of South Korea has little to show for it, polls there suggest people still support the 'sunshine' policy, in place since 1998, which amounts to an all-carrots, no-sticks approach to relations with Pyongyang." I believe that is a little harsh, because in the past dozen or so years South Korea has tried diplomacy with the North, even as it bolstered its defense capabilities. The combination of strong defense and openness to negotiation is probably about as good as the Republic of Korea can do.
Mike Stark
Greenbelt, Maryland, U.S.

Foul Play
I was encouraged to read d.J. Taylor's Essay on the continuing erosion of sportsmanship [July 17]. I have a suggestion for promoting cleaner play in football and eliminating the unsatisfactory penalty-kick shoot-out in the case of a tie. If the score is still even after the 30 minutes of extra time, I suggest that the team that drew fewer red and yellow penalty cards be awarded the victory.
John Miller
London

Taylor said that George Orwell described sport in the mid-1940s as "war minus the shooting" but that today Orwell's ghost "would probably diagnose not an exercise in disguised nationalism but a series of deceptions practiced on a credulous public." Most sporting events have indeed gained an ill reputation for doping, bribery, hot tempers and even violence. The Olympics, football, cycling, tennis and horse racing have lost the glamour of sportsmanship and become a big business, corrupt to the hilt. All the same, they absorb the curiosity and interest of millions of people worldwide, if not for the competition itself, then for the nationalist politics. The way things are going, I wonder what sport will be like 50 years from now.
Henry Assen
Brussels