Mr Harvey

Is being a sportswriter a more noble profession than being a waitress or a truck driver? Randy Harvey's article of Feb. 12 on Olympic skaters Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval demeans an honest effort of two hard-working Americans to successfully participate in the Olympics. We are offended by the lack of respect for all people, regardless of their professions, exhibited by Mr. Harvey. These athletes earned their way to Albertville and deserve an apology from Mr. Harvey for his arrogance.

Prop master Martin Lasowitz had to delve into many different detail-obsessed subcultures to re-create the early 1970s for director Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" -- the world of ship-in-a-bottle hobbyists, for instance, and snow-globe makers -- but perhaps the most impressive was the intricate dollhouse he found for Stanley Tucci's sinister Mr. Harvey. "We thought about building it from scratch but that was cost prohibitive," Lasowitz said. He finally tracked down a dollhouse builder close to the film's Philadelphia shooting location, but to make the house look appropriately obsessive for the Harvey character's taste, Lasowitz had to make multiple trips to the store to decorate and furnish the house.

Just the other day, my friends and I were talking about how much we missed Allan Malamud's "Notes on a Scorecard." There wasn't a day we missed reading it. Without it, we thought there was a void in The Times' sports section. I am happy to say, after reading Randy Harvey's Page 2 on Monday, I can honestly say that his column will fit in nicely. I commend The Times on choosing Mr. Harvey and we all look forward to making his column a must read. GENO M. APICELLA Los Angeles As Randy Harvey says, no one will ever take Allan Malamud's column, but if all his columns are as interesting as his first one, Mr. Harvey has nothing to worry about.

From England, land of Charles Dickens, the wassail bowl and figgy pudding, come two TV movies imported for your pre-Christmas pleasure by BBC America. One tends toward the ridiculous, the other the sublime. The first is not bad, and the second is very good.

Yes, Randy Harvey, If Mark O'Meara hadn't made those birdies on the last holes . . . If Fred Couples had hit more bad tee shots . . . If David Duval had broken his leg Sunday morning . . . If Jim Furyk had forgotten to set his alarm . . . If Paul Azinger had to take radiation treatment Sunday . . . If Jack Nicklaus' back was too painful . . . If David Toms had never taken up golf . . . If Darren Clarke had made an extra bogey...

According to Randy Harvey in his recent piece on Kelli White, "White Because Kelli was ranked third and fourth in the world in the 200 meters in 2001 and 2002 (and 10th in the 100 in 2001), and a bronze medalist in the 2001 world championships in the 200, and on our gold-medal winning team in the 400 relay, I'm assuming that Mr. Harvey considers Marion Jones the only outstanding sprinter in the world. I resent Mr. Harvey's insinuation that Kelli's performances are the result of drug use. I have no idea if she was anything but negligent in her not mentioning the use of an unbanned drug to the IAAF, but because of track and field's commitment to stop drug use (unlike other sports)

Prop master Martin Lasowitz had to delve into many different detail-obsessed subcultures to re-create the early 1970s for director Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" -- the world of ship-in-a-bottle hobbyists, for instance, and snow-globe makers -- but perhaps the most impressive was the intricate dollhouse he found for Stanley Tucci's sinister Mr. Harvey. "We thought about building it from scratch but that was cost prohibitive," Lasowitz said. He finally tracked down a dollhouse builder close to the film's Philadelphia shooting location, but to make the house look appropriately obsessive for the Harvey character's taste, Lasowitz had to make multiple trips to the store to decorate and furnish the house.

From England, land of Charles Dickens, the wassail bowl and figgy pudding, come two TV movies imported for your pre-Christmas pleasure by BBC America. One tends toward the ridiculous, the other the sublime. The first is not bad, and the second is very good.

Admittedly, the sport of track and field can use all the help it can get, but certainly not the kind it got from Randy Harvey's superficial account of the final day of the superb World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis. While Mr. Harvey apparently was caught up in the aftermath of the unfortunate Greg Foster-Mark McKoy collision, what was unfolding before him was a track and field milestone and one of the great pole vault competitions in history. For the first time, four men cleared 19 feet in the same competition.

Randy Harvey is wrong when he urges tolerance for Chick Hearn [Feb. 6]. Only a California native who listens to him out of habit could be justified in pleading for him to stay on the mike. It's not only his inadvertent racial remarks. Chick makes a lot of mistakes. Earlier in the season he confused Eddie Jones and Kobe Bryant. He gets the scores wrong. He gets the plays wrong. He tries to interview Shaq and gets monosyllabic responses. Then he puts Shaq on the spot and says, "Do you like me, Shaq?"

According to Randy Harvey in his recent piece on Kelli White, "White Because Kelli was ranked third and fourth in the world in the 200 meters in 2001 and 2002 (and 10th in the 100 in 2001), and a bronze medalist in the 2001 world championships in the 200, and on our gold-medal winning team in the 400 relay, I'm assuming that Mr. Harvey considers Marion Jones the only outstanding sprinter in the world. I resent Mr. Harvey's insinuation that Kelli's performances are the result of drug use. I have no idea if she was anything but negligent in her not mentioning the use of an unbanned drug to the IAAF, but because of track and field's commitment to stop drug use (unlike other sports)

Yes, Randy Harvey, If Mark O'Meara hadn't made those birdies on the last holes . . . If Fred Couples had hit more bad tee shots . . . If David Duval had broken his leg Sunday morning . . . If Jim Furyk had forgotten to set his alarm . . . If Paul Azinger had to take radiation treatment Sunday . . . If Jack Nicklaus' back was too painful . . . If David Toms had never taken up golf . . . If Darren Clarke had made an extra bogey...

Just the other day, my friends and I were talking about how much we missed Allan Malamud's "Notes on a Scorecard." There wasn't a day we missed reading it. Without it, we thought there was a void in The Times' sports section. I am happy to say, after reading Randy Harvey's Page 2 on Monday, I can honestly say that his column will fit in nicely. I commend The Times on choosing Mr. Harvey and we all look forward to making his column a must read. GENO M. APICELLA Los Angeles As Randy Harvey says, no one will ever take Allan Malamud's column, but if all his columns are as interesting as his first one, Mr. Harvey has nothing to worry about.

Is being a sportswriter a more noble profession than being a waitress or a truck driver? Randy Harvey's article of Feb. 12 on Olympic skaters Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval demeans an honest effort of two hard-working Americans to successfully participate in the Olympics. We are offended by the lack of respect for all people, regardless of their professions, exhibited by Mr. Harvey. These athletes earned their way to Albertville and deserve an apology from Mr. Harvey for his arrogance.

She's the duchess of donations. The champ of charity. The fund-raising phenom, able to drum up hundreds of dollars in a single hour. University of California officials believe that no other UC student has been more proficient at raising money for her school than Catherine Diaz, a senior psychology-biology major at UC Irvine. When she calls, people listen--and grab their checkbooks. It is Sunday evening. Diaz picks up the phone, dials, delivers her pitch, and moments later-- cha-ching!

Did Amy Acuff go over the top with her calendar of nude female track and field athletes [Randy Harvey's column, June 27]? Absolutely. As a female high school track athlete myself, I find it very discouraging that women are using sex appeal instead of athletic ability to promote themselves. In the struggle for equality between male and female athletes, this is just another step in the wrong direction. Acuff's argument that the calendar "should represent empowerment to women athletes because it shows that we can be glamorous and still perform at a high level" is weak, at best.