The work is worth more than the victory

Matt Csanyi, thank you for your "insightful" observations, as well as your interesting suggestions for improving the Little 500 ("Little 500: The stupidest IU tradition", March 28). I found them to be unparalleled in both scope and content. \nI believe they clearly illustrate not only your inability to make a relevant point, but also your obvious failure to understand that to have a rewarding experience, you just might want to put in a more substantial effort. \nFor the years that I have coached Little 500 teams I chose to relegate the tasks of leg shaving, smile practicing, and speech preparation to the background, placing such tasks as track practice, road work and exchange preparation in the foreground. It is not very surprising that my results (and hence my opinions) differ from yours. \nIt is obvious that you were not happy about being beaten by a person with prosthetic leg. Well, I hate to be the person who informs you, but this just might be a metaphor for your future. It takes courage and determination to do what that person did with one leg. And I'll bet his list of accomplishments, as a result of participating in Little 500, didn't include beating a rider like you, who was more focused on the fruits of victory than on the work needed to achieve that victory. \nI also enjoyed the part where you insulted your own teammates. I can just picture their misty eyes when you informed them that you would not be returning for another Little 500 season. Replacing a "highly qualified" person such as yourself would indeed be difficult, if not impossible. The question might be: "Did the rest of the team suck? Or did you bring that valuable attribute to the group?"\nAlso, your suggestions for improving the race clearly reveal your inability to grasp the Little 500 experience. I can only imagine what those suggestions would have been if you had honored Little 500 with a second year of participation. (Maybe you should have checked to see if the one-legged guy had graduated.) While there are many changes that I, and others, have lobbied for, I don't seem to recall any that were similar to the ones you mentioned. \nCriticizing the Little 500 because of the drunks in the stands is a tired argument and that situation is certainly not the result of the IU Student Foundation selling beer at the race (which they don't do). I dislike the drunks more than anyone and am ecstatic that a fence separates them from me. But dragging it up in the context that you did does more to fill a few more column-inches of newspaper than it does to enlighten any reader or suggest a reasonable solution. \nIt is unfortunate that you had a bad Little 500 experience, but if you take a candid look at that experience, it is not the fault of your team, that one-legged guy, the hemorrhoid-inducing seat, the "spandexed" men and women, the lack of sorority cheerleaders in tight outfits or even the binge-drinking Greek system. The bad experience that you (and "others before me" that you referred to) have their roots in the fact that your effort was half-baked at best. And proves that what you failed to discover as a Little 500 rider, eludes you to this very day and will probably continue do so for a long time to come.