A few laughs, a few memories and a little pain: this Sports Illustrated article did an autopsy on the WFL a couple of months after the plug got pulled. Years later it brought a few smiles remembering some of the craziness that was the WFL. Other than not getting paid in '74, I don't know many players that got really involved in the off field craziness the league obviously went through.

THE WFL STORY

Sir:

I read your article on the fall of the World Football League (The Day the Money Ran Out, Dec. 1). I am chagrined that it was little more than a meandering scrapbook of previously published quotations and excerpts, a cocktail party compendium that merely enshrined the inaccuracies and biases perpetrated by the media in the several franchise cities.

By way of example, let me comment on some of the Philadelphia stories. King Corcoran was cut from the team the day he made the statements quoted. You merely requoted gossip. Any team may experience poor bus service 3,000 miles from home, especially when the bus is hired by a third party, as in our case. But most of our trips were by chartered Delta Airlines DC9, which, due to plane availability, could not leave until 9 p.m. And, yes, we would ordinarily leave just after the game so that the players could board the DC9 for steak dinners and cold beer. We all should be so fortunate.

Philadelphia was a low draw, but this was mostly due to the constant dramatization of the league's problems. We therefore expected poor attendance in 1975. Many unsung people worked hard and long toward a future that has now been snatched away. However, despite the small attendance, our 1975 cheerleaders were never fired for financial reasons. What is true is that the 1974 cheerleaders were released because of their incompetence; just a routine check on your part would have shown that the Philadelphia team was financially responsible in both 1974 and 1975.

I could continue to point out the facts of this tragicomedy, but doing so would not compensate for the travails of all involved. Nor would it result in the serious statement that should be made about professional sports in this country, the failures and their causes, the ideas and energies. The World Football League is now a sorry collection of worn-out wishes and tired dreams, and it grieves me to think that it will continue to be falsely maligned even after its death.

JOHN EDWARD BOSACCO
(President of the Philadelphia Bell)
Media, Pa.