http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/17/193950.aspx Mike Lupica stopped by this morning to talk with Matt about his new young adult book, Summer Ball, the sequel to his 2005 bestseller, Travel Team. WATCH VIDEOAfter his interview with Matt, Lupica -- who is also a sports columnist for the New York Dailyen-USCommunityServer 2.0 (Build: 60608.1)http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/17/193950.aspx#194207Thu, 17 May 2007 16:08:26 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:194207Julie Stephen, Porterville, CaliforniaHi Matt. While watching this segment I was reminded of my daughter, who at aged 12, we were told that she should find another sport. That she was not built for the sport she loved, swimming. She had a very tall, chubby, kind of ungainly type of body at 12. We talked to her and she said no, she wanted to swim. She loved it, and didn't mind never winning. She told us later that conversation secretly spurred her on to "show the world". By the time she was a sophmore in high school, she was 6 feet tall and 150 lbs. and an All American. When she was a senior in high school, she was #4 in the country in the 200 freestyle and an All American. This coach was at these meets eating his hat. I gave him the salt. Good thing we didn't listen to him. Jen went on to swim on an athletic scholarship at Southern Cal, was an 8 time All American, NCAA champion and finalist, and team captain for 2 years. All this from a girl who was told to find another sport. She would have swam in the 1996 Olympics but her thyroid quit working 3 months before Olympic trials, so that dream was no longer a reality. Anyway, my point is, coaches are not always right. When coaching the little ones, they need to just coach and let the kids have fun. Leave the big decisions to the parents. We eventually get it right.http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/17/193950.aspx#194275Thu, 17 May 2007 16:46:58 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:194275John Halstead, Staten Island, New YorkLupica should stick to sports which he knows very little about, as opposed to politics of which he knows less than zero.http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/17/193950.aspx#194650Thu, 17 May 2007 20:05:31 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:194650Tom Bastable,Wheeling, IlI think Mike Lupica was standing behind me at the library or in my room while I was reading as a youth. His present day favorites (Goldman/Leonard/Westlake) are mine too. I will continue to read and enjoy Lupica's books and good job during the interviewhttp://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/17/193950.aspx#194992Fri, 18 May 2007 01:41:29 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:194992Frank McCafferty, Atlanta, GeorgiaI recognize that Today is your typical liberally-biased MSM venue and that no one who is not to the left of Teddy Kennedy will be profiled, but it is really getting disheartening to be unable to avoid liberal bias even in sports reporting. Mr. Lupica is typical of most sports journalists in that he is liberal to the core and will continually take a leftist slant on literally everything (which I have repeatedly seen on TV), but discussing his take on politics and demonstrating his simplistic view of the world (is it really the job of a big city mayor to comment on the niceties of the Iraq situation? C'mon, really?)further undermines the notion that any of these people can even be trusted to report on the trivial world of sports. Next up will probably be his erudite comments on how George Bush and Halliburton are behind the steroid scandal.http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/17/193950.aspx#195060Fri, 18 May 2007 03:31:33 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:195060Eugene Hettich, Queens, N.Y.I agree with John Halstead, stick to sports. Why we should want a sports writers opinion on anything but sports is beyond me...