Answering emails
NBA questions for the busiest time of year.
A year into The Second Arrangement I reminded readers for weeks that I was securing queries for a Mailbag column, all they had to do was reply with a question and it would be answered!
I begged for emails three or four times, one or maybe two people wrote in. I’m not sure I replied to those emails, we’ve never had a mailbag column.
Until now, we’ll make up the letters. Hack move, Mad Magazine introduced me to the bit but I’d bet the gimmick dates back to the days of the witty pamphlet.
Steely Dan did this in 1976 as an intro to the group’s songbook.
Because we are so rarely allowed to air our views on the printed page, we would like to take this opportunity to get a few things off our chest. First, these replies to some fan mail:
To C.K. of Fair Lawn, New Jersey: Certainly not. The rather novel type of interview you have repeatedly requested cannot possibly be arranged, even in the state of California.
To J. "S" Baxter of Los Angeles: Sorry, Jeff, but our royalties haven't come in either.
I omitted the tasteless parts.
Time for our first question.
Did I send a strong memo? — A. Silver.
