To the editor:

In response to Bill Mayer’s “Mayer: Gold may bless U.S. again.”

Mr. Mayer: Whether you use the term “foreigners” or “internationals” when you write, it is the meaning that you actively attribute to the concept that matters the most. When U.S. players go overseas to play, study or work, suddenly they become the new “visa-bearers” who are to be “forever with us.” Having a visa is not and should not become a stigma. I would hope that if that “visa-bearer” was a Darrell Arthur or a Mario Chalmers you would expect, and indeed demand the host country’s respect for them.

I for one do not exclusively “prefer to see Americans perfecting the game James Naismith and Phog Allen launched so wonderfully.” Rather, I prefer to see the game perfected because when it is, all players – American and international alike – are enabled to fulfill their unique potential and we, as spectators, can experience the joy of the sport like kids again.

Charles Bankart,
Lawrence