Cartoon creates a bit of ill will

I have been reading with some interest the stories concerning the AYBA placing a limit on the amount of time a 10-year-old girl could play. I am in complete agreement with the general precept of your editorial on that subject. The news reports are legion with accounts of parents getting in the way of the fun that kids can have in such leagues.

However, every word of your editorial now rings completely hollow after you juxtaposed next to that editorial a cartoon showing a hulky girl walking off a basketball court. The girl in question is only 10. How do you think she is going to feel seeing herself portrayed as some kind of physical freak? By running this cartoon, you have done the one thing that no one else would dare to do, or should do in connection with this story, and that was to make this 10-year-old girl the monster. The impact of a physical image is even stronger than your worlds would have been.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this picture is a thousand insults to a 10-year-old girl. How dare you? You owe an apology to this girl and to this community. Michael Viebrock Oak Park

Editor's note: The character in the cartoon was not meant to depict a certain person. It was a satire on youth sports in general, which are being criticized for promoting winning at all costs.