Steve Hammer is an equivalent of the 1962 New York Mets when it comes to columnists, but he should be commended for submitting a column virtually every week for 14 years and his penchant for drawing readers (Hammer, “14 Years of Hammer,” June 27-July 4). I believe NUVO has superior columnists to Hammer, but I doubt those columnists have readerships equal to Hammer’s.  

Hammer is deceptive, biased and often misconstrues situations. In a Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down section Hammer recommended Gus Johnson and Jim Nantz as announcers for the final game of an NCAA tournament game on CBS. That was an impossible combination because Johnson and Nance are both play-by-play men, and the usual combination is a play-by-play man and an analyst.

Hammer crowed over being the only Indianapolis-based writer to predict a Pittsburgh victory over the Colts during the playoffs after the 2005 season, but failed to realize that he whiffed on his reasons for predicting a Pittsburgh victory.

Hammer’s report that he was laid off by NUVO is probably euphemistic. People in Hammer’s former profession are generally fired, not laid off.

In spite of Hammer’s inadequacies, I concede that I would not be a NUVO reader if not for Steve Hammer’s columns.

John M. Guertin
Indianapolis