WHAT ERIC NEEDS

With such raw talent, I have no doubt that Eric Lindros will become a winner in the National Hockey League (“Eric the Bad,” by Peter de Jonge, April 11). But to be a winner, a la Wayne Gretzky, Lindros will need to match his superior athletic potential with his yet unseen superior character development.

As I emphasize to my sports ethics students, Gretzky is a winner, a class act and a role model because his mastery of hockey ranks second to his mastery of himself. If Lindros is to be The Next One, he better learn from The Great One how, in the words of Dante, to “curb your talent lest it speed where virtue does not guide.”

RUSS GOUGH

ASST. PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY

Malibu