It won’t take anyone long to realize that there’s a lot more anger in the air than there is holiday cheer. I mean, I never considered Columbus an idyllic place like Bedford Falls, but since when did all the grouches move in and turn our fair city into Pottersville?

Ray: I am personally fed up with hearing (TV) and reading ( The Dispatch) about the wonderful Urban Meyer. As grand as he seems to be, according to the media, I expect to hear he has been seen walking down the middle of the Olentangy River with a $4 million contract in one hand and waving to his adoring fans with the other.

Honestly, do you think any man or job is worth $4 million? I don’t, and I’m sure I speak for the people who have lost their jobs and are wondering how they will get through this winter feeding and clothing their families, or the homeless who have lost all hope and depend on the charity of others, and everyone who has been hit by this recession. Believe me, none of them are cheering because a football coach is getting that much money.

I am a rabid Buckeyes fan. When one of our boys is running toward the goal line with the football under his arm, I scream so loud that my cat hides and the neighbors think I am getting murdered. And I will continue to do so, no matter who is coaching them. But I am fed up reading about the wonderful Urban Meyer.

— Inez Clawson, Columbus

Editor: According to The Dispatch, the NHL realignment is a great victory for the Blue Jackets. Based on the logic I’ve seen, we can assume that the Red Wings will never lose another game since they were in the exact same situation as the Jackets.

The schedule was just another in a long line of excuses: facing a hot goalie (every other game or so), road-weary, unlucky (good teams make their own luck), and lack of leadership (a legitimate issue). Excuses are for losers, and we’ve seen too many of them from every level of the organization.

— Geoff Wisniewski, New Albany

Editor: I was interested to learn that the Blue Jackets were taking an in-season vacation at the Mont-Tremblant resort outside Montreal, while at the same time CBJ management was attending league meetings at Pebble Beach, Calif.

Nice taste in locales, but it seems odd behavior for an 8-16-4 team claiming to be so broke that it requires a public financing rescue. If this is how a destitute hockey team lives, I can’t wait to see what resorts the Tax Jackets will vacation at next year, when they start gorging themselves on their piece of the casino pie.

Ah, ’tis good to be broke!

— Patrick Brennan, Columbus

Editor: The entire Buckeye Nation is about to experience Urban renewal in a few days, and the Board of Trustees of Ohio State should complete its task and remove both Gordon Gee and Gene Smith for a clean sweep.

Gee has had his three strikes and is out — Michigan tie, Little Sisters of the Poor and “I hope the coach doesn’t fire me” are enough.

— Mark Passmore, Circleville

Ray: Where was the coverage of the inaugural Big Ten championship, a thrilling 42-39 victory by Wisconsin over Michigan State (last Saturday).

It wasn’t on Page 1 of The Dispatch’s Sunday Sports section, or even Page 2 or 3. It was on Page 4.

I guess if the game didn’t involve that team from Ohio, it didn’t deserve front-page coverage. I thought The Dispatch was better than that.

— Ed Knight, Grove City

Editor: Although you wrote good articles on the Ohio Wesleyan men’s soccer team earlier in the week, you failed miserably to appropriately report the great climax to their story in (last Sunday’s) edition.

Doesn’t a national championship command more prominent recognition than a below-the-fold, last-page piece in your Sports section? Such victories by a team only 20 miles north of Columbus and manned by so many central Ohio kids who have reached the pinnacle of success in intercollegiate sports deserve better attention by The Dispatch.

These achievements should have been featured on last Sunday’s first page. They were more newsworthy than several of the stories you chose.

— John Guy, Dublin

Editor: Awesome job in reporting the OSU hockey sweep of Lake Superior State. Golly, I bet there might be just over a hundred words in the article located on the bottom of the back page of your Sunday paper.

I know that drop the puck was at 8 p.m. and therefore past your staff’s bedtime, but it probably was for the best, since it was much more fascinating reading about Urban Meyer’s intensity (a lifelong quality!) that was on the front page. Insightful reporting, to say the least.

— Chuck Lawrie, Columbus

Ray: It wasn’t long ago that Ohio State and Michigan came to the end of the season ranked No. 1 and 2 in college football — both undefeated. The Buckeyes narrowly won in an exciting, high-scoring game.

Since they were clearly the two best teams in the nation, the debate was whether to pit the two against each other in the national championship game. The decision was no — because it wouldn’t be good for college football to have two teams from the same conference in the championship game.

Fast forward to today. Oklahoma State is shoved aside after mauling a top-10 team, and LSU and Alabama are selected for the big game. Never mind that Alabama had no risk of losing on the final Saturday of college football. Why? Because it wasn’t good enough to get into its conference championship game.

Just another example of standards that apply to the rest of the nation that don’t seem to apply to the SEC. I hope the sponsors who lay out big money for this game appreciate the lack of fan interest and lower TV ratings.

— Richard Dennis, Westerville

Write me at 34 S. 3rd St., Columbus, 43215, or e-mail sports@dispatch.com. Please include your hometown and phone number.

Ray Stein is sports editor of The Dispatch.

rstein@dispatch.com