Do they relate to Mitch?

Since it now appears Jerry Buss would like Mitch Kupchak to share credit for the Pau Gasol trade [April 28], how about having Jerry share some credit for obtaining Kwame Brown? Or Smush Parker? Or Vlad Radmanovic? Or is that not in the management handbook?

Will Wennerberg

Los Angeles

According to Steve Springer’s article, Jim Buss equally drafted Andrew Bynum, while Jerry Buss initiated the trade with Memphis and all Mitch had to do was make the call. What has Mitch done that he deserves an “A” from Kobe? Sounds like the family business has got a stronghold over everything Mitch does. If Mitch wants to impress me, talk to Jerry about hiring a chauffeur and lowering ticket prices!

Jonathan Braun

Los Angeles

Let’s don’t go canonizing Mitch Kupchak just yet. Memphis basically gave away Pau Gasol and the Lakers got lucky. Don’t give Danny Ainge much credit either for the Celtics’ rebirth, since Kevin McHale essentially gave his old team Kevin Garnett.

Rod Hersberger

Santa Barbara

“Ode to Mitch”

You make a bad trade and what do you get?

Shaq’s a year older and Phoenix’s in debt.

St. Peter don’t you call him ‘cause he can’t go.

He owes his soul to Pau Gasol.

Ronald Levine

Van Nuys

During the down times in the post-Shaq era, I remember George Karl saying that Kobe was only a “stat guy” on a .500 team. Someone (maybe his son) should tell him that Carmelo and A.I. are now stat guys on a .000 team.

Dan Zwirn

Saugus

What a shame. The Denver Nuggets won 50 games and made the playoffs, but a couple of their “stars” blame this year’s early exit on their own teammates and coach. Hey, guys, sometimes the No. 1-seeded team actually beats No. 8 (trust me, I looked it up).

Joe Riley

Burbank

Has there ever been a bigger snake in the history of coaching than Pat Riley? He steps down a few years ago due to alleged physical problems (while the Heat was losing), then kicks out Stan Van Gundy in the nick of time to win a title with Shaq and D-Wade. After the Heat hits the skids again, he once again quits on the team. Riley is a first-ballot Hall of Shame coach.

Mark. S. Roth

Los Angeles

Guys like Larry Brown and Pat Riley are like an old tea bag. The more times you dip it, the more diluted the final result.

Ron Yukelson

San Luis Obispo

Blue notes

Larry Bowa exhibits all the symptoms of a classic Type A personality including immaturity and inability to distinguish between matters that are of importance and those that are not. He should learn the refrain from “The Gambler” and hum it constantly, “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.”

Skip Nevell

Los Angeles

So one month into the Andruw Jones Dodgers era and he is hitting .159, with one home run and a whopping four runs batted in. So when does Torre pull the plug and move Ethier to center and Pierre to left?

Brian Howie Haueter

Ventura

I think Andruw Jones could use a vacation in Las Vegas for a while. Hey, maybe that saying about staying in Vegas will hold true for him.

John Schneider

Palm Springs

Anyone else notice how Scott Boras seems to represent many of today’s overpaid and overrated baseball players?

Andruw Jones is batting in the .100s. Up north, Barry Zito is now in the bullpen.

Boras once proposed a new baseball stat. I propose that baseball create a new stat as well. It should be called the RBB (Represented By Boras).

It would be a indicator that any player with such a stat will be a lousy free-agent signing.

Pedro Cardenas Jr.

East Los Angeles

Off the grid

With the ‘07 SC juggernaut,

The Trojans should have notched the top spot;

In two rounds of the draft,

“They picked seven,” they laughed.

But against Stanford they weren’t quite so hot.

Jim Zant

La Habra

This college football playoff scenario is the easiest thing to fix. They have the right system already in place with three major bowls playing on New Year’s Day and the “championship” game nearly a week later. All they have to do is play No. 1 against No. 4 in one New Year’s game and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in another. The third game on New Year’s can be whoever that bowl wants as a best draw, whether it’s geographical or whatever. The championship game would be a week later against the winner of the other two games.

If this scheme fails, there can be only one reason. They like it the way it is because everyone talks about it.

Eric Monson

Temecula

Royal pains

It pains me to criticize a legend like Luc Robitaille, but his laughable justification for raising ticket prices after a deplorable Kings season so defies logic that it could have been uttered by Tim Leiweke. If they need to raise prices now when the product is barely watchable, will they lower prices in the future when the team is competitive?

And the most surprising aspect of the article? Who knew the Kings even had a marketing department?

Robert J. Warren

El Segundo

Voices carry

No disrespect to the great Keith Jackson [May 1], but for those of us who grew up in L.A. during the ’50s watching wrestling on TV, “Whoa Nellie!” belongs to the late Dick Lane.

Ron Tom

Pasadena

Michael Buffer is a self-absorbed blowhard who couldn’t carry Jimmy Lennon Jr.’s spit bucket.

Billy Bauman

Van Nuys

Out of the money

Did anyone notice the on-track attendance of 8,034 on Sunday at Hollywood Park? This was for 10 stakes races, on the fifth day of the meet. If that’s the best they can draw, I suggest turning the track into a mall now. Why wait four years?

Ken McIntyre

Torrance

Don’t go, Vin

The widest chasm in all of sports is the one that separates Vin Scully from baseball’s second-best announcer. I have a 1-year-old son. So Vin, I beg you: Please stick around for at least another four or five years. I don’t want to have to tell him about the greatest ever. I want him to hear it for himself.

Michael Hawkins

Newbury Park

Rocket failure

If Roger Clemens told me that the Pacific Ocean was made up of salt water and a whole lot of fish, I would not believe him.

Marty Foster

Ventura

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