Letters: Things get ugly at Dodger Stadium

Really? An oversized, ugly mascot running around at Dodger Stadium [April 9]? The Dodgers have finally stooped this low? Maybe I’m glad I can’t watch Dodgers games on TV anymore. At least I have Vinny for three innings on radio. Don’t think I’ll have to worry about him describing this latest lack of class.

Mike Popov

San Clemente

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No, no, no, no and no. Listen carefully, Dodgers: Drop the “non-mascot” thingy, slowwwwwly back away, and nobody gets hurt. L.A. already has the world’s greatest baseball fans, who adore the team, partly because it has never needed such obviously contrived marketing gimmicks to sell tickets or attract fans. Let’s keep it that way, OK?

Gary L. Platt

Hacienda Heights

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I think Vinny should now change his opening statement to... “For the few of you out there who can see me, it’s time for Dodger baseball.”

Larry Mullen

Fullerton

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It’s the Time Warner curse!

Time Warner Cable paid the Lakers billions of dollars for exclusive rights to broadcast their games. For the first few weeks of the NBA season, 70% of the Lakers’ faithful couldn’t watch the games on TV. Kobe Bryant goes out, Steve Nash goes on the DL; and the list goes on and on.

TWC paid the Dodgers billions of dollars for exclusive right to broadcast their games; 70% of the Dodger fans can’t watch their team on TV. Clayton Kershaw’s back goes out, Brian Wilson goes on the DL; Matt Kemp is a big question mark and Puig gets benched on opening day.

Does this scenario sound familiar?

David Marder

Sylmar

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The Times quotes some higher-up in Dodgers’ ownership, speaking on the television access issue, something to the effect of, “It will all settle down; they always go back-and forth on these things, jockeying in negotiations.” Translation: “What do I care? I got my billions!”

The Dodgers have gone from a franchise, under the O’Malleys, dedicated to great baseball as well as providing a good living for the owners, to one whose sole purpose is to generate money for the owners.

Bob Burket

Santa Monica

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Attention Dodgers fans who don’t have Time Warner Cable. Wanted to alert you to the tremendous programming you’re missing. Tonight on “Timeless Dodgers” they take us all the way back to the 2013 game against the Blue Jays. Boy. the game was sure different back then.

Ron Roberts

Northridge

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Don’t let Magic Johnson, or anyone else fool you into thinking that Frank McCourt is not associated with the Dodgers. In my opinion, anyone spending a dime supporting the Dodgers and the amusement park that Dodger Stadium has become, is a sucker. Just say no to bloated payrolls, and the ridiculous prices to fund them. Where is the sport in trying to buy a championship?

Dave Thoma

Ventura

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Perhaps the fan-friendly(?) Dodgers should consider renegotiating their contract price with TWC down a bit so TWC can, in turn, offer a reasonable price to the other providers. Then we fans can actually watch the games!

John Krafft

Long Beach

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Forget I Need My Dodgers.com. We Need Lower Cable Bills.com.

Steve Morsa

Thousand Oaks

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I think I have discovered why so many Dodgers players are getting injured. Four of them — Clayton Kershaw, Brian Wilson, A.J. Ellis and Yasiel Puig — are all bobblehead night promotions. Hyun-Jin Ryu and Zack Greinke better watch out as they are also bobblehead selections this year.

Darryl Thomson

La Cañada

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Yasiel Puig’s tardiness for the first home game was the single-minded focus of Bill Plaschke’s piece, but just as egregious was Matt Kemp’s selfish hissy fit. Threatening a preemptive tantrum if he wasn’t going to be in the starting lineup, he played a part in bringing down Hyun-Jin Ryu with an error that showed just how unprepared he was. Kemp’s hubris is just as much the story here as was Puig’s youthful slipup.

Jim Fujii

Irvine

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Was ever a promotion more appropriately named than the one for the Yasiel Puig Fathead?

Bert Bergen

La Cañada

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Yasiel Puig, meet Andrew Bynum.

Rick Mittleman

Palm Desert

Comeback kids?

I know I’m not the only UCLA alum who watched Connecticut win the NCAA championship thinking what if. What if, like Connecticut’s brilliant guard Shabazz Napier, our brilliant sophomores, Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams, and freshman Zach LaVine decide to come back for another year at UCLA? The real question to them is: Do you want to win an NCAA championship?

Len Hall

Laguna Niguel

Thanks, mom and dad

Props to Bill Dwyre [April 8] for his insightful article identifying the parents of college athletes for their role in the quest for instant money for their children (and presumably for themselves). They are at least as responsible as anyone for the gradual ruination of college sports. But sadly, the trait of greed is much too powerful to be eliminated by this exposure.

Alan Abajian

Alta Loma

Boos cruise

Lakers fans who boo Chris Paul do nothing but reveal their sheer stupidity. Paul was excited to come, and the deal was set. But the bankrupt New Orleans team was owned at the time by the league itself and their de facto “chairman” was NBA Commissioner David Stern. Amid tremendous pressure from most of the league’s owners who couldn’t stomach the idea of Paul teaming with Kobe in the Lakers backcourt, the NBA’s omnipotent monarch killed the deal.

You want to boo Paul? Go ahead, but hang a sign around your neck that reads, “I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

Cy Bolton

Rancho Cucamonga

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I thought Bill Plaschke was the only one who was clueless most of the time, but apparently Ben Bolch is too. He asks the question, “What were you thinking?” when fans booed Chris Paul at a Dodgers game. You really need a poll to answer that one? He’s a Clipper. The fans that are booing him are Lakers fans. Though I wouldn’t boo him out of respect (and not when he is at a Father’s Day game with his son wearing a Dodger cap!), wondering why Lakers fans would boo a Clipper is like asking why Dodgers fans would boo an Angel, USC fans would boo a UCLA player, maybe even a Kings fan booing a Duck.

Just because you play in the same city doesn’t mean you have to fawn over players from both teams. You think Yankees fans would cheer a Met if they showed him at a Knicks game?

Danny Balber Jr.

Pasadena

Close call

A modest suggestion: Perhaps Mr. Joe Smith might consider giving up his “$2,750 per seat and $200 for valet parking” Lakers tickets (“Toxic Lakers May Get Dumped,” Bill Plaschke’s April 6 column) and, instead of adopting the Clippers, adopt instead Brie Fainblit and her family (“A Can-Do Prom Project”).

Edward Martin

Los Angeles

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Cry me a river, Plaschke. I’m supposed to feel sorry for someone who has $400,000 of disposable income to drop on courtside Lakers tickets?

Mark Fabrick

Glendale

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When an unnamed team official suggested hiring Kevin Ollie might really help the Lakers, Jim Buss responded, “What are you waiting for? Offer the guy a 10-day player contract.”

Paul Brown

Newport Beach

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I had a good time Saturday watching California Chrome win the Santa Anita Derby by a wide margin. California Chrome has won his last four races by wide margins. It’s kind of like watching the Clippers play the Lakers.

Vaughn Hardenberg

Westwood

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