Letters: It’s another Duck season that ends too early

All those division titles without so much as an appearance in the finals. Don’t worry, Dodgers fans. I’m referring to the Ducks.

Ron Reeve

Glendora

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Not sure which is more impressive, the Nashville Predators’ run to the Stanley Cup Final helping rekindle memories of the 2012 Kings, or Nashville’s run to the Stanley Cup Final being the driving force in getting those godforsaken Ducks flags off of our highways.

Mer Valdez

Long Beach

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The Ducks’ general thuggery and Kevin Bieksa’s particularly deplorable stunt with six seconds left in Game 6 and the Ducks soundly beaten is why they will never win under Randy Carlyle. He breeds this behavior, as did Bruce Boudreau.

The difference between flat-out filth and playing tough, solid, fast, smart hockey is that delicious bowl of popcorn you’ll be eating while you watch the Nashville Predators play in their first final series.

Dan Johnson

Salem, Va.

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As the Ducks exit the playoffs it’s clear that what they need to get to the next level is to focus on the game of quality hockey, not the game of chippy, dirty play that plagues them. Players like Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler could be locks for the Hall of Fame but instead they are among the league leaders in penalty minutes. Not even Gretzky ever scored from the penalty box.

Richard Derk

Thousand Oaks

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In an NHL game, a player high-sticks his opponent and draws blood. Before making a decision to call a penalty, the referee is momentarily affected by several mitigating factors. Is it a playoff game or a regular-season game? How much time is left in the game? Who gave the high stick, and who received it? What is the score? Has another penalty already been called on the play? How many power plays has each team had so far? Is it overtime? When was the last time the referee saw “Slap Shot” starring Paul Newman?

Realizing that too much time has passed since observing the infraction, and therefore now afraid to be embarrassed by raising his arm and blowing his whistle, the referee makes no call, and play continues. And such is the highly flawed NHL officiating process in 2017.

Trevor Amon

Victoria, Canada

Pitch counting

I understand the need to closely monitor Clayton Kershaw’s workload [May 23]. I understand and respect Dave Roberts’ intuition and feel when it comes to doing so. But what I don’t understand is why he recently let Kershaw go out in the eighth inning with a four-run lead against the woeful Padres having already thrown more than 100 pitches. Sometimes one’s gut can be wrong.

Quoting Howard Cosell through the late, great Jim Healy, “Who goofed? I’ve got to know.”

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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Clayton Kershaw is an All-Star pitcher and commands an outstanding salary ($32 million for the current year). Per the May 23 article, he averages about 30 starts each year ($1.1 million per outing) and approximately 100 pitches per start ($10,000 for each delivery to the plate). He typically reaches the maximum annual social security contribution limit ($118,000) before he retires the side in the first inning of the first game he pitches.

Noel Johnson

Glendale

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I’m not opening my Joc Pederson bobblehead unless I’m sure he’ll still be a Dodger The fact he’s right at the Mendoza Line makes him a prime candidate to get shipped out to OKC. Better check your locker daily, Joc, while on the 10-day disabled list: With these guys’ bizarre moves, nobody’s safe except Clayton.

George Hynes

Arcadia

Bad snooze

Dear NBA,

Snore.

Three more words for you: Worst … playoffs … ever!

I love basketball. Love, love, love it. But the playoffs thus far have been unwatchable and completely devoid of drama. Absolutely non-compelling. I can offer no solution for this problem, but it is a problem, and a big one. You’ve allowed the formation of two super-teams, and there was no point in anybody else showing up this year. I’ll enjoy the Finals, but the rest of it has been one huge drag.

Bill Lewis

Burbank

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Basketball used to be fun to watch, featuring the best athletes of any sport. Not any more. Today the NBA is providing the same sort of show as the NHL — constant fights, interrupted by occasional reminders of what it used to be. If the league wanted this to stop, a word to the officials would be enough. Until that happens we will watch LeBron — a gifted athlete — and the other big guys converting the sport into a smack-down.

Roller derby, anyone?

Arthur O. Armstrong

Manhattan Beach

Working OT

Great column by Bill Plaschke regarding the absurd NFL overtime rule. I enjoy watching the NFL, but will never enjoy or support it as much as college football. This is partly because of many rule differences, the OT rule one of biggest. The NFL should adopt the college OT rule or one very much like it. The hypocrisy of the replays to “get it right“ and not get the OT right is unreal.

Bruce Fischer

Huntington Beach

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It’s obvious that Bill Plaschke is still in mourning regarding the last Super Bowl. I doubt if he would’ve even commented on the latest NFL rule change for overtime if the Falcons had won. But according to Bill, somehow the Patriots were given an unfair advantage because they scored the winning touchdown after the coin toss, and that the poor Falcons never had a chance.

On the contrary, with a 28-3 third quarter lead, the Falcons had the entire second half of the game to seal a victory, but fell flat on their faces.

Charles Reilly

Manhattan Beach

Angel talk

Can we stop this nonsense about who is the better player, Mike Trout or Derek Jeter? There is no doubt that Trout is a far superior player than Jeter. Let’s not do this comparison based on championships. Jeter was surrounded by very good players throughout his career. The Yankees know how to win and they assembled a championship-caliber team on a regular basis. The Angels, on the other hand, are an inferior organization with an inferior owner, general manager, scouting system rated the worst in baseball on a regular basis, and a mentality that all that matters is putting fans in the seats.

No great athlete wins championships on their own. It takes a team to accomplish that feat. Trout is a phenom. He has more power than Jeter, he produces more RBIs, stolen bases, he is faster, and his on-base percentage is far superior. So let’s not compare players based on their team’s accomplishments.

Bruce Olson

Lake Arrowhead

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After witnessing how it took Albert Pujols two singles and a deep sacrifice fly to score from first base in Tuesday night’s game, I’m now a proponent of the designated runner.

John Howard

Port Hueneme

Into the vault

I read the May 19 article by Eric Sondheimer regarding L.A City Section schools dropping the pole vault from their track and field programs due to the high costs of vaulting poles and landing pits. I have a solution. Let’s go back to straight rigid vaulting poles, which vaulters of all shapes and sizes can share, and soft and fluffy sawdust landing pits, which are cheap to install.

Now lets see if these vaulters can top my brother Ron’s 13-111/2 national high school pole vault record set in 1953 (before flexible fiberglass poles) while attending John Burroughs High in Burbank.

Steve Morris

Santa Barbara

Doggone it

Recently, I was insulted twice at Dodger Stadium. The first insult came when I was charged $16 for a hamburger. The second insult came when I tasted it.

David Anderson

Coto de Caza

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