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Letters: Time to defend Ron Artest

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It’s not Ron Artest’s fault that injuries occurred to players on the team this season.

It’s not Ron Artest’s fault that the Lakers didn’t acquire other players this off-season to provide depth.

It’s not Ron Artest’s fault that Derek Fisher is showing his age after many seasons and playoff games.

It’s not Ron Artest’s fault that the bench struggles and cannot provide relief for the starters.

And it’s not Ron Artest’s fault that the other contenders in the West upgraded their rosters.

Asad Akmal

Torrance

It’s funny, Bill Plaschke writes a less than flattering article on Ron Artest and Artest has his best game of the season that night. Keep the ink flowing, Mr. Plaschke.

Paul Shubunka Sr.

Santa Clarita

Bill Plaschke, not understanding the game is acceptable; but, when you write (again) a column purporting some degree of savvy, you have to be held accountable.

Your column regarding Ron Artest and this year’s fit on the Lakers is remarkably ignorant. Who but Plaschke would pretend (to the L.A. public) to know more basketball than NBA players themselves who again this year have voted Artest the toughest defender in the league by more than a 3-1 margin over second-best ( Kobe Bryant).

Come playoffs, Ron’s value will only increase. When the championship is on the line and the Lakers are facing Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, and more, whom would you choose to stop them? Ariza or Artest?

These aren’t teenagers peaking for their tournament, these are the world’s best professional athletes. Come playoffs, Ron will be there. and that’s not to say he isn’t playing well now. We, like Ron, believe he is doing exactly what he was brought here to do.

Get a clue, Plaschke. Really.

Glenn Hays

Placentia

OK, Plaschke. We get it: The jury is still out on the Trevor Ariza/Ron Artest switch.

However, it seems that if you just keep pushing the envelope with RonRon you’re going to eventually get him to “go off”. Then, not only will we Lakers fans have a somewhat struggling Artest on the court, but the dreaded locker room distraction that some feared.

So, just lighten up, OK? Let’s see how Artest performs in the playoffs — the ultimate test of his worth in the loss of Ariza.

Rick Solomon

Lake Balboa

Mr. Bresnahan, why must we panic all the time in La-La Land? I understand we do not have a pro football team and the Dodgers are nearing the end of spring training, but why try to stir up fans such as myself by always pointing out the negatives and potential hazards in the road to repeat? I know there is not much to talk about right now, but you guys keep beating the same drum over and over again.

Ben Wright

Oak Park

T.J., are you really as clueless about pro basketball and the Lakers as you appear to be? You take every opportunity to bash Kobe and there’s not one shred of intelligence or reason to back up your attacks. You often fault Kobe for taking too many shots, but when he involves the other players offensively, in what at the time was a blowout, you question his actions and motives.

Since you’re obviously not intelligent enough to figure it out for yourself, here’s the answer to your stupid question. Kobe only took one shot in the second half of the Washington game because he was trying to build the confidence of the other Lakers on the offensive end of the court. What better opportunity to do that than in a blowout situation?

Furthermore, if I was in Phil Jackson’s place and I was subject to your stupid questions, I’d do what I could to avoid or ignore you too.

Ray McKown

Los Angeles

Mr. Jackson is always complaining about the Lakers, but he will never complain about his man Derek Fisher, who in the four games before Friday made four baskets in 22 shots.

Sid Lazarow

Orange

Great news for the Lakers. Obama is picking the Cavaliers to win the NBA championship !

Patrick Drohan

Monrovia

Pardon me for raining on the NCAA tournament’s parade, but “ March Madness” is nothing more than endless mediocrity! All of the decent college players turn pro after their freshman year —the rest are entertaining only in the sense of their parity. Expanding the already diluted field will simply make an already poor product less appealing.

To quote the Wizard of Westwood: “Never mistake activity for achievement!”

Mark S. Roth

Los Angeles

Saddened by my Bruins not being in the NCAA tournament, I have however, benefited greatly by watching other schools play. I came to the realization that there are so many things I never knew about the college game. I was unaware that when the other team scores you do not have to dribble-walk the ball into the frontcourt, and once there, prior to shooting, you are not required to pass the ball 25 feet from the basket, a minimum nine times, until your students start a count down beginning at 10-9-8-etc. Also, when did they start allowing a coach to not have to use all his timeouts prior to the five-minute mark at the end of a game. Finally, I was shocked to see players come off the court and actually receive handshakes, pats on the back, and hugs from their appreciative coach for a job well done.

I look forward to learning more about the college game throughout the rest of the tournament. My only hope is a certain, pretty decent, coach does the same and eventually realizes how truly exciting this great game can be.

Robert Lorenzi

Riverside

The UCLA women’s basketball team deserves congratulations and thanks for a great and fun season.

And thanks also go to Coach Nikki Caldwell for her enthusiasm, her high expectations and her respect for her student-athletes, on and off the court. The Pac-10 coach of the year awards were well-deserved.

Sandy Siegel

Sherman Oaks

I have had it with all the Tiger outrage. If you are upset with Tiger and you are demanding an apology or an explanation, it tells me more about you than Tiger. It tells me that you are dissatisfied with your life, which causes you to live vicariously through others such as Tiger. If someone outside of my inner circle does something that does not affect us, I could care less.

Tiger has already apologized publicly and he owes his family and maybe his sponsors an explanation. I have never bought a product just because Tiger endorses it, thus, his fidelity or lack there of will not affect me. Like most people, I will purchase a product if it enhances my performance, status or portfolio regardless of who is promoting it. I am awaiting the Masters with great anticipation.

Willis Barton

Los Angeles

Re The Los Angeles Marathon

At 7:42 in the evening, 12 hours after the start of the L.A. Marathon, competitors continued showing up at the finish in Santa Monica. No longer were fans, supporters, juice booths, water-givers and cops standing on the Ocean Avenue homestretch between San Vicente and Santa Monica boulevards. As city crews loaded the last rolled-up banners and metal barricades into the back of a truck, two stragglers trudged through the gathering dark. I imagined their smiles 26 miles and 385 yards ago. Now they looked miserable.

“Hey!” moaned one runner, about 20 yards behind the other. “Wait for me...”

Hank Rosenfeld

Santa Monica

KTLA put on the worst L.A. Marathon coverage ever. Not only did they forget to show the men’s and woman’s second- and third-place finishers coming across the finish line, they had very little coverage of the “people’s marathon.” Would have loved to see and hear more from the some of the other 24,998 runners in the marathon. KTLA was more interested in advertising a cellphone by their “on the spot” reporters than giving coverage of this wonderful race.

Dave Leslie

Northridge

May I suggest to the event organizers that they reconsider the stadium-to-the-sea course for future marathons. I am dumbfounded that the city of Los Angeles was allowed to be essentially bisected with no other way to move north and south through the entire western Los Angeles area than by freeway. And while it was certainly heartwarming to learn that the new course was designed to enhance the experience of the 26,054 participants, I doubt that any of the hundreds of thousands of Angelinos who happened to have a need to travel between the San Fernando Valley and anywhere in Los Angeles west of downtown and south of Santa Monica Boulevard was nearly as thrilled. Perhaps a modified “S” track that would permit access to pocket neighborhoods while still providing relatively free transit in all directions would be better for everyone concerned.

Jason Corbett

Sherman Oaks

After sitting on the 110 Freeway Sunday morning for almost 90 minutes, many marathon runners began exiting buses to walk to the starting line. The course was beautiful, but the traffic control before the race was non-existent. We saw dozens of people walking and running on the 110 Freeway toward the Dodger Stadium exit. Next year, I hope the marathon planners consider pre-race traffic on the freeways and take appropriate action.

Tim Mosa

Seal Beach

P.S. I made the start of the race and finished in 4:24

The marathon has effectively blocked access to the entire city for miles and miles. Every conceivable route along the marathon has been blocked by street closures so that 26,000 people can publicly abuse their bodies for 26 miles. It’s not just the churchgoers who couldn’t attend services (God will listen to their prayers from any venue, including the parishioners’ living rooms), but the businesses have suffered, workers could not reach their jobs, and for what? There is nothing about the marathon that promotes community or well-being. The participants are nothing more than narcissistic fools.

Stephany Yablow

North Hollywood

For one day a year the citizens of Los Angeles receive a history lesson. They learn what it was like to live in East Berlin during the Cold War.

Gregg Scott

Los Angeles

For years I’ve dreaded the thought that the NFL might complete the misguided agenda of many who seek to make everything “fair” (as well as safe and entertaining) in NFL football. Making the overtime rules more like high school is exactly what I feared.

Come on, guys, leave the last manly vestige in the NFL version of football. If your D isn’t good enough to make a stand, you deserve to lose!

Spike Tucker

Lompoc

Talk about making something so much more complex than it needed to. My suggestion for years was to play a simple 10-minute overtime period. If it is still tied, go to sudden death. This is still the most equitable solution.

Steve Shaevel

Woodland Hills

It was good to see the NFL make a major change to sudden-death overtime rule. It was starting to look like the BCS people had a monopoly on overreacting to an isolated incident and making an asinine decision.

Rob Osborne

Manhattan Beach

I was Wayne Collett’s track coach at UCLA. I loved Wayne the moment I met him and my love for him became stronger over the years. I understand why he acted the way he did on the Olympic victory stand, even though it was wrong.

John Smith’s injury during the 400-meter final really upset Wayne. The reason he was not wearing his full warmups on the stand was that the pants couldn’t be found. I met with Wayne the night before the finals and told him, “The gold is yours. You’re the best in the world.” At that time he wasn’t sure if he wanted to compete; the murder of the athletes had him emotionally upset.

Wayne was like a son to me, and it breaks my heart to see the negative articles written about him. Wayne was as proud to be an American as I am.

Jim Bush

Retired UCLA track coach

As I don’t think we’ll see any of those letters complaining how awful the Kings are for a long time, let me pick up the slack by laying into the Ducks. I’m glad so many of their players won Olympic medals, I just wish someone had told them the NHL season resumed the first of March. Even the just-broken four-game winning streak is too little too late and instead of being in the playoff hunt, they’ve already been hunted. Dead Ducks indeed.

Ron Reeve

Glendora

I had to laugh out loud when I read that Joe Torre had to wait to announce his starting pitcher for the opener. Why? The four candidates are Kuroda, Padilla, Billingsley and Kershaw. Yeah, I’d hesitate making an announcement too!

And then, to add insult to injury, the fifth spot also remains in the air. Why? Here are Torre’s choices: Carlos Monasterios, Russ Ortiz, Eric Stults and Charlie Haeger.

If these guys were thoroughbred race horses they would be listed under “also-rans.”

William Michael

Dana Point

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