Letters: Things just weren’t Ducky in BCS title game

The only thing stranger than the “non-tackle” in the “Tostitos BCS National Championship Game” is the inclusion of the word “Tostitos” in the game’s title. It figures this over-hyped game ended on a chip shot.

Ron Reeve

Glendora

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Forget the fancy uniforms. The Oregon football team needs Phil Knight to buy them some linemen who can compete with teams other than the soft Pac-12.

Alan Abajian

Alta Loma

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Oregon’s fate was sealed the day before the BCS title game. The Ducks had no chance. Auburn would win. It was inevitable, like death and taxes. Bill Plaschke predicted Oregon.

Jack Saltzberg

Sherman Oaks

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If Auburn’s last-second field goal convinces people that the SEC is better than the Pac-10, so be it. But let’s not forget that the SEC was 5-5 in bowl games this year. Auburn, LSU, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi State won, but South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky lost. And when you look at the SEC’s nonconference schedule, you see how they compiled enough wins to become “bowl eligible.”

David Macaray

Rowland Heights

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During the course of his immediate postgame interview, Coach Chizik stated that God had been on the side of the Auburn Tigers. One wonders what the Ducks might have been up to that incurred the displeasure of the Almighty. Or was it that the Oregon team simply spent too much time on the practice field prior to the game and not enough in church?

Perhaps the answer lies in the lines from the poet William Blake, “Tiger, tiger … what Immortal hand or eye shaped thy fearful symmetry?”

Skip Nevell

Los Angeles

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Anyone notice the poor field condition for the BCS game? Players slipping and sliding around, which affected their performances. I found it ridiculous they couldn’t have a decent field for a championship game. They should have shipped the Rose Bowl grass there.

Steve Owen

San Diego

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Anybody who would play for the national championship wearing those ugly chartreuse glow-in-the-dark sweat socks deserves to lose.

John Paul White

Hemet

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Mr. Plaschke gives the BCS credit for democratizing college football and letting teams from non-major conferences compete. Maybe so, but why did BCS black out any spectator who does not have cable? Only ESPN carries the “hottest ticket in BCS history” in the L.A. area. I don’t know if BCS is completely to blame for this, but I’m sure that with only a little effort they could have democratized the viewers also.

Philip Westin

Irvine

Stale ‘Burger

After viewing the ESPN broadcast of the championship game, I wondered if Brent Musburger received extra money from “product placement” in mentioning the Southeastern Conference. It would be interesting how many times Musburger mentioned the SEC and/or the prowess of the conference players. Didn’t Oregon play a pretty good game as well? Just askin’.

Bill Stark

Monrovia

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How much longer do we have to abide Brent Musburger? The guy is a bumbling, blathering, bollixing, buffoonish embarrassment who ruins every broadcast that he’s on. A decent game Monday night was mutilated by the musings of “Burnt Hamburger” (RIP, Jim Healey). It’s painful.

Mike Davison

Toluca Lake

You’re welcome

I know that many Pac-10 fans, including some of your staff, were disappointed that TCU was invited to the Rose Bowl over a West Coast team. After spending a few days in Los Angeles and experiencing the Rose Bowl first-hand I can understand why some are hesitant to relinquish such an amazing opportunity.

I believe I can speak for most Horned Frogs faithful that L.A., Pasadena and the Rose Bowl provided us with a top-notch bucket list moment. There was no part of the experience that was less than stellar, including the hospitality of the locals, the tournament staff and the Wisconsin fans. We hope someday to have this opportunity again, but for now I’d like to express our gratitude for letting us see why they call the Rose Bowl the “Granddaddy of Them All.”

Chris Hill

Benbrook, Texas

Call him out

I enjoyed Bill Shaikin’s story on Frank McCourt meeting with MLB executives.

No doubt, the folks in the commissioner’s office were showing Mr. McCourt the door, so to speak.

It is time for this over-leveraged high roller to exit the major league baseball business. Professional sports teams should be owned free and clear, without any debt. It is really a business for billionaires who don’t require income from the team, but rather reinvest profits in the team. In a very real sense, professional sports teams are a toy of the rich, and not a business for highly leveraged investors.

Russ Colvin

Laguna Niguel

Not all Tiger

Isn’t it amazing? Without golf’s sleazebag, Tiger Woods, in the PGA Tour’s opening event of the season, The Times’ coverage is from AP, and the TV coverage is from TGC. When will The Times and the TV golf media understand that Tiger disgraced the game of golf and its heritage, his family, women, his sponsors and many ex-Tiger fans all over the world including me.

There are many great golfers today. Please cover golf the way it should be covered … as a sport, and not only when Tiger is in the lineup.

Ron Langer

Laguna Niguel

Zebra sighting

When at Sunday’s Lakers game against the Knicks, I had no idea I would be paying to watch referee Leon Wood too. Thanks for the throw-in, NBA. But next time I’ll just settle for the game and the free tacos afterward.

Geoff Skurnik

Laguna Niguel

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If the NBA office rescinds a technical foul (re: Andrew Bynum), the official that called the technical should be charged the fine that otherwise would have been levied against that player. If players are going to be penalized for showing emotion on the court, then so should officials. Leon Wood clearly overreacted in that call. Ring him up!

Scott Keister

Fullerton

Westwood woe

So the UCLA basketball players are upset with the Trojan players celebrating before the clock expired. You mean like the UCLA football players did when they beat the Trojans, 13-9? Grow up, boys. Oh, you can be sure SC won’t be printing up 63-52 T-shirts.

John Mark

Newport Beach

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UCLA football has been unwatchable for over a decade. Now, thanks to one of the worst athletic directors in the country, the greatest program in all sports history, UCLA basketball, is also unwatchable. How does Dan Guerrero have a job?

Michael Marlin

Woodland Hills

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So we had to be told by an NBA scout that UCLA’s Malcolm Lee is not a first-round pick. As any UCLA fan could tell you, Lee wouldn’t be a first-round pick in the D League.

Fred Wallin

Westlake Village

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As a Pac-10 fan I enjoyed watching Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford Cardinal put on an impressive performance with the second-half domination of Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. I was equally pleased to see him get a $25-million contract with the NFL’s 49ers.

As a Bruins fan, I would be ecstatic to see Stanford hire UCLA’s Rick Neuheisel to be the Cardinal’s next head coach. After all, his team’s 35-0 loss to Stanford was a big contribution to their season of excellence!

Bill Duggins

Aliso Viejo

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When exactly did UCLA start meaning Underachieving Collegiate Level Athletics?

Paul Bergman

Santa Monica

Blake and LeBron

Blake Griffin, thank you for clarifying the player-fan relationship! In your view, fans should just shower guys like you and LeBron with adulation, pay huge amounts of money to watch you play so that, in return, you won’t care about us. That’s terrific! You seem to be really dialed in with the people that pay your salary and cheer you on. My biggest hope is that when your contract is done you decide to play basketball in another city. Please don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

Bryan Taw

Studio City

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LeBron James hardly deserves the constant criticism and hatred that he’s been dealt since “The Decision.” Since when is a 25-year-old athlete held to the same standards as a politician or a CEO? He’s an athlete — one who hasn’t committed a crime, been suspended for misconduct, or even fought with anyone. The Decision was his only indiscretion.

How would you like to be ostracized and judged for changing jobs?! I don’t like to use the word “entitled,” due to its legal or negative connotation, but in this case, James is entitled to work for any team that will employ him. He provides fantastic entertainment, so appreciate it. And for the record, I’m not even a LeBron James fan.

Brad Stern

Santa Monica

Shameful

When Brett Favre said, “There will be people saying, ‘It’s a shame he went out that way,’ ” he was referring to his not playing in his last Vikings game. I say if he had stuck to his first retirement announcement, he would have gone out as a legend,. Now, three years later he retires as an alleged womanizer and a has-been. He brought this new reputation on himself. It is a shame he chose to go out that way.

I’ll bet the currently unemployed Brad Childress is kicking himself for sending that entourage to bring Brett back into the Vikings’ fold.

Jane Hilgendorf

Corona del Mar

Angel angst

Angel fans should thank Arte Moreno for sharing his frugality with us: He is making sure that we don’t have the need of spending any money for playoff tickets this year.

Stuart Waterstone

Northridge

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Ironic to hear that keeping beer prices low has a higher priority than winning for Arte Moreno, considering how much my fellow Angels fans are going to have to drink to make it through this season.

Steve Keegan

Reno

Oh, no

It seems there are just some franchises that will never win a championship. The Kings are one of those franchises. They couldn’t do it with Gretzky, Kurri and Robitaille on the same team, they certainly won’t do it with the dreck they have this year.

The Kings are the Clippers on skates.

Ronald Peters

Thousand Oaks

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