Letters: Penalizing Penn State

The NCAA has given Penn State punishments similar to, although stronger than, the punishments given to USC for Reggie Bush’s indirect payments. But here the punishment does not fit the crimes as it did with USC. These crimes of pedophilia and the cover-ups parallel those in the Catholic Church.

Of course, the NCAA does not have powers of criminal law, but it collectively feels that it has to do something, by golly, so it resorts to its old punishments for NCAA infractions — no bowl games, fewer scholarships, etc.

The trouble with these punishments are not that they are too strong, as some Penn State supporters claim, but that they are irrelevant to the legal and moral crimes committed by the perp and his cohorts.

David Eggenschwiler

Los Angeles

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It was the court system’s job to take care of Jerry Sandusky and they did. Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in jail. Did we need the NCAA to get involved? Did they really need to destroy the football program and ruin the college experience for 85 kids? Once again the NCAA has punished people who had nothing to do with the crime. Did the university system really need the sanctions on Penn State to keep them in line?

The NCAA did not need to act. We have the Department of Education and the Department of Justice to do the job. However, if the NCAA was going to get involved, they had to go all in and issue the death sentence. Going into the water knee deep is cowardly.

The NCAA wants to frame this as being about the victims. The victims are no better off due to the NCAA actions.

Gary Price

Glendale

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The NCAA’s decision to drop the hammer on the powers that be at Penn State for their part in the cover-up of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case is the right one. This is exactly how the system is supposed to work: When someone breaks the rules, you punish them severely enough so that everyone else can taste it, and hopefully, learn a lesson. A number of institutions might want to take notes: the SEC, the Congress, the Church. They could all benefit from this cautionary tale.

Bart Braverman

Los Angeles

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It is incredibly unfair and wrongheaded for the NCAA to punish innocent Penn State student-athletes by suspending the football program for the sins of coaches and university administrators. The proper remedy is to bar the culpable coaches and administrators from involvement with NCAA sports, and impose a significant monetary fine on Penn State. Unlike their elders, current and future Penn State players — many of whom count on athletic scholarships to afford school — did absolutely nothing wrong.

Robert Ouriel

Los Angeles

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To those who claim that Joe Paterno’s lifetime of good deeds should not be eradicated by one mistake, I suggest a recalculation of your math. Joe Paterno remained silent for 14 years. During this time period, Joe awakened each and every day to another opportunity to do the right thing, which by my calculation increases his number of mistakes to approximately 5,110.

Maury D. Benemie

Corona

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Let me get to the chase. Penn State did not receive the death penalty for one reason, and one reason, only: money. The Big Ten did not want to lose mucho bucks. They would lose money for every game Penn State is off television. The scheduling becomes a nightmare.

Penn State should have self imposed the death penalty upon its own program and appealed any NCAA sanction. They could have controlled their own destiny and give the NCAA the finger. The reason being the current sanctions amount to the death penalty. I say Penn State would be better off to suspend football for an indefinite period of time to demonstrate that it is all about the money.

Of course, the better course of action would be for the Big Ten to kick Penn State out and invite Caltech. Hey. They are on probation. They would love to have the $500,000 for each mercenary game along with travel expenses. They could focus on what is important to us: earthquakes.

Brent Montgomery

Long Beach

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With the NCAA vacating all of Penn State’s wins between 1998 and 2011, that means the Nittany Lions’ last official victory was against Wisconsin on Nov. 22, 1997, when Jerry Sandusky was still an active coach. How bitterly ironic.

Rhys Thomas

Valley Glen

Another Ramirez

“Hanleywood” may not smoothly roll off the tongue phonetically as “Mannywood” in the spirit of the Ramirez name, but after witnessing the constant anemic play of both Juan Uribe and a pre-disabled-list Dee Gordon this season, the signing of Hanley Ramirez to anchor the left side of the infield — as well being a true offensive threat — could help propel the team to consider a new, albeit longer moniker come October: “Dodger Stadium; Home of the 2012 World Series Champions.”

Mark J. Featherstone

Windsor Hills

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While I usually agree with Dylan Hernandez, I think he made an error of omission in his analysis of the Dodgers’ acquisition of Hanley Ramirez. The Dodgers have been receiving above-average play at shortstop from Luis Cruz. He makes the average plays, something Dee Gordon doesn’t do, and he makes the exceptional plays as well, witness his play on the ball that deflected off of Ramirez’s chest the other night. And he hits! No, he doesn’t have Gordon’s speed, but Gordon doesn’t get on base all that often to use it.

I don’t know about Mr. Hernandez, but I’m old enough to remember when another career minor leaguer came up to help the Dodgers. The year was 1959 and the player was Maury Wills.

Ezra D. Rappaport

Valley Village

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So the Dodgers pick up Hanley Ramirez, solving their infield problem, and then Pablo Sandoval is injured, creating a problem for the Giants. How much would we have to pay them to take Uribe back?

Larry Weiner

Culver City

What’s Bruin?

New UCLA Coach Jim Mora takes the team to bankrupt San Bernardino for the first 13 days of training camp. After losing four of the last five games last season, I can see the need for “receivership” on both their accounts.

Dan Anzel

Los Angeles

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UCLA’s decision to increase the salaries of Jim Mora and his staff before they’ve coached a single game smacks of overzealous lunacy. With the talent of the current Bruins football team, this bunch of unproven tyros had better justify the increases. Otherwise, they’ll need to consult the Neuheisel script as to what to do after the party’s over.

Lawrence M. Kates

Los Angeles

His evil ways

After giving up three home runs and six earned runs in 12/3 innings in his latest outing against the Texas Rangers, Ervin Santana tells The Times that “I don’t care what they do or say,” and “yeah, probably” he should remain in the rotation.

What nonchalance, arrogance and lack of concern that his horrible pitching has had on the Angels’ prospects! When he pitches he appears to be in a trance and displays no competitive spirit at all. That he does not seem to care is even worse. Why Mike Scioscia continues to start him and thereby doom the Angels to a certain loss is a mystery to me.

Joe Bonino

Glendale

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I have been an Angel fan from the mid-60s, but I can guarantee that I will not attend, nor watch on TV, a game when Ervin Santana is pitching. What is it besides a lot of salary that keeps Scioscia from pulling him out of the rotation and putting in someone who isn’t giving up half a dozen home runs every two or three innings? Come on, Mike, second place isn’t even realistic with him on the mound, no matter what you say his potential is — or in today’s reality, is not.

Harold Karaka

Sherman Oaks

Closing the Open

Bill Dwyre almost did the impossible Monday . He wrote a whole column about a major golf tournament in which Tiger Woods played and did not mention his name. He praised Ernie Els for his come-from-behind win and his graciousness . He commiserated with the suffering of Adam Scott. Sportswriters everywhere and ESPN should take note. It can be done .

I say “almost” — because Dwyre then devoted a whole story to Woods’ problems with a trap.

Bert Bergen

La Cañada

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According to the Miami Herald, here’s what Adam Scott had to say about caddie Steve Williams after the third round of the British Open:

“At some point tomorrow, I’m sure there’s going to be a time when I’m going to lean on his experience and he’s going to have some great advice for me on how to tackle a certain situation. It’s an advantage to have an experienced caddie like Steve.”

Note to Adam: You are a terrific player and reportedly one of the nicest guys on the tour, but even you couldn’t overcome all the bad karma from the legions of golf fans who didn’t want Williams to have the opportunity to proclaim that this was “my greatest Open victory ever.”

Dave Riley

Laguna Woods

Let Games begin

It is a sad day for American sports when an experienced journalist finds it necessary to take sides between two of our greatest U.S. Olympic athletes [“Mike Turn Off,” by Bill Plaschke, July 27]. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are two formidable American swimmers competing for Olympic gold; they are not candidates for a popularity contest. To take sides by demeaning one swimmer on his personality traits over his achievements in the water is to ignore the goal of competitive sports.

I say good luck to both men; they are bound to push each other to Olympic greatness.

Carmen Maldonado Decker

Riverside

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IOC chief Jacques Rogge says the opening ceremony is “an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident.” This is not only arrogant, it is totally against what the Olympics are about. The Olympics are a reminder that all nations on Earth can come together in peace and compete respectfully. It is a statement on how humanity should be.

The fact that Rogge doesn’t want to set this example for all countries with a moment of silence showing that life is precious, no matter what country or what political/historical atmosphere you come from, makes it clear that he doesn’t understand the true meaning of the Olympics.

Steve Shaevel

Woodland Hills

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It seems to me that any nation that is offended by a minute of silence for the victims of the Munich Olympic massacre should not be at the Olympics. The notion that such a tribute is political is absurd. Not setting aside a minute to honor those victims of terror is a political statement that is loud and clear: The world doesn’t care if Jews or Israelis are killed. Once again the terrorists win.

Gil Stein

North Hollywood

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