Letters: Seahawks took all the fun out of Super Sunday
At the Broncos’ official post-Super Bowl news conference, here was John Elway: “We got off to a slow start, got behind early and hung in there. We just played into their hand and were never able to get over the hump.”
Here, now, is the post-massacre interview with Custer after Little Bighorn:
“General, what happened out there today?”
Custer: “Well, they showed us some packages we weren’t familiar with and they jumped on us early. That’s what they do. We really played into their hand. We hung in there but were never able to get over the hump!”
Dan Johnson
Burbank
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XLVIII was about as exciting as an early February Sunday stroll through “Omaha.”
Jerry Selby
Pasadena
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As a Denver Broncos fan, I first want to thank Time Warner Cable for having our TV screen go black in the middle of the Super Bowl, but then I want to complain about them having it come back on again after an hour.
P.J. Gendell
Sherman Oaks
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After watching the Super Bowl on Jan. 19 between the 49ers and Seahawks, I couldn’t understand why the NFL started the preseason in February with an exhibition between the Seahawks and the Broncos.
Marc Popkin
Cambria
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That bad snap by Manny Ramirez on the first play from scrimmage? Just Manny being Manny.
Andrew M. Weiss
Playa del Rey
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As a lifelong UCLA football fan I suffered year after year as Pete Carroll-coached USC teams would defeat my Bruins. I would try to attribute USC’s success to luck, referee’s bias, shady recruiting, lower academic standards, etc. I now realize they won because they had one hell of a coach. Congrats, Pete, you deserve it.
Marshall Barth
Encino
In a league filled with joyless coaches and self-aggrandizing players with overinflated egos, Pete Carroll’s team-first culture is a breath of fresh air. Just as he did at USC, Carroll has proven that fun and success are not mutually exclusive. Carroll has filled the Seahawks roster with players that have bought into his system — and the results are self-evident.
Mark S. Roth
Los Angeles
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Pete Carroll’s attempt to sweet-talk Los Angeles after his Super Bowl win was both transparent and nauseating. L.A. will never forget how Pete hightailed it out of town when USC was in its darkest hour. The program was left in tatters, a national championship was stricken from the books, while Carroll distanced himself from the mess he created. L.A. will never forget!
Edward Reesha
Glendale
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Bill Plaschke does not speak for the average L.A. sports fan. His statement, “On this national sports holiday [the Super Bowl], Los Angeles is a different country” is laughably absurd. Nor, I suspect, does the average fan care or perhaps even want a return of the NFL to L.A. Here’s what that would mean: tickets so expensive only corporations, super high rollers and, of course, sportswriters, would be able to attend; a lot of blacked-out home games and fewer TV games in general.
Fortunately, the likelihood of an NFL return to L.A. in the foreseeable future is about the same as L.A. citizens voting for a tax to fund a new stadium.
Jack Wishard
Los Angeles
What the deal, Lakers?
How about Emeka Okafor and a player to be named later for Pau Gasol and a coach to be named now?
Paul Feinsinger
Agoura Hills
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So, Magic Johnson has been silenced. For months, he has been the lone truthful voice coming from the Lakers organization. While Mitch Kupchak told us that D’Antoni was doing a “great” job, Magic expressed the feelings of thousands of fans. When you have two poor squads playing each other and the Lakers’ poor roster loses consistently to the others, it’s not the coach’s fault? And when they make no adjustment to change the results, it’s not the coach’s fault? Come on. I guess now, we’re just supposed to continue not believing our lying eyes.
Jeff Werner
Sherman Oaks
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Ben Bolch’s five-point plan for rebuilding the Lakers makes some sense but contained a glaring omission that should have topped the list.
The very first step should be to make Jim Buss the “sign-the-contract” man and keep him out of personnel decisions. His choice to hire D’Antoni over Jackson (when the Lakers had the perfect personnel to run the triangle) was not only dumb, but, in the way it unfolded, was thoroughly wrought with disrespect and dishonesty. If Dr. Buss had agreed on a Saturday to give Jackson till Monday to consider the offer, that’s exactly what the elder Buss would have done; he never would have hired someone else 24 hours later.
Then step 2: Replace D’Antoni. His faults are myriad and well-documented but central to all of them is that he lacks a championship mentality. Every Lakers and Suns fan knew this, and the fact that Jim Buss ignored it and hired him anyway is the best proof supporting point 1.
Cy Bolton
Rancho Cucamonga
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The NBA does not typically make statements about the state of a particular team or player. However, on Wednesday the league spoke volumes about the Lakers and Steve Nash during the game against the Cavaliers. The league chose to invoke an obscure rule used only in the rare circumstance that a team is unable to field a team of five players. They did so despite the fact that Steve Nash was listed on the active roster, dressed in uniform and clearly able to at least stand upright.
Maury Benemie
Corona
Play ball!
Bill Shaikin contends that baseball is more relevant this off-season, due to such factors as the end of football season and the ongoing misfortunes of the Lakers. He contends, however, that the Lakers are “still more compelling than the Clippers.”
Thus continues The Times’ sports staff’s trend of trash-talking the Clippers, even when they’re atop the division standings. If winning is what makes our local baseball teams interesting — Shaikin’s premise — then the Clippers are the most compelling story in town right now. But such evolved thinking would require a kind of objectivity that Lakers fans and Times sportswriters — often one and the same — are incapable of making.
Jonathan Palmer
Los Angeles
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To heck with the calendar and a certain Pennsylvania rodent. The Times sports section is clearly the best predictor of the arrival of spring. After inner-page teasers last Saturday and Sunday amid the hype and hoopla of the midwinter festival that is the Super Bowl, the spring equinox officially arrived the morning of Feb. 4, heralded by full color pictures of Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw above the fold on Page 1.
Shoot, I think I forgot to set the clocks ahead.
Ken Swift
Tustin
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My 84-year-old father has been a loyal Dodgers season-ticket holder for more than 40 years. He owns neither a computer nor a printer. I would love for Stan Kasten or Lon Rosen to personally call him so they can explain how doing away with paper tickets is a “real fan enhancement” for him. Barring that, they can at least offer to reimburse me for the ink and paper I am going to have to use to print 324 tickets (81 games times four seats) for him.
Michael S. Lambert
Santa Clarita
The Dodgers have struck out on their new sports network. Currently the only way to watch the Dodgers will be on Time Warner Cable. Whose brainy idea was this? Shut out the other team, not the local fans.
Darwin Remboldt
Simi Valley
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How ironic The Times would choose to use a photo of a sliding Matt Kemp to accompany an article about Kemp’s desire to return at 100% this season; if Kemp had only slid instead of attempting to glide across home plate late last season neither the article — nor the photo — would have been necessary.
Mer Valdez
Long Beach
Class acts
I attended the Tip-A-King event at L.A. Live, and if how articulate and polite the players were was the measure of a sport, the Stanley Cup would be the Super Bowl of sports.
Domenic Giudice
Irvine
Swing shift
Golf instructor Hank Haney thinks Tiger Woods’ muscle gain is bad for his golf game. Kevin Stadler could be a poster guy for why you need to go to the gym.
Ken Johnson
Piñon Hills
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The Los Angeles Times welcomes expressions of all views. Letters should be brief and become the property of The Times. They may be edited and republished in any format. Each must include a valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms will not be used.
Mail: Sports Viewpoint
Los Angeles Times
202 W. 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Fax: (213) 237-4322
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s Tiger Woods’ muscle gain is bad for his golf game. Kevin Stadler could be a poster guy for why you need to go to the gym.
Ken Johnson
Piñon Hills
::
The Los Angeles Times welcomes expressions of all views. Letters should be brief and become the property of The Times. They may be edited and republished in any format. Each must include a valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms will not be used.
Mail: Sports Viewpoint
Los Angeles Times
202 W. 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Fax: (213) 237-4322
Email:
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