Letters: Too much hype praise for Bruins?

Jim Mora and his coaching staff should chip in and buy a steak dinner at the best restaurant in Charlottesville for the Virginia starting quarterback, as he was the Bruins’ primary scoring weapon last Saturday. I shudder to think what the outcome would have been if the second quarterback had started.

Pac-12 champions, national championship run, Heisman candidate? I don’t think so. Can’t wait until Nov. 22 when the Trojans come to the Rose Bowl for some revenge against the two-loss Bruins.

Robert J. Gagliano

Palos Verdes

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The offensive UCLA performance in Virginia would have made Lane Kiffin proud. In fact, are you guys sure that he made it to Alabama and didn’t secretly end up in Westwood instead?

William David Stone

Beverly Hills

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It seemed UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone was determined to stick to a stubborn and lame game plan to keep Brett Hundley in the pocket and not have him run. That backfired once the Virginia staff realized that, and ran extra defenders up the middle — sacking Hundley five times, including two crucial fourth-and-shorts. Hey, the QB draw works only when the defense least expects it and will always fail when the defense is ready for it.

Jeff Drobman

Westlake Village

USC is focused

If that was a distracted USC team that recorded 701 total yards and scored 52 points against a decent Fresno State team that’s expected to win its conference, then keep the distractions coming.

Tom Turner

Dana Point

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According to Bill Plaschke, the emotion seen at Saturday’s game against Fresno State had “been missing from this program since Pete Carroll left town.”

I just wanted to remind him that it was Coach Orgeron who revived that emotion and Coach Helton who continued it. As a longtime Trojan, I will always remember the contributions they made in bringing the emotion and fun back to the program. My heart was with Coach O and that being said, welcome home, Sark.

Darlene Gaston

Playa del Rey

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I am a USC football fan and I enjoyed the opening game against Fresno State. What I did not enjoy was having to sit with a team roster in my lap so I could identify who made that great run, block, tackle, interception or touchdown. Come on, USC, put the players’ names on the jerseys.

Nancy McColl

Los Alamitos

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I see where USC fans who ponied up $1,500 got to come out of the Coliseum ahead of the team in the season opener.

If they’d coughed up another thousand might they have gotten to jump off a second-story balcony into a pool to save somebody?

Gary Palmer

Torrance

A case of the Blues

Baseball in crunch time is often compared to a cerebral game of chess.

Unfortunately, Don Mattingly has never progressed beyond checkers.

Herb Schoenberg

Tarzana

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Again, Don Mattingly displayed why he is one of the worst managers in baseball when he did not pinch-run for A.J. Ellis with the game on the line Wednesday against the Washington Nationals until it was too late. After Ellis had to be held at third with the winning run in the 10th inning, Mattingly finally woke up and sent in a runner. What that accomplished other than putting a spotlight on his error is a mystery.

Paul Burns

Granada Hills

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It’s nice to know that with about three weeks left in the season Mattingly is still finding silver linings in Dodgers’ losses. However, this doesn’t negate the glaring weaknesses exhibited by his team, namely, poor relief pitching, shaky fielding and lack of timely hitting along with some curious managerial decisions.

The Dodgers do have one option that would make them prohibitive favorites to win the title this year. Once the playoffs start, pitch Clayton Kershaw every day.

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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Don Mattingly is no doubt a nice guy, and that may well be why he is seldom blamed in your section. But let’s face it, if a Lakers coach made Mattingly’s obvious mistakes, column after column in The Times would demand his replacement. This Dodgers team isn’t going far in the postseason — if they even get that far — with this manager and his staff.

James Bailey

Banning

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We went to the Dodgers’ Labor Day game last night, and I finally picked up on Stan Kasten’s plan: Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and cross your fingers. Roberto Hernandez and Brandon League gave predictable performances, as did our Swiss cheese lineup. I’m sure Kasten figures that if we can just win three of every five games this month, we’ll end up in the playoffs. How far will we go? Let’s let Stan answer that.

Ned Shapiro

Brentwood

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It will not be unprecedented when Clayton Kershaw wins both the MVP and Cy Young awards this season. Others such as Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Don Newcombe have won both awards in the past. The case for Kershaw joining this select group is obvious. Can anyone name a player in the National League on any other team for whom they would trade Kershaw? The answer is “no” because that player does not exist.

This season belongs to Kershaw. The only question remaining now is whether it belongs to the Dodgers.

Charles Reilly

Manhattan Beach

Advice for Angels

I am a big fan of Mike Trout and I think he is a great role model, but would Don Baylor, the Angels’ hitting coach, please tell Trout two things?

There is no law that says you cannot swing on the first pitch, and you do not have to have two strikes before you swing the bat.

Wally Seller

Chino Hills

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Are C.J. Wilson’s bad starts and poor production the past couple of months because of his distraction and preoccupation? Maybe he should concentrate more on what it takes to produce more whiffs and fewer hits zoom-zooming by him into the outfield and less on his aromatic shampoo commercials and the zoom-zoom auto dealership spots that sponsor the Angels’ postgame show.

Roger Sypek

Lakewood

Airing it out

Clearly Time Warner Cable believed in a revenue model that wasn’t fully vetted, and the Dodgers’ current ownership paid a price predicated on that media rights deal. The fans pay, and in the long run I believe the sunk cost TWC is chasing will cause irreparable damage to a brand that is an L.A. civic treasure.

I tried to send this email to the Dodgers but their MLB website limits the amount of characters for fan feedback. I needed more than 500 characters to express my disappointment. Marginalized at every step. It’s especially disappointing that my childhood hero, Magic Johnson, is not addressing the problem.

Sean Murray

Hermosa Beach

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Just couldn’t let this go. I take umbrage with the derogatory comments printed about the Angels’ announcers. It’s OK to praise Vinny and we all have our opinions, but this was rather harsh. I’m a fan of Mark Gubicza and Victor Rojas. I find them knowledgeable and entertaining and their “non-Scully” voices do not lull me to sleep.

Wes Correll

Monarch Beach

Patience, please

Sam Farmer’s article, “Quick Fixation” [Sept. 1], dealing with seven new NFL head coaches and restless fans, reflects the impatience of most everyone and the belief in instant gratification is the only way to go. The bulk of the people want everything yesterday because today is already too late.

With 32 teams and only one Super Bowl winner per season, there will always be 31 disappointments. So no matter what kind of pressure owners and fans place on teams to win, patience is a necessary and mandatory prerequisite to play the game.

Bill Spitalnick

Newport Beach

Who needs them?

Let me get this straight. Ben Bolch is complaining because the U.S. basketball team has no Lakers on it? Perhaps Bolch thinks the Lakers deserve a spot on the team because of their legacy. It certainly can’t be based on their performance last year.

Steve Mehlman

Beaumont

Fault!

Patrick McEnroe, who stepped down as head of U.S. Tennis Assn. player development after six years of poor results, said, “We have made major strides…” Really, what are they? In May 1984, there were 24 American men in the top 50 and six in the top 10. The last American male No. 1 player and Grand Slam champion was Andy Roddick in 2003 when he won the U.S. Open. Spain is slightly larger than Rhode Island and they outrank us in the world top 100 men and women by a wide margin.

Thomas Ritz

Thousand Oaks

Dizzy NFL logic

Wes Welker will begin serving a four-game suspension for allegedly ingesting Molly, a banned amphetamine, at the Kentucky Derby. Had he hit and dragged a Molly he might have received as little as a two-game suspension.

A lot of people affiliated with the NFL that have zero concussions need to get their heads examined.

Larry Yells

Hermosa Beach

We’re fine, thanks

Here are 15 reasons that L.A. does not want (or need) an NFL team, and will hopefully never have one again:

1.No television blackouts

2.Access to all NFL games without fear of local television/cable deals (see Dodgers)

3.Less traffic

4.The world is flat

5.Won’t be abandoned (see Rams, Raiders, Chargers) again

6.Lack of pro football team dramatically increases support in local college (USC, UCLA) football; increased support in local college football dramatically increases overall development and support for their entire universities.

7.DirecTV NFL Red Zone

8.Could interfere with our Sunday skiing or surfing

9.Sport Chalet will begin stocking only local team products

10.Won’t attract riff-raff (during the season) and riots (after a Super Bowl)

11.Green Bay vs. Chicago; Washington vs. Dallas; Jets vs. Patriots; Giants vs. Eagles; Brady vs. Manning...

12.No more room in The Times’ Sports letters section

13.Players will fail drug tests just from breathing the air

14.Already too many blimps and paparazzi drones

15.Donald Sterling could be the next owner!

Jack Saltzberg

Sherman Oaks

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