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Letters: Tough for Dodgers fans to watch World Series, again

The month of October was a downer for many L.A.-based teams and sports fans, especially when Pablo Sandoval and the Giants won their third World Series in five years.
(Orlin Wagner / Associated Press)
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Dodgers, Angels, Trojans, Bruins, Giants, Lakers.

Is it just me or was that the most painful month in the history of L.A. sports?

Anthony Moretti

Lomita

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I have been a Dodgers fan my whole life. This World Series showed the difference between real winning teams and paper tigers like the Dodgers. How about we stop the nonsense? Jumping in pools. That idiotic bubble machine. All the Puig drama. Hopefully our new president will put together a team of winners who perform when it matters. I hate the Giants, but you have to admire the way they handle business .

Larry Estis

Solana Beach

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The first time, I hated it. The second time, I begrudgingly accepted it. This time, I couldn’t help but respect it.

Mer Valdez

Long Beach

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Andrew Friedman stated that Don Mattingly would definitely be the Dodgers manager next season. What he didn’t specify was which manager. Let’s make Donnie the concession manager or the traffic manager and find a coach with some tactical acumen and a history of winning big games.

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Rich Hardt

Long Beach

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Despite losing to the Royals in the AL division series, I believe the Angels should have been allowed to face San Francisco in the World Series. I base that on strength of schedule, quality wins, and perceived excellence of the teams going into the season. ... What’s that? This isn’t college football? Oh. Never mind.

Bob Cunningham

Riverside

Is there no end?

The NBA is experimenting with shorter games by playing one less minute per quarter.

Steve Sarkisian is supporting this concept for college football.

Glen Thompson

Torrance

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I agree 150% with Chris Dufresne, that Steve Sarkisian should not be blamed for USC losses! A wise man said that the Trojans were only a “Hail Mary” and “eight seconds” away from a perfect season. Oh, I forgot about Boston College. We all know that this game never really counted! And it wasn’t the coach’s fault! The team just suffered a “letdown!” The coach should only be held responsible for the wins.

By the way, has Chris received his check yet from Pat Haden? I expect mine any day now.

Manuel Carrillo

Venice

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How many times does Coach Sarkisian coach not to lose before it becomes a problem?

Panfilo Fuentes

Bakersfield

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It’s just another week in the saga of USC football — a train wreck that Trojans fans just cannot turn away from. Steve Sarkisian says he expects spiraling numbers from Washington State’s quarterback. But, like in games past, he articulates no plan on how to defend his opponent.

With a 5-3 record, soon to be 5-4, Sarkisian needs to look into the Coliseum seats and view the other spiraling numbers — USC fans and alumni exiting the stadium with each dismal coaching performance.

Johnathan Colin

Redondo Beach

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I am sick and tired of constantly reading that UCLA was a contender for the national title. Every real UCLA follower knows that aside from a highly talented returning quarterback, following the graduation of several top linemen UCLA had no running defense, no passing defense and an inadequate offensive line. I don’t know who started the national title rumor, but my fellow Bruins fans knew from the outset that UCLA was placed way too high in the preseason polls.

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So get real and realize that UCLA is doing great with the hand it has been dealt, not with the hand that ESPN or whoever else in New York thought the Bruins had been dealt.

Martin A. Brower

Corona del Mar

Ouch!

I wish no one had told the Lakers two years ago to “break a leg!” This is so crazy, since broken legs are fairly rare in the NBA. Yet, down goes Nash; down goes Kobe; down goes rookie Randle. This has now become the second “broken season” for the Lakers.

Jeff Drobman

Westlake Village

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I can think of 48.5 million reasons why the Lakers stink.

Gary H. Miller

Encino

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In the second blowout in as many days, Mr. Bryant plays “with an air of anger,” “scowls,” “curses,” “is upset,” and then “boils over with frustration.” News flash to Mr. Bryant, and sadly, Lakers fans: Get used to this.

My advice to Kobe is to stop acting like a child, embrace humility, forget about winning another championship, and just enjoy being able play in front of thousands of fans. If you had my life you would have real reasons to curse, scowl, be upset, angry, and boil over with frustration. Really.

Shane Brolly

Sherman Oaks

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The similarities of the Lakers and Raiders are astonishing.

—Both iconic owners passed away and left team to dysfunctional children.

—Both recruit overpriced has-beens from glory days of old.

—Both have gone through several coaches since the championship days.

—Both are slowly losing fan support.

—Both have better teams in the same area to watch (49ers/Clippers).

—Both have 5-10 years of mediocrity remaining.

—Both have the tradition of “keeping players in the family.”

—And neither team has any “Magic” left to save them!

Mark Mozillo

Pasadena

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The first game of the season is a template for the rest of the games. Even naive/loyal Lakers fans will have to admit, this team stinks.

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Out of the five starters, four are average backups at best. This will be a long year, but tickets should be cheaper on StubHub.

Lastly, thanks Buss family for compromising the hopes of thousands of Lakers fans to placate one person, Kobe Bryant.

Steve Owen

San Diego

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For everyone, including The Times’ Mike Bresnahan, who asks what 36-year-old Kobe Bryant has left. It’s a simple answer: More than you.

Nick Gonzales

Baldwin Park

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What is 24?

a) the number worn by the Lakers’ future first-ballot Hall of Famer.

b) the award-winning television series about terrorism and the challenges in fighting it.

c) the number of games the Lakers will win this season.

Doug Thomson

West Los Angeles

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As badly as Julius Randle must be feeling after breaking his leg, he needn’t go far for inspiration or advice. All he has to do is go into his Staples Center neighbor’s locker room and speak to Blake Griffin, who broke his kneecap before he even played in his first regular-season game. Griffin missed the entire season but came back the following season and became the rookie of the year and hasn’t looked back since.

Get well, Julius. You’ll be back better than ever.

Geno Apicella

Placentia

The NFL ... again

I am long done hearing about the NFL’s possible move back to Los Angeles. Someone wrote in last week and deemed as how the NFL will never move here because the league doesn’t like change.

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Not solely based on assumption, this is what I’ve witnessed regarding the behavior of the NFL over my lifetime: I have seen the Cardinals move — twice; the Rams move — twice; the Raiders move — twice; I have seen the Browns sell out their faithful following; I’ve seen the owner of the Baltimore Colts, Robert Irsay, thumb his nose at the long-faithful people of Baltimore, pack up moving vans with his team and secretly move them to Indianapolis — in the middle of the night.

With all this, both of my teams, one I grew up with — the Rams — and the other I grew to love — the Raiders, who gave Los Angeles its only Super Bowl championship — simultaneously up and left us high and dry in 1995. This, for me, was the very last straw.

Each of these events reflect the change the NFL doesn’t like or care about, and, if it is still not obvious, the NFL likes what’s good for the NFL.

You know what else they don’t care about, however? You.

You think I want the NFL here? Hell no.

Dan Johnson

Burbank

Dead TV scrolls

Is it too much to ask Fox Sports to get rid of the ridiculous scroll across the bottom of the screen during Kings and Clippers games? Or at least devise a way to turn it on and off? During the Kings game the other night I was getting such breaking news as “Red Sox hire Chili Davis as hitting coach.” Stop the presses! We’re bombarded with information all day, I would really like to settle in and watch the game — and the game only.

The Kings are the Stanley Cup champions, the Clippers are contenders for an NBA championship — it would be nice to watch the games without the strip of cardboard I attach to my TV during these games.

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Mark Elliott

La Crescenta

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