Letters: Dodgers swing on opening day, but fans miss it on TV

Sure, it was disappointing to come home and realize the Dodgers’ opening-day game I had thought I was recording was replaced with standard ESPN programming, but gosh it was sure nice to catch up on all the other day’s sporting activities! Thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Mer Valdez

Long Beach

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Thank you, Guggenheim, for all you’ve done to us Dodgers fans: high ticket prices and a cable package that benefits you without the fans in mind.

I’ve only been a fan since 1969, so what does my opinion matter?

Pete Bengochea

Laguna Beach

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It’s time for Dodgers boycott!

Vincent Martinez

Arcadia

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Amazing that being 5,000 miles away in the baseball hotbed of Chile, I was able to watch both the Dodgers and Angels openers live on ESPN. As well as a pretty good college basketball game. What a night!

Alan Miller

Santiago, Chile

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What is wrong with this picture? While I wasn’t able to watch Kenta Maeda pitch a gem and hit a home run in his major league debut on my television, people over 5,500 miles away in Japan could watch a local broadcast of the game and will probably get to see many others that Maeda starts this season. If a picture (or lack thereof) is worth a thousand words, there’s nothing left to say after 40-plus years of loyalty. Sayonara, Dodgers!

Ted Weitzman

Westwood

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I opened the Wednesday sports page eagerly hoping there would be a special Plaschke column telling us the 2-0 Dodgers are going 162-0 this year and how distraught all the non-TWC folks would be to miss Vinny’s description of the perfect season.

Ed Freeman

Moorpark

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There you have it — the 2016 season in microcosm, right there on opening day. The Dodgers blow out San Diego, 15-0, and the Cubs do the same to the Angels, 8-0.

These scores are exactly indicative of what fans have to look forward to this season. The Dodgers may have issues, but they have the firepower to blow out the weak teams on their schedule. The Angels have their own problems, but they lack the wherewithal to compete with the top-caliber teams they play.

We’ll be seeing mismatches like this over and over again through the end of September. Dodger fans will grin at the prospect, Angels fans will have to bear it.

Jeffrey S. Pollak

La Crescenta

Marvelous

A few months ago I had a friend, J, a huge Dodgers fan, in the hospital for heart surgery. Another friend went to see him. As the friend is walking down the hall he hears The Voice, Vin Scully, visiting another patient. The friend hangs around for 20 minutes until Mr. Scully comes out. He goes up and says “You must get this a thousand times a day, but I got a buddy who is a big fan and is just a couple of doors down the hall. Would you stick your head in?”

Mr. Scully could not have been nicer. He asked for J’s name, went down to his room, wished him well, and even invited him up to the press box for a cup of coffee during the season. Sadly, J did not make it. But his last days were made immeasurably brighter because Mr. Scully took a few moments.

Chris Erskine and USC can analyze Mr. Scully’s voice all they want, but it is his heart and soul that this town is going to miss the most.

Bob Faller,

Woodland Hills

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After seeing Clayton Kershaw pitch opening day, I’d say:

If he was an artist, he’d be Van Gogh.

If he was a car, he’d be a Rolls-Royce.

If he was a doctor, he’d be a brain surgeon.

If he was a baseball announcer he’d be Vin Scully.

Russell Morgan

Carson

Where’s the love?

I do not and cannot understand the letters criticizing Kobe Bryant, especially in these final years, and from L.A. fans, no less. Find me one die-hard sports fan who would not accept the following deal:

You will get 20 years of a genius talent who will become an 18-time All-Star and the third-leading scorer ever. Your team will appear in seven NBA Finals over that span, and you will come away with five championship rings. But you will have to pay a 15% tax, viz., three lousy seasons at the end of it all during which time hopefully your team will be positioned for its next run.

Lakers fans would be so lucky to get a bargain like that again in our lifetime.

David Ho

South Pasadena

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As a lifelong Lakers fan, my personal love/hate relationship with Kobe Bryant began 21 years ago while watching the McDonald’s All-American game. I recall that my initial impression was that Kobe appeared to be a bit overrated. He then proceeded to spend two decades reminding me that I am no Jerry West when it comes to talent evaluation.

As the storied career of arguably the greatest Laker comes to an end, I realize that my relationship with Kobe has been much more love than hate. I will truly miss all of those moments when he caused me to fall on the floor with joy. I will also miss those times when he made me want to smash the television. In both instances, he always managed to evoke emotions that will not soon be forgotten.

Thank you, Kobe, for a generation of wonderful memories and may you find similar success in all of your future endeavors.

Maury D. Benemie

Corona

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Add another oxymoron to those such as “sweet sorrow,” “good grief” and “military intelligence.” How about “Laker basketball.”

It’s been evident from the start that this season was going to be all about Kobe. If this season was an audition to make an open casting call for future stars and potential free agents, the director would have yelled “Cut!” a long time ago.

Craig London

Encino

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It was obviously unlikely that the 2015-16 Lakers were going to beat the Clippers, or any other team, for that matter, but do these last games in Kobe Bryant’s career have to be so unabashedly embarrassing? Coach Byron Scott says, “He’s a champion and I hate to see him go out this way. It bothers the hell out of me.” Well then, Coach, why are you sitting Lou Williams and Brandon Bass, two players who might actually help the team be competitive?

Elyce Wakerman

Sherman Oaks

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Three years of rapidly declining skills, team wins and cap space for even a second-tier marquee-level player. Ugh. Next week can’t come soon enough.

Mike Kichaven

Sherman Oaks

It’s just golf

“Augusta is America’s living room.” “Golf’s greatest basilica.” “Something beyond mortal had occurred.” (Nicklaus won).

Come on! Professional golf is mostly a bunch of poorly dressed, rich white guys, walking around hitting a little ball with a stick.

A little perspective, please.

Jake Tauber

Woodland Hills

Carolina blues

It’s a good thing North Carolina only committed academic fraud several hundred times over 20 years to help keep athletes eligible. If they’d done something really bad, like an assistant coach possibly knowing about a football player’s parents getting free rent from an aspiring sports agent, they might not have been eligible to play in the championship game on Monday night.

Rob Osborne

Manhattan Beach

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