Letters: What’s wrong with being high on the Trojans?

“Besides Alabama, are there many team in the country that would be more feared right now?” So says Bill Plaschke of USC. It is my opinion that anyone making those statements about a team that opened the season with a 52-6 loss and beat a highly overrated Washington team 26-13 has a problem.

Could it be that Mr. Plaschke has recently tried one of those funny new cigarettes that has recently been made legal in the state of California?

Jack Buss

Banning

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I was glad to see that USC has a six-game winning streak after a 1-3 start. I also saw that defensive back Adoree’ Jackson, speaking of the season overall, said, “We know the season didn’t start how we wanted. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

Particularly because I’m a morning person, I would like to point out that in fact both how you start and how you finish matter.

Greg Dahlen

Glendale

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Well, it’s USC-UCLA week and just as everyone expected, one team comes into the game with a senior quarterback who hasn’t played much in his career while the other comes in with a second-year quarterback with a ton of hype. We are all smart.

Kyle Worrell

Redondo Beach

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Wow, two stunners in a week involving Washington.

Jim Amormino

Rancho Palos Verdes

Playing Goff

Realizing that he may have a sparkling diamond in the rough at quarterback and to solidify his own job security, I guess you can say Jeff Fisher finally went to Jared.

Mark J. Featherstone

Windsor Hills

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Headline: Offense won’t be reduced for Goff..

Response: Is that even possible?

Jeff Heister

Chatsworth

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The Rams don’t have a quarterback controversy, they have an offense system controversy. If they plan to stay with a run-oriented offense and have the quarterback take snaps from under center, why did they draft Jared Goff?

This isn’t what Goff does. This isn’t his forte. Looks like they should have taken a dropback quarterback such as Carson Wentz.

Warning: Don’t put Goff in until you change the offense to a system made for him to excel.

John Williams

San Clemente

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Come on, fans, and media too, let’s go back to Football 101, and tackle football basics.

Quarterbacks and their team, in order to be successful, need a good running back, and above all, a better-than-average offensive line.

One has only look at the Dallas Cowboys, whose great offensive line has created two outstanding rookie players at quarterback and running back.

If the Rams had that kind of line, Case Keenum and Todd Gurley probably would have put up scoring numbers we would be bragging about.

For now, like in show business, don’t tell the Rams kicker to break a leg.

Ken Johnson

Pinon Hills

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To the griping Rams’ fans:

My history professor’s opening comment the first day of class, “I will show you that history is a continuum and that history repeats itself.”

Case in point: The Rams were pathetic the last time they were in L.A., they were pathetic when they moved to St. Louis, and now that they are back in L.A. they are still pathetic.

End of history lesson.

Leo Depoian

Newport Coast

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Mr. Kroenke, please do your franchise and fan base a huge favor and schedule a meeting with Bill Cowher. Do not take no for an answer! Give this man whatever it takes to make him your coach as well as ours. Instant respect, true grit and team accountability will be the reward.

Mike Munis

Lone Pine

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Watched the segment on the groundbreaking of the Rams’ new stadium. The renderings are amazing! The layout spectacular! One question, where’s all the parking? Where’s the tailgate area? Did I miss something in all those beautiful pictures? Football fans love to tailgate, not shop.

Is it too late to change those beautiful pictures and make it a real NFL stadium, not a mall?

Phillip Trujillo

Ontario

Hot stove season

I’m sure Dave Roberts is a great manager, but to have the highest team salary, one would expect the team to do well. The Marlins had only 12 less wins than the Dodgers with one-third of the payroll. Ironically, Don Mattingly deserved that award far more than Roberts.

Dave Eng

Thousand Oaks

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Congratulations to Corey Seager for his well-deserved rookie-of-the-year award. Let’s hope that the Dodgers build on this by adding starting pitchers that can go more than three innings.

Deborah R. Ishida

Beverly Hills

What do all the Dodger rookies of the year since 1992 have in common? Not one has a single World Series appearance as a Dodger. It’s time the Dodgers understood that the real value is in winning. The rest is filler.

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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Dodgers vice president of ticket sales David Siegel brags “We have the most faithful and loyal fans in all of sports.” Season ticket-holders’ reward? Increases of 74% to 120% in two years. But they do get first dibs at postseason tickets, where their $11 seat will cost them over $90. So far, so good, Guggenheim.

Rich Hardt

Long Beach

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I know it was hard to watch the Angels play this last year, but the two presumably East Coast-based baseball writers who listed Mike Trout as fifth and seventh (!) on their MVP ballots need to suck it up and watch the best player in baseball before embarrassing themselves with their ballot choices.

Ken Blake

Brea

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Does sports imitate politics? Rick Porcello wins the Cy Young Award over Justin Verlander, despite receiving fewer first-place votes. Since when is the award voted via electoral college?

Dawn L. Salisbury

Turlock, Calif.

Moving

Bill Plaschke’s column on Joe Resnick [“Far More Than an Ordinary Joe,” Nov. 11] was well written, articulate and poignant without being maudlin. It brought me to tears.

Elanor Rubin

West Hollywood

Probably

Is it too early to start campaigning for Luke Walton for president in 2020?

Brent Trafton

Long Beach

New blood

This has to be the year of the rookie for the local sports teams.

A freshman point guard and freshman quarterback have revitalized the UCLA basketball and USC football programs.

A first-year coach and a first-year manager have reinvigorated the Lakers and the Dodgers.

And a Rams rookie quarterback ... uh ... gets to play in a game?

Bennett Beebe

Westwood

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