Latest in a Series of Trojan Troubles

Your article on the sentencing of Marcel Brown and Howard McCowan was a sad ending to a terrible story. The people I felt for most were McCowan’s mother, who blamed USC for her son’s fate, and Brown’s attorney, William E. Davis, who supported him because “USC offered no support for the players once they were arrested.”

Did Ms. McCowan forget about the football scholarship that her son received from the university? Did her son need advice on whether mugging and kidnaping were against the law? Why should the school offer “support?” Would the school offer support to a non-athlete student under the same scenario?

Ms. McCowan has no one to blame but her son.

JOHN FINK

Los Angeles