When It Comes to Lousy, Our T.J.’s an Expert

When will the networks stop subjecting us to these matchups between the NFL’s top teams? Who cares about the “Battle of the Bays,” now that Green Bay and Tampa Bay are both good? As any reader of T.J. Simers knows, the sophisticated football fan really wants to see the league’s lousiest teams and players--learn what makes them mediocre, what makes them fail, what motivates them to lose. These are the issues you won’t find anywhere else in today’s media. In fact, why doesn’t The Times assign T.J. to the baseball beat, as well? Rather than having to wade through boring drivel about the Yankees’ chase for the best record in history, the McGwire/Sosa home run derby, Bret Saberhagen’s comeback or the Padres’ remarkable turnaround, the serious baseball fan could read about baseball’s real stories: the battle between Detroit and Tampa Bay for the worst record in the American League; Jon Nunnally’s .209 batting average; whether Jaime Navarro is even worse than his 6.10 ERA.

Seriously, though, can’t The Times do better? I realize it may be hard to recruit an NFL writer to a market without a team, but even a syndicated column has to be better than this.

JOHN DENT, Pacific Palisades

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What in the world have they done to “Monday Night Football”? Those first 21 minutes of last night’s show were so embarrassing. Poor writing, worse announcing, unthinkable planning. Let Hank sing his song and let’s begin the game.

VINCE REEL, Claremont