They’re Unhappy That T.J. Has Turned Over New Leaf

Maybe I’m the one who “Just Doesn’t Get It” [Aug. 4]. Cade McNown is featured in front-page headlines because, as an amateur athlete, he used a handicapped parking space and won’t discuss it with a sportswriter (acting as an investigative reporter) while stories of professional athletes involved in minor infractions such as rape, burglary, dope dealing and even murder are relegated to the Jurisprudence section of the Newswire column, generally on the back pages of the sports section.

C’mon, T.J., if you want to cover subjects other than sports, join your colleague, Mike Downey, in the vast outback of the voluminous Times. The gang of Monday morning quarterbacks and would-be coaches masquerading as sportswriters would hardly miss you! Perhaps then you’ll be able to explain why a first-class (?) newspaper would choose to put such matters of import in the sports section when they would be more suited to a spot nearer the obituary page.

JOE KLASS

Los Angeles

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T.J. Simers has truly revealed his insufferable self-righteousness in rare fashion. After unsuccessfully chasing after Cade McNown and clearly intending to bash him upside the head, he burns McNown at the stake when the guy has the temerity to not speak to Simers at the later’s beck and call.

Imagine that. Cade McNown turns down a mighty L.A. Times sports reporter who he knows has already unleashed his self-righteous and ham-fisted agenda, and he simply doesn’t feel like donning concentric circles for him. Gee, what could the young man be thinking? Get a life, T.J. Cade’s the player. You, sir, are not.

JULIAN ELLISON

Encino

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Thank you, Reverend T.J., for showing us the high moral ground. Now, why don’t you get back to work and actually write about football for a change? I know this handicapped-placard story has sustained your whole newspaper through a slow summer, but get over it. Football is back and there are actually people that might want to read about it.

DRU MURAWA

Upland

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Dammit, T.J. You’re an utter waste of talent, and column inches. Why do you insist that journalism equals marginally justified personal attacks? Your shtick is so tired, and it seems like once a guy ducks you or gets in your bad graces, you just pile on unmercifully until the guy is out of the league, but by then it doesn’t matter because somebody else is incurring your wrath. I think you have a lot of talent, but at this point in your career, you’re as unreadable as the NBA is unwatchable. It’s that same egotism, arrogance and disregard for decency and good taste that plague both you and that league. Maybe you should be assigned the NBA beat, so I don’t have to watch it or read about it.

Lighten up, T.J. If I were Cade McNown or Bobby Beathard, I wouldn’t talk to you either.

D.J. HARMELING

San Diego

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Thank you, Mr. Simers, for writing an article that addresses the UCLA athletes’ abuse in the proper light. More specifically, thank you for writing an article that addresses one of the culprits who seemed to fly under the radar of this scandal, Cade McNown. It is beyond me why he has been viewed as the prodigal son of Los Angeles football since he first set foot on campus, but Mr. Simers helps diffuse that properly. Now, I cannot wait until a real defensive player helps diffuse the notion of McNown as a quarterback of unlimited talent worth $22 million.

ROBERT KNEPPER

Redondo Beach

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Come on, Cade McNown is handicapped. He’s integrity challenged. He has also been coddled by a country and a society that not only condones the ugly behavior of athletes but actually teaches and encourages them to cheat and slide by.

When will we wake up and stop giving these guys the go-ahead to be selfish, overpaid pigs who think they can get away with rape and even murder?

MARILYN BRENNAN

Santa Monica

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Your newspaper loses credibility with every unfounded article you print. Nobody claims McNown to be the perfect individual or condones any aspect of the parking scandal at UCLA, but to paint Cade as Jesse James is like calling the L.A. Times sports section “Mein Kampf.”

JOHN SERTICH

Alameda

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Who could deny T.J. a handicapped parking space after reviewing his handicapping skills year after year?

MARTIN L. ZWEBEN

Palos Verdes Estates