March Madness? Plaschke Lauded

I hope all of the people who constantly rip Bill Plaschke’s ability as a sports columnist took the time to read his March 24 column regarding Connecticut’s “Leprechaun,” Joe McGinn. For a nice change of pace, I didn’t have to read about Dennis Rodman at the top of the page again. Too often, these stories are overlooked. But I hadn’t been that teary-eyed since I saw “Life Is Beautiful.”

Every time I’ve taken the Huskies in my office pool, they’ve let me down. This year I didn’t even have them making the Final Four. Here’s hoping the inspiration of Joe McGinn can take them to the highest level.

And Bill, don’t listen to all those naysayers. I don’t always agree with you, but you’re one of the best in the business.

MIKE McNIFF

Costa Mesa

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In her pre-tournament basketball ratings, Times college basketball columnist Robyn Norwood wrote, “Watch the Big Ten teams tumble.” Right. All the way into the Final Four. Turns out the NCAA selection committee knew what it was doing when it selected the tournament field, The Times and its Pac-10-rooting sports staff notwithstanding.

GEORGE ROONEY

Yucaipa

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I note that CBS has now decreed that the last name of the Italian saint, Aloysius Gonzaga, is now to be pronounced Gon-ZAG-a, instead of Gon-ZAH-ga.

Does this mean that we will now have to say PASS-ta instead of PAH-sta, or la-ZAN-ya instead of la-ZAHN-ya when we are ordering food in an Italian restaurant?

Also, I wonder how Bing Crosby would react to this pronunciation. It would be interesting to dig up some old radio or TV tapes to see how he used to pronounce the name of his alma mater.

FRED J. O’BRIEN

Woodland Hills

Editor’s note: Alas, it is Gonzaga itself, not CBS, that prefers that pronunciation. In its basketball media guide, under “What is a Gonzaga,” the pronunciation is given: “Gonzaga (gone-zag-uh). Zag as in bag.”