It Should Be an Outstanding Ray Lewis Bowl, er, Super Bowl

Ray Lewis is obviously just another fat-cat jock who beat the system. A few minutes’ exposure to Ray’s “charm” during his news conference tells us all we care to know about this guy. His coach, Brian Billick, also is another familiar jock-world type: the football coach who will go to any length to give his team a psychological edge, in this case exploiting an unsolved double murder in which his superstar, at the very least, was known to have obstructed the investigation. Needless to say, the team’s owner, Art Modell, supports his two heroes 110%.

So what? Anyone who reads the sports section can only yawn and turn the page. So it goes in the wide world of sports. This is understood. One thing, however, was worth noting, and that was the small minority in the media (mostly glib ESPN and talk-radio types) who have now become so cool they can brush off or rationalize both Billick’s condescending, asinine lecture on how they ought to conduct their business and Lewis’ obscene exercise in narcissism.

CHARLES CHICCOA, Reseda

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What this sad story is all about is not only the unsolved murder of two human beings. It is about character, integrity, humility and, most important, respect for your fellow man. Unfortunately, the only thing Ray Lewis and most of the modern pro athletes will ever know or believe in are the words “I” and “me” and speaking in the third person.

BILL CONSOLO, El Segundo

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If the NFL continues to support and promote the “bad boys” of the game, it needs to accept responsibility for their actions. If the NFL concluded enough involvement by Lewis to fine him $250,000, it ought to have enough class to donate that money to the families of Richard Lollar and Jacinth Baker. Considering the frequency with which these “incidents” occur, I doubt that even the wealthy NFL could afford to adopt such a practice.

JOYCE LYNCH, Anaheim Hills

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Having read the constant tear-down of Super Bowl XXXV by Bill Plaschke for the last two weeks, there’s something I’d really like to know. Why is it when a team makes it into the playoffs as a wild-card team and all the way through to the big game with a high-powered offense, they’re usually referred to as a Cinderella team, but when a team accomplishes the same thing with a record-setting defense, they are treated like the ugly stepsister?

Now, I’m not a big reporter for a major newspaper, but it seems to me that maybe Mr. Plaschke might want to actually watch the game Sunday, then critique it Monday. I’m sure he wouldn’t find it fair if we readers starting applying the same backward standard to him and started criticizing his commentaries before they actually were in print.

GARRY KLUGER, Los Angeles

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Don’t you think it’s funny that your newspaper gives more coverage to Los Angeles not having an NFL team than it did when Los Angeles had two NFL teams?

If your staff is so intent on bringing football back to Los Angeles, then why don’t you get Tribune to put a team here? It’s not that people here wouldn’t love to have a football team. But isn’t it clear by now that L.A. is not the kind of city that marches on City Hall for football? We’d rather pay someone else to do it while we watch the Lakers.

ANDREW UNGVARI, Beverly Hills