Every Week, Angels Make More Memories

I can’t wait for Game 4 of the World Series. I’m eager to find out which “Memorable Moment” is the runner-up to Adam Kennedy’s Game 5 heroics.

Dave De Heras

Santa Barbara

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Whom to root for in this most unlikely all-California World Series? Growing up a rabid Dodger fan in Los Angeles, I disliked the Angels, what with their silly-looking uniforms, and (mostly) second-rate lineup. They played an inferior, American League brand of baseball with its gimmicky DH rule. The Giants? They were neither here nor there for the Dodger fan in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The Reds and Yankees were the teams to reserve one’s venom for.

However, after moving to the Bay Area as an adult I received a quick indoctrination into the ways of Giant Fan, a slow-witted sort who would gladly trade a last-place finish for a few victories over the hated blue-clad crew. I once had beer dumped over my head at Candlestick Park and consider myself lucky to have escaped merely wet. My feelings about the 2002 World Series? Go, Angels!

Jon Spevack

Oakland

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It’s sad to see that Bill Plaschke is still losing sleep over the idea of pitching to Barry Bonds. It’s the World Series, Bill. Nobody got there by playing scared. It’s where these guys go to find out who’s best.

If the Angels just “walk him, walk him, walk him” as Plaschke keeps pleading, that question will never be answered -- and in the end, who wants bragging rights as the team that beat most of the Giants in this year’s World Series? Will someone please tell Bill that “sports” is the root word of “sportsmanship”?

Robin Steele

Pacific Palisades

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Bill Plaschke’s Oct. 17 column said that the hourlong drive from L.A. to the Big Ed will prevent most Dodger fans from converting to Angel admirers.

I am a carless person who relies on two MTA buses and a mile walk from Disneyland to the stadium, all to cheer for the Angels. A four-hour, one-way trip. So there, Bill Plaschke.

Joanne Gamlin

Santa Monica

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It seems like only yesterday that the Dodgers were the organization with the home-grown talent, the young pitching phenom and the gritty, aggressive style that found a way to win, while the Angels spent recklessly on big-ticket free agents only to come up short every season.

My, how times have changed!

Randy Quan

Westminster

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Anaheim and San Francisco in the World Series?

Seismologists, start watching the San Andreas fault!

Scott Bryant

Lake Forest

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As a former batboy for the 1962 Los Angeles Angels, I have gone through 40 years of disappointment and sadness over a team that I dearly love. Sunday’s decisive Angel victory somewhat reminds me of the 1969 World Series champion New York Mets.

The Angels are destiny-bound greatly due to one man -- Manager Mike Scioscia.

Daniel A. Nardoni

Glendale

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Why is the attendance figure (11,332) for the Kings versus Ducks game at the Pond such a big issue? The Angels struggled all season to reach 25,000 per game.

The fact is, this marginal fan support comes from the same “fan” base that drove the Rams out of Southern California. And let’s not forget the infamous Freedom Bowl. Of course, Angel fans abound now that they are four games away from their first World Series championship.

This recent (and probably short-lived) Angel mania makes me admire the Dodgers and their fans more than ever before. Three million in attendance every season, despite 14 years of mediocrity and a few years of Kevin Malone.

Oh well. Go, Angels! Sweep the Giants, their battery-chucking fans, and the arrogant Barry Bonds. You deserve this championship, but you also deserve consistent support from your “fans.”

Joe Huisenga

Moorpark

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As the last out of the American League championship series was recorded, the ball coming to rest in the glove of a player who exemplifies the hopes, dreams and desire of any child or adult who has ever played a game just for the love of it, I couldn’t help but think that somewhere Gene Autry and Donnie Moore nodded to each other, exchanged a wink, and walked arm in arm through baseball’s pearly gates.

As a lifelong Angel fan, I would like to take this opportunity to speak on behalf of all the athletes who have been scorned, belittled and insulted by someone who probably never so much as had a catch with a friend or family member. Enjoy your crow, T.J. Simers, save room for your feet.

Michael Luth

Newport Beach

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After being mercilessly criticized for everything from his stance on contraction to his decision to allow the All-Star game to end in a tie, Bud Selig is due for some credit.

In 1995, it was Commissioner Selig who persuaded the owners to abandon 100 years of baseball tradition and vote to adopt a wild-card format. And, in 2002, for the first time in history, both teams in the World Series will be wild-card entries. Nice call, commissioner.

David Macaray

Rowland Heights

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If the Angels win the World Series, can we hold our riot at Disneyland?

Scott Bryant

Lake Forest