Maybe 49ers Picked the Guy They Wanted

NFL owners would hire an Eskimo as head coach if they thought it would help them win. Or a full-blooded Sioux or a Hindu guru. They don’t care. They want only to win. If Terry Donahue thought Ted Cottrell was the man, he would have hired him.

Bill Plaschke’s story about Dennis Erickson getting the nod over Cottrell [“49ers’ Choice Is a Step Back,” Feb. 12] is just another pathetic attempt to make himself sound politically correct and righteous. He claims Cottrell’s interview was a sham when Cottrell himself says he thought he was given every consideration and was treated very fair. Is Bill calling Ted a liar?

How many of Mr. Plaschke’s peers are minorities?

Maybe Bill should quit his job so The Times can hire another minority sportswriter and even that playing field a bit more. C’mon Bill, put up or shut up!!

Joe Travers

Los Angeles

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Readers must know that when Bill Plaschke starts down the path of political commentary, he is guided by one principle: whatever emotional whim that pops into his head at the moment. Typical of most politically correct minds, there is little logic or reason involved, just whatever feels right and commands attention.

Such was the case in Wednesday’s column criticizing the 49ers’ hiring of Dennis Erickson as coach. Plaschke rants on and on about the scarcity of black coaches in the NFL. Such imagination!

Then he states, “This wasn’t about race.” (Contradicting oneself must be the key to winning sportswriter awards.)

Plaschke then defends Terry Donahue and the 49ers for fearing the hiring of a coach they knew little about, regardless of race. Plaschke calls this “understandable.”

More space to fill, he finishes by returning to the old cry of racism in sports. (Utter confusion must be the key to winning sportswriter awards.)

For every person who actually believes his reactionary rhetoric, there is hopefully an equal number who suspect that whatever Plaschke thinks, the opposite must be true.

Rick Wallace

Malibu