Trojans Left Hungry on Their Low-Cal DietDear...

Trojans Left Hungry on Their Low-Cal Diet

Dear USC,

Please review the following order you placed last February:

10,000 bobble-head Tommy Trojans “We’re No. 1.”

10,000 blow-up Trojan Horses “We’re No. 1.”

10,000 hats “USC National Champs.”

10,000 license plate frames “USC National Champs” on top and “My Other Car Is a Chariot” on bottom.

10,000 coffee mugs “USC: Another National Champion Brewing.”

17-foot trophy “USC National Champions College Football” enclosed in glass with 12-inch Disco Ball.

The trophy has been shipped, so you’re stuck with it. The hats, frames and mugs are in production and we can cut them short.

Sincerely, the Acme National Championship Trophy Co.

Bob Arranaga

Los Angeles

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One of these years I’m sure USC will go through an entire season without losing to a team the Trojans would beat 99 times out of 100. I just hope I can take good enough care of myself to see it.

By the way, Pete, that sound you heard near the end of regulation was John McKay rolling over in his grave as you played to just get into overtime.

Jack Von Bulow

Temple City

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So USC tailback Hershel Dennis and his teammates have become extremely possessive and don’t want to share the Pac-10 championship with anyone [Sept. 27].

I understand. I want to win the lottery and not have to share it with anyone. Mr. Dennis taught me a valuable lesson. Greed is a bad thing. As a Cal grad, it was an especially enjoyable lesson.

Konrad Moore

Bakersfield

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I know Bill Plaschke’s job is that of a sensationalist second-guesser, but he was harsh and way off base in his criticism of Matt Leinart after USC’s loss to Cal.

Considering that Leinart (a) had never taken a snap during a college game before this season, making him essentially a true freshman, and (b) had to follow in the footsteps of a fifth-year senior Heisman trophy winner, I think he did an exceptional job coming back from a poor first half.

He’s young, Bill. What do you expect from a kid with no experience? Give him a break! I’d hate to be one of Plaschke’s kids and get into a fender-bender with the family car. Can’t you just see the headline? “Plaschke’s Son Should Never Have Had a License.”

Steve Farrell

El Segundo

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USC: Unbelievably So Close. It’s funny what breakdowns in defense can do, so sharpen that distorted focus, Trojan fans and the majority of the free world who had the team penciled in for that perfect national championship season. Now concentrate on the primary task of winning games one at a time instead of concentrating on New Orleans lodgings and sightseeing tours.

Brian Green

Long Beach

#S#

Bruins Still Looking for That Offense

How long until UCLA receives a cease-and-desist order from Mike Shanahan’s attorney, demanding that Karl Dorrell stop calling his scheme the Denver Bronco offense?

Mark Backstrom

Newport Beach

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Coach Dorrell, you still look as though you need some help, so here goes.

Put Manny White at tailback and move someone else to fullback. Let him carry maybe 40 times. Mix in a few more play-action passes, keep throwing the screen and tell Drew Olson that he doesn’t have to constantly look at the intended receiver.

And does coach Eric Bieniemy know his hat’s on backward?

Sam Rizzardo

Harbor City

#S#

Dodger Season Makes Many in Baseball Happy

The executive of the year for the 2003 baseball season is a no-brainer. Only one executive can lay claim to making the necessary roster moves to assure that three teams in the National League were playoff bound.

Step right up, Dan Evans, and take credit where credit is due for the Cubs’ Central Division title (Eric Karros; Tom Goodwin and Mark Grudzielanek); the Braves’ Eastern Division crown (Gary Sheffield); and the Giants’ wire-to-wire Western Division title (Marquis Grissom).

I bet Mr. Evans’ phone will be ringing off the hook this off-season with calls from executives similarly hungry for playoff appearances!

Mark Roth

Los Angeles

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“Tracy Will Return in ‘04” [Sept. 27]. Oh, swell! Just what the Dodgers need, a manager who appears to be satisfied with mediocrity and a coaching staff that supports that position. Be sure to bring back Todd Hundley while you’re at it.

Gene Ewald

Oxnard

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Glad to see that Dan Evans believes that the Dodgers are on the right path, saying, “I like the direction we’re headed.”

Let’s see -- they went from 92 wins last year to 85 this year. They went from scoring 713 runs to 571, and the team batting average dropped 21 points. The Dodgers finished 2003 as the worst offensive team in baseball (even worse than the Tigers).

I’d like to continue, but I’ve got to take a trip to Seattle. Guess I’ll hop on Interstate 5 South.

Ralph Jacobian

Simi Valley

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Let’s take a look at some of Dan Evans’ acquisitions the last couple of years: Tyler Houston, Daryle Ward, Ron Coomer, Mike Trombley, Terry Mullholland, James Baldwin, Jeromy Burnitz, Rickey Henderson, Robin Ventura and the great Todd Hundley.

It reminds me of when a used car salesman proclaims that old, high-mileage beauty is “just like brand new.” Realizing that we can’t take anything for granted, I would like to remind Dan Evans that the player most of us would like to see in a Dodger uniform in 2004 is Vladimir Guerrero, not Pedro Guerrero.

Daniel Gee

Los Angeles

#S#

Step Right Up, Friends, and Be an Angel Fan

The Angels, after setting an all-time attendance record, rewarded their loyal fans last Sunday with a cheap carnival trick.

Yes, 10 finalists for the $1-million prize were drawn from Sunday’s ticket stubs. Then at the end of the game, eight-foot-high red numbers reading “3,000,000” were erected in the outfield.

The 10 finalists were narrowed to three. It appeared all one had to do to win the $1 million was to pitch a baseball 60 feet 6 inches through the final “0” in “3,000,000.” Tough but possible. Not so! The PA announcer then proclaimed that the ball must be thrown through a four-inch diameter hole in the center of the “red zero”.

Not Pedro Martinez, not Barry Zito, not Nolan Ryan could throw a three-inch diameter baseball through a four-inch diameter hole. That’s not my idea of a thank-you for fan loyalty that spans 43 seasons.

Jerry Mazenko

Garden Grove

#S#

They Need to Practice Defense Against Rush

If TV needs to provide sports viewers with shallow opinions from a geek who knows nothing about football, they could have just kept Dennis Miller.

John Vasi

Santa Barbara

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Sounds as if the media wanted a “black quarterback” to succeed no more than Rush Limbaugh wanted one to fail.

Greg Torres

Whittier

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When an athlete says it is not about the money, it is surely about the money. When a politician says the issue is not partisan, it is surely partisan. When a talk-show host says he is not talking about race, he is only talking about race. So it is with Rush Limbaugh.

In a bizarre karmic twist, a man who has made his fortune excoriating his political opposition finds himself on the receiving end of the same treatment for an ill-conceived sports commentary. Now, if he can just find a way to blame it on Al Franken....

Rick Gitchen

Chino Hills

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I’m sure Rush Limbaugh would have us believe that Barry Bonds is also overrated. As were Jim Brown, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. Jackie Robinson was nothing special. The evil, liberal media thought it “very desirous” that these black athletes do well.

It is not shocking that a known bigot such as Limbaugh would show his true racist colors. What I find hard to believe is that he would be stupid enough to make these comments on ESPN, instead of the Fox News Channel (where he would be hailed as a genius).

Steve Kehela

Studio City

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Former pro quarterback Sean Salisbury, in criticizing Rush Limbaugh’s recent comments, believes that the color of one’s skin is irrelevant. If such was truly the case in the NFL, why are franchises heavily fined for failing to interview coaching candidates of color?

Barry P. Resnick

Orange

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I am not defending what Rush said, but it does seem that there is a real double standard in our country.

I remember when Isiah Thomas said that Larry Bird would not get the press he gets or be thought of as such a great player if he were black instead of white. I do not remember him being fired or even criticized much for his racist comments.

Lou Steinmetz

Huntington Beach

#S#

It Takes a Licking but Keeps on Ticking

I have read a few articles recently that seem to declare the Coliseum as somehow being a front-runner for our new NFL team.

Where have the powers that be been hiding? This same Coliseum Commission has chased the Rams and Raiders away. They should not be believed. I, for one, will never attend an NFL game there again.

Dawn West

Lomita

#S#

He’s Looking at Race From the Wrong End

The great mare Azeri throws in a stinker after winning 11 consecutive races and her owner, Michael Paulson, castigates Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith and indirectly criticizes trainer Laura de Seroux on her choice of races.

Obviously the class exhibited by the late Allen Paulson was not passed on to his son, as in 1996 when Cigar’s remarkable streak came to an end at Del Mar, the late Mr. Paulson did not complain about Cigar’s jockey (Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey) misjudging the pace and getting Cigar “cooked.”

No, he credited Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, who trained Dare and Go, for the strategy of using his “other” entry in the Pacific Classic (Siphon) to push Cigar.

Thoroughbred racing is known as the “Sport of Kings” -- not the “Sport of Asses,” Mike.

Howard Cohen

North Hills

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He’s Born to Hit, Sure Not to Run

I see that Ross Newhan is promoting Boston’s David Ortiz (David who?) for AL MVP -- one of the reasons being Ortiz’s belting out of a Bruce Springsteen song after the Red Sox had clinched a playoff berth. Has Times music writer and legendary Springsteen fan Robert Hilburn invaded the sports department?

In the 11 final AL offensive categories listed in The Times, Ortiz finished in the top 10 in one -- slugging percentage (he was third).

Ortiz isn’t even the MVP on his own team -- Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez are more valuable, as is Pedro Martinez.

Had Jim Healy been alive, he would have suggested that Newhan temporarily went the Leonard Tose route with his AL MVP selection.

Ken Feldman

Granada Hills

#S#

Pack It In, BCS

Chris Dufresne [Oct. 2] is correct in his comments about the impossibility of a team in a competitive conference ever getting into the BCS title game, but he has missed a most important point.

If we had the kind of system in baseball that we have in Division I-A football, the Yankees and Braves would have been in the 2002 World Series.

Ross Durham

Lookout Mountain, Ga.