USC’s flippant behavior

Given USC’s superiority of talent and overall success in the Pete Carroll era, would it be too much to expect classy behavior in the mix of this Trojans surge?

The antics of Desmond Reed, Fred Davis, Joe McKnight and Rey Maualuga in the Rose Bowl invite justifiable criticism of a program dripping with arrogance.

Come on, Coach Carroll -- demand that when your players hit the end zone, they act like they’ve been there before.

James Zant

La Habra

Cheap shots, classless play, unsportsmanlike conduct . . . sounds like the Raiders are back in town!

Jeff Black

Beverly Hills

The reason people hate USC is captured perfectly in the picture on your sports page of today. Class, character and sportsmanship simply do not exist under Pete Carroll.

And they are simply not tolerated by the university, as USC proved when it fired Henry Bibby for putting integrity above winning.

Glenn M. Langdon

Garden Grove

One of the reasons I’ve been a USC fan for 30-plus years is the tradition of class and sportsmanship they’ve shown, up until this year’s Rose Bowl game.

USC may have won this match, but they lost a fan.

James Marr

San Dimas

Congratulations to the USC players on their impressive Rose Bowl victory. Now grow up.

Marvin Klein

Pacific Palisades

The Times runs two pictures of USC players, one doing a front flip into the end zone, and the other taunting the Illinois players as he scores, both of which received unsportsmanlike penalties.

The pictures show the complete lack of class of the Trojans, and, by running the pictures, The Times encourages this type of behavior on the field.

James Brown

San Pedro

As a longtime USC fan, I would like to thank John David Booty for deciding to become a Trojan.

He has shown nothing but class during his stay and is a winner in every sense of the word. I am sorry to see such a leader and gentleman leave. He is what every Trojan should be.

Dale Hewitt

Anaheim