Letters: The Frank and Jamie Show about to be canceled?

Bill Plaschke is spot-on in saying that L.A. would be a nicer place if there were two fewer McCourts in the vicinity. If this was not a contest over property but one about venality, arrogance, extravagance and greed, it would end in a dead heat.

I say a pox on both their houses. Or all 10 of their houses. Or all 12 of their houses. Or however many houses Dodgers fans have financed.

Allen E. Kahn

Playa del Rey

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They came to our city

Not knowing a homer from a bunt

They sought sage advice

From an expert named Shpunt

She is a vixen

And he is a runt

While the people of L.A.

are still looking for Allen Funt

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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Move over, Bill Buckner. Messing up (allegedly) the words exclusive and inclusive, a lawyer managed to displace you as the biggest bungler in baseball history. The difference, in this case, is that home team fans should rejoice over the likely outcome of the error.

Konrad Moore

Bakersfield

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Gone will be the regime that returned the Dodgers to the National League Championship Series while building the team as if it were the Kansas City Royals?

Gone are the good old Fox days of Kevin Brown, no postseason appearances, and running Mike Piazza out of town.

Peter O’Malley wants the McCourts out, and being a lifelong Giants fan, so do I!

Roscoe Filbert

Santa Monica

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A memo to Ned Colletti:

Hey Ned, it’s obvious that you are pressed for cash with the current owners purchasing homes on a monthly basis, and you have no desire to trade any of your talented players (What are you smoking and why aren’t you sharing?), but here is a thought: Try to swing a deal to unload our two carpetbagging owners, whose only desire is to fleece the team of all of its income for their personal benefit, for one owner that actually cares about the team, has some baseball knowledge, is willing to put money back into the team, and actually wants to win a championship. I have to believe that there is at least one gullible city that would take a two-for-one deal.

Martin Mangione

Brea

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God knows what kind of Kool-Aid the Dodgers hand out at Chavez Ravine, but whatever the consistency, Ned Colletti has swallowed the most of it. It is clear that he is either the worst GM in baseball or flat-out the dumbest. Look no further than Russell Martin. A blind man could’ve seen that Martin was on a downward spiral the past two-plus seasons. However, he was one of the “untouchable kids.” Now he is gone with nothing in return.

Broxton never has had and never will have the makeup to be a star closer. Kemp is a spoiled child. Loney is a Punch-and-Judy hitter who can’t hit. Ethier is a year away from being a has-been. Billingsley will never be a No. 1 or 2 starter. Kershaw is the only one that has a chance.

Keep 1988 in the front lobe because it may be a long, long time before we ever see a winner in this town.

Geno Apicella

Placentia

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Ned Colletti shopping at the winter meetings is like me trying to shop with my daughter’s credit card.

Sol Bialeck

Van Nuys

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Let’s see, to summarize this so far, the Dodgers add Dioner Navarro and Tony Gwynn Jr. The Red Sox picked up Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. The Dodgers are talking about trading Loney and Broxton for Prince Fielder, which would allow the Dodgers to compete with the Milwaukee “Windmills” and D-Backs for middle-of-the-lineup whiffs when you figure in Kemp and Ethier. The additions on the team so far don’t have a .300 on-base percentage. This team is going to challenge the 1968 Dodgers in terms of run production.

I think I’ll do what I did last year, when I attended two games, those being home games 80 and 81. I bought the tickets for a sweet price on Stub Hub, and avoided the parking fee by taking the trolley in one day and walking into the park the next.

Craig Kisro

Granada Hills

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Congratulations to Ned Colletti for bringing Tony Gwynn out of retirement to the Dodgers. At age 50 he can hit better than any of the current players … oh, no it’s the other Tony Gwynn.

Al Sanchez

San Gabriel

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As a longtime Angels fan and season-ticket holder, I could not be more disappointed. I guess I bought into all the Angels’ hype about Arte Moreno being angry about the losing season and saying he would spend whatever it takes. Then I read the Angels made a serious offer of $108 million over six years for Carl Crawford. Really? Jayson Werth signed for $126 million for seven years, and the Angels’ serious offer was $108 million? Next time I go to Angel Stadium, I am going up to the concession stand and make a serious offer of $2 for a hot dog and a large drink.

So the fallback is Beltre and/or Soriano. It’s like we were set up for a big steak dinner and now we may get macaroni and cheese.

I guess Angels fans have to come to grips with the fact that we cannot compete with the Red Sox and Yankees in the free-agent market. I just wish Angels management would quit telling us that we can.

Carlos Casillas

Chino Hills

USC 28, UCLA 14

In the Kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is King. Long live King Trojan!

Joel Rapp

Los Angeles

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This was the worst, most horribly played game in the rivalry since the “Bore-a-thon” in 1971, and should have been scheduled for 3 a.m. so only the deranged would be subjected to viewing it on any network.

Howard P. Cohen

North Hills

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If Dan Guerrero believes throwing a handful of assistant coaches under the bus will return the program to the glory days of 6-6, he is the only one I know. There are many excellent coaches out there who never played for UCLA. Let’s hire one, ASAP.

Richard Kline

Ojai

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A rivalry assumes some semblance of parity. UCLA versus USC in football is no rivalry.

UCLA football has a limited recruiting base within California. It does not compete well with USC for the prime L.A. athletes who are marginally qualified academically. It does not compete well with Cal or Stanford for the smart leftovers who are academically superior to the above set. It does not compete well with the rest of the Pac- (whatever the number is now) in hiring superior football thinkers for their coaching positions.

The rest of the best athletes in Southern California go well away from here to follow their dreams.

Simply put, UCLA is not competitive in football and there is little light at the end of the tunnels within that program.

Doug Bedell

Torrance

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Lane Kiffin’s poor talent assessment of Allen Bradford should be very concerning to Trojans fans. In the 30-plus years of closely following the program I can’t remember a worse assessment of talent. He not only is the best USC running back , but he might be the best football player on the team. The dignity and class by which Bradford handled the situation is to be commended.

Dennis Lane Jr.

San Pedro

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Coach Rick Neuheisel has the worst three-year start in UCLA football history since 1922. His record of 15-21 is not what Bruins fans expected when he took over the program from Karl Dorrell, who was dumped after a record of 6-7. This year’s performance seems to reflect a less competitive culture and a new lower standard for UCLA football. With recruitment hopes dampened by a 4-8 season and another loss to USC, UCLA really needs to be taking a hard look at what is best for the future of the football program, if not the overall sports program.

Pete Brown

Los Angeles

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I’m going on the record right now to recommend that Steve Lavin replace Rick Neuheisel as the head coach for the UCLA football team. Yes, Steve Lavin. At least he can recruit.

Cecil Worthington

Los Angeles

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I know that UCLA’ s football demise under Rick Neuheisel is continually depressing, but we long-suffering Bruins fans need to look at the bright side; Without offensive genius Norm Chow on board, the offense would be even worse!

Jack Wolf

Westwood

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A funny thing has happened at UCLA. Back when Steve Lavin was ruining the Bruins’ basketball program, I was regularly firing off letters to the L.A. Times and to the UCLA athletic department demanding his dismissal. However, Rick Neuheisel has managed to suck the life and excitement out of UCLA football to the point where I don’t care enough to write to complain. My passion bucket must be empty.

Tony Siracusa

San Gabriel

Hoops, here it is

Well, Bruins fans, football season is over (thanks to Rick and the gang), and not even an invite this year to the “Toilet Bowl.” Now it’s time to focus on your basketball team (3-4), which this newspaper continues to give front-page coverage to even when they lose to Montana. Meanwhile, a gutty little Trojan team (5-4) upsets 19th-anked Texas, and gets buried on Page 5. Hopefully this will stop the “UCLA honks” from constantly complaining about the biased coverage that they claim USC receives from this publication.

Richard Whorton

Valley Village

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The young, green basketball Bruins are far from without talent, but of course we can expect the wild swings we have seen thus far from game to game. Kansas to Montana is a long way, Toto. But for the television commentators, through both games at Madison Square Garden, to make freshman center Joshua Smith and his imagined “upside” the primary new Bruins’ personnel story was laughable. He has been nothing but a foul-prone oaf with hands of brick in the best Alfred Aboya tradition — and if he disagrees, let him put this letter on his locker and prove me wrong. And believe me, I hope somehow, some way, he does.

Andrew Sacks

Fontana

Really

A USC freshman was declared temporarily ineligible to play football because an agent gave him a golf-cart ride across campus. Yet Auburn quarterback Cam Newton’s father, a minister, solicits money in exchange for his kid’s services, and Newton is declared eligible to play in a conference-championship game that could lead to a national championship for Auburn. Really?

Ron Rosen

South Pasadena

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The NCAA’s ruling on the eligibility of Cam Newton is outrageous and hypocritical. Cam Newton should have been treated the same as Reggie Bush. In both cases, parent used son to seek financial benefit.

I’ve always believed that the NCAA stood for fairness, equality, and integrity both on and off the playing field. Now it looks like the NCAA is subject to the same sort of influence peddling and corruption that it is supposed to guard against.

Some of us want to believe that collegiate athletics still stands for honor and virtue. Obviously, it’s time to face reality and accept the fact that university locker rooms and athletic offices aren’t that different from corporate boardrooms or the shady halls of politics where money and self-interest rule.

I would be curious to know what sort of deal-making and soul-selling went down for the NCAA to look the other way in the case of Cam Newton. No doubt it’s going to be a very merry Christmas for those involved.

John Coleman

Los Angeles

Invisible Phil

When did hypocrisy join sarcasm as requisite qualities for a Times columnist? T.J. Simers continues to rave about what a joy Phil Anschutz would be as an NFL owner while blasting Dean Spanos and Frank McCourt. Not wanting to douse “logic” with facts, but complaining about how invisible Spanos is or how clueless McCourt is and thinking Anschutz would be an improvement is pure folly. Do you even know what Anschutz looks like? Don’t bother checking the Kings’ media guide; his photo was removed years ago. How many Kings fans have ever seen him at a game in the 16 years he has owned the team?

You think the Chargers’ management has poor judgment? How does it compare to AEG running Wayne Gretzky out of town as their first order of business with the Kings? Or Tim Leiweke repeatedly telling fans that money was no object in his quest for the Stanley Cup while at the same time lobbying for a hard salary cap to limit spending. You think McCourt failed to return the luster of previous regimes to the Dodgers? How many legitimate chances to win the Stanley Cup have the Kings had since AEG bought the team that reached the finals the year before?

Be very careful what you wish for; you may get it.

Jonah Bergson

El Segundo

Stripped of stripes

Seldom does a picture on the front page of The Times capture such angst of human emotion; golfer or not. Definitely, Jim McKay would call this one those sports moments you can’t forget. The expression on Tiger’s face says it all; more fear and uncertainty about his game.

Larry Diaz

San Marino

Lights out

As long as Don Meredith was behind the microphone, the party was never over. We miss you already, Danderoo!

Evan Puziss

Mar Vista

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The NFL likes to market its games as only slightly less important than, say, World War III. Don Meredith knew they weren’t and told it like it was. RIP, Dandy. You brought us some great moments and memories.

Skip Nevell

Los Angeles

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