Letters: Giant letdown for Dodgers fans

Just when you thought it can’t get any worse for Dodgers fans? First we have to endure a miserable season where the team is unmotivated, plays uninspired and the manager announced in mid-season that he’s not coming back. Then the owner’s dirty laundry is exposed during a messy divorce trial with the fact that much of the free cash in the organization is devoted to multimillion dollar homes instead of a No. 1 pitcher.

And now the icing on the case, the hated San Francisco Giants are in the World Series.

Brian Haueter

Ventura

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A sure sign that Frank McCourt should sell the Dodgers. I found myself rooting for the Giants to beat the Phillies to further show how low the Dodgers have fallen. A lifelong Dodgers fan rooting for the enemy, Frank, what have you done to me?

Jesse Carrizal

Los Angeles

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Great column in Tuesday’s paper, Bill Dwyre. It certainly is a toxic World Series for all of L.A. As for Shaikin wishing the Giants well in breaking their 53-year drought, I say let ‘em wait another 53 years.

Ken Blake

Brea

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Dylan Hernandez writes that Jose Uribe’s home run stunned the hostile crowd at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park into silence. What, the fans in San Francisco are friendly?

Edward Golden

Northridge

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These scrappy, scrawny San Francisco Giants are like a symbol of the post-steroid era. Even though I’m a Dodgers fan, it wouldn’t kill me if they won.

Anthony Moretti

Lomita

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I am convinced that the unseasonal early rains we have been having are my dad, Walter Alston and Jackie Robinson shedding tears over a lifelong Yankee becoming the manager of the Dodgers.

David B. Hart

Carlsbad

Lakers love

Forget the travesty of Dodgers baseball. Forget the turmoil of UCLA football. The Lakers are back … and better than ever. As one of the 18,997 lucky enough to witness the opening game and ring ceremony in person, let me say it was a dramatic, emotional and compelling evening.

The agony of this L.A. sports fan is over. Welcome back, Lakers. Welcome back, winning. “Three-peat” has such a nice ring to it.

Marty Zweben

Palos Verdes Estates

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Because the Lakers are my favorite team and anyone playing the Celtics is my second favorite team, opening night was a dilemma.

I figured it out. I wasn’t rooting rooting for the Celtics. I was rooting against the Heat.

Alan Matis

Sherman Oaks

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We know the Lakers’ A team is solid, but now we have the Triple-B support: Brown, Blake and Barnes.

Ron Wolotzky

Los Angeles

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Amid all the gushy sentiment surrounding the Lakers’ ring ceremony, you couldn’t sacrifice an inch or two to print a photo of the actual “ring”?

Volney E. Hyde

Sherman Oaks

Passed over

Unable to stand the suspense, I fired up my time machine to sneak a peek at the Dec. 6 lead article of The Times recapping the BCS Selection Show.

“Following a surreal November of improbable upsets, Texas and Florida used the same opportunistic formula of a late-season surge and a blowout victory in their conference final to vault into the top two spots of the final BCS standings and set up an unprecedented match of three-loss teams for the Jan. 10, 2011 national championship. The last two undefeated BCS teams, Boise State and TCU, again passed over for a title shot, were awarded the dubious consolation of a Fiesta Bowl showdown, an exact rematch of last year’s battle of undefeated teams.

“A livid Butch Otter, Governor of Idaho, called the BCS outcome ‘an inexplicable travesty’ and vowed to seek an immediate federal injunction to postpone the championship game until ‘a nonpartisan committee sorts out this mess.’ [see “rant” at latimes.com/sports for video of Governor Otter’s press conference] Across the country, BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock lauded the hard work of the selection committee and declared ‘Texas and Florida is the game America wants to see.’ In a short but convoluted statement, Hancock stated that strength of conference was ‘ultimately substantive’ in the final standings. In a nod to Boise State and TCU, he claimed to be baffled over the furor, noting both teams should be proud to be matched against a worthy opponent. ‘After all,’ he asked, ‘how often do two undefeated teams meet in a BCS bowl game?’

“Waving aside questions, Hancock abruptly left the podium and exited from the back door from which he had originally emerged, leaving this reporter, one among many, clamoring for answers.”

Paul Brown

Newport Beach

Dan’s the man

Once again Bill Plaschke [Oct. 22] misses the mark on UCLA football.

As a Bruins fan (my kid goes there) and Washington alum who has followed the career of Rick Neuheisel since Colorado, the blame doesn’t belong to Norm Chow or Chuck Bullough. It doesn’t even belong to Rick Neuheisel. The person who should be held accountable for UCLA football woes is Dan Guerrero.

Hiring a head coach is all about personnel management, about recognizing talented people. With Rick Neuheisel you know what you’re getting. A .500 coach who will win a couple of big games but never build a powerhouse. Did Guerrero really expect more?

What I can’t understand is how a big-time university like UCLA — the most applied-for college in America — can’t find a dynamic football coach. This clearly points to the poor management skills of Dan Guerrero.

Oregon finds a Division 1-AA coach (Chip Kelly), Gene Bleymaier (UCLA alum) hires Chris Petersen at Boise State, even Nevada (Chris Ault) and Utah (Kris Whittingham) hire better coaches than UCLA. Imagine what a Chris Petersen could do at a big-time university in Los Angeles. A school that calls the Rose Bowl home, plays in front of large crowds and TV audiences in the entertainment capital of the country and sits in the heart of recruiting nirvana.

Somewhere out there sits a talented assistant coach or a small-school head coach that could build a powerhouse at UCLA. I just don’t think Dan Guerrero is the right person to find that talent.

Brooks Berry

Mission Viejo

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The time has come when Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow must finally realize their “pistol” offense is firing nothing but blanks.

Joel Rapp

Los Angeles

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OK, Times fatalist reporters, let me get this straight while you call for the coach’s head: The Bruins play the top team in the country, at a hostile environment, with their starting quarterback sidelined with an injury and two other starters suspended for disciplinary reasons. Instead, how about giving the coach and the team a little support while they’re down?

Don Geller

Irvine

Poor policy

I find it incredible that the UCLA drug policy for athletes is a one-game suspension when the athlete is caught violating it three times. So if they get caught doing drugs only twice it’s OK.

I suspect that most major “institutions of learning” have similar policies for their athletes. I also suspect that enforcement after only one violation would effectively decimate the football teams. In my world, using drugs while representing your school and its athletic program on a national scale is patently wrong. The NCAA should take a firm stand on tightening permissive drug use policies so that young athletes better understand the importance of strong core values. They would have a much better chance of being great players and great citizens.

Michael Card

Dana Point

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In 45 plus years of covering major league baseball, especially over the last 25 years of that period, the industry received much criticism (from me as well) for its drug policy or lack thereof.

It amused me to learn, reading about four recent UCLA football suspensions, that a UCLA athlete can have three positive tests before being suspended for one game. At least we know which way UCLA athletes will be voting on Proposition 19.

Ross Newhan

Corona

Magic on ice?

If Magic Johnson is still looking for a new team to own, might I suggest our own L.A. Kings? They play in the same building as the Lakers, so no need to re-program the GPS on game nights. Hockey knowledge or even interest is not a prerequisite, as Phil Anschutz has demonstrated. Magic lives in town, so that’s an advantage over the Kings’ current Denver-based owner. And fans even know what Magic looks like, another plus compared to the present, publicity-shy boss. C’mon over to the cold side, Earvin!

Drew Warren

Sherman Oaks

Hard hits

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “writes memos” to call attention to his sport’s contribution to debilitating concussions and long-term injuries.

If the NFL wants to show real concern for the toll football takes on players, start at the high school level. Use a portion of NFL profits to assist medical professionals to cover high school games. The NFL should also promote good “heads up” tackling skills at all levels.

Emily Igarashi

Rancho Santa Margarita

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We would like to commend the Los Angeles Times for their informative coverage of traumatic brain injury (TBI) this past weekend. From the challenges faced by high school team doctor Jerry Bornstein, to the increasingly cautious attitudes of athletes towards concussions, to the description of Brad Ebner’s TBI and his long recovery, these stories serve a critical role in enhancing public awareness about TBI. And, whether it occurs in sports, accidents, or military service, TBI remains the No. 1 cause of death and disability in young persons today.

Although TBI is not yet curable, it is preventable and treatable. What can we do right now? First and foremost, educate ourselves. Use proven injury prevention measures and teach them to our children. Advocate to our representatives that TBI not be relegated to the back burner when it comes to treatment and research, but given the high priority dictated by its cost to children, families and veterans. Donate our efforts to organizations aimed at improving the lives of those with TBI. With greater awareness, we can provide better resources to fight TBI, so that one day, curing TBI will become a reality.

David A. Hovda, Ph.D., Christopher C. Giza, M.D., Mayumi Prins, Ph.D., Sue Yudovin, R.N.

UCLA Brain Injury Research Center, Neurosurgery and Pediatric Neurology, Mattel Children’s Hospital – UCLA

No-touch football

Exactly what memo did the Denver Broncos get regarding the new tackling restrictions in the NFL? As evidenced by their 59-14 loss to the Raiders, they must have taken the safe route and decided not to tackle.

Chris Gagliano

Redondo Beach

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