Fans aren't celebrating

L.A. Times Archives

Sept. 8, 2012 12 AM PT

I’m fine with extending Ned Colletti’s contract, as long as they insert a restriction against trading with the San Francisco Giants. Can you say Jason Schmidt and Juan Uribe without wincing?

Ken Blake

Brea

Perhaps Matt Kemp should be more concerned about his hitting than which kind of cream, shaving or whipped, to apply on his teammates. The way the Dodgers act after a walk-off win, you would think they had just won the World Series, or were at least in first place.

Sterling Buckingham

Canyon Country

Bill Shaikin (“Down the Line,” Sept. 2) has impressively laid the groundwork for crybaby excuses in the event Los Angeles is unrepresented in baseball’s postseason.

Suggesting where the Dodgers and Angels might be in the standings if punitive measures were applied in the cases of Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon is a comical waste of time. While sadly representative of the professional sports climate that surrounds us, it’s done. Move on.

Matt Steinhaus

Santa Monica

What do you call a Dodgers lineup that includes All-Stars, a batting champ and a couple of career .300 hitters?

Murmurer’s Row.

Terry Snyder

Los Angeles

Dictionary.com defines “oxymoron” as “a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect.” By this definition, here is the newest L.A. sports oxymoron: “heart of the Dodger lineup.”

Larry Weiner

Culver City

Angels star not quite flawless

When Mike Trout came to the Angels less than a month into the season he had it all -- outstanding batting, fielding and running. There didn’t seem to be a single flaw in his game.

But now, sadly, I’ve found one. The young man takes far too many third strikes with the wood still on his shoulder.

I’m a geezer, so I’ve seen every striker of the baseball since the 1940s and can’t remember any of the great ones trusting an umpire’s opinion on a two-strike count often as Trout does.

Other than that, this young man is one of the very few players today who’s worth the price of admission just knowing that he’s in the lineup.

Paul Pumpian

Shadow Hills

Trojans fans weigh in

I was entertained by the article “Best ever?” [Sept. 4] on USC wide-out Marqise Lee. I think one call to Pat Haden would tell you that even J.K. McKay had better hands than Marqise. I never saw Keyshawn Johnson or Mike Williams drop three easy passes.

Marqise is an incredible talent, but until he can catch the football better he isn’t even the best on his own team!

Brett Elkins

Los Angeles

Congratulations to the L.A. Times for blowing the whistle on USC football. I’m sure you received the customary 30 pieces of silver.

Kenneth M. Bezich

San Pedro

College fans are fired up

The reason college football will never have a legitimate champion even with the pending four-team “playoff” is the fact that schedules played are never balanced, and nonconference games are never regulated. For instance, Louisiana State plays eight home games this year. USC plays six. LSU plays all of its nonconference schedule at home against schools like North Texas, Towson and Idaho. USC must travel across the country to play Syracuse and also must play Notre Dame.

Until the NCAA regulates balanced schedules and nonconference opponents, the champion will never be legit.

Geno Apicella

Placentia

The first week of college football is a bad joke. Powerful top 25 teams play small schools that have no chance of winning, but agree to be humiliated for a big paycheck. So Savannah State was slaughtered by Oklahoma State, 84-0, but walked away with a check for $385,000. This nonsense has to be stopped. It is a black mark on the integrity of the sport.

Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster

As a region, the Southland produces the best prep athletes in the country.

So in articles last Sunday such as the one about the incredible performance of Nebraska’s Taylor Martinez, isn’t it worth stating that he starred at Corona Centennial?

Nevada stunned Cal behind Cody Fajardo, from where? Servite.

The backup to USC’s Matt Barkley played significant minutes. Yes, his name’s Max Wittek, but no mention that he hails from the same high school, Mater Dei. Oh, and who composes the remarkable tandem of wide-outs Barkley throws to? Robert Woods and Marqise Lee -- both of whom attended Gardena Serra.

Doping cases aren’t the same

Bill Plaschke’s comparison of Lance Armstrong’s case to that of various baseball doping cases is like comparing apples and oranges.

It’s not that we should drop all suspicions because of Armstrong’s incredible philanthropic efforts. There just is not enough evidence to support the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s cheating allegations, and certainly not for stripping seven Tour de France titles. The evidence needs to be presented in an open forum so that cycling fans can understand and then judge for themselves.

Remi LaBelle

Pasadena

Title IX still draws a divide

According to Chris Erskine (Sept. 4), Title IX has been an unqualified success, producing only winners. A nice sentiment, but probably not one shared by the many male college wrestlers, gymnasts, swimmers, soccer players and other athletes who have seen the plug pulled on their programs as a direct result of the implementation of Title IX. In reality, Title IX enforcement has not been subtle or pretty, and there have been casualties.

Was Title IX necessary? Undoubtedly. But there is a much less sunny side to the Title IX story, a darker side that Erskine’s happy talk doesn’t bother to acknowledge.

John M. de Jong

Long Beach

Chris Erskine’s tribute to Title IX wonderfully expresses how influential this legislation has been to the lives of girls and boys, women and men, in the United States. I know that both my older daughter, starting college as an engineering major, and my younger daughter, a high school student-athlete, have benefited from the “emancipation in 37 words.”

Julia Phillips

Los Angeles

For the record

A letter last week incorrectly referred to Andre Ethier as being a homegrown Dodger. He was acquired in a trade with the Oakland Athletics.