Letters: Are you ready for some NFL football?

So the City Council unanimously approved a new $1.2-billion stadium and promised that it wouldn’t cost the taxpayers a cent.

Uh-huh. This from the free-spending politicians overseeing a bankrupt city that at one time had four (4) full-time calligraphers on its staff.

A word to the wise: If it sounds too good to be true, it’s too good to be true.

Skip Usen

Santa Monica

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As a longtime USC and college football fan, I have not missed having a local NFL team. I know many local football fans who feel the same way. It seems the ones who feel the most need for a team back in Los Angeles are the sportswriters, politicians, the likes of AEG and maybe the team owners.

In fact the only reason I can see for bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles would be the opportunity to give Pete Carroll an earful in person when the Seahawks are in town.

Mark Hinds

Gardena

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Note to Bill Plaschke [“Raiders, you aren’t wanted back in town,” Aug. 10]: Calm down. A dog was cooked at a tailgate party? Give me a break. With a huge Southern California legacy fan base and 13 years of proven success at the Coliseum turnstiles, the Raiders would be a perfect fit at Farmers Field. The doubtless high security there and anticipated exorbitant ticket prices will help to channel enthusiastic and well-behaved fans to the games. This is already the case at Staples Center.

As for “Raider fan” meaning rogues and rascals, that designation shifted when “Laker Fan” rioted after the last two championships. Local fans will be happy with any NFL team that plays in L.A. and if the Raiders return, the excitement and success at Farmers Field and L.A. Live is assured.

Stuart Weiss

Los Angeles

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I have always maintained that Al Davis is a man of integrity: He tells you that he’s going to rob you, and then he does.

Jefferson C. Romney

Westlake Village

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Now that we have a stadium in place, the Rams need to come home.

Dave Moore

Santa Ana

Dodger ball

Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, when asked about his decision to stay with the team rather than waive his no-trade clause said, “I think your self-identity is defined by certain decisions you make.”

It’s not hard to imagine how the events of the past few years would have been different for the Dodgers had Frank McCourt adhered to that philosophy.

Tom Hoerber

Valencia

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Frank McCourt’s personal rating index, BS&P, Below-Standard and Poor, has been downgraded to SS&P, Stubborn, Stupid & Poor. He has accomplished one thing though that the federal government has failed at. The U.S. has lost its AAA rating while the Dodgers have maintained theirs.

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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So James Loney, currently hitting just about .250 thinks the Dodgers can win the NL West this year. If Loney expects a raise from his nearly $5-million salary, please put an extra “o” in his last name.

Roy Reel

Culver City

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Has anyone taken into consideration the people most affected by the decline in Dodger Stadium attendance? I’m thinking of the ushers, maintenance crew, concession stand workers, the vendors in the stands, parking lot attendants, and security staff.

C’mon, Frank and Jamie. Sell the team — preferably to an ownership that doesn’t rip off fans and employees.

Sue Kamm

Los Angeles

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Thank you Davey Lopes [Bill Plaschke, Aug. 11] for the fresh air of honesty, for saying things we all wish we had a forum for, like you. You’ve used it well.

Ned Shapiro

Mar Vista

Concerning Bill Dwyre’s piece last week on the McCourts, this is one Dodgers fan who has been following the team on television and at the stadium since they played at the Coliseum and I will continue my own personal boycott until such time as the McCourts are history in this town. Further, with respect to the attendance drop-off reporting in The Times on Aug. 8, it looks like I’m not the only one.

Mark Bridgeford

Santa Clarita

Thanks to Bill Dwyre for saying what so many of us are thinking. But the question remains: Why would McCourt want to stay in Los Angeles where he is so despised and where his reputation is beyond repair? Is he surrounded by sycophants who tell him only what he wants to hear?

Jack Gyves

Los Angeles

Gee, I sat down to pen yet another anti-McCourt letter to The Times only to read Bill Dwyre’s Friday column first.

Never mind. Good job, Bill!

Eric Monson

Temecula

Mr. NFL

Ed Sabol [Aug. 6] is one of America’s greatest storytellers. When we remember pro football’s greatest moments, we experience the game as Sabol envisioned it. We see Bart Starr following a chilling block by Jerry Kramer on frozen Lambeau Field, Dwight Clark ascending into the sky to catch a Joe Montana touchdown pass, Vince Ferragamo throwing a perfect spiral deep to Wendell Tyler, Mark Moseley kicking into a snowstorm, and John Riggins racing down the Rose Bowl sideline in slow motion.

Sabol deserves his place in the hallowed halls of Canton, Ohio.

Stephen A. Silver

San Francisco

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Ed Sabol, enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame at age 94 as founder of NFL Films, may have “never pulled on a helmet for an NFL game,” as Sam Farmer says, but he does deserve recognition for past athletic accomplishments. While at Blair Academy in New Jersey in the early 1930s, Ed lettered in football, track and swimming. His name was still on my alma mater’s swim pool’s “Records Wall” 20 years later when I swam there.

Ed set the world Iinterscholastic record in the 100-yard freestyle in 1935 and captured both a National AAU and Big Ten championship in 1937. He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

In 1962, Ed Sabol founded Blair Motion pictures, named after the N.J. prep school, later named NFL Films, which changed the way football is televised and finally led to his overdue enshrinement.

Dan Anzel

Los Angeles

Athletic support

To put Wilt Chamberlain on your list of the top athletic athletes of the past [Aug. 11] ahead of Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders is as misguided as it gets.

Yes, Wilt was athletic… a great basketball player and at his height — surprise — he could do a little high jumping. But volleyball? Not so hot. I saw him frequently stuffed at the net by guys a foot shorter.

Bo and Deion clearly reflect superior athleticism by reaching the top professional level of two different sports and excelling there during a period of fierce competition.

Cy Bolton

Rancho Cucamonga

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For gosh sakes, where is Jackie Robinson, arguably the finest athlete this country ever produced? He was considered by many a better football player than baseball player, a terrific basketball player, a world-class long jumper and a junior champion in tennis.

Kip Dellinger

Santa Monica

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Surely Rafer Johnson belongs on Matt Stevens’ list of outstanding athletes. Rafer was a two-time Olympic medalist in the decathlon. He was named as America’s most outstanding athlete, winning the Sullivan Award. He played basketball at UCLA for John Wooden, and made the Olympic team as a long jumper.

Most impressive, however, was his climbing a rickety, wobbly, moving staircase with no side rail to light the Olympic torch in 1984 at the Coliseum. As an athletic feat it was unforgettable and unmatchable.

Dick Van Kirk

Arcadia

Caddie-gate

Caddies are like umpires, the less we hear of them the better. Tiger Woods may have been the worst boss on the planet, but Stevie Williams should have taken the high road after Adam Scott’s win. Without Tiger, Stevie never would’ve lived as comfortable a lifestyle carrying clubs during the golf season, driving race cars in the off season, and making large donations to a hospital in New Zealand close to his heart.

Larry Yells

Hermosa Beach

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Steve Williams? Really? This is a guy who needs to get over himself. Were it not for his great fortune of being on the bag for the guy who had the greatest 10-year run in the history of professional golf, nobody would know his name.

Bud Chapman

Northridge

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Overheard Sunday evening in the parking lot at Firestone near Adam Scott’s courtesy car:

“When you start hitting the shots, you can talk. Until then, shut up and carry the bag.”

Chuck Rinaldi

Huntington Beach

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Enough already of the Tiger soap opera. Treat him like just another golfer, which by the way, he has become.

Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster

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