Letters: The changing of the guard

Well, I guess the Lakers’ holiday cards will now say, “We were dreaming of a Dwight Christmas. Now we just have to hope for Metta World Peace on Earth.”

Talk about your lump of coal.

Paul Feinsinger

Agoura Hills

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David Stern? Yes, and also petty and vindictive.

Jonathan Greenspan

Westlake Village

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The only negative from the Clippers’ acquisition of Chris Paul is that it probably validates, at least implicitly if not explicitly, the unprecedented and seemingly imperious, unconscionable and outrageous veto by David Stern of the Lakers’ trade for Paul only days earlier.

Tom Lallas

Los Angeles

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I can hardly wait to see David Stern’s picture in one of Donald T. Sterling’s

humanitarian ads.

Sol Bialeck

Van Nuys

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How long will it be before Kobe demands a trade … to the Clippers?

Richard Raffalow

Valley Glen

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I must have missed it, but when did Arte Moreno buy the Clippers?

Joe Cohen

Mar Vista

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I’d happily jump on the Clippers bandwagon, but let’s be serious, this is still Donald Sterling’s team. Remember they drafted Terry Cummings and screwed it up. They drafted Byron Scott, Benoit Benjamin and screwed it up. Danny Manning, Danny Ferry. Lamond Murray, Antonio McDyess, Michael Olowokandi, Lamar Odom, Darius Miles, Tyson Chandler, screwed it up, screwed it up, screwed it up and, yes, screwed it up.

So let’s be serious, history is not on the Clippers’ side.

Brian K. Haueter

Ventura

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Bill Plaschke [Dec. 9] fails to mention the obvious; David Stern has a grudge against the Lakers because of the recent lockout. He is upset that Jerry Buss was one of only a few owners willing to give in to the players in an effort to start the season earlier, and he doesn’t like Derek Fisher because he represented the players during the lockout.

It is apparent that Stern can no longer be fair and impartial as commissioner.

Brent Trafton

Long Beach

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Trading the sixth man of the year to the team that swept you in the playoffs is the clearest indication yet that Mitch Kupchak has been seeking investment advice from Bernie Madoff.

T.B. Kirkland

Los Angeles

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Hey, Lamar: What do Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett and now you all have in common? You’ve all been traded. Being traded and making a ton of money is part of the game! Boo hoo!

Richard Katz

Los Angeles

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Hey Jim Buss, here’s a trade for you. How about trading that silly baseball cap for a dunce cap?

George Pisano

Rancho Palos Verdes

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Magic Johnson is the one who suggested that it’s time to “blow up the Lakers”. Unfortunately people listened. Just as the New York Jets finally told Joe Namath to stay out of the mix, Magic needs to recognize that he is no longer relevant.

W. Lee Miller Jr.

Inglewood

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The basketball monopoly in Los Angeles is over.

Jay Schuster

Sherman Oaks

Coach Light?

Without the help of the Coors beer ads, Dan Guerrero’s search for a new head football coach at UCLA never would have led him to Jim Mora. It’s too bad that Guerrero still does not realize that he hired the wrong Mora for the job.

Lawrence Firmona

Pacific Palisades

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“What’s that . . . uh, BOWL GAMES? Don’t talk about BOWL GAMES! You kiddin’ me? BOWL GAMES? I just hope we can beat ‘SC next year.”

Michael Cappelli

San Clemente

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Isn’t there a “three strikes and you’re out” rule for UCLA athletic directors when they hire the wrong football coach three times in a row?

Jim Gillespie

Temecula

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Not only is Rick Neuheisel no longer the head football coach of the Bruins, his infamous quote “The football monopoly In Los Angeles is over” is no longer the most moronic statement to ever come out of the UCLA athletic department. Dan Guerrero now claims that title with the headline of his recent email to Bruin alumns and athletic department supporters: “It truly is a great time to be a Bruin!”

Is he kidding? Never in my 36 years as a Bruin faithful have I ever felt worse about the state of our athletics! We should all ask, “Should a man so out of touch with what UCLA fans are feeling be heading up our athletic department?”

John C. Germaine

Granada Hills

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To paraphrase Fred Allen, you can take all Jim Mora’s success and place it in the navel of a fruit fly, and still have room left for three caraway seeds and Dan Guerrero’s future at UCLA.

Lynn Wood

Huntington Beach

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Any chance David Stern can void this Jim Mora-to-the-Bruins deal too?

Larry Yells

Hermosa Beach

Seeing red

Memo to the Angels and Marlins. The Miami Heat, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Eagles all thought that they had bought a championship. So did the pundits. So did all of us. We all now know the results.

Bernie Hobaugh

Indio

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I agree that it’s probably a bad investment to sign a 32-year-old player to a 10-year, $25-million-a-year contract. But Albert Pujols does, after all, bring an awesome 11-year resume and he can always finish out the last few years as a DH if need be. However, Matt Kemp’s contract ($20 million a year for eight years based on one good season) makes the Pujols deal look like the deal of the century.

Joel Rapp

Los Angeles

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Now Mike Scioscia has one major challenge as Angels manager — how to keep Albert Pujols away from hitting coach Mickey Hatcher.

Tom Hoerber

Valencia

Tebow’s psych job

Tim Tebow definitely has a positive psychological effect on his teammates. But what’s interesting is that he may have a negative psychological effect on his opponents. That seemed to be the case for the Bears in the fourth quarter and overtime Sunday.

Paul Jeong

Beaumont

Dash the trophy

Because ESPN tells us who’s going to win the Heisman Trophy during the week before the award, why not save the travel costs for four also-rans and their entourages and just send the one guy to New York?

And then, as we already know the winner, eliminate the boring hourlong, hyped-up show, replacing it with a decent basketball matchup.

And because we don’t need a show, don’t send the winner to New York! Situation improved!

Gene Miller

Huntington Beach

Special coach

As all of your writers prattle on about the lack of success of UCLA football, you would be well served by reading Tuesday’s obituary of Joe Restic, the longtime Harvard coach and rethinking your definition of success. Coach Restic is quoted as follows: “Success is not what the players on my team do on the field, but what they are doing five years after they leave here. If I can have an impact in helping them along, that’s what means the most to me.”

Coach Restic was a success.

Kevin Minihan

Los Angeles

Kings of comedy

Terry Murray should have been let go weeks ago when it became apparent to anyone who has watched the Kings sleep through games this season that he had lost the team, and GM Dean Lombardi’s dismissal should be close behind for acquiring plodding players in this up-tempo age. Upper management is fortunate that absentee owner Phil Anschutz must have other concerns besides the embarrassing performance of his inferior hockey team.

Arthur Freedman

Los Angeles

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If the Kings don’t turn things around soon, I plan on starting the Un-Occupy Staples movement.

Michael Gray

Placentia

Batting cleanup

I hope they clean the NL MVP award they gave to Ryan Braun before they rightfully award it to Matt Kemp. It has a huge stain on it.

Axel Kyster

Bradbury

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