Letters: Reviews of Fox’s coverage are in: No stars

It was indeed a treat to watch Fox Sports’ Tuesday night coverage of Simon Cowell’s new show, the trailer for “Captain America” and the riveting interview of Justin Timberlake by the Chase Field swimming pool hyping “Friends With Benefits.” I kind of hoped for Justin to finagle a costume malfunction of Mark Grace’s exposed nipple, but I realize that Fox is a serious network.

The only thing distracting and off-putting were the occasional shots of some kind of boring baseball activity going on in the background. I hope the people at Fox understand we viewers like our infotainment unadulterated by this sort of irrelevant nonsense.

Roger Sypek

Lakewood

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Can’t decide what was worse — Matt Kemp’s performance in the home run derby or seeing that ubiquitous smurf, Russell Martin, giving advice, drinks and hugs so he could get his mug on TV. And yes, Kemp’s “late-inning-just-falling-short” rally personified the Dodgers’ season: So close, yet so far away!

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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During Tuesday’s All-Star game coverage, Fox displayed a graphic that indicated that Heath Bell ran 100 yards from the bullpen to the pitcher’s mound in 10.2 seconds. If this is true, I am confident that I will be a contender for the gold medal in the 100 meters at the 2012 Olympics.

Maury D. Benemie

Corona

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The problem of All-Stars skipping the All-Star game can be easily solved. If you claim illness or injury as an excuse to skip the All-Star game then you must sit out the next three regular-season games. Problem solved.

Reggie Boyle

Thousand Oaks

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Sixteen players either withdrawing from baseball’s Midsummer’s Night Classic due to injuries or personal reasons? Since when was the Pro Bowl scheduled in July?

Mark J. Featherstone

Windsor Hills

Downgraded

Giving the Dodgers a “C” is surely a generous grade for a fourth-place team. What would they have to do to get an “F,” go bankrupt? Seriously — no long, middle or closing relief pitching, no left fielder or second baseman, platooning catchers, an aging left side of the infield. The thing that just boggles the mind is that they are still paying Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones. How can it possibly get worse? A “C”? Really!?

Michael Harabin

Culver City

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Here we go again.

As soon as Tony Gwynn Jr. gets it going — hitting pretty well ever since he began leading off — the Dodgers, who are going nowhere, come up with the bright idea (can I use the word “bright” and Ned Colletti in the same sentence?) to acquire injury-prone, past-his-prime, 33-year-old Juan Rivera and plan on stunting Gwynn’s growth by platooning him in left field.

This move is almost as dumb as sending Dee Gordon down to Albuquerque when 33-year-old, oft-injured relic Rafael Furcal is still in a death struggle to hit .200.

Just what are Don Mattingly and Colletti thinking? Or does thought even enter into it?

Clifford Burton

Santa Monica

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I was at the Dodgers-Padres game last Saturday afternoon. The published attendance, 29,744, is a question to me.

When they did the Kiss Cam, they couldn’t find a couple.

Alan Matis

Sherman Oaks

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I have an easy solution to the Dodgers’ attendance problem — print the correct time of the game on the tickets. Thousands missed the 1:10 start last Saturday because the tickets said it was a night game.

Kevin H. Park

Encino

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Enough! Every day we see your columnists attack the Dodgers’ ownership, the Dodgers’ facilities and the Dodgers’ players. Then every Saturday we see this criticism parroted by an ignorant and fair-weather slice of the Dodgers fan base.

Don’t get me wrong. Frank McCourt has made some terrible decisions that have been bad for the Dodgers. But he also has been the head of a team that has been to two championship series in the previous three years. He brought in Joe Torre. But it seems as though your paper has been on a jihad against this team.

It’s as if the Dodgers were the Democratic party and your paper were owned by Rupert Murdoch. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be critical of the team and its ownership when they deserve it, but you guys have been throwing everything and the kitchen sink at this team, and it’s time that you stopped.

Matt Talansky

Los Angeles

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This little item about the Dodgers acquiring former Angel Juan Rivera for cash considerations and a “player to be named later” has me a little confused. First of all, do the Dodgers have any cash to consider. And why doesn’t this player have a name yet?

Ron Reeve

Glendora

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Is there any truth to the rumor MTA will close Stadium Way for Dodger-geddon?

Howard Mationg

Gardena

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With apologies to Vin:

“It’s time for Dodger bailout!”

John Owens

Seal Beach

Not worth it

There is not much a team can do about fans leaning over railings to catch batted balls, but there is a lot that can be done to end the potential for death or injury from a fan catching a ball tossed by a player. A simple remedy is for the players to be instructed that they are free to continue to toss balls to grateful fans, but only to those on the first level where is no danger of falling. If that removes some of the joy from attending a game, so be it.

One could determine the importance of such a precaution, no doubt, by talking with the grieving family of the man who lost his life so tragically and unnecessarily.

Oren M. Spiegler

Upper St. Clair, Pa.

Listing to one side

While reading your list of greatest participants, I was amazed to see that Maurice “Rocket” Richard was omitted from hockey. In his day he was every bit as much an icon as Gordie Howe. Then I see Dan Marino but no John Elway. Are you kidding? Aside from somewhat meaningless individual stats, Elway was superior in every way.

But all this pales in comparison to the omission of arguably the greatest slugger and batter in baseball history, Ted Williams. He hit over 500 home runs after missing five of his most productive years while in the military. Of course, he is the last man to hit over .400, a feat not equaled in 65 years. Joe DiMaggio was great, but Teddy Ballgame was the greatest. That is quite a hat trick of errors!

Bob Ruben

Dana Point

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A list of the greatest NFL quarterbacks sans John Elway but including Brett Favre?

Elway has two Super Bowl rings, Favre has one, and when their teams met in the Super Bowl, Elway’s Broncos beat Favre’s Packers.

Scoreboard.

On the other hand, Favre is a charter member of the “Narcissist Hall of Fame.”

Howard P. Cohen

North Hills

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I found the list of the Dodgers’ best and worst trades most interesting. In my opinion, however, there was one trade missing that should definitely have been included: Paul Konerko to the Reds, now with the White Sox, where he has played for many years. Konerko has hit 387 career home runs and combined with his other statistics could wind up in the Hall of Fame.

Joel Rapp

Los Angeles

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Surely the “trade” of letting an aging Gail Goodrich leave to the Jazz, thus securing the draft pick that turned into Magic Johnson, is better even than the Kobe-Vlade Divac transaction.

As great as Kobe has been, Vlade was a quality center and it took several years for Kobe to win a championship without one.

And if the criterion is strictly a trade, then the second-best move in Lakers history, especially in terms of value, was Don Ford and the pick that turned into the immortal Chad Kinch for Butch Lee and . . . James Worthy.

Maddox Dees

Santa Barbara

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While I do get the theme of the story, I was dismayed to see Muhammad Ali lumped in with sports figures who are murderers, rapists, thugs or liars (“When Sports, Courts Collide,” July 12). Perhaps more of an effort could have been made to single him out in another category, say political activist, for instance.

Unlike many war protestors and draft dodgers of that time, Ali stood up for what he believed and paid the price rather than run across the border. Ali became a beautiful hero and is an extraordinary human being. He was nothing like those other characters in the story.

Judith Steele

Cerritos

He played for Ambrose

Thank you for your very fitting and well-deserved article on Coach Ambrose Schindler [Crowe’s Nest, July 11].

I was fortunate enough to have played on the first team he coached at Glendale High in 1942; luckily, I am still here to recall and appreciate those great days.

Coach Schindler led us in a very sportsmanlike and positive manner, and we all admired and respected him so much because he inspired us to put forth our best effort on the field.

I’m so glad that he is still here to receive and enjoy this acclaim.

W. Thomas Reeves III

Encino

Kicking it

If ever there was a sport that needed official reviews and coaches’ challenges it’s soccer. The U.S.-Brazil match was an officiating nightmare along with two or three other matches within this World Cup. At this level the players should decide the outcome rather than the officials. Perhaps a fourth referee would help by dividing the field in half and relying on the linesmen only for offside calls.

FIFA needs to move into this century.

Michael Desmarais

Glendora

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T.J. Simers’ recent column on the Women’s World Cup was sexist, misogynistic and mean-spirited — I loved it!

Jeff Prescott

La Jolla

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