Letters: Wake them when the lockout is over

The NBA announced cancellation of its entire preseason schedule. I am a Lakers fan, and I want to know if that also includes the 41-plus game stretch until mid-January, where it usually looks like the Lakers are just going through the motions, or is it the entire 82 games prior to the “real season” — the playoffs?

Ron Peters

Thousand Oaks

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Is there a more tired story in sports than the greed-fueled NBA lockout? Moreover, with the NFL, college football and the baseball playoffs in full swing, it would take a search party to find someone who cares.

Bud Chapman

Northridge

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Plaschke’s assessment of overpaid NBA basketball players points to the same situation existing in both the NFL and Major League Baseball. The unmitigated greed of players and owners is astounding. The problem has persisted far too long and, in light of our current economic crisis, can easily become the Waterloo for their very existence. If you have any doubts just ask Frank McCourt.

Drastic changes must be made with salaries cut in half, profit margins narrowed and ticket prices reduced to levels once again affordable to the average sports fan and not simply celebrities and business enterprises. When you take greed out of the equation the solution is quite simple.

Bill Mouzis

Lake Balboa

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The really bad thing if the NBA season is canceled is that Kobe Bryant gets another year older and closer to retirement. As a Lakers fan I dread the day he’s no longer a part of the team. We’ve been fortunate in L.A. to have had players as amazing as Baylor, West, Magic and Kobe to watch and enjoy.

Richard Karliss

Sherman Oaks

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Bill Plaschke’s column on the NBA lockout displays an incredible lack of historical perspective. The reasons why star power is the lifeblood of the NBA are voluminous. Yet, my point is proven with just six words:

Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.

Maury D. Benemie

Corona

Defenseless

So does USC’s Cover 2 mean cover two eligible receivers or cover all of them twice a game?

Jack Von Bulow

Temple City

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It’s about time USC gets rid of that old horse. No, not Traveler, but Monte Kiffin. If the Trojans continue their lackluster, uninspired defense under old Monte, perhaps it’s time for a defensive coordinator who has a scheme built for the new millennium.

Ron Roberts

Woodland Hills

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Uncle Monte Kiffin’s comment that “the Trojan defense is not as bad as it looks” is hard to defend.

Robert J. Gagliano

Palos Verdes

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While sitting in the Coliseum on Saturday and watching SC’s pathetic defense, I began to wonder, what’s the difference between the “Tampa Two” and “Prevent” defense? Finally it hit me; it depends on who is coaching it. Monte Kiffin came to USC with all the accolades of a genius, but he seems to be out-schemed and out-coached by Pac-12 offensive coordinators weekly.

If Lane’s dad continue to play 60 minutes of prevent defense, the Tampa Two might have a different meaning; two of them sent packing back to Tampa.

Willis Barton

Los Angeles

A fan of USC football since I lived on the East Coast and Mike Garrett was running around in the backfield, their win over Arizona was a bit appalling. Sure Barkley-to-Woods is wondrous to behold, but where is the running game? And can anyone on the team spell D-E-F-E-N-S-E, or play it? What happens when yet another sharpshooting quarterback comes to town?

Lewis Redding

Arcadia

Westwood woe

UCLA Game Plan:

Plan A: Run the ball with the running quarterback.

Plan B: Pass the ball with the passing quarterback.

Plan C: Pass the ball with the running quarterback.

Order of plans: Plan A, Plan C, act as if you don’t have a Plan B.

Plan D: Get a coach with imagination.

Paul Edwards

Fullerton

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I would love to see Mike Leach become the next UCLA football coach.

But even in the unlikely event that he is hired, he wouldn’t last long because he would clash with the athletic department.

The best way to prevent such a conflict would be to have the athletic director at UCLA be ... Mike Leach. But then Mike Leach the A.D. would have to get along with the chancellor, and the best chancellor who can do that would be, once again, Mike Leach.

It’s highly unlikely that Leach will be hired to fill all three positions.

Paul Jeong

Beaumont

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Wow, when did UCLA become the Vanderbilt … no, wait, they got better. When did they become the Northwestern of … no, they are better too. Oh yeah, when did UCLA become the Clippers of the Pac-12? Wait, even the Clippers are getting better.

OK, so when did the best uniform in college football become one of the worst?

Come on, Rick, we all want you to stay the guy.

Lon Sellers

Glendora

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I see that UCLA players feel their talent matches that of Stanford. With Andrew Luck likely to get the 2011 Heisman I fully expect UCLA to start the “Brehaut for 2012 Heisman” marketing campaign immediately after the season.

Scott Lorenz

La Canada

The untouchable?

Every so often T.J. Simers gets it right, as he did in his Oct. 5 column about “Teflon” Mike Scioscia, who has been untouchable in the media through good times and bad times since day one as manager of the Angels. Scioscia has consistently avoided responsibility for the poor trade decisions made by the front office, as he did recently in his statement blaming Arte and Tony for trading Mike Napoli away last year. Certainly it was time for Reagins to go, but Scioscia should also be held accountable.

Allen Mann

Pacific Palisades

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Judging from Mr. Reagins’ comments earlier in the year (“I do not regret spending a single dollar on any of the players we have released”), I would say that Tony is perfectly suited for his next job — representative in Sacramento or Washington.

James Fryman

Crestline

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The Angels’ problems go much deeper than Reagins. Batting coach Mickey Hatcher has never been able to mine the potential of hitters. Vladimir Guerrero went to Texas where he stopped swinging at pitches bounced in the dirt before home plate. Vernon Wells — well what can you say? He’s a proven hitter with a good attitude, but no hitter should go through a season-long slump. What is Hatcher paid to do? And then there’s Scioscia. His decisions about catchers are inexplicable. I’m betting Weaver could outhit any Angels catcher today. And then there’s Scioscia’s platoon lineups, where many players never know what position they’re going to be playing, much less where they’ll be in the batting order. Enough!

William Sauvageot

Tustin

Swinging away

Mariano Rivera may be the best pitcher over one inning, but there is no way to measure his greatness as a starter [Oct. 3]. I’ve always contended that if you can’t get three guys out, then you shouldn’t be a pitcher whether you are a starter or reliever. Can you really say that Rivera is better than Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan or many other pitchers if they only had to pitch one inning?

Steve Shaevel

Woodland Hills

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When will Bill Plaschke get off his high horse and stop blaming Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa for the steroid era [“Clean break,” Oct. 2]? The true blame goes to the duplicitous and arrogant baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and MLB players’ union chief Donald Fehr, who enabled the steroid era, and looked the other way, to rescue the game they all but destroyed by canceling the end of the 1994 season and World Series. These are the men who tarnished the legacy of Roger Maris’ home run record by allowing steroids to fester in every major league clubhouse, not the players who followed their sanctimonious leadership.

Rhys Thomas

Valley Glen

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For the first time in my adult life I did not attend a Dodgers game this season. To all of the fans who complain, I ask this question: Did you attend a game this year? If you did, you are part of the problem.

W. Lee Miller Jr.

Inglewood

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It’s fun to watch the Angels and the Dodgers in the playoffs: Napoli, Oliver, Kotchman, Furcal, Theriot, Martin, Saunders, Beltre, Rodriguez and any others I missed.

David Waldowski

Alta Loma

D’oh!

The way Tony Romo is giving away football games, I think he should resume dating Jessica Simpson. Right now he is playing as if he is dating Lisa Simpson.

Marc Popkin

Brentwood

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