Letters: NBA fans unhappy? That’s a lock

Whatever happened to David Stern? Where did he go? You remember the guy who expanded the NBA, made millions of dollars for the owners and players, took the league to new levels of popularity. A real leader. The only thing this guy has done lately is to cancel two weeks of the season. He has become a total crony of the owners, another Bud Selig. If you locate the real David Stern, let me know.

Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster

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Mike Bresnahan explores the impact of the NBA lockout on the Lakers [Oct. 7], suggesting a shortened season might help their aging roster. But the Lakers’ problem isn’t age. It’s that they’re not good enough anymore. Did anyone watch last year’s playoffs? Bynum and Odom shamed the franchise, Gasol lost his mojo, Kobe is starting to show his age, Artest is a sideshow clown, and Fisher is now doing what he should be doing: representing players, not competing against them.

The Lakers should have one aim: Dwight Howard.

Frank Shapiro

Chatsworth

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In a time when Wall Street is under siege for greed, when people are desperate for a job, in these lean times filled with despair and worry, it is astonishing that the NBA can’t figure out how to share billions of revenue between owners and players. The amount of businesses that will also lose their livelihood, employees who depend on their jobs associated with the NBA will suffer much more that these overpaid over indulgent athletes.

Shame on all of them. Move over, Wall Street. The NBA gives greed a whole new face and they should be embarrassed by it. When is enough enough?

Frances Terrell Lippman

Sherman Oaks

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Sadly, the NBA players union has a lot of leverage. They know when their negotiations are over, the arenas will be filled again, because the NBA is basketball played by the rich, for the rich.

Paul Manocchio

Van Nuys

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So, the NBA is likely to cancel the meaningless first half of its season? Any way we can get the meaningless first three quarters of each game canceled too?

Chad L. Budde

La Canada

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The NBA players will never understand the hard work and risk that it takes to build a successful business. Business owners are responsible for more than just a paycheck; they are responsible for the success of the business, job satisfaction (in the NBA it’s called playing time), opportunities to advance, benefits, happiness, etc., and they worry about these matters seven days a week, not just from 9 to 5 like most employees.

The players have now walked away from an average salary of $5 million per year, and when they decide receiving zero dollars elsewhere is no longer acceptable, they will return. The players can also go ahead and start their own businesses and make their own rules and pay their employees large sums of money if they desire, but until you place your signature on paychecks for others and live this responsibility as a way of life, you will never understand the owners’ position.

Rob Hamers

Irvine

According to your Oct. 7 article Mike Brown is spending his time with assistant coaches working on offensive plays along with the defensive ones, instead of taking a vacation with his family while he still can.

This is the kind of coach that Los Angeles needs after the departure of the great Phil Jackson. Even for those that don’t believe that Coach Brown will be able to handle the reins here, this should be a little relaxer, knowing that we’re getting a person who is willing to put all of his time to create a winning program.

J.J. Vazquez

La Mirada

Just write, baby

After reading Bill Plaschke’s cliched article about Al Davis, “The bad guy was good for the game,” it’s no wonder Al Davis and the Raiders organization didn’t like dealing with the press. It’s such an easy and shortsighted view to rip the Raiders and their fans to sell newspapers — it’s as if Plaschke, Simers, and the rest of the Times sportswriters had been victims of unrequited love when covering the Raiders.

Plaschke states, “without Al Davis, the Raiders will never again be the Raiders.” Obviously, Plaschke has never walked the parking lot in Oakland before the game, where even during the losing seasons of late, the Raiders fans have arrived at the crack of dawn from all over California, and neighboring states, to tailgate with enthusiasm, gusto, and pride. Walk the pregame parking lot, Bill, and you’d learn about fan loyalty, and that even though Al has passed, the greatness and tradition of the Raiders will be forever carried on by their fans and that the Raiders will continue to be the Raiders.

Harry Zimmerman

Marina del Rey

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I was a consultant with the city of Irwindale when we were attempting to build a stadium for the Raiders. I remember in a meeting with Al Davis I asked him what he did with the $10 million the city paid him in advance of the Raiders locating in Irwindale. He said, “I had Bo Jackson in this room and I wasn’t letting him out until I signed him.... I gave him $7.5 million of that money and signed him.”

Rudolph Silva

Brea

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Now that Al Davis (may his soul rest in peace) has forever left Los Angeles, would someone please make the intelligent decision to reinstall the track into the L.A. Memorial Coliseum? I remember as a wide-eyed 8-year-old how beautiful a site it was, watching the 1984 Olympic track and field events and, on a more personal level, being a die-hard Trojan fan, watching Traveler circle the track after every USC touchdown.

Al Davis ruined the true beauty and splendor of the Coliseum by removing the track for extra seats to sit rowdy fans. Now that he has passed on, the Coliseum should be once again restored to its true majesty. How awesome would it be for new generations to see the Coliseum the way it used to be?

Felipe Varela

Whittier

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There once was a Raider named Davis

Who claimed the media was shameless.

While revered by his players

He fought with all naysayers,

Yet his legend and celebrity are ageless.

Dan Anzel

Los Angeles

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All this sentimentality over the passing of Al Davis is getting to be too much. Former Raiders love him, they say. Always did the best thing for the Raiders, they say. Baloney! Sitting future Hall of Famer Marcus Allen on the bench for almost four years is acting in the best interests of the team? He is what he was — something special all right, but go ask Marcus for a eulogy.

Dan Jensen

San Clemente

Grand plans

All fans in Los Angeles should be pulling for the Ed Roski proposal to land an NFL team over the one by AEG. The stadium that would be built in Grand Crossing would indeed be the most convenient to all Los Angeles area fans and the most true NFL experience for those fans.

It is clear that the Roski proposal would have everything a fan could want — ample parking, ample tailgating, lower ticket prices and a much easier in and out. AEG only cares about the money and how much they can make off the fan. They have never mentioned fan benefits and they only mention how much more a team would make. As a fan, I don’t care how much a team can make. I want a stadium and a team that cares about the fans. AEG has ruined the fan experience at Staples and will continue their trend at Farmers Field. Don’t let them win.

Geno Apicella

Placentia

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The NFL needs L.A. more than L.A. needs the NFL (repeat as needed). The jobs for peanut vendors created in a new stadium will be jobs lost in whatever city a team deserts in order to bring their football circus to L.A. “Integrity” and “loyalty” are words that can’t be found in an NFL dictionary. One can, however, find “contempt,” “greed,” “hubris,” “self-interest” and the always popular “the-fan-be-damned.”

Mel Frohman

Los Angeles

Initial reaction

Grandfathers should explain to their grandkids that there used to be the nostalgic baseball expression “winning the pennant.” This tradition brought a feeling of excitement to the fans of the two teams that won first place and were going to the World Series. In the playoff years, baseball has replaced “pennant” with the alphabetic gobbledygook called ALDS, NLDS, ALCS, and NLCS. I doubt if many fans listen to and decode in their minds the meanings of these letter combinations or if they even care about them.

When Bobby Thomson hit the home run in 1951, the Giants’ announcer Russ Hodges repeatedly yelled, “The Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant... .” That sounds a lot better than, “The Giants win the NLCS, the Giants win the NLCS, the Giants win the NLCS... .”

Al Delay

Riverside

Zone defense

Thank you for the excellent, thorough and balanced article on the strike zone [Oct. 9]. One more point you might consider is that there are two types of parallax. One obvious one is the view from center field used by TV cameras, which has nothing to do with what umpires see. The other kind of parallax is much more important. That is the parallax problem created by the umpire squatting between the batter and the catcher, off-center from the plate. It gives the umpire a different view of the zone on the inside pitch compared to the outside pitch.

Years ago, it was common practice for American League umpires to align directly behind the catcher, while National League umpires took the “parallax view” now used by all MLB umpires. This became standard when MLB umpires became all the same in 2000. This was an unwise standardization and should be revisited.

Joe Bonino

Glendale

Powder boo

Right on, Chris Dufresne! Booing a player who’s sent in to replace an injured teammate is the height of classlessness. As a loyal Bruins season-ticket holder for about 15 years I can only say that there are way too many sniveling complainers among us in the stands and VIP suites at the Rose Bowl. Get a life and start cheering for the team! It’s an embarrassment to have you in the midst of the real Bruins fans.

Bob Bayer

West Hills

No more roar

Why does The Times show us recurring pictures of Tiger Woods tossing his club in disgust? Who cares? He behaves as a pouting adolescent, not a role model. Like Sarah Palin, but for different reasons, Tiger is no longer relevant! Please, stop boring us with headlines referencing him.

Paul L. Hovsepian

Sierra Madre

Cal-amity

So, USC beat Cal for the eighth consecutive time. As a Cal alum, please support my Occupy Berkeley campaign to fire totally ineffective Jeff Tedford, who is incidentally the highest paid employee of the state of California. For the sum Cal is paying Tedford, we might at least hire Rick Neuheisel. This would afford both schools the opportunity to improve their football programs.

Konrad Moore

Bakersfield

Icy forecast

No local NFL, NBA or major league baseball. Who is more concerned, the editors desperately trying to fill the sports pages with meaningful content or Simers and Plaschke, who will momentarily have to stop denigrating the NHL in order to cover the Kings and Ducks?

Andrew Mackinney

Westchester

Loyalty is out

David Ortiz’s insistence that he’ll consider playing for the Yankees is exactly why sports do not matter anymore. What’s next, Brady to the Jets? Shaq to the Celtics? Oh, wait....

Greg Nersesyan

North Hollywood

Nap time

After a careful study by several eminently qualified baseball analysts, it has now been determined what the secret is to Mike Napoli’s post-Angels success. Every time he steps up to the plate, he sees Mike Scioscia’s face on the ball.

Charles Reilly

Manhattan Beach

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