Letters: The Super Bowl was super close

When Bill Plaschke picked the winner of the Super Bowl, the Patriots, and told us we were all wrong, I knew the outcome. If only I had bet the house. Dang.

Paul L. Hovsepian

Sierra Madre

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Simply put, you can’t spell “elite” without the E-L-I.

Gino Cirignano

Playa del Rey

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Age was the difference maker in Super Bowl 46 (I flunked math, so I can only count until III in Roman numerals). It was obvious that after a long break, age played a crucial part, making the field’s biggest name look slow, hesitant, confused, tired and old.

But enough about Madonna.

Jack Saltzberg

Sherman Oaks

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Gisele Bundchen is now officially the Yoko Ono of the New England Patriots.

Jack Kenna

Whittier

Clippers v. Lakers

I speak for all Clippers fans when I say that it might be time to repeal Murphy’s Law.

Maury D. Benemie

Corona

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If the “reward” for suddenly winning a few games after missing the playoffs year after year is to have T.J. Simers join the team on a road trip, I hope the Kings’ lackluster play continues indefinitely.

Andrea Lacker

El Segundo

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As much as I respect Chris Paul’s devotion to his family; both past and present, I worry that his prayer at the beginning of each game in which he tells God, “I know you know already who the winner is, but I ask that you will let it be us” will convince people that there’s no reason to buy tickets to the game since they can just read the results of what God had determined in The Times. Sort of diminishes his talent also as a basketball player, since he really has no control over the game.

Robert C. Thompson

Marina del Rey

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I have lived here all my life. We have two NBA teams, one with a wonderful history that is run by a family of class, and one that is a perennial loser, a franchise picked as the worst in sports not that long ago.

Now that the “loser” has a good team (for now), you have made it your practice for them to get the headlines in your sports section. Well let me clue you in: I, as many others that read the sports pages, follow the Lakers. Always have, always will. You are writing for a small minority and most people, such as myself, could care not less if the Clippers want to play in Outer Mongolia. This is a Lakers town, always has been and always will be, despite your efforts to the contrary.

Jon Stein

Glendale

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The Lakers beat the Celtics in a great overtime game, and The Times puts a story about David Stern’s gift to the Clippers as the lead. If this front-runner mentality is how you are going to run your sports section, why aren’t there more Long Beach State basketball stories on C1?

Michael Coyle

Long Beach

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Can The Times finally call a truce on the negative Clippers letters? The Clippers are the best team in L.A. by any measurement. The Lakers were good in the past. Who cares? The Oakland Raiders were good once.

Last week there was a dumb letter about the Clippers erecting a David Stern statue. How about the Lakers erecting it for the Pau Gasol-for-Kwame Brown trade that Stern approved and was heavily criticized for? Keep up the good work, T.J.!

Gary Pinson

Sylmar

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As Eddie Murphy says in the movie “48 Hours,” there’s a new sheriff in town! Kobe, that new sheriff on the Lakers is Andrew Bynum! Stop hogging the ball in the fourth quarter and feed the bigs.

Bill Cooley

Los Angeles

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Magic Johnson’s magnanimous praise aside, Kobe Bryant will never be the “greatest Laker of all-time.” His checkered off-the-court record, mutually childish feud with Shaq, and reputation for on-court selfishness nullifies him from carrying this worthy title. Magic and Kareem won as much and did so with so much more dignity and grace. Either one of them should be “Mr. Laker,” not the surly, me-first superstar we have today.

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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Shaq, I’ve been a Lakers fan a long time. Long enough to realize that Kobe has a long way to go to be the “greatest Laker ever.” There’s a Mount Rushmore of Lakers greats, but to call him the greatest Laker ever? Not close.

That honor goes directly to Chick Hearn.

Alex Andrade

Pasadena

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It’s a minor note and most people probably didn’t notice or don’t care. The Lakers cut Derrick Caracter three days before all non-guaranteed contracts became guaranteed the rest of the season. Caracter, a 2010 draft pick, had the misfortune of busting up his knee during training camp. The savings to the Lakers is reportedly $788,782. What kind of organization, especially a wealthy one, terminates an employee who is injured while performing for you? It may not be illegal, but given the millions the Lakers generate it surely appears miserly and uncaring.

Konrad Moore

Bakersfield

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Strange as it sounds, Lakers fans would much rather see a Kardashian, any Kardashian, than World Peace.

Dave Stuart

Westlake Village

Trumping the sale

Stop the auction! The Dodgers and fans should summarily accept the bid of Jared Kushner, no matter how low or high it is in comparison. He is quoted as not wishing to embrace the public spotlight. That would leave wide open a clear path for his father-in-law. Maybe a semicircle, left to right field, a large implant in the grass: “TRUMP” (in gold of course). And if things ever looked a little dicey on meeting a budget here or there, the new Donald could challenge the other Donald to a donation, winner to get a full year of color advertisements in the L.A. Times and the right to endorse the candidate of his choice.

Doug Worsley

Temecula

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Before Frank McCourt reluctantly relinquishes the Dodgers to the next owner and on behalf of the two million remaining fans that attended the games in 2011, I want to express the gratitude for all the fan-friendly improvements to Dodger Stadium he so sincerely promised: a widening of the concourse area, improved concession stands, and updated/enlarged bathrooms on the loge, reserve, and upper decks; a beautification of the parking lots with trees, grass, and benches; a new grand center field entrance lined with restaurants, shops and areas to enjoy before and after games; and outside the upper deck seating area, a large deck with a panoramic view of downtown L.A. and a great place for the fans to enjoy the fine L.A. weather ... not.

Tom Moir

Torrance

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James Loney’s quote “you have to pick and choose what you see every day” was interesting. Too bad it applies to his driving as well.

Ron Reeve

Glendora

College coaches

I don’t know who’s worse, Trojans football fans or Bruins basketball fans.

Ben Howland has taken UCLA to Final Fours. When your kids are so talented that they opt out for the NBA you’re going to roll snake-eyes some years.

Give Ben a break and support the man while he reorganizes for another title run.

Steve Orton

La Crescenta

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Has the USC administration decided they could not care less about basketball? As long as Kevin O’Neill is coach, that’s the message being sent. He is absolutely terrible and despised by his players. Some of us alums actually like college basketball and want to support our school. It’s difficult to justify spending my hard-earned money on tickets when Kevin O’Neill is coach. Throwing Tim Floyd under the bus didn’t help reduce the sanctions the football team got and ultimately cost us the only coach who made USC a respectable program in recent memory.

David Arambula

Los Angeles

Royal pains

Being a longtime Kings fan, I seem to have a terrible memory. In explaining the Kings’ current scoring woes, Helene Elliott quotes Dean Lombardi as saying, “It’s hard to find an upgrade now.”

I have a foggy memory of last year’s trade of essentially two first-round picks and a third-round pick for Dustin Penner as a costly attempt to upgrade. Or was it the trading of the highest-rated prospect in all of hockey, Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds (who would currently be the Kings’ leading goal scorer) and a second-round pick for Mike Richards that was the upgrade?

Domenic Giudice

Irvine

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Night in and night out Jonathan Quick gives up one or two goals a game. How are the Kings supposed to win if that continues? That is too much pressure on the players. It is time to trade Quick and get a goalie who does not give up any goals. I think the Kings can win if that occurs.

Bruce N. Miller

Playa del Rey

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So Kings fans are being asked for still more patience as this year’s team has once again failed to play up to expectations? I realize that Rome was not built in a day, but had AEG been in charge in 9th Century BC, Italy would still be a shambles.

Andrew Mackinney

Westchester

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Congratulations, Dean Lombardi, for assembling an overpaid roster of unskilled non-scorers, saved only by their defense. It is the baseball equivalent of a batting lineup all hitting below the Mendoza line, but every player is a Gold Glove winner. Booorinnng!

Ronald Peters

Thousand Oaks

They cared

I’ll bet if Bill Plaschke had written that article about players not caring about victory as much as the fans [Feb. 10] back then in the Green Bay Gazette, Vince Lombardi would have Ray Nitschke and Jerry Kramer dump him in the Fox River.

Jack Weber

Oxnard

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