Letters: Boxing does it again

I didn’t pay for the Bradley-Pacquiao fight, but I did turn on the pay-per-view channel and watched the fight on its scrambled format with only the sound ... the same way two of the judges, obviously, watched it.

Marc Popkin

Los Angeles

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In a sport that has no mores eyes to blacken, the powers that be in boxing somehow found a way to do it again. Is it any wonder mixed martial arts is taking over?

Dan Jensen

San Clemente

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Perhaps The Times, in its continuing efforts to ram reams of copy about boxing down our collective throats, should pay heed to one of the sport’s leading figures. Bob Arum, as quoted the after the laughable Bradley-Pacquiao outcome: “I’m going to make lot of money (in a rematch) but who’s going to take this sport seriously?”

Amen.

Gordon Morris

Glendale

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I’ve been watching fights for 60 years and have been told by everyone that a fighter wins a round if he hits the other guy more then he’s hit. The only exception is a knockdown. Even though Pacquiao out-hit Bradley 253-159 for 12 rounds, it doesn’t give the round-by-round count. Usually you see this type of win only in a Don King production.

Mike Richman

Santa Ana

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“Leaving Las Vegas” should be the name of the next boxing movie. It is time for the sport to spend more time in New York, Dallas, L.A. and any number of Indian casinos. The judges are bought and paid for by the Vegas bookies. As a matter of fact, I am trying to figure out what fight Jerry Roth was watching. Bradley didn’t win more than three rounds.

The most surprised guy at the MGM was Timothy Bradley. The rest of us have come to expect it, and ain’t that a shame!

Chuck Rinaldi

Huntington Beach

Believe it

It’s a mistake to call the Kings Stanley Cup championship improbable.

People who follow hockey understood that the Kings were one of the best teams in the NHL during March and April.

Playoff history is full of high-seeded teams being defeated by teams who peaked at the end of the season. Hockey experts and TV analysts agreed before the playoffs that any team that made the playoffs in the Western Conference had a good shot at making it to the Final.

Since the opening round against Vancouver, the Kings played like a team destined to win the Cup. Plaschke and most of The Times’ columnists simply use “improbability” as a dramatic device to write a story because they have not paid attention to the game all year.

Michael Krubiner

Valley Village

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Congratulations to the Kings and all involved in the organization, but let’s not forget Helene Elliott, who has diligently covered this team through the lean years and has pushed management to make the moves necessary to bring the Cup to Los Angeles. She deserves a big thank-you from all the Kings fans for her role in this long-awaited championship.

Michael Gonzalez

Chino

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I grabbed The Times last Saturday as I always do to check out the letters to the sports section only to find out that my son and I are not “real Kings fans.” Yes we paid ridiculous prices to see Game 4. But we did not do that because it was the “thing to do,” driving the prices so high that a “real Kings fan” could not see the game. We did it to celebrate a season and a great playoff run for a team we love.

We did it before we realized it might be a close-out game. We did not pay as much as some. The prices more than doubled after we bought ours. But I could not even discuss with my son the possibility of selling them back and using the money to pay for a lot games next season. It was too important to him.

Larry Weiner

Culver City

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The best part about the Kings winning the Stanley Cup? T.J. Simers will need to find another team to pretend not to care about.

Warren Andrews

Los Angeles

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There is one thing Stan Kasten, Frank McCourt and Donald Sterling would pay to see: T.J. Simers trying his shtick on Kings Coach Darryl Sutter.

Wes Wellman

Santa Monica

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Thank you, Channel 4, for the fine coverage of the pre-staging of the Kings’ victory parade. I can’t think of anything more exciting than watching a bunch of talking heads describing the parade before it happens. Watching Tiger Woods make a late charge into U.S. Open contention would not have had the suspense and the excitement of watching people sitting in a bus.

John Broecker

Lake Forest

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Only a 45-year wait for a championship? Amateurs!

Sincerely, Chicago Cubs fans

Robert Ostrove

Ventura

Sweet on No. 16

On behalf of a huge group of senior ladies who are hopelessly in love with Andre Ethier, I send thanks to the Dodgers for keeping him around for at least five more years, which we hope we’ll still be around to see. We watch all the games on TV. We go to Dodger Stadium. I’ve gone to San Diego to cheer the Dodgers at Petco Park. In short, we’re old, but we’re not dead. Andre Ethier is gorgeous and sexy and a hottie. Thanks to the Dodgers for giving us someone to dream about for at least five more years.

Nonie Lann

Tarzana

Horse stuff

You really had to work hard to come up with such a negative review of the Belmont Stakes. I loved the race. I wonder what the 85,000 who attended would have felt about your article.

I wonder who chose the headline: “Tattered race is left with ‘Rags.” Talk about a kick in the gut.

Is the purpose of writing at all to just trash things? To make fun of a sporting event that was so tragically disappointing is cruel. Thank heavens they discovered the injury to I’ll Have Another before the race — should we not talk about that?

This entire article disturbs me, especially when there was a feel-good story about Union Rags and his owner. “Schmaltzy”? I wonder how many other people reacted to the meanness — or is that the vogue now?

Patricia A. Belgum

Northridge

Don’t forget Munich

Under the heading “Indelible Stains” The Times listed 10 Olympic controversies that forever leave their mark on the Summer Games.

Unfortunately, the most important controversy in the history of the games was left off the list: the murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the Munich Olympics in 1972 by Palestinian terrorists.

Maybe the controversy was that the Olympics did not have adequate security; or that the German government refused assistance from the Israeli government, which, unfortunately, had years of experience in such situations; or that the Olympics were not suspended out of respect to the great loss of life; or that 10 Arab countries protested, lowering their flags to half-mast, and immediately raised their flags following the memorial; or that the German government released the three remaining terrorists (in exchange for a hijacked Lufthansa airliner), who returned to heroes’ welcomes in their home countries.

Jack Saltzberg

Sherman Oaks

Don’t forget Billy

In developing the very appealing story line of dark-horse upsets when the U.S. Open is played at San Francisco’s Olympic Club, we do a disservice to one of America’s greatest golfers, Billy Casper.

Unlike One-and-Done Jack Fleck, whose 1950 win over Ben Hogan was the darkest of dark-horse victories, Casper was a legend of the game, with 51 victories (seventh on the all-time PGA list, nine more than Phil Mickelson), including two U.S. Opens and a Masters. In the years 1964-1970, Casper won 27 times, six more than Arnold Palmer and Gary Player combined.

Jack Shakely

Rancho Mirage

Hoop schemes

Game 1 of the NBA finals began and ended with the best perimeter defender in the NBA (LeBron James) guarding someone other than the best offensive player in the NBA (Kevin Durant). There are only two possible explanations for this decision. Eric Spoelstra has taken leave of his senses or LeBron forgot to ask for courage when visiting the Wizard of Oz.

Maury D. Benemie

Corona

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How fickle are the gods (and sports reporters)? If Shane Battier doesn’t luckily bank in a crucial three-pointer (no mention in the article) and the ref doesn’t swallow his whistle on Durant’s final short baseline shot (an obvious missed call), OKC is up 2-0 and we’re talking about the Heat blowing a huge lead and LeBron settling for a three-pointer instead of driving to the basket at crunch time and fouling instead of playing good defense.

Instead, LeBron is clutch, the Heat “keep their cool,” and Wade and Bosh are discussing their heroics. Good thing I watched so I knew what really happened.

Frank Shapiro

Chatsworth

A few good words

David Stern: We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very ratings that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it.... I don’t give a darn what you think you are entitled to.

Jim Rome: Did you order the lottery fix?

Stern: I did the job I...

Rome: Did you order the lottery fix?

Stern: You’re gosh-darn right I did!

John Brunel

Tustin Ranch

Paging Dr. Lance

If Lance Armstrong and his cycling team has the medical ability to hide (alleged) blood doping over a seven-year run, instead of prosecuting him, shouldn’t we employ his team to find the cure for cancer? If that is the case, he is a lot smarter than the entire medical profession.

John Faraone

Arcadia

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