Letters: Bruins, Ben Howland in spotlight for wrong reasons

Ben Howland has been exposed as wholly unwilling and/or afraid to stand up to his recent star recruits (almost none of whom become star players until they wind up at another program or the NBA). No need to any longer assign the blame to AAU ball for over-indulging entitled hoopsters when the UCLA coach just does more of the same on a grander scale and higher level. And a 54-year-old “coach” allowing his inked-up thug to outright bully much smaller players speaks so lowly of character that anyone with a sense of decency would distance himself from the current program.

Mark Backstrom

Inglewood

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Regarding the recent criticism of Howland’s program and his lack of disciplining the athletes, one question popped into my mind: How were these kids raised? They come to the program as young men, 18 years old, with clearly a pattern of behavior that has either been accepted or ignored by their parents. What are the parents’ responsibilities for their kids’ behavior? I am not saying what occurred was right, I am saying these kids were raised by parents for 18 years and no one is saying a word about that fact.

Steve Owen

San Diego

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Stop the presses! Imagine, UCLA basketball players actually indulging in recreational drugs and alcohol, frequenting forbidden off-campus parties, rejecting authority and otherwise rebelling against their hard-nosed and strict disciplinarian coach — who conveniently looks the other way, as long as said star players are “producing.” Sounds to me like the John Wooden teams, circa 1965-1975. But the difference is, no Papa Sam Gilbert firmly in tow for today’s baby Bruins.

Steve Ross

New York

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The revelations about UCLA’s basketball program in Sports Illustrated may not be damning because they don’t reach the level of crimes that would result in NCAA sanctions — at least according to Bill Plaschke.

But as a UCLA alum that wasn’t my first reaction. The real crime is that Dan Guerrero hasn’t met the same fate as USC’s Mike Garrett.

Fellow alums, don’t let the USC alumni be the smart ones: Let’s get rid of Guerrero before he buries UCLA athletics so deep that no one will be able to resurrect the program.

John Lindsay

Pacific Palisades

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I remember the last time Sports Illustrated reported the UCLA basketball program was in “chaos”: 1979, “The Bruins Are in Ruins” and a picture of a befuddled Larry Brown at courtside. The status of the basketball program aside, the big question is how much money did the Kentucky boosters and John Calipari pay for this story?

Mike Murashige

Pasadena

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Ben Howland needs to set expectations and show consequences if a student-athlete is to stay on the UCLA basketball team. He can start by telling Josh Smith that if he shows up next season out of shape and not ready to play, he’ll be off the team. Then he has to follow through.

Don Geller

Irvine

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Here is the recipe for UCLA road losses. Play tough, hard defense in the first half, but keep the opponent in the game with inept offense. Then watch the opponent make offensive adjustments while you make none, allowing them to pull away in the last five minutes of the second half. Simply put, Ben Howland doesn’t know how to coach offense.

Alan Abajian

Alta Loma

Park it right here

I have been going to Dodgers games since my dad took me to my first game at the Coliseum. I will not go to a Dodgers game as long as the McCourts have anything to do with the parking. We still enjoy going to a game: Now I get downtown early, park in the Union Station lot, hop the train and get off in the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim center field parking lot.

Brian Higgins

Sherman Oaks

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Because boycotting the parking lot does no good in that Frank McCourt still gets millions for the lease, hopefully the new owners of the Dodgers will have enough money left to purchase and build a stadium (with a parking lot) elsewhere near the city. Then come April 30 Mr. McCourt can enjoy his parking lot and do with it whatever makes him happy, maybe purchase a scooter and drive around an empty stadium as often as he pleases.

Janice Burks

Manhattan Beach

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I was amused to read that Don Mattingly thinks the Dodgers-Angels rivalry is “kind of like the Mets and the Yankees.” He implies that the Dodgers play the role of the Yankees.

Don, there is a monumental difference. The Dodgers haven’t been World Series champions since 1988! That’s 24 years that L.A. fans have been disappointed in their local team. I mean even the Angels won in 2002.

I believe a more realistic comparison for city domination would be the Cubs and White Sox, the Dodgers, of course, playing the role of the Cubbies.

William Michael

Dana Point

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Don Mattingly is absolutely right about L.A. being a Dodgers town. Unfortunately, it’s also the town of corrupt ownership, unruly fans, and $15 parking. Don’t get me wrong. I love L.A. … of Anaheim.

Ron Reeve

Glendora

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Enough about Matt Kemp. One season doesn’t make a Hall of Famer.

V.J. Carollo

Upland

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So Andre Ethier has a short fuse. But he’s also one of the best RBI men in the National League — kind of like a teammate of Don Mattingly’s when Don played for the Yankees between 1993 and 1996. You may remember him: Paul O’Neill.

When he made an out, the camera would often pan in on Paul overturning water coolers and throwing helmets in the dugout. His teammates kind of cleared the area when they saw the monsoon coming. But Buck Showalter thought the sun rose and set on him in clutch situations, didn’t he?

Clifford Burton

Santa Monica

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I’m sure that was Ned Colletti in the front row of the Academy Awards telecast. Maybe he was there to get some strategy from “Moneyball” star Brad Pitt.

Ray Rosenbaum

West Hills

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It is time for Mayor Villaraigosa to consider once again condemning this land for the public good. The city should own the parking lots surrounding Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles could sure use the $14-million annual profit. Either that, or give it back to the heirs of the original landowners.

Debra Vodhanel

Los Angeles

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Should the new owner think that fan loyalty will override Frank McCourt’s continued connection to the Dodgers he should remember that Albert Pujols is now playing just down the freeway.

Stuart Weiss

Los Angeles

Failing the test

Say it ain’t so, Ryan Braun.

I very much want not to be a cynic and recognize you as a fine young man and gifted athlete who was unfairly tainted by a drug test gone wrong. I want to believe that you are just as clean and decent as the vast majority of your fellow major league players. And I would prefer to believe that the name Ryan Braun belongs in the class of a Dale Murphy or Steve Garvey rather than a Barry Bonds or Manny Ramirez.

Yet, when your guilt or innocence is determined not by facts but procedural error, the doubts will persist. Bad guys who beat the rap due to a technicality are still considered bad guys.

Ken Swift

Tustin

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Bill Dwyre’s story on Ryan Braun in Tuesday’s edition was right on. Ryan Braun is beyond guilty. There is no doubt in my mind nor the minds of anyone who can think that Braun cheated and got caught. The simple fact that baseball could not afford to have such a scandal is the reason an “impartial” third person found him not guilty. The proof will be told for the remainder of his career. Without steroids and without Prince Fielder, Braun is the modern day Brady Anderson. The fact he was voted MVP in the first place was a joke. The fact he cheated made the most sense.

Geno Apicella

Placentia

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I’m saddened and disappointed by Bill Dwyre’s column smearing Ryan Braun.

Everything Mr. Braun said and did after these accusations are the actions and words of an innocent man falsely accused. As Braun said at his news conference, “Today is about everybody who has ever been falsely accused; and everybody who has ever had to stand up for what is actually right.”

If Mr. Dwyre and The Times’ editors think something “fails the smell test” and is “Alice in Wonderland,” please explain how this man’s testosterone level was supposedly three times higher than any result ever tested, out of tens of thousands of tests, in the history of MLB testing. Something had to be wrong with the custody of that sample or that test.

Steve Hollander

Los Angeles

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I think FedEx should change their motto to: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight ... unless you’ve just won the NL MVP.” Mr. Braun should keep his mouth shut and just be thankful that his sample was sitting in someone’s refrigerator over the weekend. The players’ union’s motto should now read “ If the urine sits, you must acquit.”

Reuven C. Katz

Los Angeles

Cory and Dale

All of your readers who have contributed to your letters section over the years should stop for a moment and reread Bill Plaschke’s Feb. 26 column about Arizona State baseball player Cory Hahn and his father Dale. In most letters we all submit, we try to be humorous or we call a player, team or organization out on something that is in most cases meaningless. What is meaningful however is the love and dedication a father is giving his son, who sustained a horrible debilitating injury, while participating in a sport that he and his son have loved ever since Cory was able to swing a bat and catch a baseball.

Richard Whorton

Valley Village

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In my opinion, the phrase “everything happens for a reason” is one of the most overused and overrated colloquialisms ever created. However, this phrase is perfectly fitting for the article by Bill Plaschke on Cory and Dale Hahn. But for his fateful slide at second base, Cory would have likely become another multimillionaire baseball star providing entertainment to a local fan base and civic pride to his hometown. However, I believe that Cory Hahn will someday walk again and in doing so, Cory will provide immeasurable hope and inspiration to people with disabilities around the world. His legacy and his impact will then stretch far beyond the world of sports. I personally look forward to that special day when I can read the story of Cory’s triumph in this very newspaper.

Maury D. Benemie

Corona

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I confess to being a softie. An old softie with two grandchildren who share Cory Hahn’s love and devotion and passion for the game of baseball. I’ve seen my own family’s participation in baseball up close and personal. I get it.

But never before have I seen anything like this story. It literally moved me to tears and I felt the love and amazing bond between this father and this son as if it were extremely personal.

I wish them continued strength and hope and endurance.

Bette Mason

Los Angeles

T.J.’s time

Your article on Clippers forward Kenyon Martin was the most revealing and touching portrait of an pro athlete that I have read in the last 20 years. That Martin gives so much of himself to help young people who stutter is exemplary.

Martin is a past spokesman for the Stuttering Foundation and his name appears on their list of “Famous People Who Stutter” on their website. The Stuttering Foundation site also has a “Celebrity Corner” section with in-depth articles on some of these famous people, such as Bruce Willis, Bill Withers, Emily Blunt, B.B. King, Lewis Carroll, Byron Pitts, Jack Paar, Dominick Dunne, Rowan Atkinson, Eric Roberts and former Kings star Dave Taylor. I certainly wish that I had had role models like these people when I was growing up and also had known about famous people who stutter like Kenyon Martin.

Kevork Garabedian

Studio City

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Just wanted to say “thank you” to T.J. Simers for telling the truth about Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his column on Friday. Unlike so many other reporters, T.J. not only mentioned that Floyd is going to spend 90 days in the can for this year, but he also pointed out that he has been arrested three other times for domestic violence. If Manny Pacquiao really wants to fight Floyd, all he would have to do is put on a dress. Floyd would jump at that chance to try and pulverize someone in feminine clothing.

Scott Daloisio

Chino

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Great column, T.J. Holding pumped-up millionaire prima donna athletes like Mayweather and Woods accountable [March 2] only makes it easier to appreciate authentic class acts like Chris Paul.

Jack Von Bulow

Temple City

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Before T.J. Simers writes yet another gushy column on the wonders of Chris Paul, and we anoint the Clippers as the next NBA champion, it might be nice if they could find a way to beat the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves at home.

Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster

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