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Letters: Taking the Rams by the horns

Cartoonist Jim Thompson illustrates the Houston Astros as cheaters.
(Jim Thompson /For the Times)
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McVay has a bunch of Lambs,

Their game is mighty slow;

And every play that Coach Sean calls, the Lambs are sure to blow.

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The Super Bowl is out this year

As the Lambs run out of time;

The team has now gone 5 and 4,

And I must end this rhyme.

Tom Stapleton

Glendale

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Given Jared Goff’s footwork in the pocket the last few weeks, he’s either auditioning for the “Happy Feet Live” production or to be part of the next “Dancing with the Stars” cast. Either way, it looks like his schedule will be open as of Jan. 4.

Dave Eng

Thousand Oaks

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The Rams sit Todd Gurley for fear of injury and his not being able to play, or can play him and risk him being out due to injury. Seems to be six of one, half dozen of the other?

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Michael Gray

Yorba Linda

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One year Sean McVay is the next Vince Lombardi and the next year he can’t coach. One year Jared Goff is the next Tom Brady and the next he can’t hit a wide-open receiver.

But these aren’t the reasons why the Rams aren’t good this year or will never win a Super Bowl. The reason is that they were once the Cleveland Rams.

Richard Katz

Los Angeles

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The Rams are being torpedoed by their coaching staff.

Wade Phillips, for all his experience and know-how, doesn’t seem to understand that the talent on his defense lies within the front line. He should be sending numerous blitz packages early and often especially against a rookie quarterback. Instead he relies on a sort of prevent defense, rushing only four and allowing arguably the worst secondary in the NFL to get picked apart. It might help if these DBs would turn their head in the direction of the ball, but they never do.

For his part, Sean McVay has not shown any of the wit nor innovation on offense that he did in his first two seasons. His play-calling is predictable at best, and he does Jared Goff no favors by making him a straight dropback QB. The Rams lost to a far inferior Steelers team because of coaching.

Axel Hubert

Los Angeles

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Doesn’t matter if you are a Steelers fan or Rams fan, the game was impossible to view. I challenge anyone to find a worse-officiated 60 minutes, ever.

Fred Wallin

Westlake Village

Troy stories

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I’m honored to be one of only 5,000 letters you’ll receive this week lamenting USC’s decision not to retain Ed Orgeron.

Bennett Tramer

Santa Monica

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OMG! Don’t redshirt Kenan Christon! He is much too valuable to this offense to sit him down! Does one think that the late John McKay would have sat an athlete such as Christon? Not a snowball’s chance in you-know-where!

Chet Chebegia

San Marcos, Calif.

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Just wondering about the Trojans’ strength and conditioning program; do they have one?

Jack Von Bulow

Temple City

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While no Clay Helton apologist, it is fair to point out some undeniable facts. Injuries to the first- and second-string quarterbacks, loss of the entire running back corps and devastating injuries to key defenders made an already daunting schedule impossible. Anyone who seriously believes Urban Meyer would have fared any better under these circumstances is simply delusional.

Mark S. Roth

Los Angeles

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Like all human beings — and most every NCAA football coach — Urban Meyer has made some mistakes in the past, but his words and his record demonstrate that he’s committed to integrity and learning from previous mistakes.

Putting rumor aside and focusing solely on facts, Meyer has won three national championships at two different schools without an NCAA violation.

Yes, it is well documented that some of Meyer’s players at Florida ran into trouble with the law, similar to many other NCAA football programs. However, Meyer’s record proves that he learned from this experience. He implemented changes, made a point of recruiting kids of high character at Ohio State and, as a result, no longer had those same issues.

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While not perfect, Meyer is a man of integrity and deserves to be considered for USC’s head football coach should that position become available.

JJ Lenz

Apple Valley

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There are other great candidates who would be a huge improvement over what USC has now and they could do an admirable job, but none would provide the instantaneous turnaround that Urban Meyer would.

USC has botched all of its football coaching hires in the post-Pete Carroll era and those glory days of Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart are fast becoming ancient history for this new generation of football players. Fans are also becoming apathetic and season ticket sales have plummeted.

The many years of poor leadership and terrible high-level decisions have put this USC athletic department in a position where it simply cannot afford to walk away from the one man who could reverse the tide and pump life back into the once-proud Trojans football team.

Hire Urban Meyer

Scott Phebus

Windson, Colo.

Let’s go Blue!

Let me be the first to congratulate the Dodgers on their 2017 World Series victory. Since it is being reported that the Astros cheated in stealing signs during their home games I am sure it is only a matter of time before MLB vacates their championship and declares the Dodger the winners. What a great opportunity for baseball to teach a lesson about fairness and playing by the rules to our children. I cannot wait to buy my “2017 World Champion L.A. Dodgers” T-shirts and cap.

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Larry Weiner

Culver City

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Maybe the waiting is the hardest part as the late Tom Petty said, but there could easily be another managerial position opening next year. A team where Mike Scioscia would be a perfect fit as well as a place that would be like coming home, and that’s Dodger Stadium. If anyone thinks that Dave Roberts is going to win the World Series with his questionable moves they’ve been in a deep sleep the last three seasons. Mike Scioscia is a Dodger who has won a World Series not only as a Dodger player but used what he learned as a Dodger to win one as manager.

Time to right the ship and bring Mike home as well as get rid of all the late October excuses we’ve all grown so tired of for the last few years.

Bill Consolo

Del Aire

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As the Dodgers compile their want list to improve their team, they should pay equally close attention to their fans’ wish checklist.

1. Increase security so fans do not risk getting beaten up in their parking lots.

2. Reduce the cost of parking. It should not cost as much as the price of a meal to park at Dodger Stadium

3. Increase public relations staff so that when letters are written to ownership, they respond rather than ignoring them .

4. Renegotiate the $8.35-billion TV deal to insure that the 70% now disenfranchised fans can watch the team on TV.

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Odds of any of this actually happening? Less than zero.

Bill Waxman

Simi Valley

A fan unloads

Load management rules for the NBA to consider:

1. The maximum sit-out for a non-verified medical or other legitimate reason (family emergency, birth of child) is two games.

2. In those circumstances, the player forfeits his salary for the non-played games and the team is fined an equivalent amount.

3. Any fan holding a pre-purchased ticket for those games — whether on the road or at home — is entitled to a full refund.

4. Any season-ticket holder will be entitled to “load manage” his or her games and inform the team that 10 -20 games during the season won’t be paid for so that our finances will be strong come playoff time in order to comfortably handle the jacked-up prices.

Jeff Berke

Los Angeles

Stop the fighting

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Kudos to last week’s letter writer for decrying the recent deaths of race horses and calling for the end of the “sport” of horse racing. I call for a similar fate for all combat “sports” – boxing, UFC, etc., the purpose of which is to cause injury to the participant’s opponent, in some cases resulting in death. Hasn’t our civilization progressed beyond the days of Roman gladiators killing each other for the entertainment of the spectators? As the letter writer wrote: “Let’s show some humanity.”

Paul Newmark

Pacific Palisades

Bill of goods

So Mike Trout and Cody Bellinger each win the MVP award and the best Bill Plaschke can muster is that yeah but neither of their teams won a title. As it is said, he’s the kind of guy who would look for the manure in a room full of ponies. Viva Mike and Cody. Thanks for the many moments of great baseball you gave this year to all the fans who so love the game.

Skip Nevell

Los Angeles

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Say what you want about Bill Plaschke. But how many readers caught his “back page” report in Sunday’s sports? Not his regular front page column where he either makes you mad, sad or in some instances you may even agree with him. This was a report on the Paradise High Bobcats being playoff bound a year after their town experienced the deadliest wild fire in California history.

I’m assuming he was reporting “live” from the game (location indicated it to be so). If it’s true and he actually commuted 470 miles to cover the story, props to Bill from going from his regular column to something so meaningful for a small northern high school team that needed a “feel good” story covered by an award-winning sports columnist.

Richard Whorton

Studio City

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The Los Angeles Times welcomes expressions of all views. Letters should be brief and become the property of The Times. They may be edited and republished in any format. Each must include a valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms will not be used.

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