Letters: Debating Matt Kemp’s value

Ryan Braun over Matt “Almost Triple Crown” Kemp for National League MVP? Since when did baseball writers rely on BCS computers for postseason award voting?

Mark J. Featherstone

Windsor Hills

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How did Matt Kemp, according to most baseball experts the best player in baseball in 2011, not win the National League MVP? He just missed winning the triple crown, which hasn’t been done in the NL in more than 70 years. He led the league in home runs, RBIs and runs scored, third in batting average and second in stolen bases, and won the Gold Glove award for center fielders. He was a better hitter, runner and defense outfielder than Ryan Braun.

I don’t understand it

Robert Hertwig

La Quinta

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When the NL most-valuable-player results were released, announcing Ryan Braun the winner over the “favored” Matt Kemp, I couldn’t wait to read The Times’ sports section. Sure enough, Bill Plaschke didn’t disappoint me, using every possible sports columnist rhetoric, cliche and Jim Murray-ism to make his point. All he did, probably, was dust off the same column used when Magic finished second to Michael Jordan. Regardless of how the Braun-Kemp duel played out, an entire body of national sportswriters made a justifiable call.

If the selecting media had all been from the Los Angeles basin, it would’ve been Matt Kemp, hands down. Guaranteed.

Down the stretch, Braun (regardless of Fielder in the lineup) continuously came up with big hits. That’s an MVP. Kemp, meanwhile, was going after the triple crown. That’s being a great ballplayer, but not an MVP.

If the Giants’ Pablo Sandoval had equaled Kemp’s numbers and finished second to Braun, Plaschke’s column probably would’ve been, “Jeez, we miss having NFL football in Los Angeles.”

Obrey Brown

Beaumont

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The happiest person at Matt Kemp’s $160-million signing was his agent, Dave Stewart.

Charles K. Sergis

Redondo Beach

Walt’s legacy

The one thing that wasn’t stressed enough in your obituary after the sad passing of Walt Hazzard is how transformative he was in a town that hadn’t yet fallen in love with college basketball.

In many ways, Hazzard was Magic before Magic. When Earvin Johnson came to town, we’d already watched him at Michigan State. We knew what to expect. But when Hazzard brought his flashy East Coast style of basketball to Westwood in the early 1960s, it was a complete revelation. No one out here had seen anything like it. It was a shocking early version of Showtime.

The no-look passes, the behind-the-back dribbles, threading bounce passes through arms and legs. In early UCLA practices in Hazzard’s first year, balls were bouncing off players’ heads, because none of them had learned to anticipate when and how he’d get the ball to them.

He was the consummate unselfish point guard. He and Gail Goodrich remain the finest backcourt pair ever to play for the legendary John Wooden, who always quietly told friends that the Hazzard-Goodrich-Keith Erickson group that won his first NCAA championship was also his all-time favorite. Even today, it remains the most exciting college team many of us have ever seen.

It wasn’t just that Hazzard kick-started the greatest college basketball dynasty in history, it was the way he did it. Anyone who was there to watch him weave his own special spell on a basketball court never will forget it.

Steve Bisheff

Irvine

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In consideration of the current portrayal of sports personalities in the media and the truly historic paradigm shift that the Walt Hazzard-led Bruins represented in 1964, the story of his passing should have been above the fold on Page 1.

Michael Davidson

Altadena

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Your obituary of Walt Hazzard refers to him as an “ex-UCLA coach and basketball star.” Respectfully, Walt Hazzard will always be a “former” but never an “ex” Bruin in any capacity. There are no “ex” Bruins.

Skip Nevell

Los Angeles

(UCLA 1956)

Ben’s bad Bruins

It’s hard to ask for Ben Howland’s head after his earlier success, but he seems to have gone the Leonard Tose route. For the past few years now, his players have shown a real disconnect to his program. Forget about being late for team meetings and missing buses, most damaging is that they are fundamentally poor and lazy in regard to both offensive and defensive schemes, and all with almost no consequences. They can’t or won’t play defense, his trademark asset.

A fresh face is needed before our program gets “Lavinized” again. Sorry, Ben, thanks for the memories

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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Following Kansas’ victory over UCLA in the Maui Invitational, Jayhawks Coach Bill Self said, “We really came here to play Duke.” Sadly, UCLA used to be a program that teams feared, but under Ben Howland the Bruins have simply become a bump in the road that elite teams cruise past in order to play one another. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Jerry Leibowitz

Culver City

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Ben Howland is really cracking down on Reeves Nelson . Two days and one game for missing a meeting and general bad behavior . Then a whole half a game for missing a practice and team bus and flight to Hawaii.

I suppose after his next incident Ben will not allow him to have dessert after team meals . But they got that first win. So Ben’s tough-love approach is working .

Bert Bergen

La Canada

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I think the L.A. Times might need to issue a correction. In an article, previewing the UCLA basketball season, it was mentioned that because of the current renovations to Pauley Pavilion, the team would be practicing in the men’s gym. All the evidence suggests that they decided not to practice at all.

Ed Nemiroff

Sherman Oaks

One more year!

Ten reasons Matt Barkley should return to USC:

1. First USC quarterback to beat UCLA four times

2. Robert Woods and Marqise Lee

3. Rewrite USC records

4. Another opportunity to crush Notre Dame

5. USC Song Girls

6. Lane and Monte Kiffin

7. Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien awards

8. BCS and AP National Champion

9. Lottery pick, 2013 NFL draft

10. God is commanding

Jack Saltzberg

Sherman Oaks

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With LeBron James on the Oregon sideline, was it any surprise the Ducks couldn’t get it done in the fourth quarter against the Trojans?

Steve Ross

New York

The gap is open

Though I have long been a supporter of Bruin football, I have to wonder if I heard Rick Neuheisel correctly when he stated this week that he believed that UCLA has “closed the gap” with USC during his tenure. After watching inept performances against “powerhouses” like Arizona and Utah, the gap would appear to be wider than the Grand Canyon.

Bud Chapman

Northridge

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“The gap has closed.” Really Rick Neuheisel? Obviously, the gap between your ears has not. Sadly, this will probably be the final beating you’ll take from the Trojans. I’ve always thought you were a likable guy, and as a lifelong Trojans fan, will be sorry to see you go. Best of luck at your next gig.

Scott Goers

Lake Forest

Let’s see it again

As the likelihood of an LSU-Alabama rematch for the BCS Championship increases, I expect some of the same type of negativity I found in the letters column, and elsewhere, after their earlier low-scoring game. However, these people may be the same ones that will tell you defense wins championships and that there was nothing so exciting, for example, as a Sandy Koufax-Bob Gibson duel resulting in a 1-0 nail-biter.

Andrew Sacks

Fontana

AEG? Gee, whiz

Just an idea. Why doesn’t AEG buy the Dodgers and build a new baseball stadium next to the convention center. Then they can tear down the falling-apart Dodger Stadium and maybe build a football stadium in Chavez Ravine. or better yet, build affordable housing and/or return the land to the residents that it was ripped away from.

A baseball stadium downtown would make better sense as it would get used a minimum 81 times per year, greatly improving the area’s economy. L.A. Live would be better off with the increased traffic, restaurants, bars, hotels would be more prosperous. It would be a better situation than an enormous building that would sit empty about 300 days per year.

Anyway, just an idea.

Jeff White

Palmdale

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One has to love the fans of the Kings, pining away for the glory days, those well-managed days, the bygone days of winning nothing. It was a time of greatness, when essentially every team made the playoffs, yet the Kings could manage to win only four out 17 playoff series before the great Bruce McNall arrived to continue that success.

Maybe they want the years McNall almost brought Lord Stanley’s cup to L.A. with borrowed/stolen money (Frank McCourt had to learn from someone). I understand these same fans are envious that Philip Anschutz and Tim Leiweke might care more for the LA Galaxy and the three MLS championships they’ve won. Landon Donovan said it best about AEG after Sunday’s title. “We’ve got unbelievable ownership behind us.”

In reality AEG has built the Kings into a team that win more games than they ever have and can make the playoffs every year, but in a more competitive NHL. I can’t wait for them to win with an NFL team and just hope they’ll buy my beloved Dodgers.

Ronnie Grant

Tustin

Lock and key

My guess is that the prospect of holiday shopping without a paycheck will trigger a renewed sense of urgency on the part of NBA players. As a diehard fan of NBA basketball, I can only hope that the impending absence of Christmas Day basketball and the corresponding loss of television revenue will spark a similar response from NBA owners.

Maury D. Benemie

Corona

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No NBA season? Doesn’t bother me, I’m a Clippers fan.

Richard Parker

Pasadena

Gridiron logic

After watching the three NFL games on Thanksgiving, I’ve reached the following conclusions:

Penalties, especially pass interference calls, decide most games. The late Don Meredith understood what pass interference is — and isn’t — better than most current officials. UCLA never should have run Matt Moore out of town. Jerry Jones should have the right to go on the field whenever he wants because he owns it. Ray Lewis is seen more when he doesn’t play than when he does. And, if you skip the commercials, you can go back and forth between an NFL game and a golf tournament and miss very little action in either.

Bart Robertson

Torrance

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