Letters: This UCLA story isn't the right style for many readers

Oct. 25, 2019 3:58 PM PT

I’m sure Mick Cronin is a great guy and as a loyal alum and UCLA basketball supporter I’m hoping for the best. But the $50,000 wardrobe updating shows me how perverse college athletics have become. Kids play for zero and top coaches and administrators are paid millions. Students are forever in debt. I’m 61 years old and doubt I have spent anywhere close to 50k on my glistening wardrobe in all my adult years.

Ted Lux

Playa del Rey

So Mick Cronin felt the need to spend fifty grand on a new wardrobe. Is he really that obtuse, clueless, lacking in self-awareness or even common sense? The emperor — in this case the coach — has no clothes. And no shame.

Mel Frohman

Los Angeles

Can someone please explain how a story about the $50,000 new wardrobe purchased by Mick Cronin was put in the Sports Section (on the front page no less) rather than the Image section that appears on the occasional Sunday?

Howard P. Cohen

North Hills

Whose town is it?

Tuesday night’s season opener between the Clippers and the Lakers should put everyone on notice. Despite playing without injured star Paul George, the Clippers, with Kawhi Leonard and Lou Williams leading the way, were able to defeat the Lakers. Any knowledgeable basketball observer can tell you that the Clippers are simply better than the Lakers at this point. The Clippers lack only one thing: the support of the city of Los Angeles. If they keep playing great ball, that will come sooner than you think.

Charles Reilly

Manhattan Beach

Is it too early to jump all over the Clippers bandwagon? Where do I sign up? Are there dues? Does Billy Crystal get all the good seats?

Marty Foster

San Francisco

Thank you to Andrew Greif for an insightful portrait of young Clippers point guard Landry Shamet. His path to the NBA attests to the importance of community, the value of hard work and personal responsibility, and the rewards one can take from the ultimate result. I’ll be watching him even more closely.

Pam McFarlane

Santa Monica

I recently read where Doc Rivers said he understood L.A. was a Laker town but had issues with the championships they had won while in Minnesota. I certainly understand that as I have the same issues with all the championships the Clippers won while in San Diego. Oh wait...

Marcelo Barreiro

Manhattan Beach

Is the season over?

I support the Dodgers bringing back Andrew Freidman and equally support the Dodgers’ smug attitude about it. After all, fans and media have no right to criticize the man who brought us Dave Roberts, Yu Darvish, Manny Machado, Curtis Granderson, A.J. Pollock and Joe Kelly.

Craig Poletti

San Dimas

Insanity: Doing the same thing the same way, thinking the result will be better.

So, the Dodgers are bringing back Friedman and Roberts....

Randy Erickson

San Diego

Same old song and dance from Andrew Friedman. As long as you and Stan Kasten can fill Dodger Stadium, you two are happy. Just don’t deceive the fans anymore. You’ll still get plenty of sheep to fill the stadium, but don’t tell us the same regurgitated story year after year.
By the way, Dave Roberts made more managerial mistakes than Lasorda through Alston in just one game. Best to all.

Michael Anderson

Santa Clarita

Will the real Cody Bellinger stand up? If it’s the one who played in the first half pay him whatever he wants. If it’s the one who played in the second half trade him while you can still get something for him.

Milt Miller

Encino

Help out the fan

Someone should throw a penalty flag and penalize the USC Coliseum administrators for unsportsmanlike conduct for allowing hot dogs to be sold for $12 and “souvenir” soft drinks for $8. The total is $20. I am able to purchase the same combination at Costco for $1.50. Shame on USC for price gouging. Even the vendors selling “danger dogs” wrapped in bacon outside of the Coliseum charge only $2.

Dickran Tevrizian

Pasadena

It’s been fun watching all these great finds low on USC’s depth chart. Maybe we can find a coach there as well.

Jack Saltzberg

Valley Village

Old song and dance

When will young women stop being just the fluff on the sidelines expecting respect and admiration for being mere decorations. At least cheerleaders show some athleticism in their routines.

Dance and song girls, really. Just another bump-and-grind job. Congratulations, you’ve arrived.

Linda Bradshaw Carpenter

Los Angeles

Not a history major

A leader is defined as a person who rules or guides or leads others. I thought that is what a quarterback like Dorian Thompson-Robinson is supposed to do. But, when I read that he was unaware of an 11-game losing streak to Stanford, I paused. I never knew that ignorance was humorous or to be taken lightly.

How do you lead if you are ignorant of the subject matter, namely a game against Stanford in which a win was desperately needed? Maybe that is what is going on with this football program, starting with Mr. Kelly and filtering down to Thompson-Robinson.

Dennis G. Cosso

Arcadia

Passing advice

Cute does not cut it. Why are the Chargers running in that situation in the first place?

Without timeouts, you pass twice or three times and then if you don’t score, you kick the tying field goal.

This loss is on coach Anthony Lynn.

Fred Wallin

Westlake Village

Not super

Eric Sondheimer’s article about lawyers creating the super schools in Southern Section sports missed the point.

Yes, that happened, but it was just a sidebar to the whole “stage parent” nightmare that been going on for a long time.

Parents suing because their kid doesn’t start on the soccer team. Others buying off officials to get their kids on college rowing teams and buying SAT scores.

This just opened the door for those two teams to buy players from public school teams all over the Southern California landscape that didn’t have the resources to compete.

The story here is what has happened to programs like Long Beach Poly (Eric didn’t even mention them in his article) who were in the title game every year before this policy came into place. Public school board incompetence and coaching changes can devastate a program on their own, and then the likes of Mater Dei and St. John Bosco are allowed to sweep in and buy all the talent.

Pro sports at least have salary caps to keep it fair.

Jonathan Vaughan

Long Beach

Cellar, beware

Now that CC Sabathia of the Yankees just suffered a career-ending shoulder injury, how soon before Angels GM Billy Eppler tries to talk him out of retirement to be the ace of the rotation next season?

Glenn Hiramatsu

Orcutt, Calif.

Letter writers have asked can Mike Trout or Joe Maddon pitch? The answer of course is no. After watching the Houston Astros defeat the New York Yankees in six games it shows how far the Angels need to go to become relevant. Good luck, Arte Moreno and Billy Eppler.

Vincent Carollo

Upland

Letter perfect

After 65 years of reading the L.A. Times, it has become quite clear the paper’s best writing appears every Saturday morning on Page 2 of the sports section. The prose is learned, incisive, sometimes so cleverly humorous one must ponder the print to grasp the punch line, other times a stinging rebuke or a moving accolade. At their very best, these concise scribbles rival Murray or Mencken.

When do these journalists get their Pulitzer?

Steven G. Wigely

Newport Coast

What a game!

I guess the best records in either league this year does not mean that much. Whoever is the hot team at the end can really carry that very far.

This is a great aspect of a great game. You never know what will happen at any time in this great game.

Teams of destiny like the 1969 Mets or ’88 Dodgers and this year of surprises make this game so amazingly hard to figure. As a baseball fan you have to love this or you miss great thrills!

Nate Gleiberman

Sherman Oaks

Quiet, please

Tell Booger McFarland he owes me a new TV remote, I broke the mute button during this week’s “Monday Night Football” game.

Barry Smith

Thousand Oaks

Just a thought

“Mr. Plaschke, Please do a favor for me. Don’t allow Mr Moreno to take the blame for my failure to live up to everyone’s standards. Don’t hamstring Joe Maddon. He had nothing to do with it either. I was able to fool my family, my teammates, everyone. The Angels organization gave me a chance to be a professional baseball player. I just forgot that there’s more, much more to life than baseball. Thanks, Tyler.”

I like to think this is what Tyler Skaggs would say, if he could.

Alex Fernandez

Lakewood

The end of Zlatan

Hey, maybe Zlatan Ibrahimovic just had a cramp in his groin. Or maybe a bad case of jock itch. Or maybe...

Nah, he’s just a tool.

Axel W. Kyster

Bradbury

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