Letters to Sports: Bidding farewell to Caitlin Clark, NCAA tournaments

South Carolina is an amazing undefeated national championship team. The NCAA not awarding Most Outstanding Player in the tournament to Caitlin Clark is a travesty. It was a noble gesture by coach Dawn Staley to recognize Clark as a “GOAT of our sport” in her postgame interview.

Brad Kearns
Stateline, Nev.

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Obviously, South Carolina was too big, too deep, and too well-coached for even the great Caitlin Clark to overcome.

After an impressive 18-point first quarter, she virtually disappeared with only 12 points for the rest of the game. And, in the closing minutes, the Hawkeyes were only six points down and in striking distance of a miraculous comeback. But, instead of Clark putting her team on her back and taking them home, she all but sealed the victory for South Carolina with several turnovers and blown layups.

While she may indeed be the projected “Steph Curry“ of the WNBA, that was not a GOAT-like performance in her final college game.

Rick Solomon
Lake Balboa

Dan Hurley’s trite courtside antics would almost be amusing if he were not just another in a long line of abusive coaches who achieved success in spite of himself. Scream at the referees, your players, opposing players? Seen it before. Stalk courtside with vein-popping menace? Ho-hum. Walk onto the court during a timeout to berate the opposing team’s two-time national player of the year? That was a new one, credit due there. Idolatry supplanted sportsmanship and decency as the NCAA and the media ignored these excesses.

Kevin Park
Oklahoma City

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The Connecticut Huskies deserve credit for winning back-to-back championships and 12 straight tournament games, but their accomplishment is still far short of that of the UCLA basketball teams 50 years ago. From 1964-1974, the Bruins won 38 consecutive NCAA games in 10 tournaments, including nine championships (seven in a row) and four unbeaten seasons, while averaging 85 points per game (and a margin of victory of 18 points per game). This all occurred before the three-point basket and shot clock were introduced to the college game. Coach Hurley’s Huskies have a long way to go enter the rarified atmosphere reached by the Bruins teams of John Wooden.

Noel Johnson
Glendale

For just a paragraph, Bill Plaschke was contrite in his column while admitting he didn’t know what he was writing about when he went after Shohei Ohtani for his alleged gambling problems. Without the humility to accept his ignorance, he decides that Ohtani should fire his “pandering agent Nez Balelo.” That would be like me firing The Times just because it chooses to employ a writer who doesn’t do his homework. Huh, maybe there is something to that.

Rich Sperber
Woodland Hills

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Shohei Ohtani gets swindled for $16 million by a sports gambler yet it seems every other television commercial is a FanDuel or a DraftKings promo to encourage MLB wagering. What’s wrong with this picture?

Bob Goldstone
Corona del Mar

The Lakers sure could have used Anthony Davis in last week’s game against the Warriors. How many times does AD need to get hit in the eye before he decides to wear goggles? Will someone please get a message to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or James Worthy to lend him a pair?

Richard Raffalow
Valley Glen

Considering the failure of the recent online betting ballot initiatives, I think it would make more sense if the state set up its own California online betting platform and then earn the tax revenues while splitting the net proceeds between the tribes (say 60-70%) and the horse racing industry, including the tracks and the breeders, (30-40%). It would be fair to the tribes and help reinvigorate horse racing in California. The state runs its own lottery. Why not a betting website? Or allow the tribes to set up their own betting platforms and for Santa Anita to do the same — both taxed by the state, of course. It’s ridiculous that the largest state in the union doesn’t accept online bets. We need the tax revenue and Santa Anita could greatly raise its purse structure (to, maybe the highest in the country) to attract more horses and stabilize the entire industry. And the state would keep its promise to the tribes. Get it done, Governor Newsome!

Morty Mittenthal
Pasadena

The incessant jabbering between Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser during every Dodgers game has ruined the game-watching experience for me. After listening to Vin Scully for all those years, this constant talk by Orel has ruined it. Why the Dodgers have not seen what is going on during the calling of the game is unimaginable. This is supposed to be a ball game and not just a talk show. I hope that other fans feel the same way and will make their feelings known to the team.

Marty Olinick
West Hills

Sam Farmer’s piece about Jim Harbaugh living in an RV and loving Jim Garner and “The Rockford Files” was hilarious, touching and classic Hollywood story.

Another example of terrific new longform journalism I’m enjoying immensely in my hometown paper!

Henry Rosenfeld
Santa Monica

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