They’d like to see reunion show
The lead article in last Sunday’s Sports section concerned former USC football star Charles White and his battle with mental illness. The same issue revealed that two current members of the UCLA football team have left the team citing problems with mental illness. Football is America’s most popular sport, yet it is the only one of the top five — baseball, basketball, tennis and swimming are the other four — that injures so many of its participants, both physically and mentally. Why isn’t someone blowing the whistle on this travesty?
Skip Nevell Los Angeles
Lincoln Riley has done everything possible to signify he’s eager to return USC to its winning ways, which includes embracing former players who created this legacy he inherited. Charles White is statistically the greatest tailback in Trojans history, and he sits comfortably atop the conference’s all-time rushing leaders with career records that might not ever be broken. It stands to reason he’ll be warmly welcomed back into the fold by the time this letter is printed. It’s been said the road to success is paved with mistakes well handled. Keep Fighting On, Charlie.
Steve Ross Carmel-by-the-Sea
Thank you to The Times and Bill Plaschke for the article on USC great Charles White.
I don’t know about the current USC administration, but among longtime fans and alumni Charles White is far from forgotten.
As a USC student in the late 1970s, I had a front-row (well, actually fourth-row) seat to enjoy No. 12’s on-field exploits. This culminated in the 1980 Rose Bowl, where White put a talented but struggling team on his shoulders and led a last-minute 83yard drive, all on the ground. His somersault into the end zone for the game-winning TD remains an iconic moment.
My thoughts go out to him and his family as he battles the heartbreaking condition
brought about by playing the game he loved.
Pete Skacan Manhattan Beach
As I looked at the Sports section last Sunday, I saw a red USC shirt and I thought, “Oh no. Another Trojan story in The Times.” Upon a closer look — with my glasses — I recognized an old football nemesis in Charles White of San Fernando High. Back in 1975 versus my team, Van Nuys High, Charles ran for 213 yards and three touchdowns in only five carries.
In the spring, I watched from the track as he won the 330 low hurdles for the MidValley League title, only to be visibly angry because a hurdler from Birmingham dared to challenge him, finishing in second, yet too close for Charles’ liking.
I disliked him as a Trojan (I’m a Bruin) but loved him as a Ram.
Great article. I hope SC does the right thing.
Gary Grayson
Ventura
Stadium woes
We stopped going to Dodger Stadium years ago. It’s a beautiful place to watch baseball, but everything else sucks. The problems that Drew Pomerance described can all be fixed, but Dodgers ownership doesn’t care how long it takes you to get to the stadium, how filthy the restrooms are or that the concession
areas experience a shortage of condiments. All they care about is filling the 56,000 seats at every game with fans who are willing to pay the outrageous prices for their seats, their parking fees and their food. It’s all very sad. Joseph Petrotta
Altadena
I have been a Dodgers fan since I was very young. My love for the Dodgers has continued, but my love of getting to Dodger Stadium and navigating parking, etc. (as Drew Pomerance indicated in the article) is gone. Five years ago we went to a Saturday game, leaving two hours before the 4 p.m. start. Once we got off the freeway we waited one hour to get into the parking lot. We still go to Dodgers games every year but have found Petco Park easier to access. It takes a little over an hour to get there, we walk to the stadium from our hotel and enjoy better, less expensive seats and wonderful food.
Vicky McGavack Huntington Beach
Fan support
Mookie Betts asking for more Black people to attend Major League Baseball games is a timely and noble request. However, since the current rate of Black players in MLB stands at just 7.4%, it would seem more needs to be done.
To accomplish this request, maybe MLB, the players’ association and its current Black players should take this as a challenge and support Betts’ request. David Hardison Murrieta
Exit penalty?
Instead of complaining about UCLA leaving the Pac-12 Conference and asking for explanations, Gov. Gavin Newsom should be thanking UCLA for all of the decades it has been in the conference bringing in millions of revenue to help support year after year of crummy California Bears programs.
Robert Torres Redondo Beach
UCLA and USC have been subsidizing the other members of the Pac-12 by accepting an equal share of media payouts despite earning proportionally more of those revenues than their conference brethren. With the two schools leaving to join the Big Ten, it is being suggested that UCLA owes its sister school UC Berkeley a Pac-12 “exit fee” to replace the subsidy UCLA has voluntarily been providing it for years. UCLA decides to stop the gravy train and it should be penalized? I guess no good deed goes unpunished.
Gerry Swider Sherman Oaks
How sweep it wasn’t
So you have a 75-inch front-page story on how to promote track and field before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles? Gee, I don’t know. Maybe you could give more than one line in Newswire (sorry, the Day in Sports) to the U.S. sweep of the 100 meters in the World Athletics Championships up the coast in Eugene?
Steve Horn
Glendale
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