L.A.’S an ice place to live
Why is the NHL better than the NBA? We need look no further than a comparison between the Kings and the Lakers. The Kings are in the Stanley Cup Final because they are the epitome of a team, working their collective behinds off every second they are on the ice.
As for the Lakers . . . well, they don’t.
Joe Laviguer
Bowie, Md.
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As a Lakers fan, I’m used to seeing many courtside celebrities at Staples Center. But in watching the Kings, I’m amazed that they allow Sean Penn to actually roam behind the bench and bark at the players. He’s not fooling anyone with the silver-haired wig.
Larry Newnam
Los Angeles
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Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick is clearly deserving of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender. But more important, he should have been nominated for the Hart Trophy as the MVP and won it. The Kings are only in the position of challenging for the Stanley Cup because of Quick’s play for an approximate two-month period when the Kings did not average two goals a game, yet he kept them in the playoff race. Neither of the other candidates can make such a claim.
Bruce N. Miller
Playa del Rey
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If the Kings’ success is at the top of Tim Leiweke’s to-do list [May 29], I must question how he gets anything done. He has consistently meddled in hockey decisions and handcuffed the team with a self-imposed below-average payroll for years until he was able to convince the league to get a salary cap. You want to know why the franchise has consistently underperformed under your “leadership,” Tim? Look in a mirror.
Drew Murray
Westchester
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Although we were a baseball family, 15 years ago my daughter Christy decided she wanted to play ice hockey. I looked all around SoCal and was able to find a hockey camp that happened to have Marty McSorley as a touring guest instructor.
At the end of the camp there was a game for all the kids who were there. My daughter didn’t have the right color jersey that day and she sat at the end of the bench watching, dying to get in. Marty noticed this and took the jersey off his back and handed it to her to wear and put her in the game. When the game was over he gave her his signed jersey as a gift and took her to the side and taught her the slap shot. To this day, she wears the jersey and the slap shot is part of her arsenal.
I have gratitude for Marty for this special something he did for my daughter. Later, I heard his dad had been a coach for a girls’ team in Canada. It runs in the family.
Gil Trejo
Mission Viejo
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A remarkable column from Bill Plaschke on the Kings [May 30]. The Metaphorical Delivery Truck from Hacienda Heights; the syllables and image are a kind of rollicking literature. Jimmy Breslin-esque? Even tinges of Frank Zappa’s early San Bernardino lyrics. Plaschke revealed a gritty city under the glitter.
Rob Lingelbach
Burbank Back to bases
With the Angels taking two of three from the Evil Empire and the Dodgers being swept four games by a remarkably mediocre Brewers team, the universe is back in order. A weakhitting starting eight and a middle-of-the-road Dodgers pitching staff just couldn’t handle losing Matt Kemp for any period of time. Andre Ethier and the seven dwarfs couldn’t hit a poison apple off a batting tee.
Allan Kandel
Los Angeles
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Just FYI, folks, if you want to get a Vin Scully bobblehead (for the first time ever) at the DodgersDiamondbacks game Aug. 30, you’re going to have to buy a “minimum” of 10 games’worth of tickets to buy any tickets for that game! Nice. And I thought Frank Mccourt rode outta Dodge!
Patrick Cervantes
Eagle Rock
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After reading Bill Shaikin’s story on the federal
grand jury probe into the misuse of Dodgers funds by former ownership, I have to wonder if what we know about this carpetbagger is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Bud Chapman
Northridge
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There’s only one thing that would be more satisfying for Dodgers fans than a playoff appearance — the indictment of Jamie and Frank McCourt.
Barry P. Resnick
Orange
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Iwent to Dodger Stadium on Thursday night and I found out it was replaced by a library.
Brent Montgomery
Long Beach On the NBA
Last year the Lakers could have had Carmelo Anthony for Andrew Bynum. This year it could have been Bynum for Dwight Howard. Now they’re lucky if they can get Juwan Howard. Nice going, Buss Jr.
Gary H. Miller
Encino
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Have you noticed how many easy, uncontested shots are taken by the Spurs? And that Ray Allen and Dwyane Wade’s jump shots are always wide open? And, have you noticed how many passes are thrown by the Spurs, Celtics and Heat to players cutting toward the basket rather than standing at the three-point line?
But the Lakers’ most often used offensive play is the one-on-one isolation play resulting in contested jump shots, and most of their passes go to noncutting players. The Lakers’ offense seems predicated on a junior high school pickup game. That’s why Mike Brown has to go.
Richard Raffalow
Valley Glen
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NBA dictator David Stern has had an auspicious season. First he blocks the Lakers’ trade for Chris Paul with the most lame excuse imaginable, “for basketball reasons.” What the youknow-what does that mean? Then he engineers Chauncey Billups to the Clippers, so they won’t mind sending Eric Gordon off to New Orleans to get CP3. In doing so he rendered the Hornets into the worst team in the Western Conference. The Lakers’ deal would have at least given them a chance at competing.
Then Wednesday he completed the conspiracy by handing the first pick in the draft to the Hornets, just in time for Saints owner Tom Benson to reap the benefits as the new Hornets owner. How many ways can I say this smells?
Bruce Alan
Granada Hills Covering it
Seriously? Not a single article about the U.S. men’s soccer team beating Scotland? Not a single mention of Landon Donovan’s hat trick? Completely unacceptable.
Jack Coleman
Woodland Hills
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The jinx is alive and well. After Magic and Kemp grace the cover of Sports Illustrated recently, the Lakers get eliminated and Kemp re-injures himself. Please, S.I., do not put the Kings on the cover . . . until they win the Stanley Cup.
Nate Gleiberman
Los Angeles
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