Rams aren’t fooling anyone
Are you kidding me that Bill Plaschke [Nov. 30] honestly thinks these aren’t the L.A. Rams? This is just a new version of the losers who left this city 22 years ago. The L.A. Rams never won anything, and please don’t count that lone title in the ’50s; the NFL was a joke back then.
It’s the same old, same old with a better PR department that was able to sucker the locals to go out to the Coliseum on a Sunday and pay $100 for parking, then have to sit there and watch this pathetic excuse for a football team. Bill Consolo
Del Aire
With so many candidates in the running, it is hard to put a finger on the most annoying aspect of Bill Plaschke’s columns about the Rams. Let’s see:
1. The amount of hay he tries to make out of that meaningless July day in Irvine when some “beaming” fans showed up to watch the Rams do jumping jacks.
2. His apparent belief that the previous edition of the Los Angeles Rams was some sort of Super Bowl factory.
3. His constant, transparently coy, ironic references to Los Angeles as a “town,” which is his obvious attempt to underscore the fact that he writes for a newspaper that serves a very large city.
4. The depressing reminders that the newspaper for such a large city can do no better than Bill Plaschke. Tom Robertson
Torrance
Note to Stan Kroenke: You can build the most beautiful and technologically advanced stadium ever conceived by man, but if you staff it with coaches that can’t properly evaluate the talent of draft picks, design a great offense and defense tailored for the players you have and win games, most fans won’t pay to come to your stadium. Frank Tierheimer
Cerritos
I don’t think Stan Kroenke cares if the team wins or loses. He’s already won with his real estate deal in Inglewood, where’s he’s building a shopping mall with a grassy area attached where some sort of athletic event can be played. Mel Frohman
Los Angeles
Because losing has become the Rams’ game plan, is losing Coach Fisher next? Jerry Selby
Pasadena Sports theater of the absurd quiz: Which of these events really happened in Los Angeles sports history?
A. Mike D’Antoni banned Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from all Lakers activities.
B. Karl Dorrell told Troy Aikman to stay out of the Rose Bowl.
C. Paul Hackett had Marcus Allen permanently removed from all USC games.
D. Jeff Fisher called Eric Dickerson and asked him to stay off his sideline. David Boshard
La Cañada
As a Rams fan going back to circa 1967, I love me some Eric Dickerson. His run with the Rams was incredible. But, although tending to side with him in FisherGate, I have to take exception with a comment from Eric: “I’m a man of my word. If I tell you something, I’m going to do it.”
Please. Perhaps he’s a man of his word, but his signature doesn’t mean much to him. Along with all those great runs, I also remember him holding out for more money when he already had a signed contract. More than once. Eric Monson
Temecula
I guess we should not be surprised that our Hall of Fame running back has made himself a major distraction just when the Rams need it like a hole in the head. Eric, aren’t you the same guy who said, “John [Robinson] makes more than all of us. Let him run the 47 Gap?” Some us of still remember 1987, when you forced a trade to the Indianapolis Colts. All these “I love the Rams!” protestations sound disingenuous as hell. Once a drama queen, always a drama queen. Murray Gilkeson
La Verne
Westwood blues
I think UCLA’s football woes in recent years have been caused by “Mora the same” — big talk during the summer, then big flop during the season. Mike Carter Alhambra
Time for a substitution in the Bruins’ football coaching ranks. No matter what the buyout cost of Jim Mora’s contract, it would be cheap compared to the value of a competitive football program at UCLA. There simply are no excuses for the inability of the coaching staff to adjust to personnel challenges the past two years, and especially this year, including recruiting and harvesting the right talent for depth of bench.
Time for AD Dan Guerrero to clean house, and if he can’t or won’t do it, time for him to move on too. Mark S. Greenfield
Los Angeles
After watching another dismal performance by the Bruins, it is evident that Jim Mora has got to go. The last game of the season and they were making first-game mistakes. This is one of the most fundamentally unsound teams I have ever seen. I realize injuries have hurt, but that’s no excuse for lack of fundamentals. Phillip Greenfield
Northridge
Trojan wars
USC beat Washington and Colorado during the regular season but had to watch those two teams play for the Pac-12 championship. Sort of like winning the popular vote by 2 million votes and not getting elected. Donald Mart
Beverly Hills
It is apparent that Sam Darnold did a lot of the heavy lifting in the Trojans’ eight-game winning streak. You can already see that Darnold is ahead of Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley at a similar age. He has those intangibles you just can’t measure, charisma beyond his years and that “it” factor all athletes aspire to have. Plain and simple, Sam Darnold is a winner who makes his coaches look good.
It would have been interesting to see how the Trojans might have fared had he started the first three games of the season. Chris Sorce
Fountain Valley
Bill Plaschke’s column on USC’s Rose Bowl entitlement had an epic tone to it.
You know: Homer, the Idiocy. Rich Holland
Aliso Viejo
Swings and misses
I hope there is a clause in the new MLB labor agreement that says Yasiel Puig may no longer play for the Dodgers. Harley F. Pinson
Bakersfield
After seeing that Matt Joyce signed with Oakland for $11 million, I was trying to write something clever, but I’m so stunned by Joyce, who could not make contact with a pitched baseball when playing for the Angels, signing for that amount of money I’m going back to bed. Jim B. Parsons
Carpinteria
Check after today
I’m amused reading about UCLA’s basketball team waltzing through their cupcake schedule, with the media saying they are the greatest act on the planet. When I happened to come across the UCLA women playing Baylor, my first thought was that the women play a tougher schedule. David Hull
Rancho Cucamonga
End the cover-up!
Doc Rivers said that the Clippers went soft against the Brooklyn Nets after the team “went Showtime.” Showtime produced championships, not early playoff exits.
Perhaps it’s time for the Clippers to remove the player photos that cover those Lakers championship banners hanging in Staples Center so the players have them as a goal to look up to. Michael Coyle
Long Beach
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