Letters: These are confusing times for NFL teams in Los Angeles

I wish new Chargers Coach Anthony Lynn the best of luck. Joining the city’s sports pantheon of the St. Lou ... uh, L.A. Rams, Brook ... uh, L.A. Dodgers, and the Minnea ... uh, L.A. Lakers, I’m anticipating good things from the franchise and am hoping for competitive play this fall.

Mark J. Featherstone

Windsor Hills

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We cried for 22 years that we didn’t have NFL team in Los Angeles. We were determined to not spend a penny of taxpayer dollars to get the NFL to come back.

The Rams’ owner decided to come back to L.A. and pay for his own stadium. Now an AFC team from down south decides they want to come play here too.

An NFC team, an AFC team, and a beautiful new stadium that we didn’t pay for. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Go Rams, go Chargers!

Glenn Heap

Whittier

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The Rams hired a coach who is barely out of high school. My fear is that, if he is any good, he will be one and done.

PJ Gendell

Beverly Hills

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Beethoven gave his first public performance at 7. Mozart wrote a symphony at 8. Orson Welles directed “Citizen Kane” at 25. Spielberg directed “Jaws” at 27. So maybe Sean McVay at 30 isn’t too young, after all.

Vaughn Hardenberg

Westwood

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Not only do I agree with Dylan Hernandez [“Critics of Chargers’ move need to relax,” Jan. 13], I also have a four-step program for the city of San Diego to achieve eternal bliss:

1. Give yourself a standing ovation. You and Pasadena join an elite group of cities that have refused to cave to the NFL’s wishes.

2. Acknowledge that you have loyally supported this franchise for over a half-century and are not the first city to get burned.

3. Become “Tuscaloosa (Lincoln, Norman) West” and throw your support behind San Diego State. The Aztecs are an exciting, up-and-coming program that cannot play the hostage game the way a pro team can.

4. Imagine in a dozen years things not working out for the Chargers in L.A. and have them come slinking back down the 405 with hat in hand. It’s not that far-fetched.

Steve Varalyay

Torrance

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Here’s a novel idea: Let’s combine the Chargers with the Rams and create one mediocre team. We can call them the Charging Rams.

John Howard

Port Hueneme

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Why can’t the NFL owners at least pretend to care about the fans and stipulate that when a team relocates the team name stays in that city, with the fans. If a team moves back to that city the faithful get their team “back.” If only the NFL cared that much about the fans.

Jeff Heister

Chatsworth

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All I read is the Rams are ahead of the Chargers and they’ll always be No. 2. No. Whoever wins will be No. 1. I believe both teams completely understand that. People only have so much discretionary spending and as far as sports is concerned, it will go to winners. These two teams will work doubly hard to be successful as neither is the only game in town.

Doug Dunlap

Valencia

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Letter writer Bob Munson stated: “The Rams left Los Angeles in 1979 and Anaheim in 1995. Nobody missed them.” He obviously missed the 67,000 members of the “Bring Back The Los Angeles Rams” Facebook page and the thousands that attended the group’s public rallies; the 70,000 fans who purchased all the available season tickets in record time; and the 90,000 fans who showed up at the Coliseum to welcome the Rams home.　

Christopher Grisanti

Monrovia

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The sports marketing “guru” (Marc Ganis) who was quoted in The Times [“Two for one may not be best deal for Los Angeles,” Jan. 15] as saying that Los Angeles “over-supports front-runners and under-supports teams that don’t do well” might want to look in his own backyard. Two years ago the Cubs were not even selling out their small stadium, the White Sox are an afterthought and a Bears game in December drew only 44,601.

Dave Moore

Santa Ana

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Leading the league in attendance for the last 30 years despite only a handful of playoff wins (Dodgers), consistently drawing 3 million fans despite playing in a smaller market (Angels), selling out the season when the team is rebuilding (Lakers), and seasons of selling out hockey games despite being in a warm-weather climate hardly constitute front-runner behavior. More like really bad investigative journalism.

Rich Hardt

Long Beach

The Hall story

I’m a little confused with the Baseball Hall of Fame voting. How is it that someone can better their chances for induction after being denied on their first, second or even sixth try? What, did their stats improve while they are in retirement? You’re either a Hall of Famer or you are not, and it should take being on the ballot only once to determine that,

Larry Herrera

Redondo Beach

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I am a retired baseball scout, having worked for the Dodgers, Mets, Baseball America and Sports Illustrated. In my view, no player proven to have used performance-enhancing drugs in their career should be allowed into the Hall of Fame.

Here is a method to potentially settle this issue: The Hall of Fame should require a polygraph examination be taken by all potential inductees pertaining to PED usage. The results would be released publicly. This would reveal who used and who did not.

Naturally, MLB management and the Players Union will scream bloody murder over this; however, my understanding is that the sHall is not a part of MLB or the MLBPA, so they do have the right to require and administer the tests, as do public and private employers. The argument will also be made that polygraph test are, for the most part, inadmissible in a court of law; however this venue is not a court of law.

Polygraph results will reveal who cheated and who did not and will place that information in a public spotlight. Chest thumping deniers such as Bonds and Clemens will be exposed but the fans and media will receive needed clarity. Of course, both Bonds and Clemens will avoid taking the tests because they are as guilty as bloody hell!

Dave Perkin

Redondo Beach

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Next year Vlad! When you step up to the plate in Cooperstown, wait for one in the dirt.

Jim Fredrick

Manhattan Beach

Bye, bye?

In sports a bye is usually defined as the status of the team when not paired with a competitor for one week of the regular season.　 However, how do you explain a bye to the 2017 USC football team when their bye is scheduled after the season ends? This means they play 12 consecutive weeks of demanding football with no break. Yes, you can say that gives them more time (almost two weeks) to prepare for the Pac-12 championship game, if they qualify. But, if they are not in that game, and participate only in a regular bowl game, the layoff will be even more of an absolute killer.

I’m sure the sacred Nick Saban of Alabama would highly object to this type of unfair scheduling; and object to everyone responsible for it.

Richard Whorton

Studio City

Teaching the children

Yes, some of us actually do notice your brilliant headlines! To wit: “Crosby stills Dallas...”. Yes, I realize that one must be of a certain age to decipher this headline!

Bob Lentz

Sylmar

The kids aren’t all right

As a child my brothers and I were taught by our parents to own up to our mistakes, and apologize when need be. So, today I wish to apologize to Byron Scott for stating that a better coach would make a difference with this Lakers team. These Lakers players need to own up to their poor play and stop blaming youth as the culprit. The culprit is their lack of heart.

George Stephens

Fullerton

That’s bad, boys

I was going to write a longer letter, but I’ve been worrying about LeBron James being violently knocked down by Draymond Green. The old Detroit Pistons like Bill Laimbeer and John Salley must be laughing.　

Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster

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