Letters: Another scandal rocks the Trojans

What exactly is going on over there? Isn’t anyone minding the ship? After what has happened with other star athletes there (i.e. Reggie Bush, O.J. Mayo), how come no one questioned Joe McKnight about what he was driving to practice? Even though he denies it, it is obvious what is going on there. I am a USC alum, but I certainly don’t condone this kind of behavior. Come on Pete, do your job. And that is not just about X’s and Os.

Sherwyn Drucker

Winnetka

Nothing exposes the shabby state of Trojan athletics more than the attempt by some USC fans to find moral equivalency between Joe McKnight and Kai Maiava. McKnight’s case is about having the use of a car against NCAA rules right under the noses of USC coaches. Maiava is a student who underperformed in a classroom and let his teammates down. There is a world of difference. Maiava’s case may be a failure of effort, but it is not an lapse of ethics. And in regard to the athletic departments, the former raises further questions about institutional control; the latter shows institutional control being exercised.

Richard Murphy

Whittier

Day after day we are bombarded with how Joe McKnight was seen driving an “unauthorized” car. Making this out to be akin to a murder suspect. However, three seniors are ruled academically ineligible and all this receives is one sentence? Last time I checked, USC was a learning institution. Isn’t education its top priority? These players should be ashamed of themselves and so should the coaches and university. Perhaps we needn’t look any further than why this program has taken a down turn. Maybe Carroll needs to start recruiting guys who actually have a brain.

Geno Apicella

Placentia

I understand that USC’s crack compliance office will look into the Joe McKnight situation (and finish up their investigations of Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo) just as soon as they find out what happened to Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater.

Doug Thomson

West Los Angeles

USC has gone from institutional arrogance to institutional oversight. What is taking the NCAA so long to impose penalties on Teflon Pete and Silent Mike?

Sol Bialeck

Van Nuys

USC’s star running back Joe McKnight is nothing more than the proverbial kid in the candy store. With all of the glory, hero worship, and potential of a high-paying NFL career he may have made an err in judgment like many other high profile college athletes.

Perhaps the NCAA needs to implement a policy of mandating a class in ethics for all college players to assist them in avoiding temptation. Heck, maybe the USC coaching staff could audit such a class as well! Fight on?

Steve Siry

Los Angeles

Gee, I bet Pete Carroll was shocked (shocked!) to learn that Joe McKnight was driving a Range Rover he didn’t own and couldn’t afford on his USC salary, uh, scholarship. The best part of the article was McKnight’s clumsy denials of ever driving the car, despite eyewitness sightings of just that.

McKnight can’t be blamed, though; like O.J. Mayo and Reggie Bush before him, his ethics role models were Petulant Pete and other coaches at the University of Sullied Character. The school must have a top-notch CompLIEance program, because everyone automatically resorts to dissembling with each new revelation of unearned compensation secretly funneled to the school’s “student athletes.”

I wonder if these young men believed before they were recruited by USC that they would be entitled to evade all those annoying NCAA rules. Or did they learn that lesson hanging out at Heritage Hall?

Allen Michel

Calabasas

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Interview exposes Mannion

Dennis Mannion’s lengthy response to Bill Shaikin’s questions reveals little more than that Mannion should give up baseball for politics. He’s a master of double-talk and excuses (as opposed to actual reasons). What Mannion and McCourt have apparently concluded is that Los Angeles fans will show up, regardless of the quality of the on-field product.

Kip Dellinger

West Los Angeles

I want to congratulate Bill Shaikin on the Dennis Mannion interview. He asked the right questions and after the Dodger executive evaded answering them he asked them again, masterful. I was so pleased to see a reporter doing his job. I have wanted so badly to like the McCourts but, after five years and some clear success on the field, I find it impossible. They are phonies. And Mannion is no different.

Howie Siegel

Victoria, Canada

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Howland needs a new point guard

Maybe UCLA basketball Coach Ben Howland has Pete Carroll-Matt Barkley syndrome? Too stubborn to admit he made a mistake. We are 10 games into the season and unfortunately UCLA point guard Jerime Anderson still cannot dribble, pass or shoot the ball on a college level. Strangely enough he does not possess the Ben Howland style of defensive play and yet he still get the starts.

Come on, Ben, isn’t it time to give someone else a chance?

Wally Seller

Chino Hills

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Dear Donald, fire Dunleavy

Though I’m embarrassed to admit it most of the time, I’m a Clippers fan. Despite the injuries this year, the team should have a much better record considering the talent they have. I’ve just watched them lose two games (Knicks and 76ers) where the Clippers were leading big at the half, only to fall apart in the second half. The common denominator is Mike Dunleavy. Please Donald Sterling, let him go.

Ezra D. Rappaport

Valley Village

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Forbath should’ve been All-American

This is the effect of playing on a better team: Alabama’s Leigh Tiffin beat out UCLA’s Kai Forbath for the All-America team. (Forbath won the Lou Groza Award and a few minor All-America awards.) Whether you look at stats or watch them both kick, there is no way an unbiased observer would pick Tiffin. (The Groza award is voted on by kickers, which is why Tiffin didn’t win that one.)

So why did Tiffin win? Because he plays on an undefeated team and he was put in position to score more points (mostly more extra points). That shouldn’t decide All-America voting.

Jeffrey Schneider

Sherman Oaks

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Kings supply the perfect present

Nothing needed for the holidays this year. The Kings’ performance as one of the top teams in the NHL is the best present I could ever hope to receive.

Dalia Watters

Torrance

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Coal in the Trojans stockings

Dear Santa,

I think you forgot me yesterday on Christmas or you did not receive my gift list from your elves:

A big slice of humble pie for Pete Carroll.

Sammy Hagar’s biggest hit recording for Joe McKnight.

Truth serum for Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo.

A portable GPS for Mike Garrett so he can find himself.

A gift card at Sylvan Learning Centers for the academically ineligible team members.

A DVD of the Wizard of Oz for the NCAA Infractions Committee so maybe they can find the heart, a brain and courage to finally do something.

And while you’re at it, I have an empty stocking over the fireplace that is in great need of a zone defense for UCLA basketball and a pitcher not a wife ditcher for the Dodgers. If I’m not putting you out too much, Game 2 of the NBA Finals at Staples would be greatly appreciated as it will be the last home game for the 2010 champion Lakers.

Jeff Black

Beverly Hills

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