Letters to Sports: Breaking news! Was that really in the Paris Olympics

Break dancing appears to be a new Olympics sport. When I watch “America’s Got Talent,” I guess I’m watching the future of Olympics sports — human/dog acrobatics, human pyramids, acrobats spinning 30 feet up in the air, complex acrobatic dance groups, etc. Are quick change artists, knife throwing and magic tricks coming next?

Richard Holmen
Trabuco Canyon

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Break dancing? I thought, why not tiddlywinks, then I watched it. What great entertainment. The young people involved were very athletic, funny, kind, and very supportive of each other. They all looked like they were enjoying it very much. I vote to keep it in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

John Lalonde
Camarillo

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One of the great sportsmanship moments in Olympic history was high jumpers Mutaz Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi sharing the gold medal after tying in Tokyo. Amazingly, a high jump tie happened again in Paris with Hamish Kerr of New Zealand and Shelby McEwen of the U.S. They elected to have a jumpoff, and it became an Olympic low light: 11 consecutive misses by fatigued jumpers (at descending heights!) until Kerr secured the gold. Our collective obsession with winning and medals disregards the mission statement of modern Games father Baron Pierre de Coubertin: “The important thing is not to win, but to take part.”

Brad Kearns
Stateline, Nev.

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No one cares about the Olympics anymore. Cheating, corruption, dirty water, insulting shows, men fighting women, French ideology forced upon the athletes, the housing and food virtue signaling, terribly unsafe venues, bias officiating throughout the events, terrible programming and TV schedules, the massive arrogance of the athletes, the uncontrolled atmosphere of impending acts of terrorism, and much much more to come in 2028. The Olympics are killing the interest in sports the same way the Academy Awards has killed the interest in movies.

Russell Beecher
Canyon Lake

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Thank you for the fantastic daily email newsletter during the Paris Olympics. John Cherwa’s excellent wrap up of the action each day sprinkled with his own amusing attitude and observations were nearly as entertaining as the competitions themselves. More of this sort of spirited reporting and perhaps big-city newspapers will not go extinct after all.

Steve Weinstein
West Hollywood

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Brittney Griner states, “My country fought for me to get back and I was able to bring home gold for my country.” It appears that she learned a valuable lesson: namely, that the United States is not a perfect country, but it is a country we can still be proud of and shed a tear for during the national anthem.

David Waldowski
Laguna Woods

Criticism of USC football coach Lincoln Riley’s recent “no Notre Dame” decision includes “he’s not a Pete Carroll” comparison. Amnesia? Do readers forget the early USC recruiting conduct that led to university’s sport sanctions?

John Loggins
Rancho Palos Verdes

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The letter writers who trashed Lincoln Riley need to get real. The college football landscape has seen tectonic shifts lately. As a USC alum I’d hate it too if the Notre Dame rivalry went away, just as I hated losing the longer standing intrastate rivalries with Stanford and Cal.

But with conference realignment, the NIL, and the transfer portal — none of which Pete Carroll had to deal with — the nature of coaching has changed.

At places like USC, championship expectations are high. But the Big Ten move plus playing nonconference games against LSU and Notre Dame in the same season dims championship hopes precipitously. Those howling about Notre Dame will howl louder if USC misses the playoff frequently.

Pete Skacan
Manhattan Beach

If the Dodgers management is not working on a long-term deal with Teoscar Hernández, they are not the smart organization they’re reputed to be. The guy has been a huge addition to this team on offense, with his passion and personality in the clubhouse, with his veteran leadership, and in every way. He seems to want to be with the Dodgers for years to come, so let’s get it done. Like, now.

T.R. Jahns
Hemet

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Mookie Betts? No, Mookie BEST, the best player not only on the Dodgers, but in the entire National League and arguably all of baseball. But more important, a truly wonderful person, intelligent, articulate and selfless beyond belief. Someone you wish you knew and could count as a friend. I sure wish I could.

Jack Wishard
Los Angeles

While Dan Woike’s newsletter on the current state of the Lakers accurately describes the facts, it omits one key reason why they may be wasting LeBron James’ final years. The trade for Anthony Davis was a huge win, even with all the draft capital and young players they gave up. The Russell Westbrook trade was a disaster. Giving up KCP and Kuzma for a player that didn’t fit never made sense. But it was LeBron who pushed for this trade. He shares just as much blame as Rob Pelinka.

There are no easy fixes for the Lakers’ current predicament. They can never put together a roster as good as the U.S. Olympic team, with probably six first-ballot Hall of Famers. The Lakers have excelled at identifying and drafting good players. The current CBA simply won’t allow them to put together that kind of talent via trade. The only option is to draft well and develop the players they draft. As demonstrated by his leadership in Paris, LeBron James can help with that process. Having gotten himself into this mess, it’s his only option.

Tim Truax
El Segundo

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The one NBA championship and the Olympic gold LeBron James and Anthony Davis share only proves that in a short time frame when they have been well rested they both can play like the superstars they are.

Rich Holland
Aliso Viejo

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