Letters to Sports: Dodgers fans don’t like flocking to Peacock

As a longtime Dodger fan who suffered through the years where Dodger TV broadcasts were not available, last Sunday was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I pay good money to my provider so that I have access to SportsNet LA so that I can watch every regular-season game. (I know that there are a few games during the season that are telecast on ESPN, Fox and YouTube that are accessible to me). Today I woke up and turned on the television expecting to watch the Dodger-Marlins game only to find that it was only available on Peacock. Who had that bright idea to squeeze a few extra bucks out of loyal Dodger fans who don’t have, don’t want and don’t need Peacock? Suffice it to say that I am upset and feel taken advantage of. I am not going to subscribe to another service that I don’t need to get one Dodger game a year. I feel like the Dodgers and SNLA should take better care of loyal fans.

Stuart Benjamin
Toluca Lake

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SportsNet should be required to have an asterisk when they say “ we always bet on our boys in blue” claiming they broadcast all of the Dodger games. The asterisk should say “except when they are blacked out and only shown on Peacock or Amazon Prime or Fox or ESPN.”

Ira M. Friedman
Beverly Hills

Bad Lux

As soon as a short pop fly comes off the bat of any Dodger opponent, no matter where he’s positioned Gavin Lux jets to the outfield in search of a catch. No matter that the forward-moving outfielders have better views and angles as to where the ball is headed. He is constantly risking an injury from a collision and often peels off late causing the outfielders to pull up short and having the ball drop in. He likely caused the Dodgers the recent Met series by spooking Mookie Betts. That’s what I call having a low baseball IQ.

Allan Kandel
Los Angeles

Opting out

The Pac-12 set the opening game for UCLA against the mighty Bowling Green team for 11:30 a.m. Temperatures will be in the high 90s. While we have season tickets on the “shady side” of the stadium, with this early start the shade would not come in for two hours or more. Thus, I had to pass on the game. How can games in September get set in the heat of the day? Hardly a marquee game, a 7 p.m. start would bring in more fans. Shame on the Pac-12 and UCLA.

Craig A. Horowitz
Santa Monica

Game-day help

With all the new football players on the Trojan squad this season, USC should resume printing a game program for purchase at the Coliseum.

David Marshall
Santa Monica

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Got a good laugh reading Times sportswriter J. Brady McCollough’s summation of how USC quarterback Caleb Williams is primed for a Heisman run. Missed one important factor. Williams needs to give a huge shout-out to the schedule maker, who in their infinite wisdom “forgot” to put Oregon or Washington on the Trojan schedule for the second consecutive year, yet somehow found a place for football powerhouses Rice, Fresno State and Oregon State. The many recent down years must have erased USC’s football memory. They should have learned a long time ago that if you want to compete on a national stage, you gotta play the big boys.

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

Serenity for Williams

As we all celebrate or sadly say goodbye to the great Serena Williams, I can’t help but wish her to become a great in many aspects of life. Her status as one of, if not the greatest player of all time is well deserved. As she approaches her last U.S. Open competition, I can’t help but wish she never had that terrible meltdown when she was defeated by Naomi Osaka for the U.S. Open title. One can’t help but wonder if the reaction helped to damage the young Osaka and contribute to her emotional difficulties with the game. That incident so upset me at the time. … I guess it still lingers.

Here’s hoping that the future will be greater still for both Naomi and the amazing legend Serena Williams.

Richard Derk
Thousand Oaks

Familiar situation

Stop blaming Russell Westbrook for the failure of the Laker team last year. The problem was Anthony Davis not being there and LeBron James being hurt most of the year. Also the supporting cast was mostly filled with older, slower veterans. Westbrook started more games than anyone else on the team last season and appeared in the starting lineup in 78 games while no one else reached 60 games in the starting lineup. He also played 539 minutes, more than any other player on the team, and he tried to adjust his playing style to the team and coaching. Since he was the only one consistently there he was blamed for the lack of success.

The Lakers need to play the next couple of years with the current ‘stars’ on their current contracts and work now to rebuild. Stop giving away first-round draft picks. We have no first-round picks until 2027 and 2029, and there is talk about giving those away. Of course other teams want our future draft picks, they will be very high due to the consistently poor teams we will have until 2030. The Dodgers’ success is due to the combination of getting key stars and a great farm system. The Angels’ failure in the last decade is due to getting older stars who get hurt and no farm system. What does the current Lakers situation resemble?

Marty Meltzer
Reseda

Fair play

I think enough time has elapsed. I appreciate that there have been very important social/political/civic issues that warranted news coverage, however, it is time to bring back the “Sports section” to the Los Angeles Times. Do not we true sports fans deserve our own separate section that we can pull out and read when we first pick up our paper? The entertainment fanatics have their Calendar section. We demand equal access.

Kelvin D. Filer
Compton

Aging legacy

I saw your section entitled “Lakers at 75” on Sunday and immediately thought it was about the average age of the current players.

Bruce Lindsay
Whittier

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