Letters: Muhammad Ali is gone, but he won’t be forgotten

The Louisville Lip is now silent. But oh what a ride the Champ took us on.

Rodney K. Boswell

Thousand Oaks

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I’m glad that Bill Dwyre [“The Good Fight, June 5”] included in his comments about Muhammad Ali the fact that he was much less of a hero to Vietnam veterans. As a veteran of that war, I can attest to that statement. That doesn’t mean that all veterans judged Ali too harshly. Many of us admired his boxing skills and some of us even gave him the benefit of the doubt when it came to his “conscientious objector” status. What I never understood was why the media turned Ali into such a hero for courageously sacrificing three years of his career for his beliefs. There were many men in my own infantry company in Vietnam who sacrificed a lot more than three years for theirs.

Charles Reilly

Manhattan Beach

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By deeming Muhammad Ali’s practice of self-promoting and speaking his truth “preening and polarizing,” Chris Erskine [June 9] has made a shortsighted comment. Ali had the courage to stand up to a government that had subjugated African Americans for 400 years. He was willing to go to jail and possibly give up his right to fight in the ring in exchange for taking a stance as a conscientious objector. In doing so, he inspired people of all races to fight for their beliefs.

Because he displayed great wisdom in and out of the ring, calling these profound actions “preening and polarizing” tarnishes Ali’s legacy.

Holly Hall

Glendale

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Ironic, isn’t it, that a leading symbol of peace for the United States should be a Muslim?

John Snyder

Newbury Park

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It hurt like a heartache, stung like a bee, when I heard of the death of Muhammad Ali.

Kenneth L. Zimmerman

Huntington Beach

Dodgers don’t get off easy

With all the moves and lineup changes the Dodgers are making, I wonder if they realize that spring training is over.

Loren Coleman

West Hollywood

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Yasiel Puig has the physical tools of an All-Star, and the mental approach of a minor leaguer. He reminds me of former Dodger Raul Mondesi, but he is not as good as Mondesi. Mondesi hit .273 with 271 home runs in a 13-year career. What are the chances that Puig, who is again on the disabled list, will approach those numbers? Slim and none — and slim has left town.

Marc Bozeman

Beverly Hills

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I have two words for reader Gary Emerling (Letters, June 4), who doesn’t like Chase Utley because he never smiles, doesn’t speak to opposing players and slides hard: Kirk Gibson.

Rich Hardt

Long Beach

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Clayton Kershaw is 8-1 and having an incredible year, another guy named Greinke is 8-3 and just pitched a complete game. Wouldn’t it be great if they both pitched for the Dodgers? Oh wait, the Dodgers can’t afford that, they have only $8 billion, and their boy genius GM already spent it on his top priority: the bullpen.

Bruce Laracuente

Sana Fe Springs

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We’ve all heard of “one-hit wonders” in the music business, meet the one-hit wonders of baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers. They make average pitchers look like Cy Young Award contenders.

Paul Kessler

Century City

Fallen Angels

Well, just trying to look on the bright side, there are worse places for the Angels’ season to reach a hopeless point than New York City!

Ron Reeve

Glendora

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As a longtime fan of the Angels, it’s become clear to me that among many of the things holding them back is the manager. Mike Scioscia has been sitting on the Angels bench for far too long and is a major reason that the Angels have struggled so much. Leaving pitchers in for too long and starting ridiculous players (i.e, Taylor Featherston last year) is starting to leave me in serious doubt that Scioscia can turn it around.

Billy Eppler has done a nice job going dumpster diving for a left fielder, and it’s hardly his fault that he’s got a walking disaster pulling the strings in the dugout. Perhaps it’s not all of the GMs who have failed to bring the Angels back to the World Series, but instead the one man who’s stayed constant throughout the years.

Adam Sloate

Irvine

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Coming into this season the Angels had a more than adequate shortstop, Erik Aybar, but had a bunch of old and/or injured pitchers. Inexplicably, the new GM traded the shortstop and the Angels’ two top minor league pitchers for Andrelton Simmons, a great fielding shortstop who never has been able to hit and has been injured most of the year. Gregorio Petit has played great in his absence, but the pitching has been awful, as most experts predicted. The absurd trade doomed any chance that the Angels had for a successful season.

Alvin S. Michaelson

Los Angeles

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Tell me again why the Angels traded Mark Trumbo?

Marty Foster

Ventura

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With third baseman Yunel Escobar not running out a ground ball Monday and forgetting the number of outs the following night, the Angels now have their own version of Yasiel Puig.

John Howard

Port Hueneme

At the Finals …

The Warriors somehow find Shaun Livingston (nine teams and a D-League stint). Golden State also finds 33-year-old Leandro Barbosa, who contributes in the Finals. Mitch? He signs the ancient Metta World Peace and the legendary Swaggy P.

Where have you gone, Jerry West? Laker Nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Steve Briseno

Mission Viejo

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If LeBron and Co. cannot manage to win the title in Cleveland, perhaps he should move next to Punxsutawney and team up with Phil. It’s like deja vu all over again.

Kevin H. Park

Woodland Hills

Saturday morning soccer coaching

We played a “totally even game,” Juergen Klinsmann said after the 2-0 U.S. loss to Colombia. Let me tell you, Editor. If you publish this letter, I’ll build an enormous wall, I mean a really, really big wall, a wall like you’ve never seen before, across the mouth of Juergen Klinsmann. And, I’ll make him pay for it!

Mario Valvo

Ventura

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