Fans Show Some Bark After the Pac-10 Takes Big Bite Out of Huskies

So the Pacific 10 Conference had the guts to levy some meaningful penalties on the University of Washington. I say hurrah. And how are the Huskies taking their medicine? Like crybabies. If one listens to athletes, coaches, athletic directors and even university presidents, all infractions committed in college sports are “minor” and deserve only a slapped wrist.

Hopefully, the times are changing and all colleges should take heed. If not, hit ‘em again, harder, harder. . . .

NATASHA ANTONOVICH

Montebello

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In response to your “Sacked for a Big Loss” editorial and to Mike Kupper’s “A True Winner Wouldn’t Quit” from Aug. 24:

How about some fairness? Is it not true anymore that the same rules should apply to everyone and that punishment must fit the crime? Then I suggest you call for similar sanctions against UCLA and USC. After all, it was not that long ago that Todd Marinovich from USC was caught with illegal drugs. And just recently, a couple of UCLA players were arrested for criminal activities. Terry Donahue might feel prosecuted, but “when you are the boss, you are responsible--for everything.” According to your editorial, these schools should be punished, yet your paper seems to conveniently overlook it.

Of course, it is so much safer to investigate out-of-town teams and to justify penalties against them. After all, were you to do it with one of the local teams, your readers would not like it.

DMITRY RADBEL

Pacific Palisades

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I wonder if Mike Downey didn’t read too deeply in that Midwestern tradition of the working-class hero. On those rare occasions where I read past his opening paragraph, I’ve always been struck by the feeling that if Sly Stallone was as turned on by sports as by his own reflection, he’d have been Mike Downey.

Here’s a writer on the paper that uncovered one of the biggest stories of the year and he’s nattering on about Don James in terms that might embarrass James’ own notorious former son-in-law.

Among a column of dubious statements, these are my two favorites: (1) that the conference “chased off” Don James, and (2) that Barbara Hedges is a “distinguished” athletic director. Mike, the guy quit in a huff! Period. And Hedges is no more distinguished than any other A.D. who might have presided over such a mess as this. Could your characterization have anything to do with your PC bona fides and the simple fact Hedges is a woman?

CHARLES CHICCOA

Reseda

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Contrary to the naivete displayed by your Mike Downey, summer jobs for University of Washington athletes are not created in a vacuum. Coach James’ staff includes a person designated a recruiting coordinator, one of whose tasks is to obtain summer jobs for the incoming and current athletes. This person coordinates this work with interested alumni and other “boosters.”

Further, are we supposed to believe that Coach James did not know what the husband of his favorite daughter was doing?

H. MELVIN SWIFT JR.

Tarzana

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Mike Kupper (Aug. 24) has Don James alternately pouting, petulant, fuming, whining and in denial. After watching James for the last 18 years, why is it hard for me to believe he can suddenly be referred to as petulant or whining? Whether he was winning or losing, I can never remember Don James exhibiting anything less than the highest level of class and sportsmanship.

As a Husky fan, I wish Coach James would have done what Kupper suggests--stick it out and pull the team through the 1995 season and then decide to stay or go. However, with a reputation built over 40 years that Kupper could only dream of (me too, for that matter), should we not give James the benefit of the doubt?

PRESTON OLIVER

Temple City

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The real villain in the Washington scandal is Don James. Whether he knew of the booster activity is relatively immaterial. The fact remains that he should have known about and stopped it.

Even worse is his selfish, petulant act of quitting on his team just days before the first game. It’s not the Pac-10 that imposed the harshest penalty on the team, but the man who was supposed to be its mentor and role model.

NORM SWATON

Downey

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I’ve got little sympathy for Don James and the University of Washington, but after years of reading Pac-10 sports briefs that read like a Hollywood Division police blotter, isn’t this a case of the Pac calling the kettle black?

RICK MITTLEMAN

Studio City

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At the end of his article (Aug. 24) about Washington’s football probation, Jim Murray implied that (1) because Michigan beat Washington in a football game, and (2) because Washington cheats, then (3) Michigan must cheat better than Washington. While there is a certain logic to the statement, it seems to me that it more closely resembles libel and slander. It certainly shows a striking immaturity and pettiness for such a revered journalist.

Washington’s victory in the ’92 Rose Bowl was proof to Jim of the Pac-10’s superiority. Washington’s loss in the ’93 Rose Bowl didn’t matter to Jim in January because the game was “meaningless.” Now the game does matter because it proves Michigan cheats. What will the ’94 Rose Bowl bring? And when will Pac-10 Rose Bowl winners stop going on probation right after they win?

JOHN TRIERWEILER

San Clemente

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For as long as I can remember, whenever the collegiate athletic policing bodies take off the belt, they are forever spanking the wrong kid or apprehending someone other than the head culprit. Gross ineptitude, bias and a warped sense of justice are hallmarks of their operation.

High-exposure programs aren’t the only ones that don’t play by the rules, and for those of us who expect the penalty to fit the crime, the overly harsh sanctions meted out to the University of Washington football program were a travesty of justice.

Now I read where Tom Hansen, the Pac-10 commissioner who led the lynching party, is under consideration to be the next executive director of the NCAA. Prevailing circumstances being what they are, he sounds like the best man for the job.

MAL STOCK

Newbury Park

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Now that you asked Billy Joe Hobert for his reaction to the Huskies’ penalties, you might as well get Charles Manson’s views on the Mason execution.

HENRY T. MENDOZA III

South Pasadena