In Two Sports, Bruins Make It Look Effortless

Just when I thought I could never see a UCLA team stand around as much as the football team did against USC, we had to witness the basketball team stand around against Ball State and Pepperdine.

Forget the mediocre coaching and inconsistent leadership, if you guys (offensive line, Matt Barnes) don’t care enough about the uniform you are wearing to at least put forth an effort, don’t bother to put it on. Losing is not great, but not caring enough to make an effort is unacceptable.

Rod Hersberger

Santa Barbara

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As a UCLA alumnus and a Bruin fan for well over 50 years, I was delighted to open the Nov. 6 sports section and read of the impending retirement of Peter Dalis. However, a single sentence buried in the middle of the article was quite disturbing: “One of his last acts will be to increase the buyout amounts in the contracts of Toledo and Lavin ... “

Hasn’t Dalis made a large enough contribution to UCLA’s mediocrity in the major sports? What have Toledo or Lavin ever done to warrant current retention, much less a prolonged future in Westwood? Mid-level results with high-level players should not be rewarded, and Dalis should not be allowed to saddle his successor with an even greater obstacle to removing the two principal impediments to UCLA’s national championship aspirations.

Bart Robertson

Torrance