Letters: He can cover, but he can’t cover up

Apparently, Josh Shaw has not learned the lessons of history from Richard Nixon, Pete Rose, Lance Armstrong, Bernie Madoff, and baseball players from the steroid era. Mr. Shaw, a strategy for concealing wrongful conduct by orchestrating a deliberate cover-up based on intentional fabrication, knowing lies, and egregious misrepresentations always fails.

Tom Lallas

Los Angeles

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I’ve really had a rough week. First I got a speeding ticket, but really I was driving a pregnant stranger in labor to the hospital. I couldn’t pay the rent because I had donated all my money toward the cure for ALS. I wanted to lie down on my new couch this weekend and watch college football, but I had just donated my couch to the nearby homeless shelter. Finally I got stopped for a DUI, but really I was doing field research trying to find a cure for alcoholism. Now I have to stop writing so I can study for my midterms, which will be difficult as I used my books to help block the big waves from flooding an old lady’s house.

All I can do, I guess, is “fight on.�

Marty Foster

Ventura

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Boy, they sure don’t make college football heroes like they used to.

Scott Lorenz

La Cañada

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So Josh Shaw hurts himself, lies about how it happened, has his story come apart within 24 hours, and finally is forced to admit his lie and issue a semi-apology. By this time next week, he should be the new superintendent of the LAUSD.

Doug Thomson

West Los Angeles

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Beyond the lie that Josh Shaw told, what about the “number of different people� that 12 times confirmed the story during the vetting process? Oh, and how does he afford the same attorney that Rihanna and Snoop Dogg use?

Institutional integrity? Same old USC ...

Joe Sykora

Woodland Hills

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OK, it turns out the Josh Shaw story about jumping from a balcony to heroically save a drowning nephew is bogus. It’s an embarrassing situation, but the real story is this: Shaw crashed through a two-story window to scoop up a litter of newborn kittens who somehow were in the middle of a nearby street.

We know this new story is absolutely correct and verified, as it came directly from USC’s new sports information director: Jon Lovitz.

Richard Turnage

Burbank

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Go ahead heap your scorn upon Josh Shaw, but at least he fessed up. In an age of rampant doping and criminal behavior off the field, we have much worse stuff to worry about than a panicky alibi for a likely foolhardy injury.

Stu Foldez

Woodland Hills

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Perhaps the willingness of USC’s Josh Shaw to come clean will finally give Pete Carroll the incentive to do the same.

Barry P. Resnick

Orange

Coach and Cup

What a most enjoyable, refreshing story on the most successful L.A. sports coach and his homespun values, which are highly responsible for the ongoing success and I’m sure the future championship form of the Kings [Bill Plaschke’s column, “Down on the Farm,� Aug. 24].What a joy to read about Darryl Sutter’s day with the Stanley Cup and the farmland community blue-collar spirit, a far, far cry from constantly reading and hearing about a bunch of criminals in football and basketball.

Congrats to Bill Plaschke on making my Sunday morning sports page read a delight. Can’t wait to get in line soon to have my picture taken with the Cup, and cheer on Darryl and the Kings again!

Ed DeFusco

Harbor City

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Bill Plaschke quotes Darryl Sutter’s feelings about life on the farm “I want this to never go away.�

Articles like his read with The Times spread across the breakfast table on a lazy Sunday morning make an admiring and grateful reader reflect. “I want this to never go away.�

Long live Plaschke, paper and ink.

Wes Wellman

Santa Monica

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An actual hockey column by Bill Plaschke in August? Wow! Now I can say that I’ve truly seen it all. The story on Kings Coach Darryl Sutter was tremendous, as were Robert Gauthier’s photos. How many more days until forwards, defensemen and goalies report to training camp?

Drew Janner

El Segundo

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The recent columns about the Kings’ coach and the Clippers’ new owner say a lot about these two franchises. Darryl Sutter, as humble a person as you will find, quietly leads by example and has brought two Stanley Cups to L.A. in the past three seasons. Steve Ballmer, on the other hand, seems to think that the more he screams and makes it all about him, the less we realize that his franchise has won nothing thus far in its ill-fated history.

With these two folks at the helm, I’m optimistic the Kings can repeat as champs yet doubtful the Clippers will attain any measure of success.

Megan Freedman

Los Angeles

Just Ducky

I enjoyed all of Chris Dufresne’s Super 16 college football columns. His choice of the Oregon Ducks as No. 1 — although a bit out on the limb — gets no argument from me. However, instead of focusing on the Ducks’ football facilities, a better analysis of the overall team would have better justified his reasoning. Having a barber shop and dozens of 55-inch televisions shouldn’t qualify Oregon to top his list.

Richard Whorton

Studio City

Parking it

Having visited and viewed at least one game in every major league ballpark in the country, I enjoyed reading your four sportswriters’ opinions and listings of the parks [Aug. 24]. I was shocked to see them list Angel Stadium tied for fifth place with Yankee Stadium. I would rank Angel Stadium No. 13 in the American League just ahead of Tampa Bay (Tropicana Field) and Oakland (Coliseum). I guess they gave Angel Stadium a “hometown discount.�

I would love to see Arte Moreno build his own park elsewhere in Orange County. It is very much needed and would be appreciated.

V.J. Carollo

Upland

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I can see why no one wanted their email address printed at the end of the article on the ballparks. Safeco, Target and Petco above Wrigley? Do you guys not do drug testing when you hire writers?

Dave Boyle

Laguna Hills

Do-overs?

So, am I to believe you didn’t receive a single letter in support of Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza? And I suppose I can expect to see a letter critical of Vin Scully right about the time hell freezes over.

Rich Francis

Canyon Country

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Because last Saturday’s letters did not include any pointing out the obvious, I guess it is up to me. Any individual or “machine� that does not have Sandy Koufax making three starts in a World Series has no validity and no sense of history. For that not to happen, there would have to be a year with two Yom Kippurs on the days of Games 1, 4 and 7. Oh wait. Sandy would start Games 2, 5 and 7, the latter on two days’ rest, as he did against the Minnesota Twins in 1965.

Gary Yates

Los Angeles

Are you ready ... ?

Fifteen minutes of commercials, kick, 15 minutes of commercials, flag, flag, flag, 15 minutes of commercials, kick, 15 minutes of commercials, flag, flag, flag.

Oh boy! I am so excited about the 2014 pro football season!

Elaine Held

Downey

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