Letters to Sports: Did Bill Plaschke curse the Rams? Or was it time zones?

Guess Aaron Donald was the smart one. He must have known what was coming for the Rams in Australia against the 49ers so he stayed home. Maybe he’ll all of a sudden have a strained groin and won’t be able to play this season.

Stanley Elrich
Arleta

There is no longer a weekly cover of Sports Illustrated magazine to jinx athletes. But we still have Bill Plaschke! It sure didn’t take long for Bill’s prediction, that the Rams would go 20-0 this season, to jinx the team. The Plaschke Curse strikes again!

Stephen Greenberg
Santa Monica

Do the Rams know they actually have to win some football games? Not just show up and expect the other team to lay down. I know Bill Plaschke put the curse on them by declaring an undefeated season but coach Sean McVay and the Rams have to do better.

Russell Hosaka
Torrance

Can someone please take Bill Plaschke’s computer away from him so he can’t make another unnecessary prediction that could come back to jinx the fans of L.A.? What purpose does it serve for a sportswriter with a dubious history of predictions to go out on a limb and make yet another useless, grand statement? Hasn’t he learned his lesson?

Danny Balber Jr.
Pasadena

Sean McVay’s experiment of not properly acclimating the team to the massive time change in Australia was a huge risk. McVay cited last year’s London game (Rams handily beat the Jaguars), when they crossed five time zones (Baltimore to London) without acclimating and thought it would apply to 17 time zones to Melbourne?

It was an embarrassment for the franchise and L.A. and further promoted the idea that the Rams can’t beat the 49ers. Additionally, McVay went to his usual bag of tricks, abandoning a successful running attack in favor of a tired and rusty Matt Stafford passing incessantly, being harassed and ineffective.

This was easily the dumbest head coaching call of McVay’s career. He needs to apologize to his team and the fans.

Axel Hubert
Santa Monica

Thanks, Roger Goodell! Your relentless desire to “expand” the NFL fan base reached its apex Thursday night (or Friday morning?) with the Rams and 49ers game in Australia. It’s bad enough forcing teams to fly eight or nine hours to Europe, but this Australian game takes the proverbial cake.

When is “enough is enough” regarding “expanding” the game? The world loves soccer so let them have it; American football is uniquely American so, please, recognize this fact, enjoy the huge revenues from TV and let NFL teams play in the U.S. where the game belongs!

Ken Blake
Brea

Why is USC playing nonleague football games against small-time Division I opponents? It would be more meaningful to play against old Pac-10 rivals California and Stanford. They are much better quality opponents than San José State and Fresno State. It would also rate USC higher in stature as well as in polls and championship considerations. Those teams are good in their own right but are not the same caliber. Playing Cal and Stanford is also keeping the old California rivalries and traditions alive.

Bravo to UCLA for playing against Cal, but next is San Diego State?

Larry Joe
Irvine

On Nov. 16, 1940, undefeated and No. 2-ranked Cornell defeated Dartmouth 7-3 on the last play of the football game. But, when the Cornell coaches were reviewing the game film, they realized that the touchdown they scored to win was actually scored on fifth, not fourth, down. Cornell did the right thing. The university telegraphed Dartmouth and stated that they were forfeiting the game.

Hopefully Michigan will follow Cornell’s lead and forfeit the game to Western Michigan as the NCAA has now determined that Michigan was erroneously given a second back on the clock. This allowed the Wolverines to run an unwarranted play that led to a touchdown and an undeserved victory. With the environment in America today, we need Michigan to follow Cornell’s righteous action.

Neal Rakov
Santa Fe, N.M.

Larry Scott, who single-handedly destroyed the old Pac-12, now vows to work his “magic” on the tennis world. Look for the major tournaments to bolt for the Big Ten.

Jack Wolf
Los Angeles

Who would you rather have on your team? A player who hits a home run, smiles from ear to ear as he rounds the bases, gets back to the dugout and continues to smile and celebrates with all his teammates or a player who hits a home run, shows little or no emotion, gets back to the dugout then nods to a few teammates and sits by himself? Easy choice for me, I’ll take Teoscar Hernández over Kyle Tucker any day of the week.

Peter Schwab
Marina del Rey

Tommy Edman is doing quite well in the leadoff spot and should remain there when Shohei Ohtani returns to the lineup. It never made any sense to have your top home run and RBI hitter leading off. Doing so guarantees that at least one of his plate appearances will be with the bases empty and probably more since the bottom of the order precedes him.

Mark Kaiserman
Santa Monica

There’s no reason the productive, switch-hitting Tommy Edman should not lead off, with Shohei Ohtani batting second. Edman’s effectiveness evokes memories of Maury Wills batting first for successful 1960s Dodgers.

Jerry Bluestein
Los Angeles

The story about Aspiration Partners funneling $28 million to Kawhi Leonard continues to amaze me. I never would have guessed that a tree-planting company would turn out to be … shady.

Joe Kevany
Mount Washington

We asked readers of our Sports Report newsletter, “Will the Rams win the Super Bowl?”

After 1,172 responses: Yes, 62.8%; No, 37.2%

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