It’s Never Too Early to Get With Program

Nothing against Steve Lavin, but I’ve missed my favorite rants in the Saturday letters. I hope the Bruins win the NCAA championship. May Lavin be vindicated and be declared coach of the year.

Still, let me be the first to inbound the ball for this year’s game of “Fire Lavin! Fire Lavin! Fire Lavin!�

Michael Kerze

Playa del Rey

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Thank God the Bruins got the rigorous part of their schedule out of the way. Now they can concentrate on Duke, Arizona and Kansas.

Gregory Morales

Los Angeles

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I am responding to T.J. Simers’ Nov. 21 remarks (echoed by other articles in The Times this week) concerning the USC athletic department’s sending representatives to make a case for the Sugar and Orange bowls. It seems that the media are trying to create bulletin-board material for UCLA, by characterizing USC as so arrogant that it has already penciled in a victory against the Bruins.

USC’s athletic department personnel are simply doing the job they are paid to do. By flying to Miami and New Orleans, they are promoting USC’s case for a BCS bid, in the event that USC is so fortunate as to finish with a 10-2 record.

Let’s face it, we are talking about millions of dollars here (which will benefit the entire Pac-10). Would the local media rather have USC be totally reactionary, and wait until Dec. 8 to start establishing the necessary relationships? Or is it all about creating a false impression that those who are involved in the game have no respect for the opponent on the field?

I applaud the work being done by the athletic department with respect to selling our program, and I guarantee you that it has the support of the conference commissioner and all nine other departments (including UCLA’s). Fight On!

Edward E. Flanigan

Newport Beach

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Does anyone know what Commissioner Tom Hansen does for the Pacific 10 Conference? While recently glancing over bowl schedules, I noticed that the Pac-10 is the only conference to send one team to play on New Year’s Day.

Our wonderful commissioner has elected to send our second-best team to San Diego to play in the coveted Dec. 27 time slot against the No. 3 Big 12 team. This is atrocious. The SEC has five teams that play Jan. 1 or later, the Big Ten has three teams and even the weak ACC and Big East send two teams to play on New Year’s Day or later.

New Year’s is the biggest day in college football and someone over in the commissioner’s office needs to get on the ball and realize that the Pac-10 isn’t the Mountain West or the WAC.

John Martin

Hudson, Ohio

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Bill Plaschke’s excellent Nov. 20 column on John Barnes was full of unexpected information. For example, I never knew that Barnes played in “The Game.� I always thought he attended UCLA. So tell me, for which side did Barnes actually play? Harvard or Yale?

Rhys Thomas

Van Nuys