Landon Donovan's 'dive' draws plenty of reaction

That appears to be an issue worthy of debate, at least judging by the volume of mail directed in this direction in the wake of Donovan's penalty kick against Kansas City last weekend.

That incident, combined with an offside call that went in favor of Edson Buddle and David Beckham's 70-yard goal, prompted considerable comments from Galaxy fans. Here are some of them:

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"I found your article about the Galaxy-Wizards match Saturday oddly slanted. . . . You said Landon Donovan dived. Let me give you some other words, courtesy of last night's Lakers game: 'selling the foul.'

"Anyone watching the game saw Derek Fisher bump Brent Barry at the final buzzer. But was it a foul? I thought it was astute of veteran players covering the game to say that, unless Barry had launched himself into Fish, that's usually going to be a non-call in the NBA.

"I see the Donovan play similarly. To me, there's no question the defender missed the ball by a mile and put out his leg to impede Donovan's progress. But if Donovan doesn't go down, that's not going to be a call."

Gene Klein,

Santa Monica

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"No one calls Kobe Bryant a cheater when he 'looks' for a foul or receives calls that television replays show were inaccurate. Whether you agree with it or not; deception is part of the game.

"The referee may be deceived by players, just as the opposing team is deceived by certain tactics or individual skills. Please do not discredit the Galaxy's victory or Donovan's and Buddle's scores, which derived from a stellar connection of passes that would impress any soccer fan."

Luis Casillas

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"Regarding the Donovan penalty, [you wrote] 'His intent seemed obvious from the outset.'

"It doesn't matter what his intent was, he was clearly fouled. The defender did not touch the ball and clearly obstructed Donovan."

Jonathan Geach

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"It's bad enough to characterize what could be determined to be a close call as 'cheating,' but the replays show the penalty ruling you complain about as not being even close to wrong.

"Frankly, even if the Galaxy were the beneficiaries of a bad call, it would still take a while to even out [everything] that officials have dealt the team over the past several years."

Peg Manning