Matt Barkley put off becoming a multimillionaire for a year in exchange for the chance at immortality at USC. That seems like a fair trade-off to me. Most people are content to wait until they see some gray hair before reaching millionaire status. Who knows, maybe Matt's decision to stay in college for his senior year will become the norm instead of the exception. But whatever happens, Matt Barkley is an exceptional young man.
Letters: Matt Barkley calls his own play
Decision to stay at USC for one more season is popular with most.
USC quarterback Matt Barkley is congratulated by fans after a win at Arizona… (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles…)
Tom Turner
Dana Point
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As a Notre Dame fan, I think that Matt Barkley's decision to come back for his senior year was about the dumbest thing he could have done. As a fan of college sports, I have to admit I'm pulling for the kid.
Brian Gotta
San Diego
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That sound of breaking glass coming from Westwood was surely Jim Mora dropping his coffee cup after hearing the news Matt Barkley is returning.
Steve Owen
San Diego
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No, Bill Plaschke, Matt Barkley did not decide to stay at USC "against all odds," but against your announced certainty that he would leave. You had calculated "the odds" as if Barkley were an accountant working on a spreadsheet.
You had forgotten what sports announcers call "the intangibles," that is, what makes Barkley a person and not a list of statistics.
David Eggenschwiler
Los Angeles
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Now that Matt Barkley has elected to remain at USC for one more season I guess we should expect the next announcement will be that the Pac-12 championship game, BCS title game and Heisman ceremony have all been canceled. After all how can anyone expect to be able to compete with "The Comeback Kid" for these titles?
Forgive me, but wake me when Barkley has actually accomplished something, like beating Stanford or Arizona State.
Reid Rose
San Dimas
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Who would Matt Barkley replace as "the greatest Trojan of them all" — O.J. Simpson?
Gerry Swider
Sherman Oaks
Crime time
It looks like what Mike Garrett had to say about the NCAA sanctions against USC is turning out to be true, that he couldn't help but conclude that the NCAA was jealous of USC.
At the time, I thought he had lost it, but it appears as though time and the NCAA are proving him right, given the one-year bowl ban and the loss of five scholarships over three years that was assessed against Ohio State. While Penn State should get the death penalty for what it didn't do about what one of its former assistant coaches was up to on the athletic department premises and Miami should lose about 10 years of bowl eligibility, don't hold your breath.
Mark M. Williams
Pasadena
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Take it from a former English professor. Bill Dwyre [Dec. 21] could use a lesson in vocabulary. Semantics, is commonly used to describe a difference of opinion regarding the meaning of a single term.
The NCAA's characterization of Ohio State's misdeeds as a failure to "properly monitor" its football program versus USC's lack of "institutional control" over its athletic programs is not a difference in the meaning of a term or an idea or a rule, but a difference in actions.
Or have we somehow forgotten the envelope of cash handed to Rodney Guillory on behalf of O.J. Mayo?
Michael Murashige
Pasadena
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Bill Dwyre misstates the case that NCAA penalties were disproportionate in the USC and Ohio State infractions. Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo both, directly or indirectly, engaged in activity with professional sports agents while representing USC. That is a major infraction. Ohio State players, on the other hand, sold jerseys and other memorabilia for cash and/or tattoos. No interaction with agents was involved or alleged. The offenses do not equate. The NCAA acted appropriately.
Skip Nevell
Los Angeles
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As a loyal Bruin, I believe USC got what it deserved. Ohio State, on the other hand, got a hug and cookies from Grandma. The NCAA now officially has less credibility than the BCS.
Brian Lowe
Woodland Hills
Hoops, here it is
Using its own logic, the NBA should have disallowed the Lamar Odom trade because it's too good for Dallas. The Mavericks got a great player who creates matchup headaches for opponents, and the Lakers got a draft choice for a guy that won't make the cut. Salary dump? What's next — pay Miami to take Pau Gasol? Solution: Jerry Buss should buy the Clippers, and sell the Lakers to Magic Johnson.
George M. Pomonik
Calabasas
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One undiscussed effect of Chris Paul's signing is the beneficial impact that it figures to have on the (offensive) development of DeAndre Jordan. Just think about how productive Tyson Chandler and David West — erstwhile bricklayers of some renown — became after CP3 entered their lives.
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