Negative

Quarterfinal action began with a pair of upsets Friday afternoon at the Farmers Classic at UCLA's L.A. Tennis Center. Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania defeated France's fourth-seeded Nicolas Mahut, 6-4, 6-4, to reach his first ATP tour semifinal. He is the first qualifier to reach the semifinals at the Farmers Classic since Carsten Ball in 2009. Ball advanced to the championship before losing to Sam Querrey. Rajeev Ram advanced with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over third-seeded Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.

It's early, but it's not that early. The Angels began the second quarter of the season with another ugly loss Thursday night, committing two errors plus a crucial mental mistake, throwing a wild pitch that scored a run and issuing a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk to a .185 hitter who had not drawn a free pass all season. The 5-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox dropped the Angels to 15-26, their worst 41-game start since 1976, and 12 games behind Texas in the American League West. There is still time for the Angels to make up ground, but the task ahead is daunting.

Phil Jackson never liked to compare Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan. Believe me, I tried everything. Sometimes I'd ask him after random Lakers practices or before games against Charlotte, the team Jordan owned. Or after games in Chicago, where nostalgia hopefully would add to the mix. There would be a little nugget here, a tiny nibble there, but nothing that mattered. It's coming out now, though, in Jackson's 339-page memoir co-written with Hugh Delehanty and available Tuesday: "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.

Phil Jackson never liked to compare Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan. Believe me, I tried everything. Sometimes I'd ask him after random Lakers practices or before games against Charlotte, the team Jordan owned. Or after games in Chicago, where nostalgia hopefully would add to the mix. There would be a little nugget here, a tiny nibble there, but nothing that mattered. It's coming out now, though, in Jackson's 339-page memoir co-written with Hugh Delehanty and available Tuesday: "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.

Negative campaigning for public office is based on the theory that "the other person is so bad, you might as well vote for me." Such campaigning also discourages independent-thinking individuals from voting, which increases the rascals' chances of being elected. Such is the process of electing our presidents. JONATHAN M. HARRIS Los Angeles

Well, you've finally done it--inspired me enough to write a letter. I'm referring to the April 28 article "What's New Under the Sun," with photographs by Richard Ruthsatz. What was he trying to show us anyway? The patio furniture was very chic. In every photo he showed a man doing something--flying a kite, putting, reading--while a woman looked on longingly. One woman was even tossing a beach ball at a man, seemingly saying: "Stop reading and come play." I'm appalled at this negative portrayal of women.

Why does the Los Angeles Times insist on highlighting the negative. A headline in the April 13 paper said: "Even the Angels Can't Blow a 12-Run Lead." I wonder if on Lindbergh's famous flight, a Times' headline might have said, "Most Guys Would Have Made It to Berlin." RUBEN MONTANO Los Angeles

Ideologies are generated and reproduced in the media; in particular, ideologies that suggest that certain humans are inferior and others are superior. Inferiority is generally represented in race, gender, class and sexual preference. "South Central," "Def Jam," "Martin," etc., point up a need for clarification about the negative effects of TV programs that demean, degrade and dehumanize ("Hard to Have Respect for 'South Central,' " Letters, April 30). Representing humans as one-dimensional stereotypes who confirm racist, sexist and homophobic myths oppresses all but a few. It perpetuates distortions that help maintain economic, political and social inequities.

The USC men's basketball folly will continue until Coach Henry Bibby changes his behavior. The downfall started with his handling of the walk-on players. It has created a negative atmosphere that affected the team. He has reaped what he sowed (some call it, what goes around comes around). Until he admits his error, the team may not make it to the NIT. LORENZO MOTA Lakewood

Thank you for "New Yaroslavsky Aide Takes Off Gloves and Comes Out Swinging" (May 5). I showed the article to friends and neighbors as examples of how Barbara Yaroslavsky's new consultant works. It showed how he could take any positive attribute and make it seem to be a negative. Now the other shoe has dropped. In the mail, I received the campaign's first glossy hit piece. It showed that any action that anybody ever did could be twisted into a nasty indictment. These accusations out of whole cloth must work or expensive consultants and campaign managers wouldn't use them.

Wendy Greuel called on Eric Garcetti on Friday night to stop all negative advertising in the last 11 days of the Los Angeles mayor's race, a challenge that her rival dismissed as "disingenuous" for a candidate whose campaign is effectively "bankrupt. " "OK, my campaign consultants are probably not going to like this, but I say no more negative ads," Greuel told Garcetti in a debate aired live on KABC-TV (Channel 7). Garcetti said he had already endured "eight weeks of pummeling" by Greuel, including an accusation that he was "causing cancer for children" with a lease of oil drilling rights beneath his family's property in Beverly Hills.

Despite bitter attacks in recent weeks, the two candidates for mayor of Los Angeles grudgingly conceded in a debate Sunday night that their rival was (mostly) honest and not so different on many of the plans they have for leading the city. That didn't mean City Councilman Eric Garcetti and Controller Wendy Greuel didn't find plenty of opportunity for attacks on each other's trustworthiness and independence. But they also laid out records that they said made them most qualified to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is leaving office June 30 after serving the maximum two terms.

NEW YORK - The market wasn't supposed to go this far, this fast. Just a few months ago, Wall Street analysts predicted this year's stock rally would level off given the strong run-up seen in the first three months of the year. They held out hope that the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 stock index might hit 1,600 by the end of the year. But the rally in equities has caught even some of the most bullish prognosticators by surprise. The broad S&P 500 begins the month of May at an all-time high, and the Dow Jones industrial average is within striking distance of hitting 15,000 points.

Strict limits on campaign contributions imposed by voters nearly three decades ago are crumbling in the Los Angeles mayor's race, with big donors using loosely regulated "super PACs" to help candidates like never before in a citywide election, a Times analysis has found. Of the $17.5 million collected so far to support mayoral hopefuls Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti, roughly one-third - a record $6.1 million - has gone into independent political action committees that can accept contributions of any size.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel went to the campus of a charter high school in rival Eric Garcetti's City Council district Wednesday to argue that Garcetti would do little, if he is elected mayor, to help reform Los Angeles's schools.   In retrospect, Greuel might have wanted her staff to do a little better advance work, because Garcetti is well liked at the school - Camino Nuevo Charter Academy - which he helped get a $700,000 grant to help build a new soccer field.   “It was odd that Camino Nuevo would get caught up in negative campaigning on a site that Councilman Garcetti supported in securing that soccer field,” said Ana Ponce, CEO of the school, which educates students from preschool through 12th grade at several campuses.

ARLINGTON, Texas - There were plenty of aces in the hole Sunday afternoon, as five of the game's best pitchers - Matt Cain, David Price, Cole Hamels, R.A. Dickey and Stephen Strasburg - were torched for 38 earned runs in 241/3 innings. Jered Weaver followed suit Sunday night. The Angels ace, fighting mechanical issues that seem to have sapped him of some velocity, was knocked around by the Texas Rangers, giving up five runs and seven hits, including two home runs, in five innings of a 7-3 loss at the Ballpark in Arlington.

It's only five weeks into the NASCAR season and Denny Hamlin can't keep himself out of the news. First, NASCAR fined him $25,000 for questioning the capability of the Sprint Cup Series' new race car. That was followed by his widely publicized feud with rival driver and former teammate Joey Logano. Then Hamlin won the pole position for Sunday's race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota, he said, "was just ridiculous fast. " Now the headlines Hamlin seeks are those announcing his first win of the season and first victory at Auto Club Speedway, where the Virginian has never won in 12 Cup starts.

VATICAN CITY - Before flying to Rome a few weeks ago to help choose a new pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina brushed aside the idea that he might be the one picked to ascend the throne of St. Peter. "I have no chance of being pope," he told a columnist for the Argentine newspaper La Nacion. "My age counts against me this time. " Many thought the 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires was correct in his assessment. But he awoke Thursday as Pope Francis, to begin a pontificate that has already raised questions about how long it can last, what he has the vigor and time to accomplish and whether the Roman Catholic Church has not simply set itself up for another debilitating crisis at the top in the near future.