{"id":8733,"date":"2026-09-08T23:08:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T23:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8733"},"modified":"2026-09-08T23:08:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T23:08:00","slug":"letters-cal-and-stanford-should-quit-the-college-football-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8733","title":{"rendered":"Letters: Cal and Stanford should quit the college football circus"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p><em><strong>Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Cal, Stanford should exit college football<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cWith new coaches, Cal, Stanford face pressure to win\u201d (Page A1, Sept. 4).<\/p>\n<p>Jon Wilner\u2019s Sept. 4 column on the pressures facing Cal and Stanford football fails to ask the fundamental question: Why are these elite academic institutions doing this?<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8731\">Music great, elected to Rock Hall of Fame with 2 bands, visits Bay Area<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The concept of college students playing football while earning a degree is archaic; today\u2019s Power 5 college teams are comprised solely of talented athletes preparing for NFL careers. They choose a different college each year to showcase their skills, and they earn big money. To enable this, the colleges must spend very big bucks.<\/p>\n<p>The big question for Stanford and Cal is: Why do they want to participate in this giant money pit? Stanford and Cal whined and groveled their way into a conference 3,000 miles away that didn\u2019t want them, pays them financial peanuts, and requires their athletes to spend countless hours of air travel to compete. Just how and for whom is this beneficial? It\u2019s time to fish or cut bait.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kirch DeMartini<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Saratoga<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Despite long odds, Trump will appeal<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cLatest U.S. bid to limit citizenship is blocked\u201d (Page A1, Aug. 4).<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump\u2019s original 2025 executive order on birthright citizenship on June 30, affirming that the 14th Amendment guarantees automatic citizenship to individuals born on U.S. soil.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Following that defeat, the administration issued a narrowed August executive order targeting specific groups, such as children of foreign visitors or foreign government employees.<\/p>\n<p>Because the Supreme Court explicitly rejected the administration\u2019s broader theory on redefining who is subject to U.S. jurisdiction under the 14th Amendment, a newly narrowed executive attempt that defies the core constitutional holding faces a steep uphill battle.<\/p>\n<p>Legal experts note that the 6-3 decision in June showed a firm majority defending the historical and constitutional precedent of the 14th Amendment, making a reversal on these revised executive efforts unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the administration will appeal to the highest court.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Mohan Raj<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>San Jose<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>High schools are failing to teach basics of living<\/h4>\n<p>I work in medical device manufacturing in San Jose, and it\u2019s rare that a week goes by without a co-worker bringing up some version of the same complaint: nobody taught them how to do their own taxes, or cook something that isn\u2019t microwaved, or clean an apartment without looking it up first.<\/p>\n<p>California just passed a law requiring high schools to offer a personal finance class, and it becomes a graduation requirement for the Class of 2031. Good news. But home economics is still just an elective, so plenty of students will finish school having never learned critical life skills.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not talking about bringing back a full home-ec program. Just make sure every student runs into this stuff at least once, the way we already do with times tables. My co-workers didn\u2019t come up with this complaint out of nowhere \u2014 school just never covered it.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8729\">Inman Down Under: From breaching MCG gates to discovering Fitzroy Gardens<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Shoujia Lin<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>San Jose<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Dishonesty props up Trump\u2019s election attacks<\/h4>\n<p>It is surprising that Americans, especially those in Donald Trump\u2019s camp, don\u2019t see the connection between Jan. 6, the SAVE Act, Trump\u2019s untrue claims of voter fraud with noncitizens voting in large numbers and his moratorium on mail-in ballots due, again, to untrue claims of fraud with them.<\/p>\n<p>Trump cheats, pure and simple. It\u2019s been his lifelong mode of operation to get whatever he wants. Besides that, he lies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Marcia Hulberg<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Campbell<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Let\u2019s replace Trump\u2019s bogus \u2018Board of Peace\u2019<\/h4>\n<p>A new Security Council Resolution is needed to disband Donald Trump\u2019s bogus \u201cBoard of Peace.\u201d Only nations with no ongoing or recent violations of the UN Charter and international law should be situated on a newly configured Board of Peace.<\/p>\n<p>This body should only be composed of nations that are in compliance with lawful conduct in the world community.<\/p>\n<p>All operations and occupations by Israel and the United States in Palestinian lands must cease. Previous UNSC resolutions such as Res. 242\u00a0must be enforced. The undeclared nuclear status of Israel needs to end. It has to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and open itself to inspections.<\/p>\n<p>Other conflicts and blockades against Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Ukraine\/Russia and so many others have to be handled immediately by this all-new \u201cBoard of Peace.\u201d It should be able to marshal the collective actions of UN members to these ends.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mike Caggiano<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>San Mateo<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Let\u2019s prevent the \u2018suicide epidemic\u2019<\/h4>\n<p>Losing a loved one to suicide is deeply traumatic. Having lost my sister to suicide, I am keenly aware of this pain.<\/p>\n<p>Suicide is the second leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States. Statistics show that access to unsecured guns is often the deciding factor in whether a suicide attempt results in death or not. Attempts with other means result in fatalities about 4% of the time, but that skyrockets to about 90% when guns are involved. Moreover, most people who survive an attempt do not go on to try again.<\/p>\n<p>Securing guns safely can help save lives. Please visit BeSmartforkids.org\u00a0to learn more about secure storage. You can always call 988, the National Crisis Hotline, for confidential and free support, even before you or a loved one are in real crisis. Suicide is an epidemic that can be prevented.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8727\">South Bay tech and medical campus lands buyer at a discount<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sharon Genkin<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>San Jose<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Also: Long odds | Basics of living | Dishonest attacks | Bogus board | Prevent epidemic. Mercury News reader letters to the editor for Sept. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Letters: Cal and Stanford should quit the college football circus - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8733\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letters: Cal and Stanford should quit the college football circus - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Also: Long odds | Basics of living | Dishonest attacks | Bogus board | Prevent epidemic. 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