Mailbag: YMCA coaches continue fine work

I had the privilege of serving as president of the Glendale YMCA QB Club this year. The Glendale QB Club serves Hoover, Glendale, Crescenta Valley and St. Francis high schools, along with Glendale Community College. We promote the football programs at these schools and give scholarships to student-athletes who look to continue their education in college.

As a graduate of St. Francis High School in 1997, I remember fondly my football experience and the way it shaped my life. I still consider my coaches the biggest role models and was equally blessed to be able to coach at St. Francis during the 2006-08 seasons.

I want to thank the coaches at the QB Club for a job well done this year, not only on the gridiron, but also for their leadership and the impact they had on the youth of our community.

One of the winningest coaches in college football, Eddie Robinson, once said:

“Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you.”

I want to thank the Glendale YMCA QB Club for believing in me, and I look forward to giving back to the Glendale community for years to come.

KEVIN DANNI

Glendale

Theater skimps on facet of enjoyment

My kids and I love going to the movies. We love the huge screens, the previews, the music, the sound and more than anything (including the movie itself sometimes) we love popcorn; piping hot, freshly popped, buttery, salty delicious theater popcorn. Even with the ridiculously high price, we still love and virtually always want popcorn.

The problem is that ever since the Pacific 18 opened at the Americana at Brand, we’ve noticed that the popcorn there is hit and miss; mostly because they appear to mix stale, day-old popcorn with the freshly popped, creating a frequently disappointing taste and experience. Even when we politely request fresh hot popcorn, employees take great pains to dredge up the old stale, rubbery popcorn from the bottom of the popper and mix it with the just popped — stop it please.

Isn’t there a law requiring theaters to inform patrons that their so called “fresh” popcorn is really a mix and match of semi-plastic tasting, lukewarm and rubbery previously popped product? If there isn’t, there should be, or perhaps Rick Caruso should stop by and have a chat with the Pacific 18 management.