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“Teams in Town-This-That-The Other”

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Writing memos about what I’ve seen-what I think about our teams

CHARGERS…You may be impressed with the season Philip Rivers has had, but the way they lost to Baltimore, and how poorly they played in Denver, casts a shadow as to how far they can go in postseason. The offensive line is leaking oil and the consistent big plays have disappeared. Melvin Gordon tweaked his ankle at the end of the ugly win in Denver and LB-Jatavious Brown went out with an ankle too. The Bolts seem to think TE-Hunter Henry is ready to be activated off IR-but how many big plays do you expect from him after missing the entire season? Next up the road game in Baltimore, against the number one defense in the NFL, in their stadium. And if that’s not enough, QB-Lamar Jackson continues to pile up impressive numbers running the Baltimore run-pass option offense, that had nearly 300-yards rushing on Sunday against Cleveland. The Broncos hand delivered a plateful of mistakes in the loss in Denver:
..Botched an onside kick to start the game;
..Fumbled a lateral pass that resulted in a TD;
..Dropped two likely TD passes;
..Dropped 6-passes in all.
..Threw a pick in the end zone..
..Threw an interception on a 2-point conversion
..Fumbled a kick return
..Fumbled a shotgun snap
..Wiped out a 54Y-TD run and a 28-yard pass on back to back plays with holding calls.

The Chargers didn’t really do enough to win, but the Broncos wouldn’t allow the Bolts to lose.

AZTECS….Just ridiculous all this criticism of Rocky Long late season SDSU football swoon. I do expect some assistant coaching changes, but big issue was a lot of injuries and a lot of really young players forced on the field. I was stunned State signed just 1-local recuit of the 13-they inked in the early signing period. The Pac 12-swooped in and took a few marquee names. Maybe just a down year in San Diego for D-1 recruits.

HOLIDAY BOWL…This is not a sexy matchup equal to the days when Steve Young-Ty Detmer-Barry Sanders came here. It’s not BYU-Penn State-Oregon-Washington State sexy. But the Northwetern-Utah matchup is a good one, led by two of the nations vastly under-rated head coaches in Pat Fitzgerald and Kyle Whittingham. Northwestern beat Iowa-Wisconsin-Michigan State. The Utes knocked out USDC-Stanford-Oregon, and won 9-games despite losing both their starting QB-Ty Huntley and RB-Zach Moss.

PADRES…Funny Christmas card put out by frustrated baseball fans….”Padres have opened trade talks with _____, expressing interest in _____, but not willing to give up ______. Still a 96-loss roster here heading to New Year’s day.

AZTECS…A hideous loss at San Diego State, letting Brown, Ivy League Brown, go on a (26-0) scoring run in the first half. SDSU was down (50-22) at halftime to a team that does not give out athletic scholarships. This loss on top of Maui Classic blowouts, the loss to USD, and more. Here comes Mountain West play too. Why do I get the feel Jalen McDaniels and the next coming of the disappointing Malik Pope. So much for Brian Dutcher’s ‘sunshine statements’ about 10-days of good practices..young guys bonding…Growing young talent…Lots of potential but not very consistent.

USD….Bring on the West Coast Conference. They have 11-wins marching thru a tremendously tough non conference schedule, with a roster loaded with seniors. A special season here even with Gonzaga and some tough WCC schools on the schedule.

UCLA…This looks to be a nitemare of a season for Steve Alford. 6-losses in last 9-games…5-blowout losses from 14-to-31 points this year. Young team, injured team, team that has not recovered from the mess a year ago with the China shoplifting incident with the Ball family.

UCLA…Add to the substandard first season for football coach Chip Kelly, and you wonder if AD-Dan Guerrero should be feeling heat, lots of heat?

JANUARY…Intersting month ahead…just 5-weeks before the San Diego Fleet, then the San Diego Strike Force, open this football seasons. The Fleet haven’t done much marketing, and no press conferences in town. The Strike Force don’t start till late February, and will be going head to head with the Fleet for fans-sponsors. Maybe they all become active once the calendar turns to January.

GULLS…This has been a hard start to the season, so many young kids, and so many callups from the parent Anaheim Ducks. Aside from Denver University star Troy Terry, it has been slow growth for the other young kids, Sam Steel, Isac Lundestrom (0-goals) so far.

SOCKERS-SEALS….The tradition of great success of the San Diego Sockers will alway be part of our fabric. Disappointed the ownership has not marketed what continues to be a good product on the field. It’s almost an after thought in our community now. Indoor lacrosse has great potential, with the explosive growth of the sports on the West Coast. Shall be interesting to see if the sport catches hold. Again you have to market yourself outside of your own building.

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“NFL-Final Weekend-Final Days for Coaches”

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The regular season comes to an end on Sunday in the NFL.

It will be the final day of employment for a truckload of head coaches and a trainload of assistant coaches.

The call it ‘Black Monday’, and there will be red-blood spilled around the National Football League.

Hop-Skotching around the league:

DENVER….GM John Elway has lots of issues on his plate. Vance Joseph is (11-20) and likely done. Not much leadership, lousy team play, lack of discipline, and up and down quarterbacking. Is there a reunion coming with Mike Shanahan or Gary Kubiak? Might be.

MIAMI…Adam Gase was a hot profile coordinator. Now that seems gone with back to back non playoff seasons. His GM Mike Tennenbaum might exit with him come Monday if owner Steven Ross has seen enough. They also have a decision on grossly overpaid QB-Ryan Tannehill.

NY JETS….Todd Bowles seemed to be making progress early on in his head coaching career, then he lost his players. Some bad citizens with big contracts took the team in the wrong direction. At least they have a QB in the making in Sam Darnold, but Bowles won’t be around to see him become a star, not after Monday.

CAROLINA….This might be a hard one to figure out, for there is Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly, but Ron Rivera has a 7-game losing streak around his neck, and an impatient new owner. GM-Marty Hurney might also be axed if Rivera is shown the door. However, Rivera would likely surface quickly if he became available.

TAMPA BAY….Dirk Koetter may design great plays on offense, but nothing else. They lead the world in turnovers, don’t play much defense despite a big spending spree, and need a different leader. They have QB-Jameis Winston, but is he truly a big game player?

CINCINNATI….Mike Brown’s team has never won a playoff game under Marvin Lewis, and might never. Maybe they’ve reached the end of the road together. They seem farther away than ever of being a force again in the AFC–North. But Brown has a history of being cheap. Who knows, maybe-maybe not.

ARIZONA…Seldom is it one-and-done but it might be in the Valley of the Sun. The Bidwell family reached the end of the road with the pushy Bruce Arians, but it appears they made a real mistake with Steve Wilkes. Even with high first round pick QB-Josh Rosen playing, they’ve gotten worse. A change has to come.

DETROIT….Who knows about Matt Patricia? He took a 9-win team he inherited and turned it into a 5-win team heading to Sunday’s finale. The only glaring thing that should scare Detroit ownership, Patricia might be another key assistant off the Belicheck coaching tree who is a failure, along the lines of McDaniels, Mangini, Cottrell, Weis.

GREEN BAY….Mike McCarthy was ousted as the free-fall began, and it continues. The Packers do have Aaron Rodgers brilliance, but the question, what kind of coach would work best with him. It’s not a bad job, but chemistry will be important in the hire.

CLEVELAND…This will be fascinating because interim coach Gregg Williams has given the team direction, but you have an erratic owner in Jim Haslem, an influential analytics guy in Paul DiPodesto, and a bright young QB in Baker Mayfield. Do you reward Williams, or go get an offensive guru for the kid quarterback? But they thought they had that with the last hire, Hue Jackson, so the question, can you trust Browns leadership?

That’s 10-potential coaching openings coming up. Where are they going to find proven replacements? What a week we have ahead of us, after this final NFL weekend.

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“Padres–On the Clock-Under the Gun”

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The rumors continue to swirl about this potential trade, that possible free agent signing, and yet little has been accomplished.

At least not in San Diego, where the last place Padres haven’t tasted a playoff win in over a decade.

North of here, the Dodgers, the ones who have played in the World Series two years in a row, have made deal, clearing budget space, and reportedly are ready to offer top free agent Bryce Harper, a record setting 30M-per year contract.

And the Angels have even been active, signing 3-free agent pitchers in a week, in hopes of keeping the young pitching staff afloat, and trying to help win games around superstar Mike Trout. Matt Harvey, Trevor Cahill and Parker Bridwell are better than what they dragged out last year.

Here at Petco Park, the Padres keep getting linked to trades and free agents, but everything being leaked, seems to go against the grain of their philosophy.

Wait till 2020 when all the kids arrive and help put us in the playoff race. That’s what has been sold two years running. And now we are looking at things in a different prism?

Maybe the Padres are panicking a bit. Or maybe reality has set in, that the community is tired of a decade worth of losing and promising.

Cleveland is in seller mode, and will to deal 2-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber and the final 3-years of his contract. The right-hander (20-9) this past season, is owed (13M-13.5M-14M) on the final 3-years of that Indians contract. That’s pretty reasonable money for a lead ace of a staff, something we haven’t seen in San Diego since….the Kevin Brown era?

But it will cost the Padres plenty to make this deal.

At one point Will Myers was being offered out there but the Indians do not want to take on a 20M contract, even if he would hit well back in the American League.

Now the reports are it will take young starters to make the deal happen. Austin Hedges, Hunter Renfroe, and prospect pitchers Logan Allen-Michal Baez.

That’s a lot of young talent, but then again Kluber is an exceptional pitcher.

But we have heard all this in the past.

GM-AJ Preller likes Noah Syndegaard, but he’s still with the Mets, now off the board.

Last week he was chasing the Blue Jays Marco Strohman. Before that it was the Mariners Mike Leake.

San Diego wanted a shot at Nathan Eovaldi, but the Red Sox retained the free agent.

Matt Harvey could have been bought, but he went to Angels Stadium.

They talked about veteran Anibal Sanchez, the ex Tiger-Brave, but he’s gone too. So are Lance Lynn and JA Happ.

And then a push for ex-A’s, about to be ex-Yankee Sonny Gray.

Dallas Keuchel, who had wonderful years in Houston, wants five years, and isn’t getting it. The Japanese free agent Yusei Kikuchi has till early January to sign, and bidding has begun, but it will be expensive.

Lots of smoke, lots of mirrors, or maybe a lot of B-S.

So multiple things are in play right now.

Owners Ron Fowler and Peter Seidler maybe concerned they are losing the community with all this losing. There is no buzz in this city, and the Padres are the only team in town. They struggled to get to 2M in attendance last year. Season ticket sales are likely off. TV and radio ratings were awful.

Maybe they are trying to push the time frame on getting good up by a year.

The GM has lots of chips, but maybe he is over-valuing his farm system, and people don’t want what he is offering but want what he won’t give up.

Or maybe Preller is gun shy. He made so many bad financial deals the last couple of years, maybe his heart tells him not to trust what his eyes see out there on the trade market. He paid out lots of Fowler-Seidler money in the past. Maybe he doesn’t want to overpay with his young farm system players this time around..

The Padres have Eric Hosmer and Myers, and that’s 43M worth of disappointment in the lineup right now. They have lots of young players in other everyday spots, but most of them are (.260) hitters.

They have a hole at short, a possible vacancy at third, tons of kids coming, and maybe the youngest, and least proven starting rotation in baseball, aside from the Orioles or Royals.

The Padres desperately need a front of the rotation guy, not named Clayton Richard. It will cost them to go get Kluber or someone like him. It will cost them even more credibility if we are staring at another summer of 90-degree temperatures and 90-loss baseball.

Please tell me you have a deal coming to compliment all the kid pitchers you jammed out there last summer. Please tell me you’re not pinning your hopes on Bryan Mitchell and Robbie Erlin to be your veteran leaders in that rotation?

Pick the phrase. Padres-on the clock. Padres under the gun.

To make a deal to get arms. To recapture the fans in this last place town too.

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….(Baseball)…..

Padres-Cleveland….Plain Dealer reports trade talks reopened for P-Corey Kluber (20-9)….Indians are asking for OF-Hunter Renfroe…C-Austin Hedges…P-Logan Allen…P-Michal Baez in a 4-for-1 deal….Padres had rejected overtures for P-Joey Lucchessi….Kluber is 2X-Cy Young Award Winner….has 3-years left on deal 13M…13.5M..14M….Indians also discussing Kluber deal with Dodgers-Phillies-Reds.

Dodgers-Tigers…LA offering package of prospects for OF-Nick Castellanos….Dodgers rejected a request for P-Kenta Maede.

Angels…Still in conversation with FA-P-Dallas Keuchel-Astros..but not willing to go 5-years on deal…willing to make a 3-year package….Halos rotation now has Matt Harvey-Trevor Cahill-Parker Bridwell-Andrew Heaney-Tyler Skaggs and prospects Felix Pena-Nick Tropeano-Jaime Barria.

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(Teams)

Twins..Open contract talks with OF-Nelson Cruz-Mariners

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…..(Basketball)……

Lakers…MRI on G-Lebron James comes back clean-has strained groin but did not tear the muscle…could miss 1-week of action.
Lakers..G-Rajon Rondo injures finger on shooting hand-will be out a week….same hand he broke early in the season.

Golden State….Coaches meet with G-Klay Thompson-benched-shooting just 33% from 3-point line.

Clippers-W-Sacramento….LA explodes for 71-points in first half….led by 29-at one point…C-Montrzl Harell come off bench hit 6-shots in a row (15P) to trigger big first half rally by LA.

Lakers-Clippers…play each other on Thursday.

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…..(Football)…….

Chargers…Not ready to start OG-Forrest Lamp in regular season game…has been on active roster since week 9-but not in lineup…most weeks has been in active.

Chargers…Sign FA-LB-Tyrone Holmes-ex Jaguars-Browns special teams player

Jaguars..Name Blake Bortels starting QB-been on bench 5-weeks in row.

Carolina..Name rookie Kyle Allen-3rd string-as starter because of injuries to Cam Newton-Taylor Weinicke.

Cleveland..QB-Baker Mayfield says his stare down of former head coach Hue Jackson in Browns-Bengals game was warranted last week.

Patriots…Will re-tool passing game with suspension to WR-Josh Gordon..QB-Tom Brady had 48-QB rating on Sunday.

Rams..DT-Ndomakong Sun faces fine for possible eye-gouge of Cardinals WR-Larry Fitzgerald on Sunday.

Redskins…Fire 3-top execs on business side of team…President of Business Operations..VP-Marketing..VP-Sales….Daniel Snyder team has had just 5-winning seasons in 19-years….Team President Bruce Allen remains on the job.

Green Bay…Begin interviews for vacant head coaching job…Interview ex-Lions-Colts coach Jim Caldwell who is (62-5) as head coach…also interview ex-Colts coach Chuck Pagano.

Pittsburgh..Coach Mike Tomlin says he does not think pass interference calls should fall under instant replay…blown flags have led to 4-TDs that cost team two games this year.

Monday Night Football….Christmas Eve Raiders-Broncos game had lowest MNF TV rating all time (5.4).

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(Injuries)

Rams…RB-Todd Gurley-still not working out with knee issues-might sit this weekend game.

Steelers..RB-James Conner-cleared for practice-been out 3-weeks with ankle-shin injury

Eagles..OT-Jason Peters-cleared to play-had quad issue

Chiefs..Activate OT-Laurent Tardif from IR list

Broncos..RB-Philip Lindsey-surgery-torn wrist ligaments-will need 4-months rehab

Cowboys..OG-Zach Martin will not play final regular season game

Carolina..IR-QB-Taylor Heinicke-elbow injury

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(College Football)

Dallas Bowl….Boise State-Boston College game suspended-then cancelled by over 2-hours of lightning storms.

Detroit Bowl….Minnesota-W-Georgia Tech…Gophers RB-Mohammed Ibrahim (224R-3-TD)

Cheese It-Bowl…..TCU-W-Cal…Frogs defense 5-interceptions in game….Golden Bears had 4-picks in game…TCU’s Jonathan Song kicks 27Y-FG for win…..TCU held to just 28Y-passing…..Overtime victory…..

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(Schedule)-Thursday

Independence Bowl..Temple-vs-Duke
Pinstripe Bowl..Wisconsin-vs-Miami
Texas Bowl..Baylor-Vanderbilt

Miami..Bench QB-N’Kosi Perry-after his investigation into release of lewd sex video.

Buffalo…Record setting QB-Tyree Jackson-announcing he is transferring (3,100-28TD)

Oregon..Veteran QB-Justin Herbert-bypassing NFL draft-will return as 4th year starter for Ducks.

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…..(Hockey)…….

Ducks-at-San Jose..Thursday matchup…Ducks (19-14-5)
Kings-Arizona…LA is (14-20-3)-but won 3-in row

Gulls-Bakersfield…AHL action at Sports Arena…Gulls have lost 6-of-9.

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…….(General)……

LA Galaxy….MLS team hires Guillermo Schelotto as head coach…won 2-titles while coaching Boca Juniors in South America.

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“Raiders-A Real Black Hole”

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I know the disdain San Diego football fans have for all things Raiders.

It goes back to the AFL days, thru all-things Al Davis, to where they are now with Jon Gruden.

Just review history will you.

The holy-roller game. Darth Vader fans. The drunks, the fights in the parking lots and the stands.

The cheap shots. The blood on the jersey. The hatred against the owner showing up wearing rings and decked out in all white.

The phrases about ‘Commitment to Excellence’….the ‘Raiders Nation’….and all that other rubbish.

But the franchise is going thru tough times, maybe the toughest ever.

They play in an aging stadium, known more for sewage spilling out of broken water mains, empty seats, tarps, Mount Davis, and lots of signs and foul language.

The eras of John Madden and Tom Flores are long in the past. More recent times have brought you Art Shell and Norv Turner and Dennis Allen and Tom Cable, and a cast of failures.

You have the son of the patriarch, Mark, accomplishing much less that his father Al did in glory years.

I sat there Christmas Eve and watched what was once a promising franchise. Only QB-Derek Carr is left, after the trades of Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper, and botched drafts after botched drafts.

They gave Gruden a lot of money, but he is the orchestra leader of a band that is (4-11) and about to be homeless.

The fans, they are passionate, if not intelligent. They love the costumes, and like the late Al Davis, they live in the past, which is so far in the rear-view mirror, you can’t really tell it. Fog, smoke, hot air clouds everything there now.

They lost the team once when Al moved it to LA. They returned, bu it’s never been the same.

And now they are about to lose it again, this time to the shiny new stadium in Las Vegas.

The city of Oakland is suing everyone, but have little leverage. They don’t have the money to build anything in the East Bay. Not for the NFL team, so beloved. Not for the NBA champion Warriors, headed to downtown San Francisco. And not yet for the Oakland A’s, still trying to find a new home ballpark.

And yet those fans, they root and root for a loser. They don’t seem to be bitter about the next impending divorce.

The Raiders, as a football organization, and a business entity, are a real Black Hole.

And for one night, Monday night, Christmas Eve, I sat there and felt bad for Raiders fans. Their team about to be yanked from their emotional grasp again.

And when in our history, has anyone ever felt sorry for anything related to the Raiders?

Act of Christmas kindness, I guess.

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