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CHARGERS & BLACK HOLE”
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This is unique.
This is surprising.
This goes against history.

Lots of ways to describe this NFL exec going into the Black Hole, leaving earth to venture to the Dark side.

In the 13-years I was the Voice of the Chargers, the relationship between the Silver & Black and the Lightning Bolt was historically strained.

Yes it had alot to do with the rivalry on the field.
The Holy Roller game and all.
The dominance of the Raiders during a down cycle by the Bolts.
The war between Al Davis and Gene Klien.
The influence Davis played in the Chargers hiring of Steve Ortmayer.
The wars between the sniping fans of both teams.
The dusty-dented Super Bowl trophies from decades ago.

That’s alot of bad history and big time disappointing football games.

And now the just departed Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco going to the Raiders as their new General Manager, a most surprising development.

No one I know saw that coming.

Telesco spenta decade running the Bolts, in San Diego and in Los Angeles.

He inherited a great QB in Philip Rivers.  Drafted the heir apparent, who may turn out to be a great QB in Justin Herbert.

He drafted well, changed the chemistry of the roster, changed the athleticism of the roster, signed some short term rental free agents.

But the team never got to NFL-power status because of injuries across both lines and virtually every other spot on the roster.

A career record of (86-95).  Only 2-playoff wins in an 11-year run as GM.

Add on the complicated-controversial move to Los Angeles.  The anger, hurt, resentment left behind in San Diego.

The challenge of renovating new facilities.  The fact they are still viewed as an outlier in the LA market, down the popularity list behind the Lakers-Dodgers, and what UCLA-and-USC used to be, and what the Clippers are becoming.

The Chargers never got to be what people expected them to be after they turned their back on 55-years of loyalty in San Diego.

It will be unique to see Telesco wearing those colors, what I refer to as the Silver & Bleak.  Hope he doesn’t show up in all-black or the all white jump suits.  No bad fashion statements please.

He won’t be the enemy, and it is stunning, his style compared to the swash-buckling approach the Raiders always seem to take.  Gone should be the helter-skelter ‘devil may care’ approach the Raiders have lived by, thru lots of bad years.

Bad drafts, bad citizens, bad mistakes at quarterback, bad salary cap problems.

Scoreboard does not lie.  The late Al Davis era ended with a franchise with a record of (90-182) over the years in Oakland.  Mark Davis has had 2-winning seasons in the 11-years since he took over, the non-football son replacing the Hall of Fame father.  How has that worked out?

Telesco will bring credibility, class, football intelligence and a conservative approach to doing NFL football business. You won’t find those words in describing the more recent Raiders history.

Fun to watch for sure.  Telesco, a good man, going into a bad situation.

But wearing those colors-wow.  I will root for the man.  Not sure I can root for nis new team, yet !.

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“HALL OF FAME-HALL OF SHAME”
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It is a raging debate, hot enough to melt the snow on the curb outfront the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

This year’s voting admitted 3-for summer enshrinement.

Ignored again were those tainted by suspensions, drug tests,insinuations they cheated.

The career statistics of 3B-Adrian Beltre were staggering, not so much as a Dodger, but what he did on the other side of age 30-with Seattle then Texas.  Beltre’s (477HR-.286BA) were spread across a 22-year career of consistency.  He was rewarded with (95%) votes-superb.

Legendary Colorado Rockies slugger Todd Helton garnered (79%) of the vote after spending all 17-years of his career, hitting (.316-379HRs).  Lost in the conversion, his stats home-vs-road almost identical.

Twins do-everything hitting star Joe Mauer spent all 15-years of his career in Minnesota, where he finished with a (.306-143HR) set of stats, an amazing feat for the wear and tear position as a catcher.  He landed (76%) vote.

It is hard to believe one guy who was bypassed-again, ex Astros-Phillies closer Billy Wagner.  The lefthander who overcame a broken arm, rebuilt his style with sizzle, did not make it.  He missed by just 4-votes, got a 73%-approval rating, but snubbed despite (422-saves), (1196K-in 906 innings) and a lifetime (2.31-ERA.  He belongs.

Gary Sheffield is now off the ballot, despite 22-years of greatness, a (.292-career average) and those (509HRs).  He played for, or was moved 8-times in his career.  The insinuations of being a cheater weigh heavily in this year to year decision not to put him in.

And then there are the two legends with dominant stats, and steroid suspension.  Alex Rodriguez is down to (34%) vote, despite (696HR).  Ditto for Manny Ramirez  (555HR).  I think of their names and I immediately think of ‘AFraud-ARod-A Liar”.

And of course you think Hall of Fame credentials, better now known as cheaters, and Barry Bonds-Roger Clemens-Mark McGuire flash back into your mind’s eye.

That and the master liar-gambler Pete Rose too.

Headed to the Hall..good citizens-great players.  Out in the cold the cheats.

The heated arguments over who is not in, continue in Cooperstown, across all of baseball fans and in bars and on sports-talk shows nightly.

The Hall of Fame ballot includes words like character, honesty, sportsmanship among other important traits.

Wonder if things will ever change there?  Hell the country is about to try and re-elect an indicted felon, immoral, pathelogical liar as President Trump. Maybe those stained in baseball might still get it in.

But for this day, the pure greatness of the players and the people named Beltre-Helton-Mauer will be honored at Doubleday Field this coming summer.  No arguing needed to support that vote.

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“TORREY PINES-BIRDIES-BOGEYS”
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You loved the historic-picturesque golf course.
You loved the tournament that brought big names to San Diego.
You loved the North-South Course layout.
You loved what the Century Club leadership has meant

That was then at Torrey Pines. This is now.
And all things have changed

Now the Farmers Insurance Open may be on its last legs, with reports it’s sponsorship will likely end within a year.

This a year after the PGA decided not to make the Torrey Pines tourney a 20M-elite tournament despite the venue, the golf, and its heritage.

They tee off on Wednesday and there is a real dose of reality our golfing community must face.  It’s like a bad tee shot into the Pacific Ocean.

The Farmers Open is no longer elite, it is viewed as a second tier tourney.

It is drawing just 12-of the top 30-money winners from last year.

A marginal field has replaced what used to be awesome threesomes, teeing off looking onto the ocean.

Tiger Woods’ physical woes have made him a marginal player.
Rory McIlroy has started his season in Dubai instead of stateside.

Jon Rahm has bolted to take a 450M payday from the LIV.

Phil Mickelson defected, and has disappeared in a haze of age and poor play.

Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson deChambeau among others are on the Saudi tour too, some 32-in all who have left.

Yes we have Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Jason Day, Colin Morikawa set to play on Wednesday.  They  will be here surrounded by other budding young golfers.  But there are no superstars nor Hall of Famers to follow now.

But the luster of Grand Slam winners of past walking those fairways and standing over long putts on the Green seems gone forever.

It’s another setback for our community.

Losing our NFL franchise is hard enough to bitterly swallow.
Losing our benevolent Padres owner has left a hole in our heart.
Losing community interest in Aztecs football has been sad

And now this.

Losing the special nationwide status that Torrey Pines used to bring, seems gone.

Somehow-someway, the Century Club has to reignite interest in the PGA and make this a special stop on the tour.

Tough to do financially with so many big names gone, thru injury-greed.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news.  A bogey-type of week ahead at Torrey Pines.

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“It’s a QB World”
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If you have a good NFL-quarterback, lucky you.
If you don’t-you don’t have a chance.

This weekend more than any other time drove home that message, and raised a secondary question I will pose in a minute.

Patrick Mahomes continued to work his magic, this time in a road game for the first time, in the Kansas City Chiefs playoff win in Buffalo.  It was his (215Y) passing day, his leadership, his ability to hit passes to Travis Kelce and unleash RB-Isaiah Pacheco.  Sure he played a ton of games at Arrowhead Stadium, but he is now (33-12) away from home in games.  He is now (13-3) in postseason.  And he is (87-25) in his career.

Josh Allen is everything to Buffalo, despite not winning for a third time against Kansas City in the playoffs.  Granted he is (5-5) in his career in playoff games.  But he does it all, piling up (258APY) even in the gut wrenching loss.  He ends the season with nearly (5300Y) and 50-TDs this season.

Lamar Jackson willed the Baltimore Ravens to the AFC finals with another outstanding game in their lopsided win over Houston.  Pass-run-lead, he does it all and for the first time in his stay in the Charm City, the Ravens put a ton of quality skill people around him.

Jared Goff has resurrected his career thanks to a change of address, better coaching and maturity.  Goff is part of the ringleaders who will play in the NFC-title game next weekend, after throwing 34-TD passes this year in a star season in a city that needs a star.

Pick a star in San Francisco, and Brock Purdy finds a way to get him the ball.  It is a galaxy of great talent on the 49ers roster, but the last player picked in the NFL draft a couple of years ago, has a (113-QB) rating and (35TD) passes.

There are other quality QBs in the league, who put their teams in good situations this past fall.  Baker Mayfield fixed his career in Tampa Bay.  CJ Stroud did what no one expected in Houston.  We know about the Tua Tagovailoa season in Miami.  What Matthew Stafford’s career has been in LA.  That was some breakout first season as a starter for the Packers’ Jordan Love.

They have all won, gone into the playoffs, and some to a Super Bowl too.

You have to have a good-to-great quarterback to win in this league.  Those franchises mentioned above have them.

The Chargers have one also in Justin Herbert, who has never won a playoff game yet.  You salute the likes of the guy in Buffalo, the leader in Kansas City and other places.

You should question why Justin Herbert seems sentenced to mediocrity by the organization he plays for.  You have to imagine the knot in the pit of the stomach of Justin Herbert, seeing what all these other great NFL-QBs have done, and what he has not been able to do, because of how pitiful his organization is.

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“NFL WEEKEND–PUT UP–SHUT UP”
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Ready-Set-Go.
A pretty good weekend of games ahead of us
And we now find out who is for real and who has to go home
As if seeing what happened to Miami-Philadelphia-Dallas wasn’t enough
We get to see this

CHIEFS-BUFFALO…Hard to believe Patrick Mahomes has never played a road playoff game in his career.  He is (10-2) in playoff games, all played at Arrowhead.  Now he plays the Bills, the Bills defense, Josh Allen, the snow, the cold and 86,000-Bills fans on Sunday.  There will be challenges.  How does Kansas City defend the Bills?  Spy Josh Allen, who has over (5,000) all purpose yards?  Can KC’s secondary hold up in single coverage on Stefon Diggs and those two pass catching tight ends?  How does the Bills defense control Mahomes from moving the pocket?  Can the Bills double Travis Kelce and yet holdup to the deep passes Mahomes wants to throw to his receivers?  If the weather turns bitter, will it be James Cook or Isaiah Pacheco who has the big game running the ball?

HOUSTON-BALTIMORE….What a great season the Texans have had, with the rookie season of QB-CJ Stroud and the dynamic pass catching campaign of WR-Nico Collins.  But now Houston has to tee it up without their other top receivers, Noah Brown-Tank Dell, both out with surgeries.  Then there is Lamar Jackson, running-throwing, his two pass catching TEs, and the 4-receivers, and a run game that is averaging (4.9YPC).  And if that’s enough, the Ravens defense has 60-sacks and 31 takeaways.

GREEN BAY-49ERS…Jordan Love has been marvelous and the fact he has done this with an almost all rookie WR-TE group is amazing.  The key may be can Aaron Jones-AJ Dillon run the ball on the Niners defense?  Of course the Packers must put a lid on QB-Brock Purdy, all everything RB-Christian McCaffrey and the big play pass catch antics of Ayuik-Deebo-Kittle.  And we haven’t even mentioned the Niners veteran laden defense.

LIONS-TAMPA BAY…Jared Goff finishing up an amazing bounceback season.  Baker Mayfield wrapping up a save the career type campaign at quarterback.  Detroit is so tough at home and so relentless.  Nice run for Tampa, but the Bucs are just (2-5) vs elite teams this year, and now they face an elite team again in Detroit.

Who puts up and moves on?  Who gets shut up and goes home?
It’s the playoffs come Saturday-Sunday…Ready-Set-Go.

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