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HACKSAW’S Monday BONUS Podcast

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“CHARGERS-COACH CRISIS”
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I’ve walked down this road before and have always seen how this ends, badly for the coach,

I’ve seen it happen time and again, as the losses pile up, the coach becomes defiant and goes after the media, with critical responses, snide remarks, and questioning the football intelligence of the people asking the questions.

And so the Chargers are revisiting another coaching crisis, in the midst of the promising football season burning to the ground.

What’s going on in Los Angeles right now is no different than what happened here in San Diego.

The Spanos family led franchise has had just 13-winning seasons in now 35-years, a nice track record.  And now another ‘hot coordinator-head coach’ looks as if he is going down.

Brandon Staley’s nasty-defiant responses to the media in Green Bay on Sunday are typical what we have seen before.  How dare you question what I am doing.  I am in command and I believe in the system, the playbook, the play calls etc etc etc.

Staley came with accolades.  A protege of Sean McVay, who won a Super Bowl with the Rams.  A bright light guy with a dynamic personality.  Intelligent and deep thought answers in press conferences as compared to the rest of the NFL-robo responses in a CIA atmosphere press briefing.  Now all that has changed.

Is the problem Staley’s defense?  Is it the system?  Is it the player’s intelligence?  Is it the wrong type of player on the roster?

The Bolts are (4-6), beset by injuries, and not very good against the good teams in the league.  They had 31-sacks heading into the Packers game, but 15-of them came against the God-awful Raiders and Bears.  They are (0-4) against the elite teams they have played.

They put up big offensive numbers with Justin Herbert on the field.  When the defense is on the field, they give it all back.

In an NFL of big plays, look at these ‘chunk play numbers’.

The Bolts offense 104-plays of Plus 10-yards.
The opposition has 132-plays of Plus 10-yards.
The Bolts with 39-plays of Plus 20-yards.
The opposition has 47-plays of Plus 20-yards.

The staggering array of big plays late in games is the reason this team loses so many games.

We had the opening season loss to Miami, with all those massive pass plays involving QB-Tua Tagovailoa.  It’s never gotten better since then.  Look at what the Detroit Lions did to them two weeks ago, a (452Y) array of chunk plays.

Even in Green Bay, the Packers kept hitting big pass plays all over the field, when they weren’t screwing up the routes.  Even struggling QB-Jordan Love recorded his first 300-yard passing game surrounded by his rookie wide receiver group.

And Staley has the audacity to get angry at questions from the media about his system, player breakdowns and the non-stop deluge of pass interference calls and personal foul flags.

But this is not just about the head coach.

John Spanos and Tom Telesco, who run football operations, have given their coaches enough talent to go (83-89) in the decade they have been acquiring players.

And Dean Spanos and family, have run thru a hot list of hires who flamed out.
You do remember the ‘flavor of the month’ hot coordinators who came to San Diego and to LA, and have gotten fired.

Spanos hired Dan Henning, Kevin Gilbride, Mike Riley, Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn.  Here today, gone tomorrow, never to be a head coach again.

This keeps happening and happening to the point you can now link Dean Spanos to the other embarrassments of ownership like the Bill Bidwills, Mike Browns, the McCaskeys and even the last couple of decades of the Al-Mark Davis Black Hole ownership.

NFL fans left behind when the ‘1st Family of Football’, the Spanos family, betrayed 55-years of loyalty by moving from San Diego to LA, really enjoy watching the Chargers on TV.  But it’s hate watching now, not fans cheering watching TV.

Hard to believe a universal talent like Justin Herbert is (29-31) quarterbacking this mess.

Instead of Brandon Staley talking down to the LA Times, Orange County Register, and Athletic beat writers covering the team, maybe he should redirect his anger towards his team or the team’s front office.

And if this year is bad, think about next year when they are projected to be some 60M over the salary cap, and will have to shed veterans making big money from a roster that always underachievers.

He won’t do that for sure, blame anybody on his staff or in his own house..

Guess we’ll just have to wait till next weekend’s ass-kicking by the 1st place Baltimore Ravens when they face the last place AFC-West Chargers.

Or wait till the next firing and the next Spanos hiring.

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“Chargers–Chargering”
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This goes on, and on, and on.

The Chargers losses continue to pile up, the latest being their last second loss in Green Bay to a team with a 1st year starting quarterback, and an entire roster of kid wide receivers.

Let me count the ways you can lose, and they did, again and again and again.

Where do I begin with this mess.

Justin Herbert wastes a heroic performance, his laser shot passes covering (266Y) and when he was in trouble, which was alot, he ran for (73Y), leading his team in rushing on Sunday.  Runs of 9-10-11-11 and 28-yards, and it wasn’t enough for a win.

Keenan Allen does what he normally does (10R-116Y) but his day was marred by drops, critical drop passes when he was wide open.

LB-Khalil Mack showed up with a forced fumble,a QB pressure and a tackle for loss.

Even DT-Sebastian Day, who got hurt late, had a sack, a pressure and a tackle for loss.

Joey Bosa went down in agony with what could be a broken foot, or a lisfranc sprain.  At least it was not an Achilles.

But all those positives against a (3-6) team they should have beaten,  washed away by the air assault by young Green Bay QB-Jordan Love, who had a career best day (322Y-2TD) and he did that losing 2-of his running backs with injuries.

And in typical ‘Chargering Fashion’, the Bolts gave up the lead and lost in the final 2-minutes, dropping that record to (4-6).  Hard to believe for all the things Justin Herbert has become, his career record is (29-31) since he put on the Lightning Bolt helmet.

If you are keeping score at home, here’s the check list of issues that gave Bolts fans a loss, rather than a win.

Keenan Allen, wide open, dropped a pass at the goalline that would have been a walkin TD.  He also dropped a pass at the 2-yard line that would have been a score.  He also dropped what would have been a lst down pass.

Quinton Johnston dropped a wide open pass early.  Dropped another pass in the 3rd quarter, then did not hold onto what could have been a 70-yard TD pass late in the game.

TE-Donald Parham dropped a wide open pass on a 4th down pass early in the game after clanking one in the opening half..

Austin Ekeler fumbled at the Green Bay 5-as the Bolts were preparing to score.

Asante Samuel committed a brutal pass interference penalty on a 3rd and 20-plays on the final drive that led to the game winning TD pass to Romeo Doubs.

Mix in CB-Michael Davis getting beat on 4-passes including the game winning TD.  Samuel giving up a catch and run-TD,  in addition to the bad flag.  And the linebackers giving up 6-completions.

And there you have it, another bad loss, a game they could have won.  And Brandon Staley’s defense giving up nearly 400-yards to what really was a ‘rookie league’ offense.  Green Bay may be good down road with all this skill talent, but they should not have been this good on this Sunday against the Chargers talent level.

Hard to believe the Bolts could run up 15-plays of plus-10 yards, 5-plus 20-yards and all those back breaking runs by Herbert and lose this game.

And it seems to be getting personal.  Staley has a media-meltdown postgame, saying he believes in his ability as a coach, his system, and his players, and he was not going to give up play-calling duties.  And he lectured the media, ‘you can stop asking that question and stop inferring we have not played good defense’.  It was nasty, it was intense.

Somewhere in my house there is a dictionary, and somewhere on the pages lettered ‘C’, I will find the description of ‘Chargering’.

They did it, did it again, lost another game they had a lead in.  7-straight losses by 3-or less.  14-losses by 3-points or less during Staley’s coaching career here..

The time is running out.  The hour-glass is running out, the sands of time running out on the Chargers playoff hopes and possibly Brandon Staley’s tenure as the Chargers head coach.

Packers (23) Bolts (20)…hard to believe.

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“GREAT SPORTS WEEKEND”

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Hacksaw’s Weekend Podcast

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“AZTECS FAREWELL TOUR”

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“Aztecs Farewell’

The San Diego State season is fast coming to a close.
A new era will start within a couple of weeks, now that Brady Hoke is stepping down.
His Tuesday press conference, and that of AD-JD Wicker was honest-emotional-pure-truthful

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Brady Hoke-comments

RETIREMENT…It was time…glad it could be me making the choice
..Looking forward to this day
..Proud of every stop we have made
..The 12-win season-so proud of
..SDSU football will be in good hands..way we do things here

HOW KNOW IT IS TIME TO LEAVE..
..Hit 65th birthday-not sure we ever know
..Thought about it
..Hard to tell players leaving-it’s sad for sure
..You are with them all the time
..New coach must have character
..There are good coaches with bad character traits
..Counsel players-you came to a special place-remember why you came
..Above my pay grade what SDSU should do

..NIL limitations-we must accept it
..I was not high on NIL and transfer portal
..NIL impacted us..we lost 4-guys
..Simmons to Ohio State..Baskerville to Texas Tech..it was money issue
..Don’t know how lockerooms across country don’t get impacted
I’ve done
..No different feel leaving Ball State-Michigan-SDSU…it feels the same
..We will keep recruiting…we have 9-to-12 commitments so far

HISTORY (120-68)…It’s never been about us..it’s about the kids we develop…as players and husbands-fathers-when they are done with this game..they are good for the situation they are in

GAME CHANGED..Alot of veteran coaches don’t like what we see with the changes..and some coaches have decided to retire…People will figure this out
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SENIORS..I want to focus on those kids play their final game

 

COLORADO STATE…Our defense kept us in there

SAN JOSE..We want to start fast
Kairee Robinson-we must tackle him
Chad Cordeiro-been in college 6-years..really talented
Defense gets after our run
They have had really good defensive front last 3-years
Brent Brennan-head coach-good group-great job
Comes off Craig Bohls-tree-Wyoming

Most troubling we have not been able to jump start the offense
Jaylen Maden sees big picture and small picture
Jekull-Hyde offense…it taks 11-guys doing it right
We are not at the point guys can make mistakes and survive it
Cam Davis did a great job..great kid
Lucky Sutton has arrived as a talent
Defense-gave up too many big plays
Kicking game had problems last week
Jack Browning-contusion on his knee
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DE-Garrett Fountain-RB-Martin Blake

..Coming in Monday=knew something was off
..Spent 5-years with Coach Hoke-learned a ton from that man
..We got emotional when he got emotional
..We knew something was up..he was my best friend
..Hoke created this culture
..He brought winning culture to us
..Brady-Rocky-have done a great job

..Learn from Hoke about football and life..he’s helped me become a better man and person in society…phenominal leader of men and family..learned so much and off the field…learned to be great player..and be a man-husband-father

..it’s okay to be a person and a player…an amazing person…talks 1-on-1 about everything…it’s okay to be wrong-make a mistake…have character..have personality

He cares-very understanding..he is first there for players on and off the field…family is first then football.

Tough season..in 20-21 we had a lot of close things go our way
Has not happened this year
5-to-7 plays in a game determine a game..have not gone this way
We are still fighting to win

Final 2-games means alot for us for Coach Hoke
We are fighters

JD Wicker addressed our team..said Hoke did a phenominal job for us
We are not going to change who we are

Brady-Rocky Long  sales pitch to players…they go together same way
Old school-blue collar guyu
Both guys tough as nails

We need to be the same dog on behalf of this program

NIL is great for kids and college programs..we work hard
It’s a great thing…some schools have more resources..some don’t
We play for wins not for money
We came here because of the culture and the team aspect of brotherhood
I came to earn a degree and win games…not about money

We love support from fans..
100 of us go out on Saturday and play for our team
We block out poor attendance
Fans coming in the future will help us
You never know the kind of support what it means to our team
We love the sound of a full stadium
Want students to be proud of being an Aztec
Fans can really help us…great help to our program

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“PADRES GREATEST FAN-MAN PASSES”
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How do you evaluate greatness in a man.

Is it his collective wealth?
Is it his accomplishment in his chosen field?
Is it the legacy he leaves behind?
Is it his personality traits and relationships built and fostered?

Peter Seidler and Ron Fowler headed a group that purchased the Padres from caretaker Jeff Moorad, who had run the club after John Moores opted out as owner in 2012.

Seidler became the lead owner in 2018, believing the ‘skies the limit’ for Padres baseball in this community.

He gave us a record (253M) payroll, a roster full of star players, and a pennant race that led to beating the ‘dragons up the road’, the Dodgers in the playoffs.  Yes the team fell apart in 2021 and underachieved in 2023, but Seidler unlocked fans support like never seen before.

His investment in the franchise led to a record 3.23M fans in attendance.  It led to 61-sellouts on the season.  It was a prime example of the way to embrace the community, which in turn embraced the franchise.

But Seidler was more than just a baseball owner who wanted a winner.  He was dedicated to his adopted community too.

He might be the only Dodger-Blue and bred person fully accepted in San Diego. A grandson of Walter O’Malley, who moved the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958, Seidler became Senior Padres upon moving to San Diego, second only to Mr Padre-Tony Gwynn in terms of popularity.

But a man’s life is more than just what he did for the baseball team. and its fans.

Peter Seidler’s involvement in the community is of staggering dimensions.  He formed the Tuesday Club, a weekly meeting of civic leaders, on how to deal with the homeless.  His fund raising to build 3-tents  for the homeless and raising some 800,000-dollars in funds, equally impressive.

His work to help battered women with shelters, important too.

All this while he battled health issues for more than a decade.  His strength to come to work was spectacular considering he fought back from cancer twice before it returned again.

He was a common man with exceptional accomplishments.  I ran into him in the library downtown-when no one else recognized him walking on the street, just blocks from Petco.  I ran into him in a CVS drug store.  I went to his office upstairs at the stadium after he saw me talking to a crossing guard outside the ballyard.

He was unassuming, intellectual, charming and just plain old simple.

If Mr Padre was a near .400-hitter in the sport, then Seidler hit near .500 in sports and society.

A heartbreaking day in our community with his passing.

I see his smile, feel his handshake, and hope people remember him for being a great sportsman, fan, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

I hope too everyone will remember him for being a greater man too.

How do you evaluate greatness?  He checked off every box I could think of.

Senior Padre…sounds good to me.  He will be missed.

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