“Chargers-On Track–Off Course”

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As good a team on paper as they have had since the (14-2) Marty Schottenheimer teams of over a decade ago.

On track for what could be a very good football season possibly.

On paper-that’s the way it looked as the team went to training camp.

Now two weeks before the NFL season is about to begin, the team has been knocked off course.

On the field injuries. Off the field contract issues. And the Bolts have not even played a game this season.

MELVIN GORDON…The holdout is now entering its 5th week. He has forfeited two game checks (660,000) and has rung up (69,000) in fines for missed workouts and practices. He’s facing a tough decision shortly. Come in and play out the final year of the contract and not miss any more paydays, or sit till week 10-forefeit all those game checks, come in to finish the year, get credit for the final year of the deal, and see what free agency brings. But he’d forefeit close to 4M of his salary by doing that, and he could still be franchise tagged for the 2020 season on another one year contract..

PHILIP RIVERS….He’s ended negotiations on a contract extension now, and will play this season and could become a free agent at the end of the season. He could be franchise tagged by the Bolts, but that would cost them some 25M next year on a 1-year deal. He likely wants a 3-year extension and retires. But he takes a risk playing this season without guarantees going forward. He could get hurt this year and have no job security. Or he could play this year, and retire, which seems to be an undercurrent of conversation now in his mindset at age (36).

DERWIN JAMES….This is a big setback in the secondary…the fractured foot and the surgery that will sideline him for at least 4-months. He was a table setter at safety, played 99% of the defensive snaps, had 105-tackles, 3-interceptions and was everywhere. Coach Anthony Lynn has echoed the sentiment ‘Next Man Up” but that rings empty, no body in that secondary was the playmaker James was. Luckily, Desmond King and Adrian Phillips have experience and will play, but neither is equal to #33.

RUSSELL OKUNG…Blood clots are not something to be taken lightly. Taking blood thinners is an issue too. He might be facing the end of his career, and that’s a blow because he has been rugged and more reliable a left tackle than the team has had in years, and he’s played much better than he ever played in Seattle before they let him go. This is not just a football issue, but a lifetime health issue.

KEENAN ALLEN…Will sit out rest of preseason camp and games with swelling on knee and an ankle injury. He is such a gamer, but this may be a wear-and-tear factor over his many years running routes, catching balls, taking hits. Hopefully this is not a season long-nagging injury issue.

JERRY TILLERY….The 1st round pick has been held out all spring into early camp as the rehab from shoulder surgery at Notre Dame continues. He can play. The question, will he hold up.

NASSIR ADDERLY…The 2nd round pick has not been in full practice mode since going out with a hamstring injury in the OTA’s, and that was 14-weeks ago. He is way behind now in playing time and game knowledge. He might not contribute for half the season.

The Bolts will not be the same team if they have to go extended time without Gordon, James, Okung. And you know there will be other injuries that will happen when they start playing for real.

On track for a really good season. Knocked off the course right now by these player issues.

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Aztecs–Opening Day Coming….Are They Ready”

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San Diego State is just two weeks away from the start of a ‘must-win’ football season, a year in which they have to rally back, and capture the imagination of a town and market they lost, after last season’s crash and burn finish to a (7-6) campaign.

Losing 5-of their last 6-games, getting whitewashed in a Bowl Game by Ohio, left a bitter taste in Coach Rocky Long’s mouth

He’s made 2-significant coaching staff changes, adding back Brady Hoke and hiring Ron Caregiver to handle key components of the offense and defense.

The off season program was a throwback to the era of very demanding 6am workouts, must more running, and a physicality that bordered on fanaticism.

Midway thru camp, Long talked about what he’s seen in camp.

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..15 practices so far-making progress-not as fast as I want.

..Defensive front-still have questions…influx of new guys including JUCO transfers
..JUCOs are struggling with system
..Pleasant surprises new nose tackle-Cam Thomas
..Keshawn Banks starting for us at DE as a sophomore
..Brady Hoke-best DL coach ever been around
..Coaching path-players know all about him.
..He teaches techniques…knows physical training…motivational

..K-Matt Araiza has redshirted last year-enormous talent-field goals=kickoffs

..At least 7-new freshmen seem ready to play at this level..real talent wise
..Most impressive crew of freshman athletes ever had
..Won’t play unless somebody gets hurt

..Jacob Capra alternating at starting RT
..Joe Jimenez is with 2nd unit as OG
..I want 10-offensive lineman who can play

..Backup QB-no one stepped forward..it is a day-to-day
..No difference between Marc Salazar-Jordan Brookshire
..1-day they’re good…next day they are not
..Brookshire not being because he was with us in spring-knows offense
..Mark Salazer better than last year-but still not consistent
..It’s a challenge…read defenses…progressions…accuaracy

..JUCO defensive lineman really challenged…have to line up different spots
..We don’t play the same defensive front snap to snap
..JUCO players who were not here in spring

..CBs-disappointed..thought they’d be better considering where they came from
..Eric Wilson-Sammy Morrison…Transfer CBs-struggling

..RB backup battle…Chase Jasman-high ankle sprain
..Chance Bell had concussion
..Kaegun Williams-most consistent as backup

..Spread offense installation..nothing different is the formation
..Blocking schemes are easier for our players.

..Saturday scrimmage-looking for young guys to step up and prove themselves
..Next week in practice-young guys will scrimmage-though won’t play vs Weber State

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QB-Ryan Agnew

..We are ready to hit-to play
..Feels different-every yer is new year…new guys to step
..Starting last year gave us great comfort zone
..My preparation isn’t any different…but I have leadership role
..Christian Chapm was my mentor…helped me grow
..Taking those experiences to pass them on to backup QBs
..We need to make chunk plays..convert in the rezone.
..We need WRs split wide to make plays…catch ball..get open..get on blocks
..WRs need to execute better every game.
..Ron Caregher’s package…definitely different…to change it my last year…
..Terminolgy is the same…but some calls different…
..My steps as QB are different…we need to adjust…
..We have a lot of plays in…
..In high school I was in shotgun..this is so different…speed..formations…

S-Taiq Thompson

..It takes time to learn his system and each position
..We had strong defense last year-lots of speed
..We must force turnovers…so we need better effort
..Trademark this year…get turnovers
..I feel like I must be a leader on this roster
..Brady Hoke arrival has changed things..tremendous help to DL
..Hoke-radiant personality

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“Fans Forum–Your Turn—What Do You Think”

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Everyone has an opinion, and for the first time, I am opening up my Website to the fans, to tell me what you think.

I will pose Fans Forums questions, ask you to read-react, and write me via Email.

We’ll publish key comments from followers on the Question of the Week.

You can enter your comments via my website, at the bottom of the Home Page on the Email address……www.leehacksawhamilton.com.

Hope you ‘ll participate.

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Question of the Week:

What sports-talk radio station do you listen to, or did you listen to in San Diego.

What do you like, or did you not like about your favorite or least favorite station.
What made one station great?
What did you dislike?
Rate the personalities?

There are two stations left in the market, and four in the history of San Diego.

Survey the history of each and then write a short response at the Email address on www.leehacksawhamilton.com

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XTRA-1360……Anchored by longtime market host Steve Hartman in the afternoons. Darrin Smith has just joined the station to do mid-days. The morning show is led by Justin Richards-Mike Costa with Nick Hardwick as a contributor. The station carries Colin Cowherd from Fox Radio in mid-mornings. The station is hindered by low power and limited signal, but carries the Aztecs and picked up the Gulls.

The Fan-97.3-FM…In its second year on air, and the Padres flagship station. It has changed out its morning show, by importing the new team of Ben Higgins-Steve Woods. Jim Rome is back in the market with his network show. Coach John Kentera has just taken over mid-days. Tony Gwynn-Junior and Chris Ello are the lead in to the Padres. The FM signal has struggled to cover the county. Delving into high school football play-by-play.

XTRA 690….Pioneered the format for a decade and a half. Big time personalities, and the flagship station of the Chargers. Broadcast the Aztecs, USC, then became flagship for the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks hockey. Biggest station in the nation with 77,000-watts. Led by Lee ‘Hacksaw’ Hamilton….the ‘Loose Cannons-Steve Hartman-Chet Forte-Bill Werndl…..Coach John Kentera…..the breakout show of Jim Rome….a wide variety of morning shows, with Scott Kaplan-Billy Ray Smith……Steve Mason-John Ireland…..Steve Garvey. Dave & Jeff….Station was dissolved in 2002 by Clear Channel ownership.

MIGHTY 1090…Just concluded a 17-year run….Station was anchored by Scott & BR….and Darrin Smith-Marty Caswell shows. Mornings included ‘Hacksaw & Company’…..Dan Sileo…Ben & Woods….Evenings with Coach Kentera….Ran the Padres radio network during its entire run….50,000-watts…Station ceased operation with money problems this spring.

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“NFL-Being Jerry Jones-Not Easy At Least Today”

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He owns America’s team.

He built Jerry’s World, the mammoth and profitable football stadium in North Dallas.

He won Super Bowls years ago with Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer.

He may have as good a team as anyone else in the NFL right now.

He has salary cap problems too.

The Dallas Cowboys, who have always had big money players, have a problem now in that all their stars contracts are coming up at the same time.

Would not be difficult for one of the richest owners in the modern day NFL, but it is a problem, because of the NFL salary cap.

Jones has a history of restructuring contracts to come with the bookkeeping cash to get his star players signed, but even this becomes a challenge. It’s just not dollar values, it’s the number of players he must take care of, and the number of players who might have to give up money to get other guys signed.

It’s not just about average salary, but it’s about huge signing bonus money and guaranteed years beyond the first seasons of new deals.

So many to renegotiate, because he has so many he must sign, now and then tomorrow.

A look at what ‘Jerra’ is dealing with in and around Valley Ranch.

EZEKIAL ELLIOTT…..He’s had 3-tremendous heavy duty-big time performance seasons, and has outplayed his rookie contract. But he still has 2-years left on his current deal, that pays him (3.9M) this season and (9.9M) next season. He wants top dollar, and that means (14M) a year, equal to, or just above, Todd Gurley-Rams..David Johnson-Arizona…Le’Veon Bell-Jets.

DAK PRESCOTT….The quarterback’s contract ends after this season, and he has played well. Maybe the best term is, played ‘efficient’. But he wants to be paid top dollar, and few people want to mention his name in the same sentence with Russell Wilson (35M), Aaron Rodgers (33M), Matt Ryan (30M), Tom Brady (23M), Ben Roethlisberger (34M), Drew Brees (25M), or Philip Rivers (20M). He rejected what might have been a (30M) per year deal because there was not a lot of guaranteed money beyond year two in the contract offer. Not even sure he is worth (30M) a year.

AMARI COOPER….When I first saw him coming out of Alabama to the Raiders, I flashed back to Michael Irvin and the Cowboys in his early years. But bad teams and nagging injuries, have lessened the star value of Cooper over the last three years. Is he worth Julio Jones-Atlanta type money (20M), very debatable?

DE MARCUS LAWRENCE….They franchise tagged the defensive end this year at (14M) so there is that contract to deal with a year from now too, and if they tag him next season, his number goes north of (18M).

JAYLON SMITH….Lost in all the conversation in Dallas is the emergence of a star linebacker, whose contract has to be dealt with next year. It took him two years to recover from a catastrophic knee injury at Notre Dame, but what a breakout season last year, and a payday due next year. Can you say (14M) next year.

BYRON JONES…A young cornerback who is already outplaying his current contract, and will be in line for big dollars the same year Smith’s contract comes up. Use the term (12M) when talking about him a year from now.

Oh to be Jerry Jones, walking thru his Taj Mahal Stadium, the celebrity status, the women, the fans, the wealth. This will be fun watching what he does to solve this Rubik Cube of contract issues.

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“History-Bad History-Don’t Repeat Bad History”

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An anniversary, never to be celebrated, never to be forgotten.

The 25th Anniversary of when it all stopped. It was like an atomic bomb being dropped. It wiped out a lot. It caused enormous damage.

Today, the 25th Anniversary of the bitter shutdown of major league baseball in 1994.

A culmination of ill-will, distrust, greed, and a power struggle that nearly ruined the game.

The Players Union, fighting to prevent the use of a ‘Salary Cap’, called the owners bluff, they struck on August 12th shutting down the season.

The Owners, at war with militant Union Chief Donald Fear, called the players bluff, cancelled the World Series.

It might have been as dark a moment as the game had seen since the 1919 Black Sox scandal and the expulsion of 8-players from the game forever.

On one side of the barbed wire fence was Fehr, famous for getting gains for his clients for a decade and a half. On the other side was milquetoast Commissioner Bud Selig, an owners pawn.

There was bitter mistrust on both sides. The owners had been found guilty of free agent collision years before, and had to pay the damaged players over 210M in cash.

The venom from the other side was directed at Fehr for blocking drug testing, as baseball records were shattered, big bats aided by syringes and steroids.

The anger went on and on as August went to September, and then the unfathomable, as I said on my talkshows on XTRA-690….’Can you believe it-they cancelled the World Series-God Damn Them’.

A total of 984-games were wiped off the books. The industry lost over 1B-in revenue. The two TV networks, bathed in red-ink, canceled their contracts with MLB.

The collateral damage was everywhere. It was an all time low in the game.

The Montreal Expos were (74-40), in first place, headed to their greatest season ever, and likely a World Series with Moises Alou, Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez. They saw the season end. If they had gotten there, it might have saved the franchise in Quebec.

Tony Gwynn was flirting with a .400-batting average all year, chasing another great San Diegoan, Ted Williams magical .406 mark in 1941. He finished at .394 when the season shutdown.

Matt Williams of the Giants had 43-homers, and was on track to crash the Roger Maris 61-homer plateau, all this earned before the steroid era took over the game.

Houston’s Jeff Bagwell was en-route to a record 171-RBI season that would have erased Hack Wilson’s modern day runs batted in mark set back in the 1930s.

The bombastic owners carried the grudge thru the off season, announcing plans to launch the next season with replacement players ‘scabs’ if a deal didn’t get done.

The Union kicked their ass in court, when a judge ruled, MLB could not invoke any rule changes, scab players, salary cap, unless it was negotiated with the union.

It took two years to get a new deal done, but the scars remained forever, the damage took a decade to overcome.

The NFL took over in the mind’s eyes of fans. The NFL became more important on Sunday’s than going to church. The NFL became a 14B-industry, on TV everywhere.

It was disgraceful.

Baseball survived the Black Sox Scandal, survived the horrors of the Depression, played on thru the Great War in 1917-1919, got the Green Light Letter to continue to play thru World War II.

Baseball was so important to families, friends, soldiers, sailors, pilots serving in the European and Pacific Theatre. It led to the Golden Era of the game.

Baseball survived all that. The only thing that shut the game down, the greed of the Owners and the Players.

The fans were held hostage. The game suffered a catastrophic blow.

It should be a cautionary tale for Rob Manfred and Tony Clark, who head baseball and the union, as they go back to the negotiating table now. Protect this 11B a year industry. Don’t destroy or repeat the damage was done 25-years ago.

If you don’t learn from history, you repeat history.

Baseball should never go there again.

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