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“Gulls Hockey-Future is Here Now”

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If you like hockey, we’re pretty fortunate. We get to see all the Anaheim Ducks and LA Kings games here in the San Diego market. We benefit too from the NBC-Sports Network coverage of the NFL.

Granted it may not be Hockey Night in Canada’s heritage, but the sport is growing by leaps and bounds in the sunbelt.

And we have access to the stars of tomorrow, with the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks top minor league affiliate. The rosters are loaded with young talent, just a phone call away.

Last year, come playoff time, there were 9-Ducks players on the ice who had played part of the season in the AHL in San Diego.

Thought this has been a season of struggle up top, the farm system cupboard is far from bare. In the midst of a 5-game home stand, for the first time this season, all the hottest Ducks prospects are on the ice at the same time for the Gulls.

Change is comng in Anaheim, where age, injury and illness have impacted stars Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry-Ryan Kesler-Patrick Eaves. The Ducks have a history of developing young players, and the next wave are here in San Diego wearing Gulls colors.

Callups are coming, you know that for sure. But what the Ducks have drafted and signed, and now placed here for coach Dallas Eakins to teach and grow, is a cross section of talent.

GM-Bob Ferguson, a decade long employee of the Ducks, has run their top farm clubs, from San Diego, to Norfolk, to Syracuse back to Portland. His assessment of what will be on the ice next Friday when the Gulls host Bakersfield.

Max Jones-LW
..Missed camp with injuries-missed lots of shifts
..Plays a strong up and down game
..His game-go to the net-be infront-get loose pucks-score

Troy Terry-RW
..Played well at Denver University-NCAA champs
..International play gives him leg up on experience
..Being in NHL to start season-great for him learning
..Skilled hands with puck…lots of hockey smarts
..Bumps-bangs-goes to the net

Sam Steel-C
..Tremendous hockey intuition-where to go-what to do
..Now learning about pro level
..Can’t get away with stuff he did in junior hockey
..Learning to earn it now against pros
..Hockey skills are off the charts.

Giovanni Fiore-LW
..Has always been a goal scorer with heavy shot
..Now learning to play without the puck and compliment players
..Learn to go to open slots
..Now going to get the puck-not wait around for someone pass it
..Could be deadly sniper

Kalle Kosilla-C
..Darn close to being a complete player
..Been up a couple of times to Ducks already
..Learns a lot up there-come backs and works on skills
..Was 7-weeks behind coming off hip surgery-playing well

Maxim Comtois-RW
..Biggest surprise in Ducks camp-started season up there-got hurt
..Uses his size to get scoring chances
..He’s already figured it out
..Big-strong-makes things happen on the ice
..Close to being complete player at young age

Isac Lundestrom-C
..Just turned 19-last year’s top pick
..Strong skater
..Good hands-hockey sense
..Will be point producer in his career
..Could stay in San Diego or go back to Sweden..if not called back up by Ducks

Simon Benoit-D
..Has earned this-undrafted-played way into camp invite
..Played way into AHL contract
..Fearless-aggressive on offense
..Plays with an edge-great confidence
..Smart hockey player for this young age
..Could be the next Josh Manson on Ducks defense
..Fiesty-different than Brandon Montour-Shea Theodore-here before

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“USD Football-Could Not Believe What I Did See”

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I’ve broadcast a Super Bowl….did NFL football for 17-years….did 17-year of Pac 10-and Mountain West and WAC football, but what I saw on Saturday was a once in a lifetime experience.

The sunshine on Zaible Field on the picturesque school on the hill, the University of San Diego was special. The game that started on a sun-splashed field ended as sunset arrived.

Between start and finish, it was a day of record setting plays, that would take your breath away.

I know it’s not like watching top ranked Alabama or Clemson. I know it’s not a rivalry game like USC-vs-UCLA.

But what USD and Davidson did on Saturday was one for the ages.

I laughed watching coach Dale Lindsey double over at the end of the game, not sure if he was trying to catch his breath after a track meet of a game, or whether he had a stomach ache watching his team put its name in the record book for all the yards they allowed to the visiting Cats from North Carolina.

I wanted to see the final home game of the brilliant small college quarterback Anthony Lawrence, and his pass catching best buddy Michael Bandy.

I wanted to see Davidson, who had beaten Guilford (91-61) in an early season game, and leads the planet in running the football.

I wanted to relink with the Wildcats new coach, whom I had met at Washington & Lee a couple of years back.

I’ve seen lots of deficits in games, and big comebacks, but never this. Davidson leads (31-7) in the first quarter and USD comes back to win (56-52), and in the process re-writes the NCAA record book in a bunch of categories.

Davidson, running the triple option, finished with runs of 45-55-64-80-90-93, enroute to an NCAA record (789Y) rushing in a single game. You think of all the great days, and great running offenses in college football, no one, not Oklahoma, not Ohio State, not Texas, had ever put that kind of offensive display on any given Saturday.

The Wildcats ran up (852Y) in total offense, and it would have been more if they had not dropped 3-likely touchdown passes along the way..

Not to be outdone, USD put on its own fireworks show, a 98-yard kickoff return for a TD, then a 99-yard touchdown pass, Lawrence to Bandy.

When they were done, exhausted as they were, Lawrence threw for a career best (556Y-7TD). Bandy had 10-catches for 324Y. And now you know why they put erasers on your Dixon pencils.

Even the punter, Tanner Kulian averaged 50-yards a boot, including a 68-and-70-yarder along the way.

The final tabulation set an time 1-AA record for combined yards in a game,(1,477Y), eradicating the (1,413Y) record set by Howard University.

USD is such a special place. A great academic institution. A beautiful campus overlooking the Pacific. A non scholarship football program that has beaten the schools in post season games that give out 65-grants.

Lindsey, a football lifer out of Western Kentucky, carved himself a nice career as a Cleveland Browns linebacker, where I first met him. From that to become a longtime NFL assistant, including a stint with the Chargers, when I did those games. And now continuing a tradition of success, first authored by Jim Harbaugh, and then Ron Caracker.

Athletic Director Bill McGillis has brought leadership and style to the Athletic Department, though his vision and hard work has yet to see the planted seeds grow into success in the marketplace.

Both coach and AD may be ‘old school’, and that’s not bad, for that means lots of experience.

On a day where crosstown San Diego State lost to lowly UNLV. A Saturday where UCLA fell to (2-8) in Chip Kelly’s first season. A weekend where USC’s Clay Helton saw his team lost at home again, USD was a fun way to spend a Saturday.

Up next for them, will be another appearance in the FCS-1-AA playoffs

I really wish USD could find away to actually be a true Division III team in football, and compete for a true championship against other powers like Mt-Union and Wisconsin-Whitewater. Maybe actually winning a true trophy in those playoffs, would ignite interest in this town. .

I was stunned at kickoff, when I took time to count just 109 people sitting on the far sidelines behind the Toreros bench, and just 56-sitting in the end zone seats. They said the announced crowd was some 3100, finding that total hard to believe. Guess it was USD’s version of a late arriving ‘Dodgers’ crowd.

But for that afternoon, it turned out be a real feel good story. Success on the field in record setting fashion. Come Monday, they’re back in chemistry-science-english and religion classes too seeking success there..

You see playing at USD is a fun thing. But for the kids wearing Blue, getting the degree from a great school, is the most important thing.

And there’s nothing wrong with either one.

Record setting day at a special place…University of San Diego.

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“Raiders-New Definition of Black Hole”

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Do you remember when the Chargers-Raiders rivalry meant something?

Now it’s all but ancient history. Stabler, Plunkett, Alzado, Marcus Allen, Bo Jackson. Those were great Sundays, back in the day, but back in the day was a lot of 3rd and 20-Sundays ago.

Al Davis is gone. His legacy of greatness is now some 30-years removed in the rear view mirror.

His more recently legacy is a football man who lost touch with everything. The modern day economic business of the NFL. Talent scouting. The draft. Free agent spending. Budgets. You name it, he left it in ruins.

As for his son, Mark Davis, who inherited the franchise. he is an observer, surely not a football man. Look at what his leadership has wrought.

And for the fans, for some odd reason, they still follow the team, travel, party-hardy, and wear the gear. Their may not be as many of them now as their had been in the past, but all fans take up causes, and the Raiders appear to be lost cause.

The Chargers play the Raiders on Sunday, matching one lame duck team vs another. The Chargers may be in the LA market, but they are surely not LA’s team. The Raiders may be in Oakland, but who knows where they play next year, and now no one really knows what Las Vegas will get when the shiny new stadium opens there in two years.

Jon Gruden may have a smile, a wise-cracking attitude, and his TV reputation intact, but he doesn’t have very much going for him these days.

Sure he coached the Raiders in the tail end of Al’s days of running it. Yes he won a Ring in Tampa Bay, with what was left behind by the legendary Tony Dungy.

But this rag-tag wretched team he puts on the field this weekend, is the end result of drafts, trades, free agent signings, and mistakes, some his, lots from those before him.

The Raider Nation has enjoyed 1-winning season in 15-years. They have a composite (82-166) record in that span.

How did this franchise get so bad? The trades of 1st round picks Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper in the last two months, escalated the free fall. Yes you can now have 5-first round picks in your pocket over the next two drafts, but it won’t mean anything if you don’t select good players.

QB-Derek Carr is the last man standing from what was supposed to be the last rebuild, but he’s not really standing, but getting knocked down. He was once a bullet proof QB, not prone to mistakes, play safe, make a big pass here and there. Now halfway thru this misery of a season, he has 10-turnovers and 24-sacks, and not much hope of competing.

You cannot ignore history with this franchise. Surely no one has ever forgotten ‘Commitment to Excellence’ or ‘Just Win Baby’. But that was a long-long time ago, like White Jump Suits and gold chains.

More recent history shows that at the top of the Raiders draft board (Rounds 1-thru-4) covering 2013-thru-2017, the Silver & Black have just 2-out-20 top draft picks playing and starting, Derek Carr and OG-Gabe Jackson. Think about that number, they whiffed, missed, gave up on 18-of-20 top picks.

Take it back further, dating to Al Davis’ final draft in 2010, the team has just 3-of-32 picks on the field.

The spiral down always begins with the Raiders drafting speed, and often striking out.

1st round pick CB-DJ Hayden was a bust in 2013. Mack was the top pick in 2014 and has since been dealt away. Ditto the top pick in 2015-Amari Cooper. The top pick in 2016 was safety Karl Joseph, last seen bench sitting next to the top pick in 2017-cornerback Gareon Conley, who can’t stay on the field-hurt, and doesn’t make plays on the field when healthy.

The Raiders always wanted to make an impact in free agency, giving out ludicrous contracts to guys, who got paydays but didn’t make a difference. Marshawn Lynch to Michael Crabtree to Larry Brown, and a whole bunch in between.

This is a long road back, and many now will question whether Gruden, who was out of the NFL as a coach and player personnel guy for nearly a decade, is the right guy.

The Raiders play in a dump of an Oakland Coliseum, known for its sewage backup problems. Now the product not he field looks like sewage too.

The fans, what few who are left, are still passionate, costumes, face paint and all. That’s great. What they’re seeing on the field isn’t great, and might not be for a long time.

The 2018-Raiders, last in a lot of NFL stats, might not win another game the rest of the year.

The Raiders have given the phrase ‘Black Hole’ a whole new definition.

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“Questions worth Asking-What’s Next?”

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The outcome of the vote in San Diego felt like a punch in the stomach.

The Stadium vote, that saw SDSU-West campus proposal get voted in, while Soccer City’s proposal was washed away.

The 54%-46% victory margin for SDSU was very impressive. Political clout, business leadership, civic backers, and a normally silent alumni group rallied to push thru the massive proposal that gives a mandate to the city, to negotiate now with SDSU’s hierarchy. An Aztecs stadium, a river park, additional dorms, research-faculty buildings, all part of campus expansion.

The 69%-31% rejection was a devastating setback to Soccer City, which started with so much momentum. Mike and Nick Stone spent a ton to sell their message of what they felt was the potential of a new Soccer-Aztecs stadium, an MLS expansion franchise, retail development and land for an NFL stadium. Rejected across the board.-

The vote was one thing, but now the tougher part, getting answers to all types of questions.

SDSU is facing a 550M-price tag to buy the 253-acres of land they want for campus expansion. They say it will be a public-private financing plan. How? Who?

What is the fair price for the undeveloped land? Will the Mayor and City have a different value than SDSU’s wants and wishes?

Does SDSU buy up land in parcels, stadium first, dorms-research building later? We talking a 3-year plan, a 5-year plan, decades long plans?

Does SDSU pick up the 6M per year maintenance fee for the crumbling SDCCU Stadium, as Soccer City had proposed?

Is SDSU going to pay the 11M cost of razing the old cement structure, once the new stadium is built?

Who pays for the cost of the River Park they say they will develop, and when will that happen in terms of construction timeline?

What becomes of the empty Chargers Park, vacant for two years now, one that SoccerCity was going to buy and operate? Does it go to the AAF-San Diego Fleet-spring football league team, or it it too expensive for them to open up the doors?

Does San Diego State bring in separate developers for the stadium, retail, the dorms, the research building, and what kind of money do the developers bring with their proposals?

Would Soccer City , still wanting an expansion franchise, in Major League Soccer, return to the table and try to become a partner with SDSU, and help fund the stadium? Of course, who owns the stadium, who runs the stadium, who reaps profits from the stadium?

Will the MLS, on an expansion kick, still look favorably on the 3.5M-San Diego-Tijuana market and wait to see what type of deal gets done, and who pays for what? They did wait for David Beckham, 7-years worth of delays, because getting the FC-Inter Miami soccer deal done.

Will student fees be part of any SDSU contribution to their share of the cost of the academic-athletic facilities?

Can the Mayor, his tenure now damaged by the Chargers defection and the inability to get an expansion soccer team, come back to the table, and try to make any stadium plan part of the city-county wide financing coalition?

We now have a different type of leverage game out there don’t we? Will SDSU try to get the land at a reduced price because of the voter mandate, it’s their land?

Does City Council fight back and battle Mayor Kevin Falconer, now that Democrats sit in 6-of-8 seats on that council, and not allow him to make a bad financial deal?

How long will the stadium construction projects drag out considering all the environmental entanglements that are part of that property?

Will the business execs, who backed SDSU-West, now become part of the financing plans to help the university make this massive project come together?

This story isn’t over.

And now the word ‘burden’ replaces the word ‘vote’.

The burden on the city to make a good deal. The burden on the university to deliver on all the dynamics they promised during the campaign.

Lots of questions, now we seek answers.

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“Questions worth Asking-What’s Next?”

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The outcome of the vote in San Diego felt like a punch in the stomach.

The Stadium vote, that saw SDSU-West campus proposal get voted in, while Soccer City’s proposal was washed away.

The 54%-46% victory margin for SDSU was very impressive. Political clout, business leadership, civic backers, and a normally silent alumni group rallied to push thru the massive proposal that gives a mandate to the city, to negotiate now with SDSU’s hierarchy. An Aztecs stadium, a river park, additional dorms, research-faculty buildings, all part of campus expansion.

The 69%-31% rejection was a devastating setback to Soccer City, which started with so much momentum. Mike and Nick Stone spent a ton to sell their message of what they felt was the potential of a new Soccer-Aztecs stadium, an MLS expansion franchise, retail development and land for an NFL stadium. Rejected across the board.-

The vote was one thing, but now the tougher part, getting answers to all types of questions.

SDSU is facing a 550M-price tag to buy the 253-acres of land they want for campus expansion. They say it will be a public-private financing plan. How? Who?

What is the fair price for the undeveloped land? Will the Mayor and City have a different value than SDSU’s wants and wishes?

Does SDSU buy up land in parcels, stadium first, dorms-research building later? We talking a 3-year plan, a 5-year plan, decades long plans?

Does SDSU pick up the 6M per year maintenance fee for the crumbling SDCCU Stadium, as Soccer City had proposed?

Is SDSU going to pay the 11M cost of razing the old cement structure, once the new stadium is built?

Who pays for the cost of the River Park they say they will develop, and when will that happen in terms of construction timeline?

What becomes of the empty Chargers Park, vacant for two years now, one that SoccerCity was going to buy and operate? Does it go to the AAF-San Diego Fleet-spring football league team, or it it too expensive for them to open up the doors?

Does San Diego State bring in separate developers for the stadium, retail, the dorms, the research building, and what kind of money do the developers bring with their proposals?

Would Soccer City , still wanting an expansion franchise, in Major League Soccer, return to the table and try to become a partner with SDSU, and help fund the stadium? Of course, who owns the stadium, who runs the stadium, who reaps profits from the stadium?

Will the MLS, on an expansion kick, still look favorably on the 3.5M-San Diego-Tijuana market and wait to see what type of deal gets done, and who pays for what? They did wait for David Beckham, 7-years worth of delays, because getting the FC-Inter Miami soccer deal done.

Will student fees be part of any SDSU contribution to their share of the cost of the academic-athletic facilities?

Can the Mayor, his tenure now damaged by the Chargers defection and the inability to get an expansion soccer team, come back to the table, and try to make any stadium plan part of the city-county wide financing coalition?

We now have a different type of leverage game out there don’t we? Will SDSU try to get the land at a reduced price because of the voter mandate, it’s their land?

Does City Council fight back and battle Mayor Kevin Falconer, now that Democrats sit in 6-of-8 seats on that council, and not allow him to make a bad financial deal?

How long will the stadium construction projects drag out considering all the environmental entanglements that are part of that property?

Will the business execs, who backed SDSU-West, now become part of the financing plans to help the university make this massive project come together?

This story isn’t over.

And now the word ‘burden’ replaces the word ‘vote’.

The burden on the city to make a good deal. The burden on the university to deliver on all the dynamics they promised during the campaign.

Lots of questions, now we seek answers.

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