“Chargers-Some Fact-Some Fiction”

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Ah the exuberance from players as NFL-OTA workouts begin. It probably sounded the same in San Diego as it did in other NFL cities. Excited and optimistic.

The Chargers started 5-weeks of OTA-conditioning drills, welcoming in 6-new assistant coaches to Mike McCoy’s staff. The team is looking to replace 16-veterans, cut loose, allowed to walk, or those who defected as free agents.

Everybody had something to say on Monday after the first on-field conditioning drills.

There is never-ever a cloudy day in the life of quarterback Philip Rivers, extolling the fact that his team is (0-0) and that last year’s (4-12) sandblast of a season was in the rear view mirror. Fine and dandy to believe things will be better, because maybe they could not have gotten much worse.

Taken at face value, it was the quarterback acting as the leader, spreading sunshine, while it was 91-degrees on the practice field at Chargers Park.

But the reality is, as all those battered offensive lineman ran wind sprints and did stretching exercises, healthy now, we must understand some of those guys are a glancing blow away from another concussion, and we know what happened last year when that happened. Five of the top six guys in the trenches were hurt last year.

Keenan Allen is back, fully recovered from the scary lacerated kidney that wrecked his season. He’s come to camp lighter in weight, to improve speed, but says the seriousness of the injury was just a ‘football thing’. He has discussed wearing a flack jacket to protect himself, but seemed to indicate he would really need to be convinced it was a necessity. I assume it was the macho in him.

Jason Verrett played nearly the entire season sans-major injuries, and wound up going to the Pro Bowl. He really believes in veteran teammate Brandon Flowers, though few others do. And he thinks the acquisition of Dwight Lowery and Casey Hayward, both coming in with a chip on their shoulder, will speak well about focus and leadership.

It was odd took hear a player say there would be no drop-off in the post-Eric Weddle era, as if, here today, gone tomorrow, there would be no drop-off in leadership nor talent. Business being business, I think Everett was wrong in that thought.

Defensive tackle Brandon Mebane was a Seahawk and knows about winning and esprit-d’-court. He should help alot.

It was fascinating to watch Ryan Benjamin, the ex-Brown, who can fly. He is small but explosive, and his quarterback believes he can make big yards after catch, as he did in Cleveland.

The other guy who caught your attention was the CFL-transplant from the Edmonton Eskimos, 6’4 linebacker-safety Dexter McCoil. He is huge for a DB, and CFL people say he is quick as a linebacker. He was a turnover machine in Canada. He is not a block of cement in the Shawne Merriman mold, but he is a hitter. And he would be the tallest DB in a group of smaller guys.

It was universal though to hear the Chargers players express the excitement about the upcoming draft, and the impact players who will be on the board with the team’s 3rd pick in the first round, and what they might do in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, where they draft early in each round.

Of course everyone is excited. It’s the corporate thing to say. But for now, the mess of injuries, the distraction of the stadium situation, the upheaval in the coaching ranks is yesterday’s old news. April turning to May in these camps will show us whether the Chargers organization can follow up and make an impressive improvement over the carnage from last year.

For 1-day, it was feel good day to talk to players.

Excited and optimistic, even if it is a bit unrealistic.

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“Is this a Mess?”

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I am not looking to push any panic buttons here, but we are 3-weeks into the baseball season, and this is not going well.

The Padres are not the worst team in baseball, but they are far from the best, and more games than not-just seem to be hanging on for dear life in games.

They are (4-9) and in the teeth of a pretty tough part of the schedule. There are flaws everywhere on Andy Green’s limited roster.

Yes they dazzled us with a couple of Arena League offensive outbursts in Colorado, but aside from scoring those 29-runs in two games, the lineup has been anemic, with very little cohesion.

Shutout the opening three games at home by the Dodgers, and the downfall has continued post-Rockies series.

If you take out the two slugfest games in Denver, the Padres have played 11-other games, and have scored justs 17-runs. Unless your pitching staff is made up of Greinke-Kershaw-Bumgarner, you are not going to get many wins.

For those of you math-challenged, that’s less than 2-runs an outing in those 11-games. They have scored just 10-runs in their last six games. And this team is (1-5) at home, a far cry from exciting baseball.

And a long distance from a year ago this week, when words like pennant contender, and play in October were part of every sentence.

There’s not much going on down on the farm. In El Paso, Hunter Renfroe is averaging 1-strikeout every 2-and-a half at bats.

The shine has been dimmed involving the 2-hot prospects, who came from the Red Sox in the Craig Kimbrel deal. Manny Margot is hitting (.156) at El Paso. Shortstop Javy Guerra is batting (.179) at Lake Elsinore.

Granted it is the proverbial small sample of work, but these are minor leaguers who had good seasons a year ago.

The potential of help on the way seems distant. James Loney is hitting just (.240) at El Paso, a bit of a surprise considering his track record in Tampa and with the Dodgers.

There will not be a ‘Panda-Bear’ sighting in San Diego, the trade talks for Pablo Sandoval dead, with the Red Sox 3rd baseman out with a shoulder injury, possibly facing surgery after today’s exam with Dr. James Andrews.

Add into that his 261-pounds, and the criticism of a former trainere, who says he has an eating addiction akin to alcoholism.

You can buy the sales pitch that when the International signing period rolls around, the Padres will be a buyer. But as we have seen, they weren’t willing to pay the price for Japaense pitcher Kenta Maeda, who has a (0.47) EREA at Dodgers Stadium.

We just saw Yasmani Tomas hit a couple of rocket shot home runs at Petco Park. The Padres didn’t bid the right amount to sign him coming out of Cuba.

Ditto with Yasiel Puig, Yoan Moncada and a number of others.

It’s is early in the season, sure. But it’s rather late in the game to think this team can be salvaged.

Already without starter Tyson Ross, still on DL, if anyone else goes down, this could really be a disaster.

Yes the Friars will have 5-of the top 65-picks in the draft, but remember, those players are 3-to-5 years down the road.

Not a good start. Not a good outlook this year.

Just asking, “is this a mess”?. Not yet, but it seems headed that way.

“Be the Best-Beat the Best…Early”

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The Chargers will either be in the playoff hunt on their way to post season, or they will be dead in the water by November 1st.

That’s what the NFL schedule says. A very rugged early season slate, for a team that has enormous offensive line questions, and will have alot of new faces on their starting defensive unit.

The Chargers play 5-of their first 8-games on the road, and everyone one of those road trips will be hard, very hard, might even be a loss. There is just 1-Thursday night game, and no Sunday night national telecasts nor any games on Monday Night Football. When you go (4-12), when you have 1-playoff win in 7-years, the shine comes off your franchise.

It all starts at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, where the Chiefs, who play maybe the most brutal schedule in the league, will need to get a bunch of wins early, because they may not get many late.

Game two of the Bolts schedule has the Chargers home with pass happy Blake Bortels and Jacksonville, so this rebuilt defense will have its hands full.

Then on back-to-back weekends, they face Drew Brees and the Saints here, and Andrew Luck and the Colts there. Can you smell burning rubber, a torched secondary?

And if that was not enough, week 5-takes them up to Oakland where Derek Carr, the Raiders young gun awaits.

That’s followed by Matt Ryan and the Falcons at the Georgia Dome, and then the Broncos, Super Bowl ring, and that defense to round out the mid-way point of the schedule thru week eight.

The second half lightens up, though there is a trip to Carolina to play Cam Newton, but 5-of the final 8-games are at home, if they need to put a win streak together.

Denver will have a new quarterback, and opens with Cam-and-Carolina at home. But then faces the Colts-Luck, Andy Dalton at Cincinnati, plus matchups with Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan and the kid Jameis Winston.

The fast developing Raiders open at New Orleans against Drew Brees, face Ryan and Atlanta in week two, then back to back road games against lowly Tennessee and Baltimore, before the face Rivers and friends. So Carr and Company could have a quick start.

Kansas City is going to bleed a bit. The home opener is the Chargers, followed by a road game at Houston, then a home game with the Jets. After that, the Chiefs venture to Pittsburgh, and to Oakland, home with the Saints, then at the Colts. But that’s not all. The second half of the season they have roadies at Carolina, at Denver, at Atlanta. And if that’s not enough, they finish back to back with the Broncos and Chargers.

It’s going to be hard San Diego. Denver is so good. It’s going to be brutal in Kansas City. And the Raiders seem to have the best schedule of all.

Be the best, you better beat the best, and the Chargers appear to have their hands full doing that, with this roster and the way September and October gets laid out infront of them with the NFL schedule..

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“Wrap Around on a Wednesday”

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Padres….Not hitting, not at all, unless you consider the Arena Ball games played at Coors Field-Colorado against a woeful Rockies pitching staff. Aside from that series in the Mile High City, the output has been anemic. The Padres scored 32-runs in 3-games in Denver. In the series against the Dodgers, and the one they wrap up in Philadelphia, the Padres have scored 4-runs in 54-innings. And their so-called improved defense? Friars have 9-errors in 9-games.

Dodgers…Kenta Maeda is the real deal. Two very impressive starts, choking off the Padres, and his scintillating start against the Giants. As the TV-Auto dealership ad says, ‘location-location-location’…and he is always around the knees, inside-outside, cutting the black. Impressive. And so far so good with Yasiel Puig, hitting, fielding, and hitting the cutoff man in right field for LA.

Angels…When you have 3-of your 5-starters ailing, that cannot be good this early in the season. That coupled with the slow first week starts of Albert Pujols and Mike Trout. Those guys will hit, but where will the quality starts come from in the Halos rotation.

Lakers..Kobe’s farewell was emotional, it was electric, it was historical.. For a half hour prior to last night’s finale against Utah, the NBA-wide salute of the Lakers star was enormous and very emotional. For half an hour we forgot about the horrors of a (16-65) season. And then he went out and put on a Hollywood type farewell. You could not have scripted it better, a 60-point nite, a come-from-behind win when they were down 16, a wild crowd that refused to leave the Staples Center. What a way to go out last nite. Now this, this morning. We now return you to your original program, a sad-sack franchise, facing a long hard uphill climb to respectability.

Clippers…They finish on an upbeat note, and look to go deep into the playoffs. They do have 4-good starters, and a firebrand in Jamal Crawford off the bench, but you cannot tell me they are in the same area code as the Warriors and Spurs.

Golden State…The Warriors go to postseason with an all time record (73-9) record, erasing the Michael Jordan (72-10) mark. Too much firepower, lots of toughness on the glass, and a bunch of guys who can score off the bench.

San Antonio…Those Spurs, a spledid mix of veterans and youngsters, keyed by Kawhi Leonard, will give the Warriors a real run for their money whenever they meet, but I just do not think they have enough bullets in the gun to go a 7-game series.

Cleveland..LeBron James gets another chance to go get a ring, but injuries and hot and cold nights from teammates could doom that team if they get to the finals.

Philadelphia…And we think the Lakers are a disgrace. Try finishing (10-72) after what they did the prior two years. They get another high lottery pick, but have had little luck, aside from Jahlil Okafor, at the top of the draft board.

LA Kings…They grinded their way into postseason, but did not finish first. The NHL Western Conference playoffs are going to be brutal, some real combat, and alot of best of seven series. The Kings, who have won 2-Cups in 4-Years, might not get back to the finals this time around.

Ducks…For a team that was (1-7-2) to start the year, I wouldn’t want to play them now. Anaheim is (34-10-5) since Christmas Day, and getting scoring from everybody. Now they have to stay healthy on defense. Their power play unit and their penalty kill package (87%) are the difference makers.

“Lakers Legend Leaves Us”

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It was always about the drama.

The drama of the great player. The drama of the complex person. The drama of his relationships.

It’s ending badly for Kobe Bryant, a broken down player on a broken down franchise. No one wants to go out on a (16-65) team, and that is what his team has become.

How do we remember Kobe Bryant? There are many chapters in the book and his chapters are full of great stories, troubling times, lots of accomplishments, and very few failures.

In a sport where history writes about statistical accomplishments, there are many for the Italian born son of former NBA player Joe ‘Jelly Bean’ Bryant.

No one will ever forget the 81-point outburst against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, a night when he would not be stopped. The final line was (28-46) shooting….7-3-point baskets, and (18-for-20) from the free throw line.

Yes there was the 100-point Wilt Chamberlain game for the old Philadephia Warriors, and a bunch of 50-and-60 point games in the Michael Jordan era, but this was a modern day high water mark.

Kobe was the modern day Jordan. 5-NBA Championship rings, 2-NBA Finals-MVP honors, 4-times the NBA scoring champion, and 18-All Star Game appearances.

Who could have imagined this greatness, when then-Lakers GM-Jerry West convinced the Charlotte Hornets to trade the draft rights to the 18-year old Bryant to LA for veteran center Vlade Divac. And talk about a Babe Ruth type trade, that continued the Lakers tradition.

It has been hard to watch Father Time collect the tolls on the off-ramp at the end of Bryant’s career. Torn Achilles, torn labrum in the shoulder, knee surgery.

History should write about all his personality clashes. Not so much on the court, those legendary matchups with the Celtics and Knicks, Dirk Nowitzke and Karl Malone, but what transpired in his own locker-room.

They look back now, and realize if they had stayed together, they might have won a bunch more NBA rings, they being Bryant and Shaq O’Neal.

But there was always the drama, whose team was it really, Kobe or Shaq’s. It led to a nasty divorce. Shaq yelling at Jerry Buss in court-side seats, “Pay Me”. Kobe wanting max salaries and even casting glances at the team across the hallway, the woeful Clippers.

It always seemed everyday was something else in a Lakers soap opera of “Love Me-Love Me Not”.

And then there were the coaches, the war of wills with ‘Big Chief Triangle’, the ‘Zen Master’ Phil Jackson. Teaching moments, books to read, philosophical talks to have. Today the respect between them is enormous. There were many days, and many games, it was not during that coaching-player run.

There was the endless debate of how Phil-Jax should use Kobe, firepower or facilitator? There were scoring outbursts, and the night vs the Kings he didn’t take a shot, sending a message to the coach, “see what happens if I don’t score”. It was defiance for sure from someone so dominant.

There were prickly relationships with Coaches, from Del Harris thru the mess with Rudy T-Mike Brown and others.

And in the midst of his own off the court mistakes, he threw his teammate Shaq under the bus, with public inferences of O’Neal and his affairs.

There were so many other incidents too, including ‘Cowbell Hell’ in Sacramento, and the NBA All Star game when Karl Malone and others froze him out, not letting him shoot, when he was launching airballs.

But when other great players, from Alan Iverson to Patrick Ewing, Dennis Rodman to Wal Frazier, Bird to Jordan, heap praises daily on him, you know they knew the greatness and the respect directed at the person-player.

He impacted the game here, and surely the NBA global game, whether it was Italy, China, Japan or the Olympics.

There was no denying his skill set. Bryant was a combination of Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson.

The drama of who he was and how he acted, hit him like a technical foul in his personal life.

It all spilled into a Hotel room in Colorado, the sexual incident with a hotel employee. That court case settled out of court, and the price being amongst other things, a 4M ring to his wife Vanessa, and the public apology press conference in LA.

He became a better man at the point, matching the greatness of the player.

How do you describe Kobe Bryant?

Fearless, precocious, high maintenance, driven, dynamic, inspirational, and above all, loyal, to the Purple and Gold.

20-years of watching this. I doubt we’ll ever see that again in the NBA.

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