There’s nothing as sudden, nor as final, as losing a Game 7-on your home ice, 1-game away from the Stanley Cup finals.  The ache, the melancholy, the frustration is something that will last an entire summer.
 
As one season ends, another about to begin, the cup finals, but the reality is, Game 7’s are always ‘win or go home’…
 
The NHL Stanley Cup finals begin tomorrow night when the near dynasty Chicago Blackhawks meet the Tampa Bay Lightning.  You don’t think of the words dynasty when you talk Blackhawks, at least you don’t confuse them with the iconic Montreal Canadiens (Beliveau-Richard-Plante), or the Philadelphia Flyers (Fred Shero) or the Oilers (Gretzky-Messier) nor the Islanders (Potvin-Bossy)
 
But Chicago is back going for another ring, shooting for their 3rd Stanley Cup in a six year window.  About as close to dominance as you can get, especially in the NHL salary cap era, where player turnover is a constant every July.
 
The season is over for the Anaheim Ducks.  An awful ending for what we thought would be a return trip to center ice to try and get another ring.  Made even worse by losing at home, in another Game 7-decision.  In a sport where home ice is so huge, it is unimaginable that the Ducks could be elimiated three straight years, at home, in the 7th and final game of a playoff series.
 
As exit meetings occur today with those players, you wonder if they will be exiting that building a final time.  And you wonder if the coach may exit too, for as bad as the Ducks end of season runs have become, coach Bruce Boudreau has a (1-6) career record in those exit games, and those games were marked by really poor emotional play by his team, wondering if they were mentally focused to go get it done, again, at home.
 
Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry are fabulous power players.  The Ducks were complimented by a deep line of forwards who could score goals, from the ex-Canuck Ryan Kesler to role players like Matt Beleskey, Andrew Cogliano to Patrick Maroon and more, each important in their own say..
 
The defense has such a cross section of talent, from an old warrior like Francois Beauchemin, to young studs like Cam Folwer and Hampus Lindholm.
 
The goaltending gave you flights of fabulous play, from Frederic Andersen to John Gibson, but also frightful nights, with Andersen giving up 19-goals in the last 4-playoff games at the most important time of the year.
 
In retrospect, maybe the Blackhawks just had too much talent.  Once you take Perry-Getzlaf off their game, others didn’t really have the talent level to step.  There was no Marian Hossa on the Ducks 2nd-3rd lines.  The dropoff on defense in Anaheim was significant once Fowler or Lindholm were done with their shifts.  Young legs sometimes can’t keep up with experienced firepower.  That plus the Hawks will to do it every shift.
 
So close, but still so far away, because the Ducks aren’t playing tomorrow nite against Tampa Bay, like we thought they might.
 
Maybe we were misled, for the entry series against Winnipeg and Calgary were not as challenging as to having to play say the LA Kings or San Jose or St. Louis in early rounds.  But this was a team that was in a pressure tank full of games in March and April, fighting the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay for the point total race and overall home ice advantage.  They won when they had to win in regular season.
 
You don’t fire coaches who drove their teams to 100-point seasons, but you don’t get gold medals either for just trying to win.
 
Maybe this is a learning curve season for lots of young guys.  The torch was officially passed a couple of years back from the Kariya-Selanne-Neidemayer era, to Getzlaf-Perry.  They still have time left on the clock, gas in the tank.  Maybe the experiences of all these enormous ‘pressure games’ will serve the kids well, and this experience will make them better the next postseason go-round.  Maybe this was more stagefright, or mental exhaustion, or just getting overwhelmed by the talent level of the guys wearing the tomahawks on their crest.
 
Ducks hockey, a pretty bright future, even if this week is an emotional downer.  No practices to go to, no game to look forward to.  It’s as empty a feeling as you can have.
 
Like I said, the finality of getting knocked out in the 7th game at home, is about as severe a jolt as a roster can have.  A year from today, maybe they will be better for it.

It all starts tomorrow morning, the beginning of the most important time in San Diego Chargers history. A time to determine whether the franchise stays in its home, or moves back to its origins, Los Angeles.

The Mayor, his city Attorney, county officials and members of the city negotiating team, will sit across from owner Dean Spanos, his point man Mark Fabiani, team lawyers, and designated negotiators.

Here are the players in the opening day lineup.

Mayor-Kevin Faulconer-he could become a superstar if he can pull off this stadium package without using tax dollars or getting a ‘no vote’ from taxpayers. The biggest question, has the Task Force fired its best shot, or is there another money that can be arranged if necessary.

Attorney-Jan Goldsmith-the man behind the scenes, who knows the law, what can be agreed to without a vote, and how to coordinate the city-county loan plan.

Ron Roberts-the County rep is the entire process, knows the ins and outs of relationships, a steadying voice in all this, who has had a long relationship with Chargers ownership. Might be the most experienced-respected man in the room.

Peabody-Nixon…The negotiators, working with the city to deal with the ‘fine print in the transaction. They know the NFL and all the tricks of the trade. They are not rubes.

Dean Spanos-Chargers owner who runs a successful money making venture. His mouth says one thing, stay in San Diego, his actions say something else, see the Carson project. He has not extended a helping hand to CSAG, and they are working on his behalf.

Mark Fabiani-assigned to take care of the best interests of the owner, he has been a constant critic of all things the city has tried to do since Day one of the task force. He will do the owners dirty work.

Eric Grubman-the NFL VP of Stadiums plays devil’s advocate, but understand, he works for Roger Goodell, and who does Goodell work for, the owners, and that includes Spanos. They will do a deal in the best interest of the owner.

Carmen Policy-you would wish he had been assigned to work on the Chargers stadium in San Diego, not Carson. He wants back into the NFL, and likely will become a key member of the organization if they becomes the LA Chargers.

So the stage is set for all these talks. It will take weeks, maybe two months, to march thru the fine print. Maybe by August 1st, we will know if the Bolts are San Diego’s team forever going forward, or a lame duck franchise.

It shall be interesting to see how private these talks are, or whether the negotiating info gets leaked to selected media in LA, by Fabiani.

You know the stars at Petco Park, Kemp, Upton, Shields, Norris.  But it takes a 25-man roster to survive a season, and to help a San Diego Padres team.
 
A franchise with a history of greatness in the bullpen, whether it is Trevor Hoffman, or Huston Street, or this year’s edition, Craig Kimbrel, need setup guys.  Innings eaters.  No fear guys.  Tough people personalities.
 
As good as the Padres have been at developing closers, equally important are the setup guys, those you need in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings.
 
Shawn Kelley is one of those guys, not asked to save a game right now, but rather save an inning to keep it close, stop the bleeding, get the team to the 8th and 9th inning guys.
 
Kelley has fought back from two elbow transplant surgeries to get back to the majors.  He pitched in Seattle, then was dealt to the Yankees.  He thought he found a home, even signed a contract extension in New York last winter..
 
Then he was traded to the Padres, out of the clear blue sky.  It was a shock, it was a culture change.
 
“San Diego is so laid back, alot less media, but the self induced pressure is the same.  You pitch for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back.
 
Kelley fought thru a couple of tough outings early in the season, did a short stint on the DL, but has found himself now.
 
“You have to be focused, in this  role.  Good teams have lots of people who do good things”.  “I’m wired to be always ready regardless of what role it is”.
 
Kelley knows about pressure, that is what New York is all about.
 
“It’s different.there, the fans are uptight, the media is always there, everyone is passionate, people expect excellence.  You need a thick skin in New York, you just can’t let it get to you”
 
Kelley looks around the clubhouse and sees guys who have been in pennant races and World Series, and knows he’d like to be there too.
 
“They call it the Bronx Zoo, I wish I could have experienced a World Series run in that city, the media, A-Rod, Jeter’s farewell tour and all:”
 
He laughs about the Padres clubhouse, one newspaper town, a few TV cameras, a couple of radio guys.  “You come in here and there’s a USA Today on the table.  You come into New York, and there are 50-papers laying around, and guys reading what has been written:
 
Kelley is part of a setup group that involves Dale Thayer, Brendon Mauer, Kevin Quackenbush and Joaquin Benoit, a pretty good group finding itself right now.
 
He’s also been impressed with what he has seen from Bud Black and Darren Balsley.
 
“Great reputations, great comittment.  It’s something to have a manager who has been there and understands pitching.  Balsley loves with videos.  He knew me one week and picked up a mechanical flaw and fixed it, and we were just one week into spring training.
 
Kelley comes off as a positive guy, with a short memory.  “Have a bad outing, park it, forget it, get on with the next outing.  You have to put it behind you”.
 
Kelly has for the most part.  The Padres need his mind-set, his fire, and his competitive nature, not just with Kelley, but the entire  bullpen brigade of seetup men.
 
Look for Kelley in the 6th inning.  He hopes to hand the ball off to the 7th inning guy with the scoreboard reading the same as when he got the ball.

The World Cup is the epitome of global greatness in sports.
 
It has become a 6-week vacation for soccer fans worldwide.  It has become ‘must watch’ television for soccer fanatics, and now in the US, to the common man sports fan too.
 
It’s the time when the greats, who dot the rosters of the English Premiere League, the Italian, German and Spanish leagues, return home to play for their flag.  It’s a salute to the greatness of decades gone by, Pele, Beckenbauer, Maradonna, Voller  to the current icons, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney.
 
Soccer has become a conversation piece here in the US too, thanks to Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, and what Team USA has become over the last decade.
 
But in the shadows of the stadium, off the pitch, to the high rise headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, there has always been controversy.  And now it has spilled out in the streets like sewage, pouring down from the top floor of the FIFA headquarters.
 
What was rumored has indeed become fact.  President Sepp Blatter and his Executive Committee, have robbed, stolen, pilfered the gold from the coffers.  In the middle of the night, the FBI and Justice Department raided a plush hotel in Zurich, just two days before their Summer meetings to vote on the president’s job.
 
They arrested 6-international delegates, have warrants out for 8-more, and have three that have plead guilty already to a massive money laundering scheme-scam.  More than $150M in international money has been recovered already.  The sum total could be up to 1B…
 
Whereas goals and assists and saves are important stats in World Cup games, the conversations this morning involve language like bribes, kickbacks, double-billing, money laundering, selling of votes when it came time to award venues.  FIFA negotiated billion dollar bids for the rights for countries to host the games; took in enormous television rights fees; brought in truckloads of marketing money.  And off the top, officials were taking their cut.
 
USA official Chuck Blazer was the first to go down.  Then officials from tiny countries like Oceania and Trinidad were caught.  The hundreds of pages of background read like the operation of Drug Cartels or the Mafia.  47-different indictments were handed down.  Fake contracts, shell companies, briefcases of cash, bank transfers into US accounts.
 
Like squeezing a pimple, after they got done with Blazer, the puss had spilled out onto their silk suits and 100-dollar neckties.  They testified to the house of cards arrangements, and the money bilking empire collapsed.  US officials say they are not done.  Supplemental probes are going on right now as to how bankrupt Russia and Quatar wound up with future World Cups.
 
Soccer’s elite, who rode around to the World Cup games in Brazil, in Bentleys and Mercedes, will be in prison the next time the games are played.  This may well be the tip of the iceberg, for other cheats are likely to be outed shortly.
 
Blatter was up for re-election for a 5th term.  You might find his body and career in a back alley too, before all this is done.  It was always a feeling that FIFA’s fifedome lived a life of opulence and arrogance, and now we know how they got there.  Hi atop the throne, looking down on the little people, they were pious right up till the 2am arrests on Wednesday.
 
In ironic fashion, Switzerland, a tiny country of neutrality, known for its World Banks, cooperated with the US.  The arrests were made in that country, because no one could flee.  The Swiss have an agreement to extradite criminals to the US, and you know who is coming here to stand trial.
 
It’s fitting, they were arrested at a plush 5-Star Hotel overlooking a lake.  Fitting too, when they get off the plane at the JFK International Terminal, they will be taken to jail cells dating back to the 1930’s in Brooklyn, held for detention.
 
The Beautiful Game will survive all this.  The not-so beautiful people, who stole millions, maybe billions, will not.  Outside of game-fixing, this is as horrific a scandal as possible, stealing from countries, fans, players, charities, and the youth programs globally.
 
The Justice Department and the FBI stood infront of those hotel doors, and gave Sepp Blatter and FIFA the ultimate ‘red card’.