What Does the Excitement Really Mean”

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It was electric, it was fun, it was colorful, but did it really mean that much?

The Chargers unveiled the architectual drawings of their idea for a covered stadium, attached to a Convention Center Annex late last week.

Then they held their pep rally on Saturday morning in the Tailgate Parking Lot where they want the new stadium to be built.

Commissioner Roger Goodell was there, inciting the crowd to get out the vote, and making the statements, the Chargers belong in San Diego, and so does a Super Bowl game. We’ll hold you to that.

Alot better than the last Commissioner who visited here, Paul Tagliabue, who insulted the city after they spent 75M to expand the Stadium to host Super Bowl games. Ingrate, Paul Tagliabue, ingrate.

Future Hall of Fame running back LaDanian Tomlinson showed up in a powder blue blazer and talked about the 55-year history of the team, and his hope a new stadium will be for the next 55-yeasrs of the franchise.

Philip River intoned his Alabama twang ‘Dad-gum-it’, referincing the grand idea to build it so all will come to the East Village.

There were no Chargers from the Air Coryell era, none from the since forgotten Super Bowl team either.

Owner Dean Spanos faced a smattering of boos, then some applause, though it is going to take awhile for fans to forget how he treated the Mayor, the County Supervisor, and the fans over the last year, in his failed bid to take the team to LA in the best interest of his family.

No-one introduced the toxic Mark Fabiani, the Chargers version of San Diego obstructionist.

Not much of a hand for Coach Mike McCoy nor GM-Tom Telesco, the end result of the ill-wind that blows when you go (4-12)

Congressional officials and favorable City Councilmen were there, but no sighting of Mayor Kevin Faulconer.

The couple of thousand of fans, wearing Chargers gear, stretching from old AFL days-thru the Dan Fouts era, and the Sujper Bowl team and the modern day Powder Blue, hooted and hollered like it was a tailgate party.

So they got 2,000 signatures but need another 65,000 to put the Stadium-Annex initiative on the November ballott.

This will be a challenge for sure. This is a city that rejected a bond for more fire department help, even as Scripps Ranch and Rancho Bernardo burned badly in 2003 and 2007 firestorms.

The voters, who keep rejecting bonds for more police and better education funding.

And now we expect them to say yes, I’ll vote for a new football stadium and convention center, knowing the history of legal challenges, and the longterm anger over all the Spanos deals that were slanted his way, as the city teetered on bankruptcy.

Memories are awful long around here.

Rivers was right. Last year’s suffering showed how much the team means to the community, and how much the community means to the franchise.

But there are budgets to be balanced, work industry layoffs continuing, and a Mayor committed not to make the same mistakes past mayors have made dealing with that NFL owner. And you know the mayoral history here, from drunks to thieves to perverts.

Kevin Faulconcer deserves credit for his cautious approach. Dean Spanos deserves credit for stepping up and finally talking to the media after a year long disappearing act, as if he was above everyone else.

Now he knows he doesn’t have lots of friends around the NFL willing to do favors for him. The (30-2) no vote to Carson said it all. Now he will spend some of his wealth to run this campaign. He’s got the bank, considering what he pissed away trying to get to Carson, and then Hollywood Park. Time for him to invest in this city, for his own benefit.

But in the end, as much fun as Saturday morning was to see, and be part of, everybody wanted selfies with the TV anchor-talkshow host-voice of the team, and everyone wanted to ask what I thought.

,The question really remains out there. Will people approve the hotel tax increase? Will they become educated enough about the referendum? Will the convention people allow this annex-rather than an expansion of the current center on the Bayfront? And do the hotel people actually carry clout to stop this type of progress?

22-lawsuits later, the general consensus, as we stood in the shadow of Petco Park, everyone agrees John Moores and Larry Lucchino saved the Padres, and that ball yard is now a destination point for the beauty of the Gaslamp Quarter.

Now a real chance to add to our cities beauty and infrastructure.

Does a pep rally mean very much? I’m not sure. Just ask those people in Carson, who thought they were getting the Chargers-Raiders or even the Rams.

Time will tell. But at least this was a start, better than the garbage we have had to live thru thanks for the Spanos family, over the last calendar year.

Hopefully this will end better than his attempt to ‘run with the big dogs’ and move to LA.

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You want to talk about something snazzy, or something shabby? Your call. Let’s talk about what looks good, then we’ll talk about what looks bad.

The Chargers have unveiled the slick sales piece, architectural drawings, of their proposed 65,000-seat NFL Stadium to be built downtown. Like a number of the other renderings they’ve presented in year’s past, this one looks great.

It will have a retractable roof, even though this is San Diego, where it hardly ever rains. It will include Field Turf, because grass really doesn’t grow well without much sunshine. It will include a beautiful view looking out to open spaces towards the Bayfront, an area, that can be utilized for 10,000-additional seats for a Super Bowl.

It will have sub-level parking for possibly 1,300-vehicles to replace the space eaten up by the new stadium at Tailgate Park. It will have the convention center annex along side the Stadium.

Adorned by palm trees, blue skies, and a clean look, it is impressive.

Of course it costs 1.8B to build. And at this point there is no-one from City Hall, City Council, the Hoteliers, the Convention Center Board, the Tourism board, on board with what Dean Spanos and Fred Maas are proposing..

There is a generic plan how to fund it thru hotel taxes. No one really knows whether it will take a 50-plus-1 vote to approve, or whether it has to be Two-Thirds yes vote to put the tax plan in place.

The Chargers will ask the city voters to start signing petitions tomorrow downtown at a press conference, that will include Roger Goodell, who will say all the right things, about keeping the team, helping the Spanos Family, etc, etc.

Of course there is still great debate about the ‘fine print’ financing, cost over-runs for the convention annex, and assorted other financing questions. The Chargers have yet to provide answers to the Mayor and City Attorney’s open letter, wanting specific answers before signing off, or condemning the proposal.

This will be interesting to see if this community is overwhelmed by the slickness of the Stadium brochure, or whether, they will recall-remember and revisit all the bad deals taxpayers got in dealing with the owner of the team.

It’s snazzy, but at this point the word ‘slick’ sure seems to have a negative connotation till we get answers.

On the other side of the Tailgate Lot parking lot, we had the Padres debacle last night.

Yes it only counts as 1-loss, but it was the same thing said on opening day, when the Padres lost to the Dodgers (15-0). This wasn’t as bad, the (11-1) bashing by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but almost as bad.

A flawed baseball team, filled with lots of utility men, now has significant injuries, just 3-weeks into the season.

Two starting pitchers gone, and the shadow of a serious injury to pitching ace Tyson Ross is not going away. Now add the ailing elbow of Robbie Erlin after just two starts, and this does not bode well.

A thin infield brigade is down three players now. Yangervais Solarte with a significant hamstring. Cory Spangenberg with a quad. Super-utilityman Alexi Amarista with a tender hamstring too.

Add in an ugly defensive performance by young backup catcher Christian Bethancourt, and another letdown performance by the bullpen, and we have a Padres team at (6-10) with plenty of issues.

Yes it only counts as one loss, but the problem going forward, there may be more of them coming.

So we have a shiny new stadium design, and a staned baseball roster.

The Chargers don’t have much ‘currency’ in their pocket trying to pus their initiative to a vote. The Padres seem ‘bankrupt’ trying to field 25-major leaguers right now..

Some Friday we wake up to, eh?

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“NFL Trades for QB-Price You Pay”

Jimmy Johnson was a pretty bright guy. He had great success in college football with the Miami Hurricanes, and great success with Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys.

He was a master at making trades, drafting right, and creating a talent laden roster to go with his X-and-O playbook.

Jimmy Johnson is the one who came up with the NFL-Trade Value Chart, the one used today to assign values for each pick in the NFL draft. If you are dealing draft picks, you want to get equal value in return for what you give up, unless, you are dealing for a quarterback at the top of the draft.

His Draft chart shows 1st round picks, with the top pick in the lst round is worth (3,000) points. The 2nd pick has a value of (2,600) , the 3rd slot is worth (2,200) and so on down the line.

Clubs that swap high picks,usually get multiple picks to match the total of points dealt for points (picks) received. Except in the world of quarterbacks.

Jimmy Johnson is the one who fleeced the Minnesota Vikings in what would turn out to be an (11-for-1) trade that shipped running back Herschel Walker to the Vikes for picks and players. The Cowboys wound up with deals that eventually brought them Russell Maryland and Emmett Smith and so many others in a lopsided deal.

This week we have had 2-blockbuster quarterback deals, that are really ‘off the charts’. The Rams grossly overpaying to get the 1st pick in the draft, from Tennessee, for the right to get either Jared Goff or Carson Wentz, they hope becomes the quarterback of the future. And then the Eagles, who already have 2-quarterbacks with big contracts, pay a huge price to go the 2nd spot, acquiring Cleveland’s pick.

The Rams gave the Tennessee Titans this years #1, both #2’s, and a 3rd, plus #1 and #3 in the 2017 draft, for the top pick and a 4th and 7th rounder.

If you tally up the value, LA dealt away 15,600-points worth of picks (6-picks), and received just 6,400 points (3-picks) in value coming back from the Titans. A truly lopsided trade.

Then the Eagles shipped a 1st-3rd-4th this year,, a 1st in 2017, and a 2nd in 2018, to get into the spot slot on the draft board. Cleveland winds up with a total of 12 picks in their pocket now on draft weekend.

The scoreboard will read, Cleveland shipped off (3100) points in value to get (6,416) points worth of Eagles draft picks.

The other big quarterback deal a week ago, saw the Redskins give up on struggling quarterback Robert Griffin III, releasing him, eating his 16M-guaranteed contract, and letting him go on the open market, where the Cleveland Browns signed him.

The Rams had engineered a similar trade 4-years ago with the Redskins, to give Washington the very high lst round pick to get RGIII. Again, a high priced acquisition.

In that trade, Washington gave up 3-first round picks plus a 2nd round pick, worth a value of (11,600) points to get onc choice, Griffin, taken in the 2nd slot, with a value of (2,600) points. The Rams turned around a made deals with the picks, trading down a couple of times to stockpile more picks. They wound up getting some pretty good defensive players. The Redskins got a year and a half out of Griffin, before injuries, a coaching change, and feuds eroded everything they were trying to build.

It’s always a gamble to make mega deals. So when you want your NFL team to trade up, or trade down, consult the chart, and hope you don’t make a mistake, in the picks given away, or the person you pick after you paid a high price. .

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Jimmy Johnson NFL Draft Value Chart.

most swaps of choices usually still fall in line with these basic values.

Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7
1 3,000 33 580 65 265 97 112 129 43 161 27 193 14.2
2 2,600 34 560 66 260 98 108 130 42 162 26.6 194 13.8
3 2,200 35 550 67 255 99 104 131 41 163 26.2 195 13.4
4 1,800 36 540 68 250 100 100 132 40 164 25.8 196 13
5 1,700 37 530 69 245 101 96 133 39.5 165 25.4 197 12.6
6 1,600 38 520 70 240 102 92 134 39 166 25 198 12.2
7 1,500 39 510 71 235 103 88 135 38.5 167 24.6 199 11.8
8 1,400 40 500 72 230 104 86 136 38 168 24.2 200 11.4
9 1,350 41 490 73 225 105 84 137 37.5 169 23.8 201 11
10 1,300 42 480 74 220 106 82 138 37 170 23.4 202 10.6
11 1,250 43 470 75 215 107 80 139 36.5 171 23 203 10.2
12 1,200 44 460 76 210 108 78 140 36 172 22.6 204 9.8
13 1,150 45 450 77 205 109 76 141 35.5 173 22.2 205 9.4
14 1,100 46 440 78 200 110 74 142 35 174 21.8 206 9
15 1,050 47 430 79 195 111 72 143 34.5 175 21.4 207 8.6
16 1,000 48 420 80 190 112 70 144 34 176 21 208 8.2
17 950 49 410 81 185 113 68 145 33.5 177 20.6 209 7.8
18 900 50 400 82 180 114 66 146 33 178 20.2 210 7.4
19 875 51 390 83 175 115 64 147 32.6 179 19.8 211 7
20 850 52 380 84 170 116 62 148 32.2 180 19.4 212 6.6
21 800 53 370 85 165 117 60 149 31.8 181 19 213 6.2
22 780 54 360 86 160 118 58 150 31.4 182 18.6 214 5.8
23 760 55 350 87 155 119 56 151 31 183 18.2 215 5.4
24 740 56 340 88 150 120 54 152 30.6 184 17.8 216 5
25 720 57 330 89 145 121 52 153 30.2 185 17.4 217 4.6
26 700 58 320 90 140 122 50 154 29.8 186 17 218 4.2
27 680 59 310 91 136 123 49 155 29.4 187 16.6 219 3.8
28 660 60 300 92 132 124 48 156 29 188 16.2 220 3.4
29 640 61 292 93 128 125 47 157 28.6 189 15.8 221 3
30 620 62 284 94 124 126 46 158 28.2 190 15.4 222 2.6
31 600 63 276 95 120 127 45 159 27.8 191 15 223 2.3
32 590 64 270 96 116 128 44 160 27.4 192 14.6 224 2

“Old Time Hockey-Ugly”

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If you like hockey, you probably loved the Paul Newman movie “Slapshot”, about life in the lower minor leagues, where booze, broads and brawls were a way of life.

Welcome to 2016-hockey, Philadelphia Flyers style.

That was some message the Flyers tried to sell to the fans watching nationwide to their playoff game with the Washington Capitals. They bot belted (6-1) to go down (3-0) in the series, with the season ending game likely tonight.

Alexander Ovechkin, the 50-goal scroer, skated circles around the Flyers defensemen, who looked like traffic pylons infront of goalie Steve Mason.

But it was the antics of the Flyers late in the game that really told the story of who they were, and what their fans were all about.

The Flyers figured they’d try to beat the Caps in the alley, if they could not beat them on the ice. Penalties, shoves, sneers, spewing vulgarities. Yeah that’s the formula.

Then defenseman Pierre Bellarmare pole axed a Caps player, into the boards behind the net. It took him 3-strides at full speed to get there, then hit him from behind, so he would go face first into the boards..

That was followed by a ‘line braw’, a-la Slapshot era, all 10-skaters on the ice, getting into a fight. Get even, if we cannot get onto the scoreboard.

And as they handed out penalty after penalty, most of them colored Flyers-Orange, the fans melted down.

They started heaving debris on the ice. Water bottles, progrtam, coins, and neon bracelets, handed out for a pregame promotion. It was ugly, Philadelphia ugly.

It ruined a special night. A moving pregame ceremony, saluting the life of Flyers founder Ed Snider, who passed away late last week. Of course, the moment of silenc was ended early when some fan shouted a vulgarity.

The fans roared with the Kate Smith rendition of ‘God Bless America. They launched tirades at Alexander Ovechkin, the Caps superstar. It’s been years since Philadelphia had a superstar.

It got so bad, even PA announcer LouNolan had a meltdown on the mike. He implored Flyers not to throw debris on the ice. He warned them the home team would be hit with a minor bench penalty.

“Way to go” he yelled into the mic after the bench penalty was given. The fans even cheered when the penalty against them was announced.

And he finished his own night’s work, by saying “This is Philly-not somewhere else in the NHL-have some class”

It was the best in the tradition of Flyers hockey, who gave us Bob ‘Battleship’ Kelly, Moose Dupont, Reg Leach, Bill Barber, Fred Shero, Clarke and the Broadstreet Bullies.

It was Flyers hockey, at its best, or maybe its worst, depending whether or not you lived in the 215-area code or not.

But in a city that booed Santa Claus, cheered when its own quarterback Ron Jaworski got hurt, and even had a jail built for unruly fans at Veterans Stadiuim, you’d expect this.

It’s teams lost a Fog Bowl Eagles playoff game; blew a 6-game pennant race lead with a 10-game losing streak at the end of the Phillies 1964-season. The 76ers melted down multiple times in postseason, and have just endured 3 of the worst years in NBA history.

So it’s all about the unhappiness there. But this wasn’t the movie Slapshot, it was real life-Philadelphia. It was ‘cover your eyes’ civic embarrassment.

Philadelphia, City of Brotherly Love, except in sports. Wonder if the signers of the Declaration of Independence would have been proud? Alexander Hamilton? No one else can be though.

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“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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