This-That-The Other”

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Aztecs Basketball….It has been a struggle of a start for the basketball program, losing home games to lesser opponents, and then getting pounded by the big time team on the schedule-Kansas. State is getting no offensive productivity from its frontline. There are too many nights that senior Winston Shepard is MIA with the basketball in his hand. This deep into their careers, there are very few offensive skills shown by Angelo Chol and Skylar Spencer. The young dynamic players are just that young, and will have nights in which they get overwhelmed. Steve Fisher’s team does not look ready to open Mountain West Conference play.

Aztecs Football….They’ve beaten the best on their schedule since that (1-3) start. Impressive, in a day and age when every team averages 400-plus yards a game, SDSU’s defense gives up 285-yards a game. Now they get the University of Cincinnati in the Hawaii Bowl, with a spread formation that puts up 529-yards a night. UC’s quarterbacks have thrown 29TDs, and more than 4400-yards. UC meet State’s defense with 33-sacks, 31-takeaways. DJ Pumphrey is one of the best running backs in the country, no-one knows about, wiry tough, an extra gear, and can run it and catch it.

Chargers….Two games, both on the road, in this ‘root-canal’ of a football season. Lack of defense, a poor offensive line, a weak defensive front, and few playmakers on the roster. That plus injury after injury, including 13-concussions. And hanging over everyone, the black cloud of the ‘moving to LA syndrome’ which has weighed heavily on the mind of the players and the support staff. No one is happy at the Fortress. Not one player made the Pro Bowl, including the record setting quarterback. Thank Dean Spanos and his sons for everything that has happened this year.

Padres…It is Christmas, and outside of the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego might have the weakest team in baseball. Granted they don’t open the season tomorrow, but unless there are some blockbuster trades coming, I wonder what kind of team AJ Preller thinks he’s put together. No free agent signings of note, not acquisitions from the international free agents, not much ready in the farm system to help. No legitimate shortstop, utility guys at second and third, no leftfielder, fringe player in center, no established closer, one rotation spot open. Wondering if I can find some gifts beneath the Christmas Tree to upgrade this ‘bah humbug roster’ we have this morning.

Gulls…They roared out of the gate, but after the (9-2) start, the parent Anaheim Ducks started calling everyone up. The team has sagged on the ice, though they have gotten a couple of key players back, and still lots of games to be played. The attendance is the 2nd best in the AHL, but fans are grumbling at long delays getting into the arena, and missing lots of the first periods of home games. The Gulls nearly had to cancel opening nite of the AHL season by ice issues; they figured that out; now they need to figure out correctly how many gates, and how to handle security screening for the fans.

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“Dark Story-NFL Black Eye”

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It was somber, stunning, sad, contemptuous, disingenuous.

It was everything I thought it would be, since I knew the subject matter, and had already pre-formed opinions.

Those who sat in the movie theatre with me, came away shocked and disappointed, at the depths of the issue, and the things that were said against doctors, who discovered the disease..

Amongst those sitting there with me were a select group of former San Diego Chargers, you might recognize.

We were watching the highly acclaimed Will Smith movie “Concussion”, the movie a New York Times critics says ‘shoots a bullet right between the eyes of the NFL.

Dr. Bennett Omalu of Nigeria, won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for saving lives, but maybe he should for his research on what was killing NFL players, “CTE”, that caused brain damage.

The footage of legendary Steelers center Mike Webster was most revealing as to the deterioration of the man called ‘Iron Mike’. There was actual footage of the fiery flame crash, when another Steelers lineman, tackle Just Strelczyk drove his SUV head on into a fuel tanker truck, driving on the wrong lanes of the New York Thruway. And then there was the death of a 3rd Steelers lineman Terry Long, who drank antifreeze.

All died from brain damage, from concussions, plagued by CTE.

That was followed by the suicides of Dave Duerson of the Bears, the Eagles Andre Waters, and the death of Junior Seau, all triggered by what Dr. Omalu discovered.

Paul Tagliabue, the former Commissioner, comes off in the movie as non-caring, distant, political  . Roger Goodell, his replacement, comes off as a fraud, in expressing his concerns about concussions, while developing the negotiating tactic ‘delay-deny-hope you die’.

 

Team doctors appear complicit with the NFL office about keeping the story buried, and keeping the profits coming in. The revelations of the bogus committees set up by the commissioner and the empty white papers authored by team doctors, further serve as an unofficial indictment of the people on Park Avenue..

The NFL reached an out of court settlement for 965M to be paid to players who have Alzheimers, Dementia, ALS, those who died with CTE on the brain, and those who committed suicide. Not one penny has been paid yet,over the last two years, as the case remains tied up in appeals.

At issue, the health of current players, who may retire and develop cognitive issues, and die of CTE. The Philip Rivers of the world would not be covered under the lawsuit plan.

When the movie was over, a full theatre clapped, for what Omalu accomplished. Many exited feeling the NFL betrayed the players, who made the league good, and no amount of money can bring back the health of those afflicted, playing the game, so owners could profit. And most everyone asked if the NFL knew about the dangers of concussions, and did nothing about it.

I always believed the NFL settled out of court, because some team doctors from that era of the 80s and 90s, woke up one morning with conscience. And I believe there was a paper trail of memos that spelled cover-ups and triggered the settlement.

I sat around the ex-Chargers contingent, and wondered if they had ticking time bombs inside their bodies. That the retired guys who played for the Bolts, might wake up next month, next year, in the next decade, with all the complications that took the life of the Steelers players and others.

For Von Parker, Gary Plummer, Dennis McKnight and others in that theatre, it drove home the continuing question, when the NFL knew, what they knew, and why did they not do anything about it, till more than 2100 players filed a class action lawsuit.

Oh, NFL fans around the nation will watch all the games this coming weekend, because they like the excitement. But if this nation watches that movie, they might never feel the same way about the league, the commissioner, the owners ever again..

We had the book League of Denial, followed up by the PBS-documentary, and now this 2-hour movie, as intense and honest as it can be.

“Concussion”, the movie, might not kill the NFL, but the NFL takes a hit. But it’s not like the hits players of the past took, that killed them from mounting brain damage from the concussions they suffered.

You hope Junior Seau did not die in vain The movie goers believe the NFL was guilty however of his death. “Concussion tells the story, hitting the nail on the head, or shooting the bullet between the eyes of the NFL..”

 

 

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“A Win as We Lose”
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It was a flashback Sunday. Lots of Powder Blue in the Stadium. Fans wearing Christmas gear. People carrying sings.

 
The Chargers piling up more than 400-yards in offense. The defense getting after it.

 
It was the farewell game, a win, to what has been a miserable season. Luckily for the Chargers, the Miami Dolphins are in a state of disrepair, so it was a struggling team beating a really bad team

 
Philip Rivers survived sacks and hits to throw for over 300-yards. Danny Woodhead put on a show, catching and running for 4-TDs.

 
Antonio Gates reached back and caught a bunch of passes, and Melvin Gordon chugged for yardage before getting dinged.

 
The defense brought the heat to overwhelmed quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The Dolphins patchwork offensive line, lost its top two players, Mike Pouncey and Brandon Albert, and it was disaster time from that point on.

 
These players and coaches work too hard not to get positive results. For just the second time in 10-weeks, they celebrate a victory Monday.

 
But in the end, it is still a lost season. They are still attempting to move to LA. The Chargers have only beaten the downtrodden this season in getting fo 4-wins
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It was heartwarming to see Mike McCoy call timeout with a minute left, so Antonio Gates, Eric Weddle and Malcom Floyd could all come off the field to ovations.

 
Who knows where we go in the next three weeks, in terms of an NFL vote. Everyone has an agenda, from Dean Spanos to Stan Kroenke.

 
There were surpises. Spanos did not go on the field at the stazrt of the game. His wife and son went down.

 
CBS-TV’s broadcast team kept making comments about “Chargers last home game possibly forever, but never gave details. I’m sure fans in Boston, or Chicago, Seattle or Miami don’t know much of the details, whose the villian, how it got to this point.

 
Maybe they didn’t know, maybe they were told not to put anyone in bad light, not the owner, not the mayor, not the NFL.

 
On field anlayst Scott Kaplan, my former teammate could have made some strong comments about the history of bad governmental leadership and the state of bad Chargers ownership, but he must have been muzzled on Sunday, though he talks about it Monday-thru-Friday.

 
It was an emotional McCoy, who hugged the soon to be departing players. Rivers got choked up talking about the long road he, Gates, Floyd and Eric Weddle have traveled.

 
For 3-hours we enjoyed the game, as it used to be at Qualcomm. By late evening, we were dealing again with the reality, ownership greed, and the discourteous way the Chargers have treated the fans

 
A win is better than a loss in the NFL, but the city still appears to be about to lose its franchise. We can feel well about all the great memories those players gave us, but we cannot feel well about what is just ahead.

 
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“Good Bye Bolts”

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San Diego loves its Pro football team, but Sunday might be the final time they ever see it here in America’s Finest City.

It’s a love affair that started with the outlaw American Football League, flourished fast, and then became part of the NFL. There have been good days and bad days with this franchise, but the team colors and logo are forever part of the fabric of this community.

Chargers football was Sid Gillman and those Wild West days in the old AFL. It was Keith Lincoln’s 329-all purpose yard afternoon in 1963, when the Chargers blew out the Boston Patriots and Babe Parilli (53-10) to win the AFL title. John Hadl, Ernie Ladd, Paul Lowe, and Earl Faison.

Chargers football was all things “Air Coryell”. It was Dan Fouts 400-yard passing days, blood on his uniform, the battles-brawls with the Raiders. It was the (41–38) playoff win in the old Orange Bowl in Miami, a week before the disheartening Ice Bowl loss in Cincinnati. Never has there been a combination of Winslow-Joiner-JJ-Wes Chandler-James Brooks-Pete Johnson.

Chargers football was Bobby Beathard-and-Bobby Ross, the guys who ended the ‘Decade of Decline’ and led the Bolts to the Super Bowl game against the 49ers. It was the huge AFC championship game win in Pittsburgh, it was the party that night in the rain at the Stadium. It was Junior Seau bringing together a special bunch.

Chargers football was ‘Martyball’, the mix of Marty Schottenhieimer-Philip Rivers-LaDanian Tomlison, and a (14-2) season and drive to the AFC-Championship game in New England..

Chargers football has also had its down times. The drug plagued teams of the 70’s. The awful Ryan Leaf years. The disappointments of Jack Kemp throwing 6-picks in back-to-back AFL championship games; the Dan Fouts 5-interception playoff games; Steve Young’s 6-TD game; Rivers and Tomlinson both trying to play on injured knees in Foxoboro, and now this season’s tailspin..

Never has there ever been a team logo though that better fit the personality of a franchise than the Lightning Bolt. From those early days in the AFL-Hadl-Rote- Kemp, to Fouts, and Stan Humphries, onto Drew Brees and Philip Rivers, lightning strikes thru the air anytime, anyplace.

And now they play their final home game of the season on Sunday, and what many feel might be their final home game in this city ever.

San Diego has loved its pro football team for more than 50-years. Isn’t it sad, the owner loves money more than he loves the fans, the franchise and the Chargers legacy.
 

“Let the Bowl Games Begin-Good and Bad”

 

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It used to be the postseason when you could not wait.

College football was great then, the anticipation of the great nationwide matchups every New Year’s Day. The Cotton, the Sugar, the Orange, and the grand-daddy of them all, the Rose Bowl.

Of course there were other bowl games like the Bluebonnet Bowl or the Tangerine Bowl, and even our Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

But New Years Day was so special. Ohio State-USC in the Rose Bowl. Nebraska or Oklahoma most every year in the Orange. Texas or Texas AM in the Cotton. Alabama forever part of the Sugar Bowl.

Woody or Bo, Bobby Bowden, Bear Bryant, Darrell Royal, John Robinson or John McKay, and even an occasional sighting of someone from South Bend, like Lou Holtz. We’d start at 9am with the early games, and watch right thru 11pm that evening, overdosing on football that one given day.

It’s different now. The college game is electric these days with all the great quarterbacks, athletes, and state of the art offenses.

But it’s really different now with 40-bowl game, 80-teams, including some guys that went (6-6) or even (5-7), who had to be chosen to fill out slots. And then you see empty stadiums, really empty stadiums, and you wonder what’s the end game here.

Sure it’s fun if you play at Western Kentucky or Ohio University or Western Michigan or Utah State to go to the post season. And in some cases,you get to go to exotic places like Hawaii, the Bahamas, Yankees Stadium.

But all in all, the games leave a lot to be desired, because hardly anyone ever watches. It’s not because the Final 4-playoff has siphoned off all the media coverage, of course it has based on the money and the importance of the ratings, it’s just many of these games are not on anyone’s radar any longer, because there are too many of them.

Yes, I’ll catch a glimpse of BYU-Utah, because that is a pretty good historical rivalry. Pitt-Navy interests me to watch the final game ever before he goes on board a ship as a commissioned officer, quarterback Keenan Reynolds. I always root for the underdog, and Mike Leach has done such a good job at Washington State, you shouldn’t ignore the Cougars-Miami game in the Sun Bowl.

Of course I will watch Christmas Eve somehow, when the Aztecs play the Bearcats at Aloha Stadium. Christmas in Honolulu sounds special, even if no one pays attention to the Hawaii Bowl.

There will be dandy matchups a week from now, once we get beyond the prelims, like Oregon-TCU at the Alamo Bowl; Jim Harbaugh and the men from Michigan in a in the Citrus Bowl against Florida.

USC plays here against Wisconsin in the Holiday; Boise State faces Northern Illinois in our Poinsettia; and you better believe they’ll get their Big Boy pants on when it is Stanford-vs-Iowa in the Rose Bowl.

Of course the world will watch Clemson-Oklahoma and Alabama-Michigan State in the Final four matchups.

It seems really different though, to have so many bowl games, so unimportant, clogging up the road to the games we all know and love.

Heck my alma mater, the Ohio Bobcats get to play Appalachian State in something called the Camellia Bowl. Of course I will watch it because I bleed Green & White, but I bet none of you can even tell me where Appy State is located and what conference they are in.

So it kicks off Saturday with 5-bowl games, and we go from there. Make sure you call me right around New Years Eve, when the real bowl games are played. 40-bowls, 80-teams, too much for me, even a football junkie, to cope with.

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