It’s a terrible story of human failure, this USC-Trojans story, the demise of football coach Steve Sarkisian.  It’s a story of a relentless illness that has overtaken him, throwing him for a massive loss, unlike any of the hits he took as a quarterback, or the losses in games he coached.

The cloud of alcoholism hangs everywhere around Trojan Hall now, a day after the firing of the second year head coach, just 3-days after he showed up for a team meeting drunk, and then did not show up for practice.

The ‘dark side’ of the story seems to be leaking out everywhere.

Questions about Sarkisian’s lifestyle since arriving in Los Angeles, and rumblings he may been under the influence while coaching during the Arizona State game a couple of weeks ago. Rumors that players believed his strange behaviors at different parts of the season, were fueled by alcohol abuse.

The ugly public appearance incident at the the private ‘Salute to the Trojans’ booster function just a month ago.

Now the documented information of huge bar tabs run up on his credit card, while head coach at the University of Washington, over a five year span, in the city of Seattle, on road trips, with booster groups, and at conference related events also.

Under fire is Southern Cal Athletic Director Pat Haden, a classy man, brought in to rescue Troy from the aftermath of the Reggie Bush-NCAA scandal. Questions regarding how deep into the past he looked, when vetting Sarkisian as a coaching candidate to replace the controversial Lane Kiffin.

But questions should also be posted about the leadership at UW, his former employers. Did they know, how could they not know, when Sarkisian was out partying on a regular basis.

Players have now come forward indicating their beliefs that coach was under the influence alot, not just on his own time, but on university time too.

A coaching staff is like a fraternity, working together for one common goal, partying too. So it begs the question of a cover-up amongst his coaching staff at UW, or whether they were just as heavy party dogs, coaching the Husky program.

Sure there was never a DUI, or a public incident like the one at SC. But the across-the-board silence is stunning.

Coaches are trying to rally around Sarkisian. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll called it ‘heartbreaking’. Rams coach Jeff Fisher, says he hopes those closest to Sarkisian will not bail out on him. Both those NFL coaches have strong emotional ties to USC, one a former head coach, the other, an alumni and player.

There is outrage from some, this hire was ever made. There should be compassion too. Sarkisian is not the first ever, nor will he be the last, to fight a battle with the bottle.

USC made the only move they could, to sever him on Monday afternoon. You would hope the school would find a way to extending a helping hand, after using the iron fist to drop the hammer on the troubled coach.

Now more than ever, Sarkisian needs someone to help guide him out of the abyss he is in. His career may not be over, but he will be on the sidelines. He has lost his 3.4M a year salary and this prestigious job. His reputation has been stained badly.

Sarkisian has to give more than lip service now to the ‘does he have a problem’ question. Rehab and counseling have to be part of his everyday existence. Acceptance and dedication are needed now to beat this.

He checked into an intensive rehab program sometime yesterday.  He won’t be alone in his battle for sobriety, but he will be alone with his thoughts, the hardest part, day and night, in this battle.

He loved playing at BYU. He loved coaching Washington. His love for all the history of USC football is very evident. I liked him, I respected his accomplishments. I feel bad for the place he is in today.

Pulling for Sarkisian to beat the beer blitz impacting his life. We should give him compassion rather than condemnation.

 

 

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Devastating.  That’s about the only way to describe lasts night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, this last second setback to a team that didn’t have its star quarterback, and doesn’t have much of a defense either.

But then again, the Chargers don’t have much of a team either.

If this franchise didn’t have bad luck, it would have no luck at all.  The body bag count of injured players is mounting.  The poor play of a number of veteran players is alarming.

Philip Rivers hung in there to throw for 365-yards and a couple of scores.  Antonio Gates, coming off his four game suspension, caught 9-for-92.

Virtually no one else contributed with any consistency, and that’s why this team is in trouble.

The refugee offensive line took 6-penalties, allowed 2-sacks, and 5-hits on Rivers.  There was virtually no running game, and there was another Melvin Gordon fumble.  Rivers threw another pick six interception under enormous pressure from the rush.

The secondary broke down.   Brandon Flowers, who appears to have woken up this season as an old man, can no longer run.  He gave up a TD pass to Marcus Wheaton, got beat on the goaline by Heath Miller’s last second catch, and gave up 5-other catches.

It was gruesome to watch San Diego struggle so badly around Rivers.

This is a roster problem, an injury problem, a leadership problem.  It’s not likely to be a playoff team either.

The roster is flawed, its hurt, the schemes don’t work on defense.

So it begs the question, do the Chargers have the right General Manager?  Is Mike McCoy overwhelmed as the coach?

Will the fans walk away from the team as the owner continues his drive to relocate to LA?

Good teams beat up bad teams, and take advantage of injured teams. The Chargers haven’t done that this season, and Green Bay awaits.  The Chargers aren’t a good team.

This was devastating on many fronts.

 

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The Chargers-Steelers game will be a dandy tonite.  Last guy touching the ball, might win.  Philip Rivers offense has 16-chunk plays of 20-yards or more.  The Steelers can throw it to Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Darrious Heyward-Bay, and can surely pound it with Le’Veon Bell and De Angelo Williams.  Can you say (37-31) someone wins?

The Aztecs win in Hawaii was another important step.  Maxwell Smith threw another long distance TD pass, all setup by the strong run game led by Donnel Pumphrey.

You hate to use the words sad or tragic, but Steve Sarkisian’s life is falling apart, professionally as head coach at USC and personally in the middle of a divorce.  His everyday existence seems sprinkled with alochol.  He needs an intervention.

The Dodgers-Mets rivaly just went up another notch, in the aftermath of the Chase Utley takeout play of New York shortstop Ruben Tejada, that led to his broken leg.  A spur of the moment incident likely, though Utley and the Mets have a bad history.  I don’t buy the theory Matt Harvey, the Mets pitcher, retaliates tonight.

No quit in the Blue Jays batting order.  Home runs got them there to the post season.  Troy Tulowitzki saved them with a 3-run bomb last night.  They need another blast or two today to stay alive in the series.

Houston ace Dallas Keuchel is something.  Go figure (16-0) at home at Minute Maid Park, a hitters yard, this season.

The Cardinals and Cubs game three today.  I keep waiting for Chicago to wake up and freak out, as their young players figure out where they are, what time of the year it is and whom they are playing.

What an opening night for hockey’s return to San Diego, the AHL version.  Coach Dallas Eakins pledged his team would be in attack mode.  Scored 2-power play goals.  Hot young netminder John Giblson had 32-saves, many of them tough.  And nearly 13,000 jammed the Sports Arena.

Soccer’s culture is crazy.  Lose a couple of games and fire the coach.  Jurgen Klinsmann is in the midst of rebuilding his national program.  There is no Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey has a thousand miles, and there’s new goal keeping.  Yes losing the Gold Cup and the Concacaf tourney is not good, but cut him slack.

 

This-and-That, thinking out loud on a Monday.

 

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You remember the great year that Bob Gibson had as a starting pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1968, their World Series season.

The numbers were so dominant, so phenominal, baseball changed rules the following year about the height of the mound etc.

Throwing heat, bringing gas, he scorched guys in the batters box.  Just reminding you how great he was:

1968…(22-9)…(1.12-ERA)…(304-innings-268K-62BB-12HR)

Very few since that time have come close to those stats over the decades, until this summer.

Amidst the era of big time sluggers, year round workouts, supplements, Latin stars and more, introducing the record-setters, the Dodgers 1-2-combo of Clayton Kershaw-Zack Greinke.

Pity the teams that have to face them back-to-back in the rotation.  New York Mets, tonite, Kershaw, tomorrow Greinke.

The dynamic duo of the Dodgers have been superb, especially over the last 3-months.

Since June 27th, Clayton Kershaw has made 18-starts.  He went (11-2)….In 132-innings he has given up 18-runs…with 169-strikeouts.  Dominant.

Since June 3rd, Zack Greinke’s numbers have stood out in neon lights.  A total of 24-starts, a (14-2) record with a 1.51-ERA, allowing just 25 runs over 149-innings.

Think about that.  Combined the Dodgers aces have pitched 282-innings since early June, and have allowed just 43-earned run.

For the entire season, they have gone (35-10), while the rest of the LA starters hafe a combined mark of (29-34).

Bob Gibson was brilliant over a Hall of Fame career, (251-wins) and a lifetime (2.91-ERA) in Baseball’s so called Golden Era.

But for this season, this summer, this summer of Dodgers pitching has been spectacular.

Just ask National League hitters who spent the last 3-months flailing at their stuff.  New York Mets batters are about to find that out too.

Bob Gibson would be proud.

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Some random thoughts about this NFL thing.

NFL Owners Meetings….They’ve wrapped up their quarterly fall meeting in New York, and the NFL owners have gotten update information from the Committee on LA about the Stadium situations.

Everyone is pushing a different candidate.  The Cowboys Jerry Jones is standing alongside the Rams owner, because they have big business ventures outside of football.  Never mind any type of conflict of interest.

Carolina owner Jerry Richardson is pushing for Dean Spanos to move to LA because he thinks the Chargers owner did everything possible to get a stadium built.  I guess he believes everything that comes out of the mouth of Mark Fabiani without checking the ‘true information is in the details page’.

No one seems to care nor want to help the ailing Raiders and their loopy owner Mark Davis.  Maybe it’s payback still directed at his late father for the history of lawsuits and confrontational business practices.

The NFL can say all it wants about wanting to protect cities from losing their teams, but those are just empty words, unless the Committee on LA orders Stan Kroenke to actually sit and negotiate with the state of Missouri, or they order Spanos to go to the table in ‘good faith’ and negotiate the specifics of a ‘good deal for both sides here.

Poor Mayor Kevin Faulconer, try as hard as he might, his meetings don’t seem to merit much serious consideration.  Unless he goes back to the NFL and gives them his American Express Gold Card, the one without the limit total, and tells them to build it and he’ll pay for it, San Diego won’t get much serious consideration.

You must understand, in this era, the NFL is all about the money in their pocket.  It’s not history, legacy, love of tradition.  It’s all about the bank and how much each of the 32-partners can get from a new stadium in Los Angeles, for the league and their respective teams.

They all get a piece of the pie, even without having to say ‘greed is good’.

I am amazed San Diego fans are not in revolt over the way this has turned out.  Just keep buying tickets, enjoying the games, watching Philip Rivers do his thing.  There are just 5-home games left on the schedule after Monday night.

I fully believe the NFL will vote in January, once the regular season is over, to allow the Rams to move into Los Angeles.  And then we see if the Chargers become the second tenant at Hollywood Park.  I do not believe the Carson project can be completed nor financed, nor cleaned up of toxic waste.

The owners can meet all they want, look at schematics and spread sheets, but in the end, it will be about how much money they can generate in LA, how much profit they split.

New England and Miami, the Seahawks and the Giants don’t give a damn about a crumbling Qualcomm Stadium.  They’re too busy trying to make the playoffs and run their money-making franchises.  They could care less about the profits Spanos makes for his family.  Their team is the only thing that counts.

Even Dean Spanos does not care about San Diego.  His actions (non-actions) speak volumes, even if the only people he talks to might be an occasional  comment to an LA Times writer or someone from the Orange County Register.

The only ones who care about the team are the fans, who buy the tickets, jerseys, hot dogs, and will be there loud and proud against the Steelers on Monday night.

And soon as the season ends, the only sound you will hear will be the cash registers ringing, and the other owners counting their money from an LA deal.

It could involve the Chargers, Dean Spanos wants it to involve the Chargers, and the NFL’s league office inertia makes it seem like they think it should be the Chargers too.

It is what the NFL has become, not just touchdown passes and sacks, big runs and big hits, but the biggest financial haul possible.  And now even the Committee on LA says they expect the Chargers to file the application to move in January.

Agree or disagree with me.  Everyone outside this area code, including the team owner, seems to have the sentiment, ‘ San Diego be damned.’

 

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