Time out from all the problems at home with the Chargers and the Padres. Time in to talk about other storylines in sports.

If you love golf, you’ll feel for the guys on the PGA tour as they tee off in the 2nd round of the US Open at Chambers Bay, just outside Tacoma, Washington. Do a double take and you’ll think you are watching links golf, at its finest, and its hardest, somewhere just off the Irish Sea.

The greens and fairways look like your and my backyards. Burnt grass. The course has the five longest par 4s in the history of the Open, and that’s before you even get onto the rolling greens, the swales as they call them. And then there are the pin placements. By the time we were finished, Tiger Woods was 151st with an 80…some-15-strokes behind the leader.

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Dynasty is an oft-used word in the sports world, when a team repeats and does well. The Chicago Blackhawks don’t really fit that word, despite winning their third NHL Stanley Cup title in six years. When I think dynasty, I think Mike Bossy and Dennis Potvin and the NY Islanders. Or I think Gretzky-Messier-Lowe-Fuhr and so many others in the northlands of Edmonton. Or, for old time hockey fans, LeBleu-Blanc-Rouge, the dominant Montreal Canadiens.

Take nothing away from the Hawks, and what they have built, a big tough swarming defense, and wave after wave of goal scorers. The fact they they have done this in the NHL salary cap era, without making mistakes on players, is superb.

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You may have disliked him for the “Decision” years back in NBA free-agency, but I think you can respect him now. LeBron James ran out of gas, his Cleveland Cavaliers team ran out of players, and they eventually got run out of the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors. But King James earned his pay and then some. In the finals, he averaged 46-mintes per game, 34-points per nite, 14-rebounds and 9-assists a game, with everyone defending him, every trip down the floor. It was amazing, if not a rewarding series.

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They’re headed to the knockout round in the Women’s World Cup of soccer, being played in Canada. Team USA still has remnants of greatness, led by goalie Hope Solo and Amy Wambach and others. What’s surprising is the lack of crowd support. I thought there would have been sellouts, but some nights, they have drawn just 5,000 to games.

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I don’t know what’s more surprising on the Pro Tennis Tour, the continued dominance of Serena Williams, crossing the age 30-threshold, or the fact none of the international stars has been able to surpass her, or challenge her on a year to year basis. Not Carolina Wozniacki, not any of the Serbs, or anyone else. When you’ve won 20-Grand Slams, and three straight as she has, you’d think her name would be mentioned in the same sentence as Martina, Chris Evert, Billy Jean King. I just don’t hear that.

On the men’s side, it is indeed as laundry list of veteran stars, stay atop the money list, and winning tourneys week to week. Novak Djokvoc, Nada, Federer, and occasion flash from Andy Murray. That’s been pretty good dominance for a while.

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It’s been quite a first half of the season in NASCAR racing too, where Jimmie Johnson, the El Cajon legend, is the points leader, thanks to four wins this year. Chasing him is Kevin Harvick, who hasn’t take many checkered flags, but has 10-top-5 finishes this year. Finishing second may not count for much in other sports, but you do that in NASCAR Sprint Cup, you get a huge payday.

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NFL teams take a break from off season workouts, till the end of the July. Wish we could take a break from the off the field messes players have created for themselves, their clubs and the league. So here we are, headed towards the end of June into July, and we still have sanctions pending with appeals for Greg Hardy, Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, and wondering if anyone will give Ray Rice a job offer before real camps open. The games will be coming, but the controversies won’t go away.

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You anxious for the All Star game? Baseball has a mess on its hands, with this electronic ballot box stuffing, via computer votes, going on right now. What will the Commissioner do? Kansas City, that bastion of great baseball, has had two nice seasons, after decades of losing, and now their fans are jamming computers to nominate starters for the AL squad. All eight of the points leaders by positions are Royals or ex-Royals. Of course we all want to see Omar Infante, hitting .204, start at 2nd base in place of say (338)-hitting Houston star Jose Altuve. And of course, not forgetting old friends, they have ex-Royal Nori Aoki as the starting leftfielder, so you won’t have to see Giancarlo Stanton and his mammoth home runs. Fix it-it is so fraudulent right now.

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Time’s up. We return you now to the Chargers-City-Stadium war and underachieving Padres baseball.

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The city of San Diego has gone on the offensive. The San Diego Chargers, in their Fortress bunker, are taking hits.

One guy who spoke out yesterday, was smooth and slick. The other who spoke was a rough as cement pavement.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer, ever the PR maven, was eloquent praising what his City and its attorneys have done to fast forward a plan to build a new Stadium.

County Supervisor Ron Roberts came from a different direction, harsh, blunt an accusatory.

The trench warfare between the two sides continues. The city says it is doing everything in its power to fast-track the process. Everytime the Chargers present a differing opinion, the city seeks a way to solve the issue.

They’ve met three times, but have not yet opened talks about dollars and cents, stadium designs, or financings. The meetings have been all about Environmental Impact studies, interpertations of the law, and a timeline that is growing shorter.

The City-County all star team is of the opinion it is time to go back to the negotiating table and work on all the other aspects of the CSAG financing proposal, and let the legal teams develop the EIR side of the deal.

The mayor maintains the finest minds in the state legal system support their approach to solving the Environmental impact study problems. Everytime they believe there is a solution, the Chargers throw up another road block question. The city “is positive about this, the Chargers are negative”. He is demanding to have a willing partner at the table, not an antagonist, as the team portrays.

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith called out Mark Fabiani, saying “neither of us are CEQA specialists in doing EIR’s, so let the pros handle this”.

But Roberts was the harshest, directly accusing Dean Spanos of not being a willing negotiating partner, saying it appears “the team is trying run out the clock” , so they can move to Los Angeles.

The Mayor has gone public, demanding the Chargers prove they want to stay in San Diego.

At the end of the day, the city brings solutions to every meeting, the Chargers exit with criticism, with no progress being made but they want you to buy their tickets and their jerseys, and they want you to believe they want to stay.

Eric Weddle, the Chargers Pro Bowl safety is back in camp, angry, bitter, resentful, hurt and firing shots.  The season has not even started, but this looks like we are at the end of his stay in San Diego.

All this over the lack of a contract offer from the team, to replace the 7.5M final season deal he must play under. This isn’t about him wanting more money for 2015, but rather wanting additional money upgrades going forward.

Good players get extensions. Older players, sometimes not.

But the issue here are the things coming out of Weddle’s mouth, and the mindset of his agent, to let him burn this relationship to the ground. I don’t understand it, I don’t agree with it.

Weddle has been everything good about what a professional athlete should be. Dedicated to the craft, a leader, active in the community, and a guy who stays on the field.  This is not good at all.

But he has also been richly rewarded, with his first contract, and then the 4-year upgrade the last time the deal came up.

But he is taking the wrong route, reacting very badly, firing bullets, taking shots, and now making threats. He has really come out of character for who he has been, the way he has played, and how he represented himself on and off the field.

Weddle has given the Chargers a July 30th ultimatum, make me a multi-year offer, or I will play out my option and leave. Good luck with that, for they don’t have to, and you cannot go anywhere till next February. He’s not going to go out on a strike.

He says he’d refuse to play special teams this year, begging the question, since when does a player dictate things to coaching staffs, when he will be used and how he wants to be used?.

Whining about playing the final year of his deal with risk of injury?. What should make him so different than any other of the 1800 players in the NFL, who with rare exception, are on year-to-year deals, sharing the same risk. In the NFL you are one snap away from the end of your career.

Worrying about taking a pay-cut, or being outright released, should be the least of his problems. If the Chargers put him out in the street between now and the end of the season, he would be picked up and probably signed to a contract extension by teams who value what he has made himself into, a dedicated pro.

Weddle has been paid well, has played well, and has another payday coming. If the Chargers don’t value his contributions, somebody else will.  Seems like he is trying to force thier hand to deal him, even if it means they don’t fair market value in return.  Clubs don’t give up lots in deals unless the player is willing to sign an extension.

Of course he is upset others have been taken care of, and he has not. But age and the last contract value have lots to do with it. If Corey Liuget were Dwight Freeney’s age, if Donald Butler had Jarrett Johnson’s miles, they probably wouldn’t get an extension either.

I’m not saying the Chargers are right in handling it this way, it’s just business for a player the other side of 30-years old. Did Weddle feel sorry when it happened to Rodney Harrison?

He just needs to stop talking, for it makes him look spoiled and entitled. He’s earned good money, and will likely earn one more contract with a good 2015-season.

The player has a right to his feelings. The agent has a responsibility not to let the player soil his clean image in the community. It’s gone too far and he does not have the leverage. The Chargers don’t have the smarts yet to re-invest in a quality player and person.

For Weddle, time to stop pouting, get to playing, for another payday may be coming.  It sounds and feels like this is the beginning of the end of a football relationship. before the season even starts. .

 
 
Hired to be fired. That’s the old baseball axiom, and that axe fell on Padres manager Bud Black yesterday at Petco Park.
 
It was sudden, swift, shocking, stunning, disappointing.. Was it deserved? Only time will tell.
 
General Manager AJ Preller, who gave Black a roster full of baseball card stars, only to see the team struggle, wanted new leadership for all his new players. He wasn’t getting it from Bud Black.
 
You could sense the pressure building, the frustrations boiling over. Black got ejected from games, the shuffling of the roster seems over the top, the lineups never had a consistent theme to them.
 
The pitching staff has underperformed, aside from ace James Shields. The top three veterans, who pitched so well last year, are a combined (8-20) this year.
 
I’m not sure if the woes of Tyson Ross, Ian Kennedy and Andrew Cashner’s are Black’s fault, but the dominance of last year is missing. Maybe it was all the innings from a season ago, taking a toll on that staff.
 
The bullpen has been spotty around closer Craig Kimbrel, and overuse may the reason. How all that is Black’s fault, is anyone’s guess.
 
Matt Kemp is playing hard, but is not hitting. Wil Myers is back on the DL again with another wrist injury. Jedd Gyorko isn’t here, because he was not hitting, and he’s not hitting in El Paso either.. And of course Melvin Upton can’t buy a hit this season, though he is making 15M a year.
 
They have utilitymen starting at 2nd, short and 3rd, players the GM gave his manager, with instructions go win..
 
Did Bud Black have shortcomings as a manager? Maybe in game strategy, maybe an ever changing lineup.
 
Maybe too the reality that a clubhouse full of veteran players, some of them divas, is very different from a clubhouse made up of guys named Headley, Hundley, and Venable. Maybe Black was better leading kids then trying to drive veterans.
 
The critics will bark Black had only two winning seasons in 8-years. He also didn’t have the luxury of big budgets, much from a farm system, or even continuity. His acumen somehow helped the team to a (617-680) record
 
Lest we forget, in his run, there were 3-owners, 4-different general managers, and a malaise that existed forever. Aside from the 2010 battle for first place, that went to the final day of the season, he did not have much to work with.
 
The Padres are a combined 50-games under .500 since opening day in 2011. That is more a condemnation of what the organization gave him to manage, than him as a manager.
 
So the change has been made. AJ Prellar will get to choose his own manager rather than the one he inherited.
 
Maybe it will be El Paso-AAA manager Pat Murphy, who flew into town late last nite. Maybe it will be ex-Padre Phil Nevin, who has climbed the managerial ladder to Reno in the Diamondbacks farm system. Might it be Ron Washington, who managed Texas into post season when Preller was part of that organization? Maybe it’s ex Twin boss Ron Gardenhire. There will be no shortage to choose from. Likely there will be a change in personality though in that manager’s office.
Reaction has been mixed. The Padres season is not over for sure. They are not the Red Sox, buried in last place, but a team just 5-games or so out of first place. Maybe the change is a catalyst to trigger a run to first place.
 
Or maybe Preller has made so many mistakes on players, and traded away so many prospects, that he has outsmarted himself. Preller indicated he would never have thought Matt Kemp would have just 2-homers at this poiint, the defense would be so unsettled, or the pitchers couldn’t get to the 8th inning of games.
 
The reaction in the clubhouse was a diverse bag of reaction. Interim manager, and close friend, Dave Roberts said his meeting with Black was emotional but that Black was a pro and handling it in stride. Roberts said the players had to hold themselves accountable.
 
Slugger Matt Kemp said the players were shocked by the sudden departure of the manager. Pitcher James Shields indicated people in the clubhouse bear some responsibility for the decision.
 
Scouts on press row, who ovbviously respected Black, dinged the Padres, asking where’s the plan?. All you did was announce you are hiring someone as interim for nearly 100-games.
The change better work, the Padres better win, or they will be stuck with alot of bad contracts, and Bud Black wasn’t to blame for that either.
 
You look back at his eight year run, and he did more with less than anyone I know. And history should write, aside from Tony Gwynn, Bud Black was as classy as anyone.
 
Good guy, who just did not win enough games, with substandard talent. Hired to be fired, even it is unfair.

 
 
Now everyone has had something to say as we head into the third week of negotiations between the City, the Chargers, over the Stadium situation.
 
And now the fans, the season ticket holders, and the citizens have spoken out.
 
In a 15-question survey authored by the Union-Tribune, residents in both the city and county were asked their opinions in the open debate over the future of the team, the potential of a vote on financing, and the need for a Stadium.
 
The city knows what it wants to do. The team has hidden within their corporate offices, never releasing their true feelings nor plans. The public has now told everyone the temperature of their feelings.
 
59% of those polled say it is important to them to keep the Chargers in San Diego, as a team, as a business entity. 40%, mostly non-sports fans, don’t believe this is life or death.
 
46% percent are now of the opinion this franchise will wind up in Los Angeles, predicting it’s all about the money, or it’s just impossible to get anything done civic wise in San Diego.
 
69% of the fans surveyed said they were Chargers or NFL fans.
 
The stunning number is that 60% polled said if the team moved to LA, they would no longer be a fan of the franchise, which means, they won’t attend games.
 
In the crossfire of verbal exchanges involving politicians and the team, involving Mark Fabiana, 68% say they disapprove of the way the Chargers have handled this situation.
 
And 51% now have a more negative view of ownership since the tidal wave of announcements three months ago, the task force, the Carson project, the proposal and the reaction responses.
 
The most consistent response from the community is that 54% say no tax funds should be used in the project. Only 51% say they would support the financing plan, even if it does not involve tax money.
 
60% of the tabulated responses indicated they are not confident the Mayor can get an agreement with the team that will be good for taxpayers.
 
So everyone is expressing ideas, concerns, approval anddisdain, and all that is important.
 
What should be important to the ownership of the team, is that the city, some season ticket holders, and those who will vote, are offended by the plethora of negativing coming out of Chargers Park as the community attempts to find a way to fund this project after 14-years of futility.
 
The owner cannot ignore what he has allowed his spokesman to do to this project. The Chargers have provided alot of white noise. But the franchise and the city cannot say this is meaningless noise from the taxpayers and football fans.
 
Maybe it can be saved at the negotiating table. Maybe the owner allowed his spokesman to forever poison the water.
 
Fame or shame is coming soon, somebody will be the hero, someone will be the villian.