The most important man on the field, should get the most money.  They don’t come down the draft turnpike all that often, and everyone wants on, because everyone needs one.
 
The 1983-NFL Draft of quarterbacks was a bonanza of all time. You remember the names, and you have followed the greatness of those careers.
 
John Elway came out of Stanford to become the greatest quarterback the Denver Broncos ever had.  It took him time, and a couple of head coaches, to win a Super Bowl ring.  He was a game-changer.
 
Jim Kelly was a refugee from the Houston Gamblers of the USFL, but he delivered the goods in the K-Gun offense with all the talent the Buffalo Bills put around him.  You get to four straight Super Bowls, despite not winning one, is still a level of accomplishment hardly reached by anyone ever.
 
Dan Marino fell down the draft board, then raised the expectations of the Miami Dolphins, throwing to the Marx Brothers.  Sadly there would be no Super Bowl trophy in his career of accomplishments, but he was so dangerous, so dynamic getting the ball down the field.
 
That draft also brought in Tony Eason from Illinois, who did get New England to a Super Bowl, plus the Jets’ Ken O’Brien and the Chiefs Todd Blackledge.
 
Fast forward to the modern day, and the current crop of throwers, equally dominant…
 
The 2004-NFL draft delivered a trifecta of greatness too, and a bevy of Super Bowl rings.
 
Eli Manning, rolled out of Ole Miss, and his New York Giants have been to the Super Bowl, have rings under Tom Coughlin, emerging from the shadows of brother Peyton Manning.
 
Ben Roethlisberger came out of tiny Miami of Ohio and has become the cornerstone of greatness at that position, playing under the shadow of Terry Bradshaw from back in the day.  The rings he has helped the Steelers win, have resurrected a proud franchise.
 
Phillip Rivers has been the heart, the soul, the voice, the spirit of the Chargers, rewriting every page of the team’s record book, missing out on just one thing, a chance to play in the Big Show on Super Bowl Sunday.
 
That ’04 group of guys have all been rewarded, with likely Hall of Fame ceremonies still to come. And in a league where quarterbacks make or break your team, they are breaking the bank too on payday.
 
Roethlisberger has just started a 5-year-$99M deal, that encompassed a $30M-signing bonus.
 
The young quarterbacks have signed extensions too, even though Cam Newton has never been to a Carolina Panthers Super Bowl, though being given a 5-year $103M package.  And ditto for Miami, just handing out an extension worth 5-seasons-$96M-to Ryan Tannehill.
 
Manning and Rivers are waiting for their paydays.  The Giants, whose franchise has fallen on tough times, does not seem willing to entertain the kind of guaranteed money other stars are giving their passing icons.  Manning is making $17M-this final go round.
 
Rivers will take home another $16M in San Diego, though he is expected to get another three year extension.  Whether or not he breaks the bank with a guaranteed bonus remains to be seen.
 
The other unique name out there is Russell Wilson of the Seahawks, with a ring, and Super Bowl appearances.
 
His is the strangest case, in that he is headed to free agency as the 40th highest paid quarterback in the league.  That’s right, 40th on the money list.  It’s the final year of his initial deal.  No one knew how good he would be coming out of Wisconsin, by way of North Carolina State.  He will earn $1.2M this year.  Now we all know how good he is on a team of very good players.
 
If they franchise tag him, he gets $20M next year.  If they do a multi-year deal, the $20M number will likely be a starting point.  A staggering amount of money.
 
John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly were highly paid, though the dollar figures were very, very different then to now.
 
The NFL is a quarterbacks league now, maybe even more so than ‘back in the day’ in the Elway-Marino-Kelly era.  Today, in the NFL, if you have one, you better keep him, you better keep him healthy, you better put good players around him.
 
And as Big Ben, and the others will tell you, you better be ready to pay them too.  You want greatness with your franchise, you’ll have to spend for greatness at that position.

Time out from all the issues with the San Diego Chargers Stadium crisis.
 
Time in to salute one of the absolutely best of all time.
 
In the history of Chargers football, we have been blessed to see great quarterbacks.  We’ve also had the opportunity to experience dynamic running backs like Keith Lincoln from the AFL-glory days, to Chuck Muncie and the Air Coryell days.
 
Now this community can salute #21-LaDainian Tomlinson.  His number being retired today, his induction into the Chargers Hall of Fame this coming November.
 
I first met him when he was a sophomore running back at TCU, scampering here, there and everywhere in a Sun Bowl win as the Horned Frogs trampled a once proud USC team.  They ran him off tackle, they ran him right on sweeps.  They ran pitch tosses and option packages.  He was relentless in Dennis Franchione’s triple option offense.  He did things against big time teams few had ever done, including his 406-yard rushing day his final season.
 
Tomlinson was one of the first gems drafted by new GM John Butler and his chief scout AJ Smith, in the early years of that regime.  You remember Chargers football then, the ruins Butler inherited in the aftermath of the Ryan Leaf era of error, (1-15) and all that.
 
Maybe it was luck, maybe it was by design, but Tomlinson fell down the draft board, as did another guy, quarterback Drew Brees.  The Cleveland Browns, incompetent in its early years as an expansion team, bypassed him.  They went after an oft injured defensive end from Penn State.  Drafted a drug troubled back from Boston College.
 
San Diego said thank you with that lst round pick of Tomlinson, who rewrote the running back record books at TCU, a school known for running backs, back in the days of the old Southwest Conference.
 
Oddly, the Miami Dolphins, in desperate need of a quarterback, bypassed Drew Brees too, and he wound up going in the later rounds to the Chargers too.
 
Tomlinson, built like a fire-plug, was a loaded firecracker.  He could go the distance on any snap.  He was great at jump cuts, explosive with a second gear when he got to the second level.  Tough, shifty, he never took direct hits, but rather glancing blows.
 
And what a perfect marriage, once the right coach got to San Diego, the arch-enemy from Kansas City, Marty Schottenheimer, he of history of quality running backs carrying the mail for the Chiefs.  Martyball was built around the kid from the hill country of Texas.
 
The stats are staggering, an 11-year career, 9-in San Diego, 2-with the Jets.  LT with 3,174-carries, 13,684-yards rushing, a 145-TDs on the ground.  They didn’t throw the ball at TCU, but they sure did throw it to him in San Diego, another 624-receptions.  Tomlinson wound up the career with 18,456-all purpose yards and 162-TDs in his career.
 
He was Butch Cassidy to Phillip Rivers-Sundance Kid.
 
This honor will precede the next honor, for I believe Tomlinson will be be giving a speech soon under the tent, on the steps, of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
 
Close your eyes and see his dart-dash explosions and the long runs and scores into the end zone.  Close your eyes, and see him carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates.
 
Forget the sad moment, him sitting on the bench, helmet on, with a knee injury, in a cold-dark loss to the Patriots in the AFC-championship games, or the guy wearing the weird looking colors of green and white, playing for Rex Ryan and the Jets.
 
#21 surely #1-in the hearts of Chargers fans.  A great honor for a great player, who is also a great person.

Another day, another angle, another explanation, another excuse.
 
The saga of the Chargers football stadium goes on-and-on.
 
Depending on what you believe,the Chargers desperately want to stay in San Diego.  The Chargers want to win the race to LA.  The Chargers are committed to the fans here.  The Chargers are committed to convincing the NFL the Carson sight is the most beneficial to the league.  It’s all about the bank, not about the Lightning Bolt.
 
If you think back, you can her the comments echoing off walls, at Chargers Park, and at City Hall over the last few months..
 
Owner Dean Spanos has gone underground, lacking the courage to take a public stance, and speak for himself on all the issues he is facing.  His point man spokesman Mark Fabiani speaks only to the few that are willing to take his leaks, mostly in the Los Angeles market.
 
You do remember the initial conversations Fabiani had, about not wanting some half-ass deal put together by the Mayor’s Task Force, in essence, don’t waste our time.
 
Here came the Task Force, here came the research from volunteers, here came the proposal without any additional tax money, and a plan to be negotiated.  And here comes an expedited vote by the citizens to move the project down the field.
 
It took two months of insults from Fabiani, directed at the Mayor, then the committee members, before he could ever say thank you to the people who gave up three months of their lives to save the team, an industry, an employer if you will. .
 
Fabiani, once the CSAG group got started, pushed for a fast-track finish to their work, so the team could get plenty of time to review, rework, and approve or disapprove.
 
So what was planned to be an extended evaluation of NFL stadium financing, became a 60-day sprint to gather info, and create a taxpayer friendly proposal to save the team for its city.
 
And now after all that work, Fabiani is leaking hints what the Mayor proposes will be shot down, because there’s no 18-month environmental impact studies, or no proper referendum, which includes gathering signatures.  Now he says the high speed express lane proposal cannot be approved.  The Emails he has sent out to confidantes, smell like something akin to sabotage, chopping apart all the work done by the committee.
 
You remember the words out of his mouth ‘agnostic’ about a possible downtown sight-vs-Mission Valley don’t you?  Now he’s dropping hints at this late hour, he’d be open to re-exploring the downtown location, if they have another year to work on ideas.  Of course they don’t have that time, because he wanted a quick fix set of ideas.
 
Just wondering if you are amongst the 75% of Chargers fans they are willing to leave behind?  And of course there is the cursory 25% figure of tickets sold to LA-Orange County and the Inland empire, or so say the Fab-man.  Others say much of those tickets come from brokers, who sell tickets to Broncos, Steelers, Raiders, Packers fans, who pour into the Q to see their favorite team, not the Bolts.
 
A former ticket seller from within tells me that 75% of the  bulk of the 25% number come from the Inland Empire and southern Orange County fans.
 
On the left hand, the Chargers mouthpiece says San Diego would never buy PSLs for home games.  But his franchise is all excited that the LA fans will pay $7,500 to $10,000 per seat for ticket licenses at the new Toxic Waste Stadium in Carson.  If Bolt fans wouldn’t buy PSL’s here, what makes you think the 75% San Diego fans, would pay exorbitant fees to go to LA to see the team?.
 
Of course around the NFL, where you’ve had cities and owners square off, there have always been struggles.  The 49ers-Santa Clara palace was a special event, ownership money, is a special place, the rich Silicon Valley.  Pittsburgh built Heinz Field thanks to the Rooney Family and the region.  Cincinnati found a way to get it done even with archaic business principals of Mike Brown.  Brilliant leadership from Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones, their wealth and smarts, finished projects in in New England and Dallas.
 
Anybody seen any cooperation from Team Spanos towards this Mayor?  No, too busy, pouring resources and assets and manpower into the toxic waste site that is Carson.  It sure seems like destnation LA is the goal.
 
The Chargers point man won’t talk to many San Diego reporters now, especially the ones who dare ask the probing questions.  Only giving time to lap-dog lead columnists, or to an LA-media horde, hungry for any crumb that stirs pro-Los Angeles interest at the cost of the Chargers hometown.
 
The bottom line this morning seems to be delay-deny-and hope to buy more time to win the race into Los Angeles.  What comes out of the mouth, and thru the Emails to associates from Fabiani, is what the owner believes, thinks and wishes.
 
You’d wish the man who owned the team actually had the courage, or the credibility, or the intelligence to step forward and tell San Diego his true feelings.  Not lies, not leaks, not agenda-filled theories from his right hand man.
 
I wonder how Dean Spanos can look into a mirror and believe he is doing right by a city that has supported his family and franchise for 50-years?  I know why Mark Fabiani doesn’t look in the mirror.  It has something to do with soul and credibility and lack of civility..
 
The town did everything that was asked by the other side.  And every effort has been seemingly undermined-land mined by people at Chargers Park, from the first mayor press conference about his Task Force, to where we are this morning with all the explanations why it won’t work.  I am amazed the fans and corporate sponsors have not revolted yet.
 
So here we are, Chargers football, resembling World War I-trench warfare, ownership of the team on one side of the barbed wire fence, leadership of the city on the other side.  Shells, hand grenades, armaments of all kind.  A terrible no-man’s land in between, and seemingly no way to get a peace treaty done.  The only thing missing is poison gas, and that may arrive soon if they announce the franchise might be leaving
 
And you can say thanks for Dean Spanos and Mark Fabiani if that ever happens.

Name calling….Public Spitting…Brick Throwing…it’s all become part of the on-going dialogue between the City of San Diego and the NFL-Chargers ownership.

Rancor…Animosity…Distrust…Greed….Arrogance….all thinks linked to the ongoing struggle to finance and build a NFL Stadium.

And it goes on and on, with the one constant being, nothing moves forward, because there is so much history behind..

Maybe it will change with this second meeting of constructed talks between the city and the the football team, coupled now there is a goal-line in sight, a date to get a public vote taken.

The city brought out all its key negotiating team members, while the Chargers exited without comment in a parking garage below Golden Hall.  In typical fashion, the city pushes the boulder up the hill, and the football team seems intent on laying more obstacles in front.

For at least 90-minutes yesterday, the two sides talked about structure.  Talked about having 104-days to find a solution, so City Council can approve a city-wide vote.  Then the team left, and its key people headed to New York for a meeting with the ‘Committe on LA” with Carmen Policy ready to sales pitch the league, the Chargers-Rainders tandem, in a new stadium in Carson is the best location.

So hard to know who to believe, the strong positive statements from the Kevin Faulconer team, or the actions by Dean Spanos’ group, always working on the LA situation, but not so much here.

The city has had incompetent leadership off and off for decades.  The city has had to resolve the near bankruptcy from a pension scandal.  The city resides in a state paralyzed by economic, social, and job issues.

The NFL franchise has asked, begged, demanded, cajoled, insulted its way into this corner argument now, because of who it is, an NFL franchise that has believed forever they are entitled to anything it wants, anytime, on somebody else’s dime.

It would be laughable, if it were not sad, that San Diego and the Chargers seem to be at a crossroads in contract talks, with a short timeline, and a road veering north that might take the team to Carson.

Nothing has ever been right involving this relationship, dating back to the late 1990s  expansion of seats for the Super Bowl, followed by the owner’s insulting comments three years later, they wanted a new stadium, and the NFL commissioner’s insults during Super Bowl week about never coming back here.

You can now fully understand the across the board anger, either at the Spanos family, the league, and the city leadership.

Now we have hurt feelings, Mark Fabiani’s comments about sports-talk radio, or a twitter-facebook account, that might blow up the negotiations, as if his confrontational nature hasn’t done enough damage prior.

For once somebody on the other street corner, the mayor and his CSAG group, has proposed something.  Whether it can be accomplished with all this creative financing will have to be decided by someone above my pay scale.  But at least there is a proposal, and a date for a vote if they solve all the issues..

Now we are spending so much time doing CYA (cover your ass) activities, instead of trying to find a solution to the $1.1B stadium proposal.

Maybe it’s time to fight fire with fire.  Fabiani has attacked everything as if he is a junk-yard dog, protecting the owner’s premises.  CSAG is unveiling a document that blows holes in all the past Chargers proposals for Stadiums, launching hand grenades in the direction of its constant critics.

The Chargers wanting title to all 166-acres of Qualcomm land, so they could build, develop and profit from all, asking the city to give them title to some half a billion dollars in real estate, just because they are the NFL team.

A proposal of a 50-50 share of costs, but by the way, throw in 60-acres for Team Spanos free of charge, as if there is no cost to the city by doing that.

Proposals to build on golf courses, movie theatre lands, toxic land south of the city.  All grandiose plans but somebody else had to write the check.

So here we are, two meetings into this trench-warfare battle, city on one side, the team on the other side of the barbed wire, and this is going to take lots of times.

I’ve never been a proponent of free lunches for the rich, and I’ve never been a believer in some of our leaders, some thieves, some drunks, some perverts.  But I am a believer, if this is worth keeping, then it is worth staying at the negotiating table to try, and this idea sheet is the only legitimate thing I’ve seen in awhile.

Remembering John Belushi in Animal House, ‘“Nothing is over until we decide it is!”.  I also remember one mayor calling it as he saw it, that the Spanos’ were acting like welfare queens.

Somewhere in between, they have to find a solution to the financing, the egos, and the hope all this bad history can be changed.

This isn’t very good, and it’s probably the reason the product hasn’t been very good on the field either.
 
When you have 12-losing seasons in a 15-year run, when your postseason playoff record is miserable, and your playoff appearances seem like years ago,you have to pinpoint a reason.
 
The San Diego Padres need to look no farther down the hallway than their baseball scouting department.  The Padres drafts have been horrible, going back to the decade of the 1990s, and do you know how long ago that was?.
 
Now that AJ Preller has taken over as GM, with his people in command, coming off the wild winter of wheeling and dealing, you’d hope things got better.  But the Padres front office will be like you and me later today, watching the early stages of the Baseball 1st Year draft on TV.  They don’t have a lst round pick, because that choice went to the Kansas City Royals as compensation for the signing of big money, big game James Shields.
 
The Friars won’t select till the 51st pick in the second round and then follow that with choices in the third round at picks 86-and-98.  Of course you can find great players anywhere, like Albert Pujols or Mike Piazza, taken in places like the 27th and 35th rounds.
 
But the history of this franchise, and the choices in the past are horrible.
 
Do you know the last star they drafted in the 1st round was slugger Derrek Lee, an opening round pick in 1993, more than two plus decades ago?  And he wound up being traded to the Florida Marlins.
 
In 22-years, the Padres have had only a couple of impact players coming out their opening round selections.  In 2002, Khalil Greene became a star for a short time in San Diego, playing great at shortstop and hitting home runs, but was done and gone shortly, dealt away to the Cardinals, then walking out of baseball because of anxiety attacks.
 
Sean Burroughs was hoped to be a savior, the son of former Texas Rangers slugger Jeff Burroughs, but he never delivered the kind of power they hoped, then had to fight thru nagging injuries, and was peddled on to other clubs, never having a satisfying career.
 
That’s it, that’s all this franchise has to show in the first round dating back 22-years.
 
Bad luck hurt this team.  1st round pitching prospect Tim Stauffer had two shoulder surgeries.  Cruelly, Corey Luebke is trying to rally back from two elbow surgeries, another opening round pick cursed by injuries.
 
And the Padres curse to at choices like Matt Bush, last seen serving a prison term, or the latest failure, Donavan Tate, fighting thru substance abuse and non-stop injury issues.
 
And the new regime has dealt off some of the more recent top picks, pitcher Joe Ross and shortstop Treu Turner, both headed to the Washington Nationals in various deals.
 
Preller brought with him a reputation in scouting and in international signings.  He has not done much in his less than a year on the job in the international venue, making runs at Cuban stars, but not landing any.  And he will sit for awhile till his staff gets the chance to draft somebody midway thru the second round.
 
I thought about what has befallen the Padres, and said to myself, if Kansas City can finally win after decades of disappointment, if the Pirates can get to postseason after 2-decades of failure, then yes it can happen in San Diego.
 
The only difference though, there are no Eric Hosmer-Alex Gordon-Mike Moustakas like players coming to San Diego like those who have rescued Kansas City.  And the Pirates are fuelled by all star Andrew McCutchen, a star in his own right, and the fact 7-of-the 8-position players in the Pittsburgh starting lineup, when they were here last week at Petco, are their own draft picks.
 
The Padres have lots of marquee names in the lineup tonite, but little home-grown, and very little ready to contribute yet from El Paso-San Antonio.  And because they don’t draft high again tonite, it may be a bit longer till they can say ‘built in San Diego’.
 
Dismal, disappointing, the real “D” words when describing the Padres, and the other “D” word, drafting.