Good Ole Boys

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They open the 2015 NASCAR season on Sunday with the legendary Daytona 500…the ‘Great American Race’.
 
From the 1950s, when they used to race on the beaches on the Florida coast, we have come to the Super speedway where the 2-and-a half mile track, seats 190,000-fans.  It was Sunday in the sun, now it is a daylong national TV event, capping off what has become known as Speed Week. 
 
They used to ‘run what they brung’ in Southern style twang, racing Hudson Hornets, Mercurys, Oldsmobiles, Ford Coupes, Plymouths and Pontiacs.  Now it’s Chevy, Ford, Toyota.  Back in the day they had convertibles that ran, now these things look like rocket ships.
 
The business has changed, from towing your car in from the gas station, to trailers-haulers, motor homes.  They used to drive coupes and four doors, now they wheel out freshly painted shiny cars, looking like racing billboards.
 
The hard charging garage mechanic turned driver, covered with grease, wearing tee-shirts, a helmet, chomping on a stogie, has been replaced by the corporate American spokesman driver, full of cliches, taking part in press conference, wearing his firesuit with a spaceship helmet.
 
They’d run hard into the corner, cut each other off, wreck each other, and sometimes fight in the pits.  Now there’s pack racing, 9-second pit stops, fuel strategy, and drafting for a 200mph lap.
 
There have been great races, great finishes, great controversies-finish line fights, great crashes Lee Petty and others,  and the deaths of greats including Dale Earnhardt Sr, who died doing what he loved, racing upfront.  
 
But some things are still in place from days gone by,  to what happens when they drop the green flag Sunday.  They will be racing hard, swapping paint and crashing. Daytona is about speed, daring, cursing, spins, flips, and the checkered flag.  You win the Daytona 500 and it changes your career forever, just ask Derrick Cope or Trevor Boyes..
 
The names in the sports surely have changed, from the Petty’s, the Flock’s, Yarboroughs, and the Allison’s.  The made for TV era included Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott and more.  Our modern day lineups include names are Earnhardt Junior, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and even her, Danica Patrick.
 
But the personalities are still there now, just like back in the day, Fireball, King Richard, the Intimidator, the Alabama Gang, Wild Bill from Dawsonville and guys named Junior and Flinty.  The fans are just as fiery then as now, good ole Southern boys, even if they don’t carry the Confederate flag around anymore.
 
Sunday will be something, it always is, the first race day of the season.  The Daytona 500, then as now, a real slice of American life.  Have at it boys.

Chargers Ceasefire

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It’s time for a Ceasefire in this Civil War between the Chargers ownership and the leadership of the city, the Mayor, and his task force.
 
Throwing Molotov Cocktails at each other, daring the other side to step into No-Man’s Land, has only served to muddy the water, soil the clean piece of paper, this Stadium Task Force was supposed to operate with.  In a 48-hour span we have gone from optimism to pessimism, because of ancient history, bad blood, and allegations of agendas.
 
It’s time for Dean Spanos to muzzle his mouthpiece Mark Fabiani, who seems intent on developing a ‘Scorched Earth Policy” with people trying to save the franchise, and get a stadium built.
 
The threats and name calling are classless.  The insinuations of people’s agendas are irresponsible.  It besmirches the reputation of the Spanos family, who have given extensively to charity in this town, too.
 
If Dean Spanos is laying the groundwork to leave San Diego to go to LA in the middle of the night, so be it.  His legacy as an owner and resident, will be written with how he handles this business.  Just ask the Art Modell family and the Jim Irsay family what their lives were like when they left Cleveland and Baltimore.
 
The stadium is falling down, and that family needs to step away from the verbal gunfire, for their reputation will go down too.  Spanos’ decision to meet, a sitdown with the Mayor, is step one in putting out this oil-fire of a controversy. 
 
The city cannot make good on all the mistakes made by past administrations.  It can only deal with the here and now with what they have.  And they have a Mayor with a will to do something positive, a better economy, and creative juice from successful business people  on that task force.  The Faulconer group should never be linked with the era of errors from Filner-O’Connor-Murphy.  These are different people, these are different times.
 
It’s time for the Task Force to sit down and move on and begin the actual research of all the information available.  Spend the next 5-months coming up with a stadium sight, a financing plan thru the hotel tax, a resolution of priorities-which is more important, the Convention Center annex or the stadium, how to handle the toxic land cleanup issue, and then formulate a proposal.
 
The city doesn’t need public forums right now with people with opinions, some knowledgeable, some knuckleheads.  They need to spend their energy and what money they can use, to dig deep into the important issues of how to build it, how to pay for it, and how to benefit from it.
 
Don’t worry about things you cannot control.  Pay no attention nor worry about Stan Kroenke in St. Louis.  Stop fretting about NFL timelines-and Los Angeles.  Deal with San Diego and see where you come out after you tell the Mayor and the team owner what you come up with.
 
Enough with the verbal carnage.  Time to move on to find out what can be done or not be done.
 
San Diego needs a ‘ceasefire’.  Time to end the empty rhetoric and move on to what is important.  A new stadium for the Chargers and a new Convention Center annex downtown for our major industry, tourism. 
 
Work now, and make this one common goal.  ‘Win-Win’ for the taxpayers, the fans, and the team. 

Chargers – NFL Combine

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The window opens this morning in Indianapolis for NFL teams to begin full scale preparation for the NFL Draft.  323-players will be on hand this week for the Draft Combine, and for the Chargers, it is a critical week.
 
Tom Telesco heads to his third draft as the Bolts decision maker.  His opening draft was a raging success, with the early pick of OT-DJ Fluker, the fast development of WR-Keenan Allen, and the selection of LB-Manti Te’o.
 
Last year’s draft looked good at the top and the burst of athleticism and the dynamics of CB-Jason Verrett and LB-Jerry Attaochu gives you good hopes for the future if they can get completely healthy.
 
This draft is critical, for QB-Philip Rivers is on the clock.  A great career about to wind down, but sadly with a franchise falling down around him.  The team has one playoff win in its last six years.  They have been to postseason play just once in the last four falls with Rivers at quarterback.
 
And now he has started to accumulate injuries; a chest injury in 2013; the rib and back injuries last season.  He took 36-sacks and 110-hits last fall, and has been sacked 115-times over the last 3-years, and this in a shotgun friendly, 3-step drop offense.  Too much pressure, too many hits.
 
The Chargers draft 17th in the first round, and Telesco and his scouts need to hit on either a right tackle, or one of the quality group of guards, that will likely be there.
 
Thankful for San Diego, they have versatility.  DJ Fluker has excelled at right tackle, but might be better at right guard.  Chris Watt came in as a guard, but wound up at center because of injuries.  The Bolts could take a right tackle if available and move Fluker into guard.  If a center is rated best, then maybe Watt moves to guard and Fluker stays on the edge.
 
The top lineman they will look at are Stanford OT-Andrus Peat; Ereck Flowers-OT-Miami; La’el Collins-OT-LSU;  Brandon Scherff-OG-Iowa; Cam Ervin-OC-Florida State; or Jake Fisher-OT-Oregon.
 
A couple of them will likely be there, and the key to get it right.  Find the mix of athleticism, toughness, intelligence, and fire that will allow a pick to come in and play immediately.
 
There are no guarantees in any of this.  Two years it appeared there were sure-fire OL atop the draft board, and it hasn’t quite worked out.  Kansas City’s Eric Fisher has struggled mightily at both RT-LT.  The Eagles’ Lane Johnson struggled, got hurt, and then was suspended on a drug issue.  Jacksonville’s Luke Joeckel got hurt as a rookie and struggled all last year.  Jonathan Cooper permanently rode the inactive list or bench in Arizona.
 
San Diego needs to hit it big now with this first round pick.  Yes there are other needs, more pass rush help, another corner, and maybe nose-tackle, but protecting Rivers is more important than anything.  Drafting an OL is not a sexy pick, but they need a solid player to make a statement coming out of a three point stance.
 
You lose Rivers to an injury behind a poor offensive line, and San Diego becomes Cleveland-Buffalo-Jacksonville.  No quarterback-no hope.  Tom Telesco cannot let that happen.

Chargers: Confrontation or Collaboration

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The Chargers-vs-The Stadium Task Force.  Is that the way the out-of-town scoreboard reads, based on what happened on Monday in San Diego?
 
The first scheduled meeting between Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s 9-member committee and Chargers executive Mark Fabiani began with a lecture, or maybe it was a corporate NFL statement.
 
The Chargers released to the media and the fans what they felt about the failed history of 14-years of efforts, 15M in money spent, and 7-different mayors.  Fabiani told the Task Force not to waste their time with a stadium study, unless they could avoid all the pitfalls and potholes, the last two study groups had fallen into under previous mayors.
 
Sure there is bad history and a rocky road travelled with all the City Hall obstructionists in years gone by.  But those years were marred by a near state bankruptcy, a broken economic pension plan in San Diego, and lots of agendas by different factions.
 
There’s nothing wrong with informing this Task Force about what the Spanos Family feels about past failures, and what they feel going forward should be the parameters of a deal.  Don’t be offended by Fabiani’s use of words like ‘real world’ stress tests, half-baked ideas.   Accept it all as a challenge to go beyond what was done before.
 
Yes the Chargers have a right to issue the challenge, don’t present something you cannot get passed.  But in the aftermath of the 6-page memo, Fabiani should understand the ‘real world stress test’ on the other street corner, the voters are not going to give a rich man the gift of a new Stadium.
 
Just like there is nothing wrong with someone standing up publically and reminding the Spanos of how ungrateful they seemed to be when the Stadium was upgraded with upper deck seats, and renovations to help lure a Super Bowl.  And how part of the deal included a beautiful practice facility in Murphy Canyon.  And one should be reminded too of past Chargers history, Alex Spanos saying he needed more, just three years after the last upgrade took place, or the nastiness of the fallout from the Ticket guarantee, where the Chargers were paid significant money while they put a crap product on the field.
 
So history has been revisited, and that’s okay.  Because this is new leadership, a better economy, and the potential of a working consortium that might involve the City Council, the County Board of Supervisors, Team Spanos and the NFL Park Avenue headquarters.
 
No more mention of past mayors or city attorneys.  No more words like obstructionists or agendas.  No more attempts at Spanos power plays, where his mouthpiece presents a picture that the owner can block the NFL from coming into LA.  Spanos and Fabiani haven’t gotten anything done in San Diego, so time to let someone with new ideas, and no bad history, take a run at the project.
 
The NFL is coming to LA whether the Chargers like it or not, and Dean Spanos doesn’t have the power to roadblock it.  What he does have the power to do, is help will a way to find a mutually beneficial deal to keep his team in his adopted home town.  San Diego’s leadership is trying hard now to create a plan to satisfy both. 
 
The ownership of the team is trying to play a leverage game, but the truth is, this ownership does not want to pay the 400-million territorial fee the NFL wants for someone to move into LA, and the ownership group does not want to see a minority share of the team either, two ingredients that seem to be part of the LA-equation. 
 
The only disturbing part of the Fabiani lecture was the insinuation Spanos cannot make a big financial contribution because he’s not going to use PSL-taxes on fans as a way to raise money.  This from an owner that makes 20-to-30M profit per year.  The Chargers say they get 25% of seasons ticket holders from LA-Orange-Inland Empire, but did not break down the specific percentages from the 3-county area.  Maybe full disclosure would  help in this case.
 
The other disappointment was that Spanos didn’t think it was important to be at the meeting, instead having his point man deliver the sermon.  His words are he wants to stay; his actions find him nowhere on the front line willing to talk-listen-contribute. He would rather vacation than be at the table..
 
Time for the Task Force to look at all the blueprints the Spanos’ have paid for, at the Qualcomm sight, and in the East Village.  Time to send the 9-member committee on the road to do their own due diligence.  Time to get input from the Chargers about what they like and dislike about the two sights.  Time to review how other cities got stadiums built and financed.  Time too, to find financing in the city and county, and from Murphy Canyon and New York.
 
Mark Fabiani revisited history, now let it sit in the past, and get to work with people who believe they can find a way to get this done.
 
Time for cooperation-no more confrontation, and no more lectures nor history lessons either.

Horrors of Being a Public Figure…

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It was a stunning text I got at 3-30 one afternoon from a friend in television last week.  A TV sports anchor we all knew, had been gunned down in front of his home.
Kyle Kraska spent days in ICU in critical condition.  The CBS-TV-8 sports anchor was hit by 10-shots by a deranged house painter he was in a dispute with.
Being on air is fun, exciting, it’s where the action is, and it can be dangerous.  You get to cover events, talk to the stars, deal with the stories, find out the inside information.
But you never know sometimes who is out there, who watches, who listens, and who takes things the wrong way.  Sadly this wasn’t necessarilty about sports, but rather a business transaction gone bad.
The Kraska story was stunning.  He’s a sports anchor, not a controversial guy.  Covers the stories, is a man about town, with a solid reputation.  When you hear about a serious incident like a shooting, all types of things cross your mind.
An incident with a woman; an incident with a viewer who took exception to something said or reported; a crackpot seeking revenge.
The police reports on the alleged assailant, Mike Montana, paint a picture of a troubled man; anger issues, drugs, past assaults, shady business dealings, and now tomorrow, he will be charged with lst degree attempted murder.
How Kraska survived the assault on his Mercedes Benz couple is amazing.  Shot from behind?  Shot while getting out of the car? Shot while trying to charge the shooter?  We don’t know all the details.
Sports in the media, especially sports-talk radio, is not always fun.
I was punched by a sports columnist for something of a wise-crack I said on the air.  Choked by another one.  Cursed by another one in public.  I received telephone threats from a gang member for something I sad about boxing in Phoenix.  I believe I was tailed and nearly forced off the road coming home from work one night by an angry listener in San Diego.  I’ve been spit on.  Threatened with a lawsuit by a mayor.  Had someone spray paint my garage.
As much fun as it might be to be a talk show host, a TV star, a columnist, it comes with some risks.  You never know who is out there, what they think, how they will react.
He remains in a medically induced coma, is still in critical condition, and faces an extended rehab.  Doctors have performed a second surgery, and removed 7-bullets that were imbedded.  Say a prayer for him on his long road back.
Sports is supposed to be fun, but it spills into real life, and we know how scary real life can be.
Just ask Kyle Kraska, whom we hope will be back on the air.