Chargers Stadium: Issues and History vs. Hope

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The Mayor had lots to say.  The Chargers leadership reacted strongly.  You hate to say battle lines are being drawn on something so important, but in 24-hours time, they did everything but exchange gunfire.  
 
And so the Stadium saga to save the NFL team continues, heading to Year 14-to find a way to keep the Bolts team from moving.
 
Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s “State of the City” address was full of ‘Power Point’ hope, about finding a way on his watch to get a Stadium built.  Chargers point man Mark Fabiani, who talks a good game but has accomplished little, shot down the latest set of ideas set forth by the city’s new leader, and followed that with blazing-criticism of businessman Steve Cushman, an advisor on the Stadium-Convention Center discussions..
 
It’s understandable there is caution on one side, doubt on another.  Dean Spanos and Fabiani have been pushing this boulder up the hill since 2001, the idea for a new stadium.  The city has failed miserably to gain any traction whatsoever, bad economy, lousy leadership, thru seven different mayors.
 
But this time, all the chips are on the table.  Qualcomm Stadium is crumbling.  There is urgency because up the I-5, Los Angeles, and the NFL league office, are making rumblings they will move on a stadium and move a team into the 2nd biggest market in the nation.
 
Faulconer wants to re-establish a new Civic Task Force to evaluate the old stadium sight, and the new Gaslamp sight.  He wants facts, figures, blueprints, and a financial plan by October, on cost-location-and how the bill gets paid.
 
What Faulconer needs will be fresh leadership, new idea people, execs from the business world, the sports world.  What he needs is a consultant from outside, who has done a project like this.  What he needs is independent thinking too, not people with past political agendas.  
 
He may have some of that in JMI-Sports, who got Petco built.  The city should link with AEG-which takes on projects like this, and get insight from them.  He might have some experience too in former NFL Executive Jim Steeg.  He has access to Eric Judson of JMI.  He has Sports Council people, law and finance people to draw upon also.
 
As for the Chargers, Fabiani, a talker, but not a doer, needs to approach the next 8-months with an open mind, present the team’s best ideas, and possibly put in escrow the exact check Dean Spanos should write as his contribution to get this project rolling.  That would once and forever put aside the insidious feeling the rich man wants a stadium given to him.  Spanos needs to invest upfront in the city’s future.
 
The Chargers firmly believe the 166-acre Qualcomm sight should be sold; the money to be put into the pool, along with a re-designed Hotel Tax formula, to fund the stadium and the convention center in the Gaslamp.  The only problem is once you sell that land, it is no longer a resource, an asset.
 
Understand though the team’s lack of trust in leadership in the mayoral office.  Past history shows incompetence, corruptness, and boxes of agendas, in past dealings.
 
San Diego wants to invest in its future.  A Stadium is a piece of the puzzle for growth.  The Convention Center Annex is even more important, because it is an investment in our now biggest industry, tourism.  It’s not military, insurance-banking companies, nor manufacturing.  It’s visitors, and that Center is huge for the economic health going forward.
 
The city needs ‘new blood’ to lead this task force.  The Chargers need to stop the name-calling, insulting people who have served in the past (civic retreads) and get on with a clean piece of paper, and work this out.  
 
The two combatants have a real history.  Cushman carries influence with the Mayor’s office, but some of his ideas have not worked out.  Fabiani’s track record includes representing  Jamie McCourt and her Dodgers lifestyle, and Tour-de-France cheat Lance  Armstorng.  Some track record too. No one cares what Fabiani thinks.  No one really knows who the political animal Cushman is.  1-has accomplished things on behalf of the city.  The other just talks.
 
The Chargers are not going to move in the middle of the night.  They should give this their best shot, and for the city, this may be their last chance to accomplish something with an economy that seems to be on the upswing.
 
Bad History-Renewed Hope.  A chance for both sides to write a special legacy chapter going forward, but they better be prepared to park their ego, set aside history, forget the agendas,roll up the work sleeves, and find a way to get this done. 

Hirings/firings – You never know

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T’is the hiring and firing season in the National Football League, where money is no object, and wins do not count for everything now.
 
I thought about the landscape in the NFL while listening to the Rex Ryan-Buffalo Bills hiring press conference.  It was typical Rex, brash, bold, belligerent, and like the weather in Buffalo, blustery.
 
It has been an interesting couple of weeks in the NFL.  Bad seasons by bad teams leads to bad firings.  So it was in Chicago, New York, and Oakland.  You win 3-4-5 games, you go a bunch of years without a playoff spot, you get canned.  It is business as usual.
 
But it was business not normal in a couple of places.  Buffalo won 9-games this year, and almost ended its 15-year playoff drought, and yet their coach Doug Marrone walked out on the team.
 
Despite getting to the NFC championship game a bunch of times, and going (43-19), it was the end of the relationship road for Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers.
 
And now this cloudburst in Denver, where they won 4-straight divisional titles, and even went to the Super Bowl, but they axed John Fox, despite a (38-10) record the last years, and his entire staff.
 
It is no longer the Vince Lombardi axiom ‘winning isn’t everything-it’s the only thing’.  Now it has to be get the trophy or get taken out.
 
The pressure in the NFL is enormous; the expectations now seem beyond reason; the end result, if you don’t get there you get executed..
 
It truly is a different era, where the life span on head coaches now seems to be four years or less.  Bill Belicheck failed miserably, but finally learned how to win.  Pete Carroll failed twice, and surely has stamped himself as a winner.  For every Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh and Mike McCarthy, there is a garbage can full of failures on the street curb.  The shelf life of a coach is testament to how tough, and how demanding the position is.
 
Some burn out, some wear out their welcome, like Jim Harbaugh or Mike Smith or John Fox.  Some never lived up to their college records, like Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino, Barry Switzer.
 
The longevity of a Tom Coughlin, the dominance of Jimmy Johnson,  the extended run of Andy Reid, is something we likely will hardly ever see again.
 
Paul Brown, Tom Landry, Don Shula, that era, its credibility, is a long time ago.
 
So this morning here we are with the carousel swinging wildly.  This year’s hot coordinators, Todd Bowles, Adam Gase, Jim Tomsula might be a victim three years from today.  The big name candidates just a couple of years ago, Perry Fewell, Greg Roman, never got hired, and just a few years later, got fired, when their teams went sour.
 
The job is so tough, that even the guys-gurus you expected to want back in, because their DNA is coaching, the Bill Cowhers-Jon Grudens of the world, now don’t want back in.
 
Hiring surely is no certainty, even if the coordinators have had success.  Names like Cam Cameron, Rob Chudzinski, Eric Mangini, Josh McDaniels, Greg Schiano, Charley Weis, Kevin Gilbride, Dennis Allen, Marc Trestman and Ray Handley are now like oil stains in the street.  You see it, you can’t get rid of the mistake.
 
Just because you coached for Bill Parcells or Bill Belicheck won’t guarantee you’ll be the next Parcells or Belicheck.  Only Tony Dungy assistants and coaches from the Bill Walsh-Mike Holmgren trees seem to have worked out. 
 
The ex-Chargers coaches, who had success, felt differently about their jobs, when their time was up.  Marty Schottenheimer told me ‘coaching chews you up and spits you out’, and this from a man who left with 200-career victories.  Bobby Ross knew it was time to exit, sitting on the Lions plane an hour after a huge road win, not rejoicing about the victory, but worrying about the next game, a potential loss.
 
Mike McCoy is here in San Diego believing he will make a difference.  The Jets hope Todd Bowles,and the 49ers think Jim Tomsula will work out.  The 5-teams that have vacancies believe they will hire people, who will make a difference.
 
The only certainty in the NFL today is ‘hired to be fired’, just ask Jim Harbaugh and John Fox about that.
 
In the NFL, you never know what you get when you hire a coach.  We all know however how it usually ends up.

NCAA Almost Got it Right

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It was a night full of anticipation, it was electric, but it was not complete.
 
Yes, Ohio State and Oregon gave us all we could have wanted in the Championship Football Playoff game.  And yes, after years of debate, the NCAA got it right with a formula that worked.  The semi final games that also included Florida State plus Alabama, were shootouts, and the Ducks-Buckeyes matchup was explosive.
 
But nothing is a complete success.
 
Ohio State was so dominant it was amazing.  If not the power running back Ezekiel Elliott, then quarterback Cardale Jones.  If not the Buckeyes defense, then the demanding dynamics and fire from Coach Urban Meyer.
 
The Scarlet & Gray numbers were staggering, 538-yards in offense…37-and-half minutes time of possession, all those first downs, all those third down conversions, all those big chunk yardage plays.
 
Oregon was equally dangerous, though much like Chip Kelly in the past, Coach Mark Helfrich’s package left something to be desired.  Marcus Mariota became a one man gang, when Ohio State took away his running game, and the Ducks passing game was damaged by suspensions and injury.  Not having Braylon Addison, Darren Carrington and Davon Adams were, and losing CB-Ekpre Olumu late in the year was devastating.The defense could not get off the field.
 
The Ducks were found wanting in the final game of their season, losing to OSU much like setbacks to LSU-Auburn and the likes at the end of previous years.  And you wonder if Mariota is more a product of the system, rather  than a true NFL quarterback.
 
Impressive too were the TV ratings, an ESPN record 18.5 Rating, highest for anything they have ever put on television.  And the Ducks-Bucks game had 21% more viewers than last year’s BCS title game.
 
It doesn’t turn out to be the ‘Game of the Century’ type matchup.  Notre Dame-Michigan State back in the day, or Oklahoma-Nebraska wishbone days, or Texas-USC-Leinart-Vince Young seem held in higher regard.
 
Sure TCU and Baylor remain miffed and who knows if either could have held up against Ohio State.
 
1-thing still unsolved, the money story.  The NCAA is making money hand over fist, and yet college programs are bleeding, there is talk of player unions, bigger cost of living stipends, and the ever-reaching issues of Title IX and women’s programs.  The arms race, the cost, to get coaches, keep coaches, and pay off fired coaches, is staggering.
 
The power five conferences in the playoff format beginning this year each get 10M a year.  The NCAA this weekend awarded the parent or guardian of each player on the Ohio State-Oregon rosters, 2,500 travel expenses to come to Dallas for the game, and will do the same in basketball, for players on the March Madness final four rosters.
 
The NCAA convention is next, and the Big 5-Conference breakaway is about to be take place, and the financial aid issues, and academics battle lines still exist.  The rich are getting richer, but those not inside that circle are not.  Wyoming, Eastern Kentucky, Dartmouth and Mount Union, from 1AA to Division III, they don’t share in the wealth.  You may be Division 1-Mountain West, Mid American, Sunbelt, Patriot League etc, but you really are not. 
 
Oregon-Ohio State did the work and put on a great show.  Much more work to be done at the NCAA level though, to fix the game off the field.  On the field, the Ducks and Buckeyes took care of that.

Power Play in Denver – No One Wins

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The man who ran things as a player, is running things now as the CEO-General Manager.

 
Denver Broncos football was something special when John Elway was their quarterback.  They were dangerous, they were daring, they were dynamic, all because of him.
 
Life brought him back to the leadership circle of the Broncos just a couple of years ago, and though they have been very good, they have not gotten to the ultimate, standing with a Super Bowl trophy, and being fitted for rings.
 
Elway was demanding as a player and it made him great.  He is demanding too as an exec, and what has just happened in Dove Valley may not be great.
 
John Fox is out as head coach after a (48-16) four year run.  But Elway cared little about winning AFC-West titles; that was only a stepping stone to the playoffs, and that was to lead to the Super Bowl.
 
The entire assistant staff, including Adam Gase and Jack Del Rio, both candidates for vacant jobs, were told they could leave and find employment elsewhere too..
 
17-hours after they ended the season, Elway cleaned house.  And make no mistake about it, this was no mutual parting of the ways.  This was the CEO-GM telling the head coach, you will change things, and we must get results.
 
They got their once under Fox, the Super Bowl, and they got their doors blown off last year by Seattle.  The other years under Fox ended with shocking upset losses, some of them on their own turf.
 
Elway wanted a quarterback, and spent a ton to get Peyton Manning.  He needed a culture change on defense, and he went out last summer and signed three marquee free agents to big money deals.  They didn’t get it done, and the CEO was not going to fire the GM, himself, so next in the lkine of fire was Fox.
 
This is a huge gamble for Elway.  Fox was proven, though not perfect, and stubborn to a degree.  The staff was pretty respected.  The roster had talent.  
 
But there were shortcomings, more than just the Peyton Manning thigh and quad injuries.  It was more than just 3-busted up running backs, or dropped passes by the big money receivers.
 
Fox bears a chunk of the blame, with game plans that resembled more Carolilna Panthers run oriented football, than the down the field things that made Manning and the Colts so great.  It was Fox likely pressuring Gase to go heavy run not to extensive pass packages.
 
Maybe it was a beat up group of running backs.  Maybe it was a leaky offensive line that could not handle the blitzes, that rocked Manning out of his comfort zone.
 
With 2-elite pass rushers, there just never seemed to be much in the way of blitz packages for Von Miller and DeMarcus Wasre.  The ultra conservative Del Rio had something to do with that.
 
The offensive line moves of shoving Louis Vasquez out to right tackle, moving Orlando Franklin inside guard, and never getting a key young stud to grow for that front, was odd also.
 
And the end result Sunday night, watching the Colts play press coverage, redirect pass routes, make Manning throw outside the numbers, where he did not do well, meant ‘Fox and his fellow coaches got outcoached.
 
In the shadow of Pikes Peak, we now stand with the Broncos on the cliff.  Elway has gotten ride of the entire coaching staff; his quarterback staggered to the end of the season; he has 17-free agents to deal with, and now there is a reputation he is very hard to work for, and you might not be your own man if you go work for the Broncos.
 
All this after four really good seasons, with that Hall of Fame quarterback.  Yes it’s convenient to bring up Manning’s post-season record, one Super Bowl ring, and 9-losses in his teams opening round games over the years.  But look deeper at what talent was or was not around Manning, all those seasons in Indianapolis and more recently in Denver.
 
John Elway.  You remember him and all those marvelous down the field plays he made with Shannon Sharpe, Rod Smith, Ricky Nattiel, Vance Johnson and the 3-Amigos.  Daring, dynamic and dangerous.
 
Now he is the power broker.   He better be right about what he just did, or the next phrases we will be saying about the Broncos are ‘down the drain’.  MKile High could be headed to Mile Low soon.

Weekend of NFL Surprises

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It was a weekend of NFL playoff surprises, some good, some bad, and some shocking.
 
The Denver Broncos are done, and we can argue what is the bigger surprise, the poor play of legendary QB-Peyton Manning, or the poor play-calling of offensive coordinator Adam Gase, a supposed lead candidate for a head coaching job.  When you play in Denver, you usually get schooled by Manning and those people wearing Orange, his (24-2) home field record, a testament to that. 
 
It was the Colts who put on the clinic, on defense.  Press coverage, sure tackling, stifling the receivers, forcing Manning to throw outside the numbers, where his completion rate was 30%.  When it was over, not only was it a lopsided (24-13) Indy victory, it was convincing.  Manning went 11-minutes without a lst down, missed 7-throws in a row, missed on 7-deep sideline passes, had his receivers drop 6-balls, had a QBRating of 75, and went (4-16) on third down conversions.  
 
The Broncos offense hasn’t been right for five weeks.  Maybe Manning is really hurting.  Maybe defenses have caught up to Gase’s matchups.  Maybe the Broncos weren’t all that  good.
 
We know how good the Colts are.  Andrew Luck hung tough, spread the field, threw to receivers, tight ends and running backs.  He attempted 43-passes and was knocked down just twice.  He finished with 2-TDs and let his defense do the rest.  
 
And yes, instant replay hurt Denver when a bang-bang fumbled punt was ruled down, and not a hot football the Broncos appeared to recover.
 
In Green Bay, a heroic effort by QB-Aaron Rodgers.  That was not the surprise, but it was who made plays, that helped the Packers to their win over Dallas.  Playing with an injured left calf, Rodgers became a hash mark-to-hash mark quarterback, unable to scramble.  He threw off one leg, threw flat footed, and yet was dazzling in the second half.
 
So were backup WR-Davante Adams and TE-Andrew Quarles, who combined for 11-key catches and 2-TDs in that (26-21) victory over the Cowboys.  Of course, heavy duty running back Eddie Lacy got (101R) and Randall Cobb had 8-big catches at wideout.
 
Tony Romo was sacked four times, and limping on a bad ankle at the end, and despite a yeoman job by RB-DeMarco Murray (129R), Dallas came up short.  It might have been different if instant replay had not wiped out a 4th down catch and run by Dez Bryant that put the ball at the 1-yard line and would have put the Boys back in the game.
 
It was vintage Seattle Seahawks football, as the Legion of Boom defense dropped the hammer on Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers (31-17).  Kam Chancellor’s electric 90-yard TD interception capped off a day of fury from Seattle’s defense, that included 2-picks, 2-forced fumbles, 2-sacks and a dominant final 30-minutes of football.
 
QB-Russell Wilson and RB-Marshawn Lynch were at their powerful best, but this is a Seattle defense that has allowed just 5-touchdowns in their last 7-games.
 
In New England, some surprise, in how tough Baltimore played the Patriots, taking the street fight right down to the final minutes.  But in typical Tom Brady fashion, he wins at home, especially in the most important time of the year, postseason.  And in usual Bill Belichick fashion, something different happened, the flanker-option TD pass where WR-Julian Edleman pulled up and fired a TD bomb after getting a backwards pass from Brady.  It broke the Ravens back.
 
Cool Joe, Ravens QB-Joe Flacco kept throwing, but went just (1-9) on third downs, and that was the difference maker in the (35-31) Pats win, despite 4-Flacco TD passes.
 
It was a pretty electric weekend, full of big plays, some controversies, and a wheelbarrow full of surprises.  The Colts play at New England, and Green Bay heads to Seattle for the AFC-NFC championship weekend.  The games should be spectacular and the TV ratings will be too.  And you wonder what type of stylish surprises await us next weekend.