Chargers in Camp

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NFL preseason games may be viewed as meangingless, but they are really not.  They are to evaluate players, game situations, strengths and weaknesses.
 
Two games into the exhibition schedule, the Chargers have as win against a wretched Cowboys team, and a blowout loss to the team with the Super Bowl trophy, Seattle.
 
Time to stop talking platitudes over at the Fortress, time to talk plights.  Time to deal with reality not fantasy.
 
The Chargers will be as a good an offensive team as their is in the NFL, because QB-Philip Rivers will see to that.  They will score a lot of points and they will have to because the defense cannot stop anyone.
 
Yes it was preseason, but it was awful on Friday night.  The Seahawks ran up 41-points, put up (403Y) in offense.  San Diego’s defense was awful, breakdowns, guys running open all night, poor gap play, even worse tackling.  And more than anything else, it was as if no one wanted to compete.
 
Last season we witnessed the Chargers secondary ranked 29th in pass defense.  This past weekend, they gave up 20-plays of 8-yards or more, including chunk plays that covered 24-37-39-41-47 yards.  Sure looked like last year, this year.
 
No one wearing a Bolt on their helmet, ever made a defensive play, and that was with virtually the entire starting defensee on the field.  Yes it was Russell Wilson and his dynamic talents leading the Seahawks, but no one stepped up to slow any facet of the Seattle package down.
 
And this came a week after Dallas’ first unit, playing without QB-Tony Romo, went up and down the field when it was their first unit vs San Diego’s number ones.  .
 
And now to complicate things, nagging injuries are everywhere. 
 
Weak at nose-tackle, now Sean Lissimore has an ankle injury.  Defensive end Cory Liuget has been on and off the field with a strained foot.  Linebacker Manti Te’o now has a sprained left foot, luckily not the right one that was hurt last year.  Newly acquired Brandon  Flowers has yet to show any form that made him special in Kansas City.  And lst round pick Justin Verrett, he of red-jersey fame, still has not been in contact coming off shoulder surgery, and seems way behind everyone.  Mental reps don’t mean much if you cannot get on the field.
 
Mike McCoy is great at cliches, the positive platitudes and all, but he needs to deal with the plight of his team, the specifics, the shortcomings.  They don’t seem to have enough people on defense, and the ones they have seem awful young and mistake prone.  They don’t seem to be tough enough up front either.
 
Granted it was just a preseason game, but it counts lots for showing what you might have (offense) and what you really don’t have (defense).  Another preseason game with the 49ers, then Arizona, then you start playing real people, and you know who is on that schedule once they start playing for real.
 
3-weeks to fix it, but I think they need more than just time to solve what they have seen in camp.  They need more people.

The Vote…

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Baseball has a new commissioner; he’s the old commissioner’s hand picked replacement.
 
It was nasty and ugly in Baltimore, but heated arguments gave way to cooler heads, and it took just two votes for the 30-owners to choose Rob Manfred to replace Bud Selig.
 
There was in-fighting thruout the day, rancor, a call for renewal of hostilities, and then peace. The owners interviewed each of the finalists, and a session with Manfred, Selig’s longtime assistant, got testy during questioning from Jerry Reinsdorf, the White Sox owner.
 
Reinsdorf was the owner who tried to lead a coup at the last minute, and get Tom Werner of the Red Sox voted in.
 
The Chicago owner went after Manfred about his tact in negotiations with the Union, criticizing him and demanding responses why there is no salary cap, why there is increased revenue sharing, and why the union seems to win at the bargaining table.
 
Manfred held his ground, and though the first vote was (22-8), it wasn’t enough to get Manfred the job. 
 
Then there were meetings amongst Selig and owners, and the realization of what the current MLB leadership has been able to produce.  Revenues have gone from 2B a year to 9B.  There is more competitive balance in the game than ever  before as witnessed by the fact there are 12 teams fighting for wild card spots with 5-weeks left in the season. 
 
Common sense conversation reminded the owners of the labor peace over the last 20-years, upgraded drug testing, the growth of all things MLB-Media related.
 
When they re-voted, it was unanimous (30-0) for Manfred. 
 
A win for Selig definitely.  More so a terrible blow to the power hungry Reinsdorf, his attitude and his candidate Tom Werner.
 
Baseball’s back when common sense form people like Ron Fowler of the Padres and Stan Kasten of the Dodgers prevailed.
 
Continuity, not confrontation, will help grow the game.

Podcast – Thursday August 14th, 2014

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The Commissioner

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They had lots of thunder and lightning and heavy rain over the last 48-hours in Baltimore, some 6-inches of rain in all.
 
And you thought that was a storm.  Think of the storm later this morning, when the owners meet to select-and-vote on a Commissioner to replace Bud Selig.
 
This vote may take as long as the selection of the Pope, and the smoke from the chimney this time won’t mean a choice has been made, but rather an inferno of controversy has erupted in the team hotel meeting rooms.
 
There are 3-candidates, two from within the ranks of baseball, Rob Manfred, the right hand man to Selig, and Tim Brosnan, and longtime business and marketing executive from Park Avenue.
 
It is the third candidate who will cause the storm, Boston Red Sox part owner Tom Werner.  Yes, that Tom Werner, of San Diego Padres fame, or is it shame.
 
Selig has canvassed the 30-owners and reportedly believes Manfred, a labor negotiator and business exec, is the right candidate.  Brosnan became a late entrant coming from a non baseball background. 
 
Werner is the Hollywood TV exec, who runs the Red Sox portion of NESN-their big money TV network.  He is not the decision maker, he is not the money man, but is more the third wheel in the power hierarchy led by the brilliance of Larry Lucchino, and the richness of lead owner John Henry’s money.
 
If there is a more vilified owner in San Diego history than Werner, they might be running second, maybe Donald Sterling, late of the since-sold Clippers of the NBA.
 
But Werner is a puppet candidate of power brokers Jerry Reinsdorf (White Sox) and Arte Moreno (Angels).
 
What he has done good for baseball may take some time to research and find. 
 
What he has done bad for baseball is right there in the history books.  The Padres, fire sales, 13M payroll, trades of the stars, Roseanne Barr’s crotch-grabbing national anthem, and more.
 
That qualifies him to be commissioner?
 
Werner’s Band of 15-owners bought the team from the Kroc family and was immediately shocked to find they had to pay not only the purchase price, but their share of free agent collusion damages from the Jack Morris lawsuits of that era.
 
Then as payrolls increased, by virtue of arbitration, they took an 89-win team and traded it into a 100-loss franchise, all the time whining about money when cash-calls had to be made.  They modernized the term “Firesale”.
 
Again, I ask, this is your candidate for the top job in baseball?  Based on what?
 
They only need 7-votes to kill any vote for Manfred.  This could drag out forever, and this makes no sense.   
 
Oh there will be debate for sure about having another owner elevated to the job, compared to someone already entwined in the inner workings of the sport and business of baseball.
 
Hear the thunder?  Waiting for the torrent of criticism? Looking for the smoke from the  hotel suites? 
 
And you thought the storms mid week in Baltimore were bad, just wait to see what happens when it comes time to vote today or tomorrow on baseball’s new leader.

NCAA Nightmare

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The world of college athletics has changed, on the field, and on the court.  And it is definitely changing in the business world.
 
The NCAA is dealing with crisis issues on an almost everyday basis.
 
The 5-Power conferences in the country are about to break away, autonomy is what it’s called.  What it really is, is greed and nothing more.  It appears the Pac 12, Big 12, Big 10, ACC and SEC will go their own way, operate with a different economic model, and let the rest, fend for themselves.
 
The NCAA has just lost a bitter lawsuit, the Ed O’Bannon case, where a judge has now ruled they cannot keep the money they get from sales of jerseys, helmets, memorabilia, if it uses the players likeness and image. 
 
Then there are movements to unionize players, and get players more benefits, health care, food etc.
 
It is a never ending struggle now to maintain what was their business model, a profiteering model, whereby schools made millions, the NCAA headquarters made more, and the players got scholarships as a trade off for athletic ability for the Alma Mater.
 
I see no way out of this for Mark Emmert, the NCAA President.  The mega million TV contracts have been fueled by the athletes success on the field.  The school and the NCAA headquarters reaped all the benefits under the banner of student-athlete.
 
The Big 5-Conference breakaway means different rules for the Pac 12 and the like, and you wonder how the Mountain West or Conference USA will survive, if the big schools have more resources to spend and a new set of rules to operate by.
 
Yes many Division 1-athletes wind up with degrees, but truth be told, the great ones go to college to prepare for a possible pro career, and now they want to be paid more than just room-board-tuition.
 
Call it a cost of living stipend, but really call it for what it really is, the athletes want a cut of the pie.
 
It is complex.  Penn State needs to win to fill 106,000 seat Beaver Stadium.  They need a BCS bowl bid, because football money drives the other 43-intercollegiate varsity and club programs at State College.
 
It’s like that at every school, from Alabama there, to USC here.
 
But the rules for the big boys make it tough on the small guys too.  If the NCAA allows a 2,000-stipend for every football and basketball player at Ohio State, how does a money strapped San Diego State keep up with that?
 
If the NCAA agreement on the O’Bannon lawsuit leads to a 5M payday for football and basketball players at a UCLA, how does a Western Michigan afford that?
 
If the training tables around the clock cost 1.4M a year at Florida State, how can Temple finance that?
 
And then there is Federal Law, and that is Title IX and women’s athletics standing outside the door, saying they are owed the same on an equal basis.
 
You might like the opening of the college football season or March Madness, but I guarantee every NCAA exec in the country has a migraine headache wondering what happens next.
 
The courts and the lawsuits and the judge’s decisions, tell you there is nothing left to be negotiated, because the NCAA didn’t handle it correctly before, and now it’s big money business and they cannot make the rules themselves any longer.