========

Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast…1pm….
Broadcasting from Ireland
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Look-Listen-Subscribe-Share
=========
“NFL SCHEDULE..HELP YOU WIN–CAN MAKE YOU LOSE”
=========

The NFL schedule is out, and for some it’s an eye opener of opportunity.  For others it could be a death walk.  Yes everybody plays 17-games, some years you get 8-home games-9 on the road..the next year it’s reversed.

The top 3-teams, the fans favorites in Southern California, the Chargers-Rams-Raiders look as if they got strange draws in the 2024-fall schedule.

A close up look:

CHARGERS:

Yes they open with a key division rivalry game with the Raiders at home, but will it be a Raiders home game at So Fi Stadium?  Yes it could be, even with the debut of Jim Harbaugh, unless the Chargers refuse to sell tickets to anyone with a tattoo or wearing Silver & Black.

The oddity in the Bolts schedule is the back to backs they play.  Road games at Carolina and Pittsburgh in weeks 2-and-3.   Then two in a row weeks later at Denver and Arizona.  Later in the season, back to back road junkets to Atlanta and Kansas City.  and they finish with road trips to New England and Las Vegas.

They do play 3-straight at home come November, and you never-ever see that, but the Titans-Bengals and Ravens come in back to back to back.

They play 4-of their final 6-on the road, a tough stretch if you are in a playoff race.

They have Justin Herbert but lots of new faces at key positions around him, and they play only 8-at home, 9-on the road.  Add in if the Raiders fans over-run So Fi, the Bolts will play 10-road games.

The plus, they have the 5th easiest schedule on paper.  The negative, they will travel a league high (26,803) miles this year, a far cry from the (10,100) the Washington Commanders travel.

The schedule is a bitch.

RAMS:

What a way to start the season, as Sean McVay’s men go to Detroit to face the fierce growl of the Lions.  Then in week three, they are home with the 49ers.  Three of the opening four are on the road, including weekend 4-in Chicago against the amped up Bears.

The end of the season has back to backs against the Bills and at San Francisco.

There are five long road hauls to the East or Central time zone

The home schedule is a dandy, with the Niners, Packers, Raiders, Miami, Eagles and the Bills.

Could be a good season if they can survive the first couple of weeks..and find the right combo to replace the retired Aaron Donald-at defensive tackle.

RAIDERS:

Only way to describe this is ‘brutal’.

Open with the Chargers in LA, but that could be a home game in all honesty.

But the Silver & Black go from facing Justin Herbert in week one, to facing Lamar Jackson in Baltimore in week two.  They also get the Browns and Deshaun Watson in week four.

Midseason has back to backs with the Rams in LA and the Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium, followed by a roadie to Cincinnati.  That’s a tough haul.

And get this, coming out of a later bye week, they play at Miami, at Kansas City, at Tampa Bay in a four week window.

Very winnable home games with Carolina, the Steelers, Atlanta, the Jaguars and maybe the Chargers.

Antonio Pierce talks up a storm.  Maxx Crosby plays with his hair on fire.  But do they have enough talent?

If the Raiders fans take over So Fi Stadium when they come in to play the Bolts and Rams, Las Vegas could effectively have ’10-home games’.

But in the big picture, with decisions to be made at quarterback, finding a lead running back, and trying to build up a defense, this could be a playoff-killer of a schedule for a team trying to find traction.

========================

========

“LOTS OF TOPICS & THOUGHTS”
========

Watching, following and sounding off.

PADRES DISAPPOINTMENTS…They continue…they wipe out all the good feeling from the weekend wins with the Dodgers by losing back to back to the last place Rockies…tons of men left on base..errors…streakiness in the bullpen…they come off the high of winning the Dodgers series to now falling 7-and-a half back of LA.

MANNY MACHADO…Does not look right at home plate…Maybe it is elbow related…maybe he needs to just be a DH and not force the issue to play 3B-constantly.  .but this is not vintage Manny (2-26)..1HR-in-91 at bats…and a (.226) average…just not the same player.

WALKER BUEHLER…This comeback takes time, especially since he did not pitch for 23-months…yes his velocity is there at times, but his secondary pitches have not been consistent…of course you have to be patient coming off Tommy John surgery…maybe pitching him once a week will allow for more recovery time.

RON WASHINGTON…Feel sorry for the Angels manager…manager of Team Utilityman…Look at the Angels roster…fringe players or young players everywhere…just a horrid way to run a franchise-Arte Moreno…this might be the worst team of all time dating back to their expansion seasons.

CHARGERS…Jim Harbaugh should be excited, he has a really good quarterback, his team drafted well, and they will play the 5th easiest schedule in the NFL.

LAKERS…Coaching search underway and the burning question..what kind of coach do you hire…somebody who is young…somebody with experience…do you want a hard nose leader who runs the lockeroom…is there a risk if you go young, LeBron and AD walk all over the coach..big challenge…the names are interesting..veteran Kenny Atkinson…former player Sam Cassell…ex player and media guy JJ Redick…who knows?

DENVER-MINNESOTA…A wild series with the real storyline how the big men have disappeared in certain games…crummy nights by Gobert-Towns and ditto the same with Jokic-Porter-Murray…could have been a great series but play has been so spotty.

KNICKS-PACERS…New York looked so tough as the playoffs started, then got people hurt, and now are in trouble…looks like Coach Tom Thibodeau is running out of options to find bodies…the Pacers played really well down the stretch and sure has firepower…would be a shocker if the Knicks cannot get bodies back on the floor.

CAITLIN CLARK…So much expected and not delivered…the Indiana Fever got buried by the Connecticut Sun…Clark seemed to have trouble with the speed of defenders and the physicality of the game….she shot (2-7)..had 2-fouls..and 5-turnovers…all in her first 15-minutes…the WNBA is a different world.

COLORADO AVALANCHE..Devastating week-losing these games to Dallas..then having their leading scorer Val Nichushkin leave with another drug relapse…he left the club in last year’s playoffs after an alcohol related incident in a hotel with a woman…and now this year’s positive drug test that has led to a 6-month suspension into next season…all while scoring 9-goals in the playoffs…a devastating blow

OILERS…NHL history shows you can ride a hot goaltender in the Stanley Cup playoffs…but history also shows you are in trouble if you don’t have goaltending, thus the crisis in Edmonton where the high scoring Oilers benched starter Stuart Skinner, when his save percentage cratered at (.793) a historically awful stat in postseason play.

BOB BAFFERT…He is back, so is his top 3-year old Muth, heading the Preakness at Pimlico. after bypassing the Kentucky Derby…yes that 3-horse photo finish at Churchill Downs was exciting, but Muth is better than any of those three at the finish line.

=================

==========

Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus PODCAST from Ireland
Look-Listen-Share-Subscribe
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
==========
“REMEMBERING A CHARGERS GM”
==========

It was a bad era in San Diego Chargers football.

When you have been to the Super Bowl and your franchise heads downhill, finishing with a (1-15) record, that is as bad as it gets.

So bad that owner Dean Spanos did not want to be around fans.

His team had gone to the 1995-Super Bowl to play the 49ers, and it ended badly, a 6-TD night from Steve Young.
Within two years the coach who drove the team to the playoffs four times and that Super Bowl game, was gone

Bobby Ross could not survive Spanos and then GM-Bobby Beathard, and was booted because he would not fire his coordinators.

Things went downhill fast.  QB-Stan Humphries suffered a career ending concussion.  The Ryan Leaf arrival was disastrous, thus (1-15) and Beathard’s dismissal.

The Chargers hired John Butler, who had helped build the Buffalo Bills into a Super Bowl team, that went to the Big Game, but lost four times in those Big Game Sundays.

Butler was tasked with few quality players, some high picks.  He brought in Drew Brees, then LaDanian Tomlinson, and hoped progress was being made.  He died suddenly of lung cancer from a lifetime of smoking.

When he arrived, in tow with him was his Player Personnel guy from the Bills, AJ Smith.  They had been together in Buffalo and before that in the USFL with Chicago.  There was a bond, a workman philosophy, and a blueprint of the type of players they wanted…’gamers’

Smith took over with a star running back, a proven coach, and picks.  As the Chargers struggled early, Smith got a high pick and a chance to get a QB.

Eli Manning was the choice, but his father did not want him to play for Team Spanos and its tacky history of ownership.  AJ Smith would not be bullied.  He drafted Eli, who went to the podium to get his Chargers jersey, a sullen look on his face, and never opened the jersey to hold up.  Message sent.  Message received.  Message gone.

Smith, never afraid of a fight, traded him to the New York Giants for a package that included Philip Rivers, Shawne Merriman, kicker Nate Keading and more.  Eli won two rings in New York for Tom Coughlin.  Rivers rewrote the record book that Dan Fouts had filled out.  But for Rivers, LT, free agent Antonio Gates and a group of good players, they never got to a Super Bowl.

Smith never was able to duplicate the talent haul in that one draft, and then started to miss on picks.

And as the post season playoff losses mounted each January, Smith lost patience with Marty Schottenheimer and thus a feud about coaching staff changes.  Smith wanted Martyball out, Spanos agreed, and a second really good coach perished.

Smith hired Norv Turner, a tremendous offensive coordinator mind from the Cowboys and Rams, but a rather pedestrian head coach history.  What he was in San Diego was what he was other places.  Mid-level, unable to win.

In the end Turner won with Marty’s players, then started losing, then he and his GM were both terminated.

There are lots of ways to judge a GM like AJ Smith.  The won-loss record (rock solid).  The playoff record (poor).  Super Bowl Appearances (none)

Smith became a bully, arrogant, head strong.  And his teams got worse not better.  Rivers-Gates-Tomlinson.  Can you imagine that type of talent and not able to get to the AFC Championship game to win?  No Super Bolw appearnaces either.

AJ never got another job of importance in the NFL.  He made his 5M from the Spanos family and left.

You cannot write his obituary without referencing the good drafts, the strong willed deals, and eventually the losses.  You must also add he was never hired again because of the old boy network that felt he shafted a (14-2) coach in Schottenheimer.

You decide how good he was.  I dealt with him on lots of levels.  Easier to be around than a real bully like Butler.  Hard to understand why he acted the way he did at the end.

Always wondered how much he appreciated what Rivers brought to the team, the community, to the NFL.

In the end, he failed, and that’s too bad because the leadup to building something good was special.  But not special enough to still be playing on a Super Bowl Sunday, with a 200-win coach he had fired.

That seems to be his legacy.

====================

 

 

========

Hacksaw’s Monday Pondcast….1pm…from Dublin, Ireland
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Look-Listen-Share-Subscribe
========
“GREAT WEEKEND-TOUGH WEEKEND”
========

A weekend of excitement…a weekend of emotions.
We covered the full spectrum of excitement and sadness

PADRES…Win 2-out of-3 against the red-hot first place Dodgers, that was impressive.  Set 2-attendance records at Petco Park, even more impressive;

It was like a playoff atmosphere on Friday, the (2-1) pitchers duel, between Michael King and Tyler Glasnow.  When they were done, King reeled off 11-strikeouts in his 7-innings and kept the ball in the yard.  Glasnow matched him with a 1-hitter adding his own brand of zip, with a 10-strikeout day.

Come Saturday, it was vintage Dodgers baseball, a Teo Hernandez grand slam HR, before a ton of Dodger Blue fans in the stands.  The game set the single game attendance record in the yard, (46,701) a mob scene as LA won (5-0).

On Sunday Yu Darvish was dazzling, 7-shutout innings, a 2-hitter and the Friars crashed two HRs off Walker Buehler in the (4-0) whitewashing.  And when they were done, another weekend record (133,970), an all time mark for any 3-game series at Petco.

More importantly the Friars could have been 9-and-half out of first place if they got swept, instead they are 5-and-half out now, with easy pickings Colorado showing up next.

What a Weekend.

-0-

IN MEMORIUM…A tough weekend with the Friday news on the passing of ex Padres 1st round pick Sean Burroughs, then the passing of longtime player agent Barry Axelrod, and the Sunday news ex-Chargers GM-AJ Smith lost a long battle to cancer.

SEAN BURROUGHS…What could have been, but never was, a career lost by disappointing performances, alcohol and drugs, and then a life rallied back by rehab and friends.  Power hitters were supposed to play 3B.  So much expected of Burroughs, but four years with the Friars, dealt away, having become only a singles hitter.  His career spiral was fast, released by Tampa then Seattle, and out of baseball.  His life went into the gutter with substance abuse, but he rallied himself with support from the Jeff Burroughs family and former Padres GM-Kevin Towers, who helped guide him thru rehab and then a final contract with Arizona.  But Burroughs admitted he was no longer driven to handle the pressures of being an MLB-first round pick.  He did save his life and family, but what could have been, never became that.  He died of a heart attack at (43) watching a Little League game in Long Beach, where he started it all in the Little League World Series.

BARRY AXELROD…Encinitas based, a very dynamic agent, who wanted good deals for his players, many of them Padres, and good deals for the GMs of teams, including what would become his best friend, Kevin Towers.  They argued about contracts for a wide variety of Padres players, then would go eat and drink wine and tell stories.  And it was Axelrod, at the end, who walked step by step with Towers in the final years as KT fought a bitter fight with cancer.  Axelrod was cut from a different cloth, but a really good man.  In fact he left the agent’s business to go work for Towers-the Gunslinger-with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

AJ SMITH..He was his own man, calling things the way he saw them.  He knew how to scout, how to find players, and would not be bullied either by players nor agents.

His record shows a stockpiling of a ton of talent, some he inherited when John Butler was GM before his sudden death.  You can like him for standing up to Eli Manning and drafting him even when father-Archie tried to power his son away from the Bolts.  I never forgot the draft pick when Eli came to the stage, held up the Chargers jersey-still folded, never opening it, and never showing a smile.

He wound up being traded to the NY Giants in the Philip Rivers deals that netted other draft picks too.  It was win-win.  Eli led the Tom Coughlin-Giants to 2-Super Bowl wins.  Rivers rewrote the Bolts passing records, (59,000Y-397TD).  AJ landed the likes of 955-receptioin TE-Antonio Gates, who never played college football.  He found Vincent Jackson, drafted Shawne Merriman and Eric Weddle tool

 

But the AJ era was about mistakes too, the brutal firing of Marty Schottenheimer after a (14-2) record, and the hiring of substandard head coach Norv Turner.  And the Bolts never got to a Super Bowl either despite a roster led by LaDanian Tomlinson and more.

Owner Dean Spanos praised AJ Smith for accomplishments.  But Spanos was equally responsible for firing Bobby Ross and eventually Bobby Beathard, and allowing Smith to run off Martyball.  The team never recovered from either decision.

So AJ leaves us with a scowl on his face,. his go to demeanour dealing with us in the media and having wasted a tremendous team by coaching decisions.  You play to get to Super Bowl Sunday.  He never held a job of significance after his Chargers chapter was completed.

Some weekend of pretty good highs, but pretty bad lows too.  People come and go, but memories will always linger.

======================

 

=======
Hacksaw’s GREAT SPORTS WEEKEND Podcast
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Look-Listen-Share-Subscribe

 

 

========

“BASEBALL-1 MONTH IN”
========

We’re into May so we know have an understanding, who is good, who is not so good in baseball.

Spraying hits to lots of places in MLB:

DODGERS..Best team that money can buy, yes, but what a job done to be 13-games over .500, having had 11-pitchers on the DL in the first month of the season

PADRES…This lineup will hit and Luis Arraez will be a table setter.  But this team has health issues, be it Joe Musgrove or Yu Darvish, and virtually no pitching help in the minors.  It’s a .500-team right now.

ANGELS..You are what your record says you are.  Last place, a roster full of utilitymen, and your top two stars on long term disabled list.  It’s a disaster.

———

WHO IS HOT..

YANKEES..Booming bats most every night.  And even with the loss of Gerritt Cole, yet to pitch, this has been an impressive start for Juan Soto-Aaron Judge-Ginacarlo Stanton and friends.

ORIOLES…A young home grown roster via the draft and the farm system, is in first place for a 2nd year in a row.  They have no fear and now they are getting injured pitching back.

CLEVELAND..You lose Shane Bieber for the year with elbow surgery, and you are in first place.  Jose Ramirez and a host of players you can’t name, are having a really good season on the Lakefront

PHILLIES…Fans can quit beefing the team did nothing in the off season.  Sure they did, they signed Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola to big money extensions to stay.  Now you have a super staff and a bunch of batting order bombers.

TEXAS…A surprise start with all the pitching issues they have.  Lots of games left.

BRAVES..Hanging tough with bats despite the loss of top arm Spencer Strider.

OAKLAND…Somehow with little on the roster, and no fans in the stands, they are playing almost .500-ball after last year’s messy season.

DETROIT-KANSAS CITY…Rented some vets to go with a cross section of young kids learning on the job, so bobbing and weaving with the .500-mark.

ARIZONA..Slow start but lots of games to be played.  But they are in the Dodgers division aren’t they?

BOSTON…Outside of Raf Devers, can you name anyone else in the lineup.  They are spending lots less now than the World Series years.  Maybe they will be good, but maybe not.

MINNESOTA…A 12-game win streak, that is unique.  Didn’t see that pitching staff being that good.  Time will tell.

CUBS..A team of guys who can hit home runs at Wrigley Field.  Surprise Japanese free agent Shoto Imanaga has been dominant.  Maybe their rebuild is ahead of schedule.  Most wins in their division so far.

SEATTLE..Good young pitching but a GM-Jerry DiPoto who keeps changing the roster.  Good but not a great team yet.

TAMPA BAY…A struggle, pitchers hurt, not alot of hitters, and few fans and an unresolved stadium situation.

MILWAUKEE…Patch work roster, having lost 2-starters and their big bat, they are in first place a month into the season.  Not sure how long that keeps up.
———

WHO IS NOT

MIAMI..What a disgrace.  Derek Jeter out as CEO, Kim Ng exited as GM.  Then a siege of injuries to their entire pitching staff.  They might threaten the 120-loss record of the Mets of the 1960s.

COLORADO…Lots of young players learning on the job but a pitching staff riddled by injuries.  Wonder if this team will ever win again in a tough division, and will ever draw 4M as they did once upon a time.

WHITE SOX…How could anything Jerry Reinsdorf owns be so bad?  Hard to believe how far away they are talent-wise, after dealing away Dylan Cease.  Not doing a major league job for fans on the south side.

CARDINALS..Seem to be wasting the final years of the Arenado-Goldschmidt era. Just not enough pitching.

WASHINGTON…Long rebuild after the Juan Soto-Stephen Strasburg era.

REDS-PIRATES..Have not taken the next step after last summer’s surprise stretch of success.  Injuries have hit Cincinnati.  Pittsburgh does not have enough pitching, though 1st round pick Paul Skenes-LSU has arrived.

GIANTS.  A month in, and Blake Snell is on the DL and Jorge Soler is now hurt.  Just not enough marquee pitching.

TORONTO..Big bats, but slow out of the gate.  Not enough pitching in Toronto.

HOUSTON..Not sure what is a bigger shocker, Alex Bregman-Jose Abreu have stopped hitting, or 6-starting pitchers have spent most of the month on the DL.

METS..Peter Alonso is not hitting, and when you don’t have ace Kodai Senga back off the DL, you have problems, especially if Jose Quintana is your number 1-starter.  Overhaul coming.  Next winter will be interesting.

==================