I said goodbye to a hero this weekend in upstate New York.

I awoke in the middle of the night to learn a close radio friend in San Diego passed away.

And I was disappointed to find a guy I really like, was out of a play-by-play job too.

It was a lousy week.

He came from an Italian family of 9-kids.  He dropped out of school to go work in the knitting Mills.  He decided to come back to school and graduate.  He went off to World War II, and earned a Bronze Star-Valor in the tank command in the horrendous fights at Kasserine Pass and the victorious battle at El Alamein.

He came home a hero, went back to school, and became very successful in business, polictics and in family.  He lived to be 99, and he went out this week fighting Alzehimers and Dementia, just like he fought the Desert Fox across North Africa.

Vito, my uncle,  was my hero and they gave him a Military Funeral.  I wept when they played “Taps” at the end.  We lost a good man, my family lost a patriarch.  To me, he was the Prime Example of Tom Brokaw’s ‘Greatest Generation’.

When the phone rings in the middle of the night, it seldom is good news, and it wasn’t for me.

You didn’t know him, but those us in radio, newspaper, and around the Chargers-Padres-Aztecs knew him.

His name was Rick Hill, as nice a man as you’d ever want to meet.  Trustworthy, hard-working, with a hello for everyone, and the ability to do whatever was needed to set up broadcasts, cover press conferences, and be around.

He had no family, was a San Diego native, and he lived thru the horrors of the deaths of a mother-father-and grandmother who cared for him.

He became very ill, and a bunch of in the media pooled money together to help support him, and get him on his feet.  We put him touch with doctors, who helped line up dialysis treatment, and with lawyers, who helped with all the confusing paperwork of disability.

Like a bunch of us in radio, he got laid off, but never once was there a complaint about how he was treated at KOGO, KFMB or XTRA.

Early this week, after a wait of a good two years, Rick  was told a donor had been found for a critical kidney transplant.  A day later, he was in the hospital when blood clots arose.  Hours later, after tests, he was told he had non-curable cancer.  He passed that night.

The adversity he dealt with, none of which he brought on, was overcome thru his efforts and those he befreineded, whom in turn stepped up in his time of need.  A bunch of media guys were in the hospital when word came he had passes.

We called him ‘Red Dog’ and he was a friend to so many.

I am so disappointed the Padres cut loose pitcher-turned-broadcaster Bob Scanlan.

Good man, who made himself into a good broadcaster.  Of course someone had to go, with the hiring of another Mike Dee friend, Red Sox broadcaster Dan Orsillo.  Why Scanlan rather than somebody else in that booth is stunning.

He provided player insight, stories, opinions from a decent baseball career.  He came so quickly as a broadcaster, you’d think ownership would understand what a good talent he was.  I would hope Fox Sports San Diego would consider making him the host of their Social Hour pregame show.

It’s just a lousy week.  Not the Charger offensive line woes, or the finish to a 5th straight Padres losing season, or the Aztecs struggles.

Something more important, the loss of heroes and friends and good guys.

It’s why I was off-line for a couple of days, and why getting back to work is so hard today.

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It’s just three weeks into the NFL season.  Sometimes he tells the truth, sometimes he fibs, most times he paints a positive picture.

That’s what NFL coaches are supposed to do, motivate, fix, lead.  And so Chargers coach Mike McCoy put on his ‘best face’ on Monday, after the Vikings gave his tream a black eye..

Despite the pounding in Minnesota, he spoke volumes about heart, desire, effort.  Yes he admitted areas of concern about his (1-2) football team.

Reality shows we are just 3-weeks into a 16-week marathon run.  And though run over by Cincinnati, and smashed and mashed by Minnesota, there is still lots of football to play.

Luckily for San Diego, here comes a very poor Clevelande team, with issues at quarterback, even with Johnny Manziel, erratic play at running back, suspensions at wide receiver, and injury issues on defense.

Fans may not be pleased with the deficiencies in San Diego, but if you compare them to the wide variety of awful stats from the Browns, the Bolts are a much better team.

But that does not mean things are fine and dandy.  A chewed up offensive line.  Concussion issues to key players.  A secondary now very thin by nagging injuries.  A non-existent pass rush in a throwing league.

Of bigger concern, how to patch the leaky dike, when you have no way of going out to get other players.

Well, the Chargers could have had a shot at a pass rusher, if they were willing to spend a 6th round pick to take on Jared Allen, whom the Bears dealt away last night.

There are no offensive lineman out there to be had.  Defensive backs available now, are available for one and only one reason, they cannot play.

So Mike McCoy can preach positive, eventhough the videos, the telecasts, the columns all deal with negatives.

The media aren’t dummies.  Some of the season ticket buyers know and love the game.  There are lots of problems on this roster right now, despite glowing praise by the coach about the character of his troops..

And if Mike McCoy follows thru on his statement of a brutally honest evaluation by the coaches about his roster after these back to back beatdowns, then maybe they will change the scheme.  You surely can’t change the players.

And McCoy right now isn’t willing to change his sales pitch to the public nor his players.

Will only say this.  Glad the Browns, and the Ben Roethlisberger-less Steelers are on the schedule the next couple of weeks.

Maybe they post a win over Johnny Football and Cleveland, and then Michael Vick and the Steelers.

Hope.  It’s about the only truthful thing you’ll find being said around the Fortress these days.

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We’re only three games into this NFL season, and their are ominous signs everywhere, this is not going to be a good year.

Yes, there are 13-games to be played, but the black cloud of injury is everywhere over the Chargers.  A chewed up offensive line, and a banged up defensive secondary.

No pass push,  seldom true pressure, and a shopping cart defensive line, pushed all over the field.

Add in a battered-beat up quarterback, and you get a sense of desperation, and we are not even to October yet.

The battering in Cincinnati has been followed by a bludgeoning in Minnesota.  The issues of much of last year, no run defense, and less pass rush, are even worse now.

And Philip Rivers, who had rib-chest and sternum problems from hits last year, has been blasted, so much so, the big “Oak Tree” of a quarterback almost didn’t get up yesterday after an Anthony Barr blitz up and the gut and hit to the shoulder.

Mike McCoy knows he has huge issues to deal with, and though he won’t say it, he must think it.  “What was my General Manager doing this offseason, making this defense younger, not drafting more buok upfront, and what did we buy in offensive line free agency?”

Tom Telesco could have used his 2nd round pick on a bulk defensive tackle, like the kids playing in Miami and Minnesota.

He could have drafted an offensive lineman, who can play in the third round.  He didn’t need more special team gusy,  but rather guys who could be impact players.

I just get the sense, Telesco’s San Diego blueprint, is much like the one the Colts operated under during the Peyton Manning era.  Star quarterback, find some skill guys, and hope for the best at many of the other spots.

They got to a Super Bowl and that was it.  You cannot confuse, even with Rivers at the helm, that this team could ever consider themselves a Super Bowl team.  Not with the youth, the lack of depth, and now hurting people everywhere.

Sure there are lots of games left on the schedule.  Do you think the Chargers will have enough players on the roster to make a run this season?  Do you think Rivers can survive this season, with the amount of hits he’s already taken just 3-weeks into the year?

Everyone has an opinion, and the growing one here is Telesco hasn’t done a good enough job.  (1-2) with a quarterback who almost didn’t get up off the ground, should be the red-flag sign there is trouble brewing at Chargers Park.

That’s more on the GM than the coach and his players.

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Sitting and waiting for this weekends NFL games, and thinking about all those players who got in trouble last year.

He’s their hero in Minnesota, the power running back Adrian Peterson, back on the field running over people, a year after getting a paid vacation after he was arrested beating his 4-year old son with a stick.

Root and cheer for one of the best the NFL has seen since the greatness of Emmett Smith and the Dallas Cowboys. Pay no attention to the egregious action.

Some system the NFL Union employs too. Player gets arrested, gets disciplined, gets to go before a hearing, gets the sanction reduced.

Oh by the way, Peterson was paid nearly 7M while he sat out 15-games last year, while the case was adjudicated.

Root for the star running back, child beater

In Dallas, they are a week away from the return of pass-rusher Greg Hardy, finishing up his 4-game, reduced NFL suspension, thank you Union too.

Hardy sat out last year while the on-going court case involving his then girlfriend weaved its way thru the court system. You do remember the case, Hardy choking his fiancée, throwing her on a bed that was full of firearms, threatening to use one on her, to end her life.

Nice story, nice relationship, probably a nice payoff too, for her not to testify in court.

He was never convicted, though that does not mean it never happened. And while he sat out the entire season, he was paid 13M of his salary for his paid leave.

In Baltimore the phone has not yet rung for Ray Rice, convicted of the knockout punch via video, involving his future wife. He was suspended, then released, then went to court and won a chunk of his salary back.

Teams in need of a running back haven’t called him yet. It probably doesn’t have as much to do with the punch or the video, but rather diminishing skills of a 30-year old player.

But then again, he got money, and he served little time in the court of law.

It doesn’t matter in the NFL. Good players, bad actions, you still get the chance to play for pay, regardless of how hideous the crime. Waiting for the next incident to occur, with the likely same outcome.

Like Boxing Promoter Don King said back in the day, “Ain’t America great”?

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It makes you feel old when your boyhood heroes pass on.

Baseball lost a great one, a star, a personality, an icon, an everyday man who was extraordinary.

Yogi Berra passed away late Tuesday night at the age of 90, the historical-hysterical Yankees superstar catcher, manager, ambassador.

I interviewed him twice in my career, and could just sit for hours and listen to him tell stories about his era and the Yankees aura. And what a special time it was from the late 1940s into the mid-1950’s.

It was a galaxy of greatness, that Yankees roster that started with DiMaggio, and stretched thru Mantle and Maris, with special people like Jerry Coleman, White Ford and Berra sprinkled around the diamond.

Berra was a tower of strength as a ballplayer, making himself a great catcher, and a power hitting slugger, who swung at bad balls as well as strikes.

His personality outshined his productivity, but he was an 18-time All Star, won 10-World Series rings, played in 14-Fall Classics. He didn’t ride in on anyone’s coattails either.

There was Berra the player, who became Berra the manager, first with the Yankees, then the Mets.

It was Berra behind home plate trying to tag out the daring Jackie Robinson in a steal of home in the ’50 World Series with the Dodgers. And it was Berra jumping into the arms of Don Larsen, after the World Series perfect game.

But there was so much more to Yogi. His phrases, published into a book of Yogi’isms, made him equal to all the strange things his old manager Casey Stengel said back in the day. Could you imagine a conversation between those two?

It was Berra and all his charity work, and the decision to donate all his memorabilia to a Museum at Montclair State in New Jersey.

And it was the standup guy Berra, who feuded with George Steinbrenner, and who stayed away from Yankees Stadium for 14-years after he felt he was mistreated by the Boss.

Berra stood tall too in the LTS boats on D-Day at Normandy in 1944, firing rockets onto the hillsides trying valiantly to protect those who waded ashore. He was part of the group picking up the dead and wounded hours after the carnage began on Omaha Beach..

The obituary reads he was preceded in death by his wife Carmen, whom he met growing up on the Hill in St. Louis. It reads he is survived by 3-sons,including former Pirates shortstop Dale.

It should also read “Yogi is survived by millions of baseball fans” who will remember him for grace, class, talent, and his love for all. I am one of those millions this morning.

The Yankees #8 in the hearts as #1 to so many Yankees baseball fans.
 

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