Norv Turner and the Hypocrisy of Chargers Management

The Chargers made history today: they lost the first 11-10 scoring game ever in the annals of the NFL. 11-10? Needless to say, the defense under Ron Rivera played superbly, even recording multiple sacks for the first time in far-too long.

But that vaunted San Diego offense decided not to show up. I am utterly convinced now that Norv Turner must, without question, be kicked to the curb.

For the first time since Dan Fouts flew Air Coryell, the Charger offense is absolutely stacked with frequent fliers.

There is LaDainian Tomlinson, who, despite an injury, remains an All-Pro running back. There is absolutely no reason he should be in danger of not reaching the 1140-yard benchmark. But, at the rate San Diego is pounding the ball, Tomlinson will be lucky to reach 1000 yards rushing. Yes, Michael Turner and Lorenzo Neal are gone and are sorely missed, but the dynamic Darren Sproles and the "more than a blocker" Mike Tolbert should theoretically offer enough upside to alleviate the loss of Turner and Neal.

There is Antonio Gates, arguably the best tight end in football since, well, Kellen Winslow.

There is, for the first time in decades, more than one competent wide receiver. Chris Chambers, Vincent Jackson, Malcolm Floyd, and even Legedu Naanee. Simply put, Rivers can throw anywhere with confidence.

Oh, yeah, and then there's Rivers. Competent, and possibly great, though prone to stupid interceptions when attempting to channel his inner Favre.

Regardless, the offense should rock. And Norv Turner is supposedly an offensive genius, no? Sure, I'll admit that he is, but a head coach he is not. Marty Schottenheimer was better for this team. He provided discipline. Norv couldn't discipline a morgue.

And poor Marty. Unjustly fired (albeit likely on purpose) for taking a team that was absolute garbage and fielding them into an elite unit. And all he wanted to do was hire his brother as defensive coordinator. Given what we saw with Ted Cottrell, can anybody honestly say that would've been worse?

But, no, A.J. Smith, in all his supposed wisdom, didn't want another Schottenheimer to deal with. Two Schottenheimers would have threatened his dictatorial desires he has for the team. Turner, Smith knew, is a pushover.

So, wait? Nepotism is the reason Marty is no longer in San Diego? Is this the same team owned by Alex Spanos? The same team whose President/CEO is Alex's son, Dean Spanos? Whose "Executive Officer" is A.G. Spanos? Whose Executive VP is Michael Spanos? Whose Director of College Scouting is John Spanos?

Yeah, sure looks like they take a hard line against nepotism, doesn't it?

Worse, Marty's original quarterbacks coach was Brian Schottenheimer, under whom Drew Brees enjoyed his resurgence. Accident? Maybe, but the New York Jets thought enough of Brian to give him a job as offensive coordinator.

A.J. Smith's "genius" is in question. The Chargers front office is full of hypocrites.

They need to fess up and admit their mistakes before it's too late. Unless, of course, this is all part of the plan to move the Chargers back to Los Angeles.

Idiots.

San Diego Sports Nightmares

The San Diego Padres lost their last two regular-season games to the Brewers, leaving them in a tie for the Wild Card with rival team Colorado. Jake Peavy has to pitch a tie-breaker. Fucking wonderful.

The San Diego Chargers lost to their first divisional opponent, the Kansas City Chiefs, and are now last place in their division at 1-3. Ain't it grand?

Making Peavy pitch the tie-breaker means Peavy will only pitch once in the Wild Card series. Fucking wonderful.

To make matters worse, the Chargers are in last place BEHIND one of the worst teams in the league: the Oakland Raiders (2-2). Ain't it grand?

Still, the Padres have hope. All they have to do is win the tie-breaker and their season will continue for at least three more games.

The Chargers, however, have officially hit "disappointment." 13-3 is the best they can possibly finish, but with Norv Turner running the show, I doubt the Chargers will even get to 10-6. A friend of mine from Oceanside yelled "Cam Cameron, Cam Cameron" at me earlier this year, but he's 0-4. I guess we should've stuck with Wade Phillips, eh?

On a slightly brighter note, LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for more yards in the loss to the Chiefs than he had in the previous three games combined.

On a slightly dimmer note, Philip Rivers is, as I suggested in my last Chargers blog, looking more and more like a college quarterback. This can be fixed, and could probably be fixed by Norv Turner the Offensive Coordinator, but I'm betting against it being fixed by Norv Turner the Head Coach.

A.J. Smith, what are you going to do?

I'm rambling, I know, but I'm upset. The Chargers couldn't possibly have gotten this bad in one off-season. Still, I've stuck with my team since Dan Fouts-to-Wes Chandler, and nothing's going to change that.

Ah, well... here's hoping the Padres win.

Ode to Eli Manning

I am, it's no secret, a Chargers fan. Die hard. I grew up on Dan Fouts and Kellen Winslow, and the bolts have never left my system.

It's also no secret that I absolutely fucking hate Eli Manning. It's no secret that EVERY Chargers fan absolutely fucking hates Eli Manning. Eli Manning, to put it simply, is a piece of shit.

Eli, for those that recall (and even those that don't), snubbed the Chargers on draft day in 2004 when he declared that he didn't want to play for San Diego because, more or less, the team wasn't committed to winning.

So what did the Chargers do? They drafted him anyway, then traded him away for Philip Rivers and three draft picks. One of those draft picks wound up being Nate Kaeding, the best Chargers kicker since John Carney. Another became Shawne Merriman, perhaps the best outside linebacker in the NFL. So, in those regards, thanks Eli, you stupid punk.

And now the rub... since the Eli debacle (his real name is "Elisha," mind you), the Chargers have gone 12-4, 9-7, and are currently 9-2. The Giants? Well, they went 6-10, 11-5, and are currently 6-5. That's an overall record of (San Diego) 30-13 to (New York) 23-20.

Who's committed to winning?

Damn sure ain't Eli...

San Diego: Sports Town? Or Not?

As of this moment, the San Diego Chargers are undefeated and maintain sole ownership of first place in the AFC West (sure, they've only played one game, but that's not the point). They are heavy favorites to whoop the Tennessee Titans today.

As of this moment, the San Diego Padres are 77-70, 1/2 game down in the NL West race, and 1.5 games up in the NL Wild Card race. They're playing the rival Dodgers today and tomorrow, and should whoop them (they smoked them 11-2 last night). If the Padres make the playoffs this season, it will mark the first time ever that the Pads made the playoffs in two consecutive seaons.

Both teams have produced national greats. The Chargers: Dan Fouts, Lance Alworth, Junior Seau, Leslie O'Neal, LaDainian Tomlinson. The Padres: Dave Winfield, Tony Gwynn, Ken Caminiti, Benito Santiago.

But still, damn near the entire country outside of Southern California still considers San Diego a second-tier sports team. Unfortunately, it's hard to disagree with them.

San Diego is, among other things, one of the most beautiful places in the United States, and is easily arguably the most beautiful big city in the country. A beach culture, the Western Hemisphere's best weather, a foreign country right next door, Hollywood to the northwest, Vegas to the northeast... what more could you want?

Well... dominant sports teams. And more of them.

San Diego is in danger of losing the Chargers to another city (likely Los Angeles, which would really piss me off). A few years ago, they were in danger of losing the Padres to Arizona (thank you for the Diamondbacks). A little known fact is that they've lost two NBA teams (the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets both used to call San Diego home). They've never had an NHL team, and despite being a soccer haven, they can't even attract an MLS team.

The storied San Diego Sockers of arena soccer? Now defunct. Hell, even the San Diego Rip Tide of arena football is now defunct. Is San Diego a damned sports town or not?

Well, that depends on if skateboarding and surfing are sports in your book (and they should be), because we've got plenty of those superstars.

Anyway, the point is that San Diegans should be PISSED about not being considered a sports town, and should do something about it. Long have the Padres and Chargers been victim of "fair weather" fans... the irony being that San Diego ALWAYS has fair weather. We need to step up and support our friars and our bolts. This is bullshit.

I'm not a huge basketball fan, but come on... San Diego is the 8th largest city in the country. The largest without a basketball team, the second largest without a hockey team, and in danger of being the largest without a football team (should the Chargers move to Los Angeles). What fucks San Diego's position as a sports giant is the damn media market it's in. Despite being number 8 in U.S. population, San Diego is ranked a measely 26th in terms of media size (right above Charlotte and right below Indianapolis - 20th and 12th in terms of population, respectively).

So, I'm ready to admit that I really don't know how to fix the problem... but we need to. San Diego is America's Finest City for a reason, and we need sports to stay that way.

The State of the Chargers

Monday night is when it all begins, fellow Chargers fans. Monday night, versus the recently sorry Raiders, we get to have our first preview of whether or not the Chargers took a step back, maintained their pace, or did indeed make a leap forward.

Regardless of which they've done, I must admit that football this year is going to be more interesting for me than it has since, oh, the Chargers last went to the Super Bowl. This new interest isn't just sparked by the new team, either. In fact, at the center of it all are three people who aren't even Chargers players.

Let's start with the least controversial: Drew Brees. Say what you want about this guy; I love him. He sparked the Chargers back to "fuck Eli Manning" (hell, AND Peyton Manning) respectability. He took us to our only playoff game since Stan Humphries was under center. He was a great leader on an improving team and, I believe this entirely, given another few years, he would've been the face of the Chargers... sort of like a little known guy named Fouts. But, A.J. Smith, a very smart and devious man decided to fuck Mr. Brees, and now the New Orleans Saints have him. For this reason, I will be watching two teams this season... the Chargers... and, of course, the Saints.

Since I've already mentioned him, let's swing to A.J. Smith. Even though Bobby Beathard managed to stock the Chargers to a Super Bowl, I'm of the opinion that A.J. Smith is the best GM that San Diego has had since, well, ever. One might be able to argue the quality of the "Air Coryell" team, but one might also be able to argue that only the offense of the "Air Coryell" team was quality. Anyway, A.J. Smith... a smart, selfish, and very devious man... the best GM in Chargers history. If anyone thinks for a second that A.J. Smith didn't smile when Drew Brees went down at the end of the 2005 season, you're dead wrong. Smith, like Butler and Beathard before him, LOVES to play his own players, his own draft picks, his own acquisitions. If you recall, Drew Brees was not his, but Butler's. If you don't believe me, look who else the Chargers have let go at seemingly inexplicable times: Seau, Harrison, shit, even Leslie O'Neal. Face it... we always get prima donna general managers.

To the point... this is Smith's year to prove he's a genius, or to prove he's an idiot. Should Brees do well (or even decent) and Rivers fail in any measure of the word, Smith will forever be known as "that guy." Should Brees falter and Rivers do well, or even if they both do well, then Smith will escape the guillotine. Personally, as someone who was in North Carolina for the entirety of Rivers' collegiate career, I hope they both do well, but I still can't help but feel that Smith screwed Brees... and loved doing it.

The third person that will make this season interesting? Well, it's more like a family and not an individual person. Yep, you guessed it... the Spanos family. Although I have a future rant reserved for the possibility of the Chargers leaving San Diego, I figured I'd mention them here for posterity's sake.

Well, enough about what I think... let's just start wishing for a winning season... and maybe, just maybe, a run at Super Bowl XLI. I've got my fingers crossed for Rivers, McNeill, and McCree, the three pieces that are supposed to (almost) complete the Chargers' puzzle (although Rivers is more of a replacement piece than a new one). And yes, I'm crossing my fingers for Steve Foley, as well. It's not every day that a Chargers player gets shot three times, no.

I'd also like to mention that I was recently afforded the opportunity to chat with Cecili Chadwick, the hottest Charger girl of all time (mid to late 90s, for those who follow that sort of thing). She's super-hot, super-smart, and super-intimidating. And she's super-hot.

Go Bolts!