Thoughts on various current items:
1. Count me as favorable initially about the Padres hiring of Jed Hoyer as general manager. When Dodgers Asst. GM Kim Ng was named a front-runner, I was worried that we were going to have an activist owner who busied himself too far into baseball matters. Ng is known as a strong administrator more than anything, which is good, but she's been with LA for years and they were nothing on the field until Ned Colletti took over from Paul DePodesta. At least the appearance would have been that she'd simply be an order-taker on baseball matters. I'd like Jeff Moorad to be an activist, certainly, but in the more appropriate areas of ownership. Now comes Hoyer, who appears energetic and well-prepared after spending most of the decade with the Red Sox. He looks like his own man. Now as long as he doesn't view the Padres as contenders like his predecessor, we'll be on the same page.
2. In the first half at Fort Collins last Saturday, it sure looked like Coach Brady Hoke was wrong in his apparent assessment that his Aztecs looked ready to turn the corner and become winners. Then came the second half, which might have been the best single half on the road in conference play since QB Tim Gutierrez led SDSU over Air Force back in the early-90s. Wow. Hoke was right. If he can figure out a way to get his players over the next hump, a New Mexico team used to beating the Aztecs and angry that former coach Rocky Long will be on the opposing sideline, then we might really have something here.
3. I've held back from saying this for a while, but I'm going to tell you why I think fans, who don't really know Norv Turner, don't like him. It's the Norv. People can be extremely shallow at times and the man has an unusual first name. People don't like Norv because he's named Norv and that's about all they know of him. They forget he has a brilliant offensive mind and has accomplished more in San Diego than Marty Schottenheimer ever did, and is arguably doing it with less talent because the offensive and defensive lines suck. Beat the Raiders and the Bolts will have a 4-3 record and we'll see what happens.
4. Former Helix HS QB Alex Smith is the new starter in San Francisco after Shaun Hill was pulled following a horrid first half in Houston. Smith came in and threw three TD passes to nearly pull the 49ers back from a big deficit. He did toss an INT in the closing seconds of a 24-21 loss, but its nice to see him back in the saddle. It will be interesting to see what an older, wiser Smith can do -- assisted by RB Frank Gore's return from an injury.
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