We San Diego sports fans were treated to the exploits of a lot of interesting people over the past decade. Here's my look at some who played a major role in the local sports scene from 2000 to 2009:
LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees - The running back from Texas Christian and quarterback from Purdue came seemingly as a package deal in the 2001 draft and double-handedly rose the Chargers from the near-dead. Both were immensely talented and, perhaps more important, were quality people. The Chargers began the decade 1-15. By 2002, when Brees took over, they improved to 8-8 and by 2004 were in the playoffs. Tomlinson rushed for more than 12,000 yards, caught more than 500 passes and scored 153 touchdowns to make himself a cinch first-ballot Hall of Fame selection. Brees was run off after the Bolts slipped to 9-7 in 2005, but he made himself a fixture in New Orleans and might himself be enshrined in Canton one day.
Trevor Hoffman - "Hells Bells" has moved to Milwaukee, but there's some interesting stats about the all-time baseball saves leader. His 591 saves are the most ever, of course. Of those, 552 came with the Padres, which is still the most ever. The Yankees Mariano Rivera is second on the all-time list with 526 as of the end of the 2009 season. Some things you won't know if you're not a stat freak are that his career ERA of 2.73 is second among active pitchers behind Rivera, his ratio of walks and hits to innings pitched is also second to Rivera, and his ratio of hits allowed for every nine innings pitched of 6.884 ranks first for active players and fifth all-time. 326 of his saves came in this decade, if my addition is correct. You have to figure he has another year or two left in him, and it would be really nice to see him retire as a Padre.
Jimmie Johnson - The El Cajon native won NASCAR's championship four straight years, and always seemed to be back home the next day visiting a school and handing out gifts. He's like the guy who always returns the shot in tennis or ping-pong, he just drives without mistakes and let's his opponents fail. Now he's the first driver to be the AP Athlete of the Year.
John Lynch - It is easy to criticize 1090 XX Sports, but I think if we didn't have this guy, we might not have any local sports on the radio dial. We didn't when XTRA 690 was scrapped early in the decade, and it was Lynch who stepped up and made a deal with 1090 to put sports on the radio other than the horrible ESPN station that had no local content. His station has been extremely inconsistent and hard to listen to, but it's to his credit that it's there in the first place. No one said he was a programmer and I think some people have taken advantage of him by not working as hard as they could. He's someone who knows how to make something happen, and he did with local sports.
John Carroll - the head coach of the highly successful football team at Oceanside High, Carroll has succeeded legends like Herb Meyer and John Shacklett as the face of the local prep game. This year's team was clearly his best, with Division 1 players across the lineup, especially on defense. But he has generally won without overwhelming talent and depth. You won't read this anywhere else because he keeps a low profile, but Sean Doyle of Cathedral (former USDHS), is close to being on the same level.
Candice Wiggins - There are stories of kids who survive the sins of their parents, and then there are stories of those who thrive. Wiggins, the former La Jolla Country Day star from Poway, is one of the latter. Her father, former Padres second baseman Alan Wiggins, was a hard-headed drug addict who died of AIDS. Her mother must have been pretty special, because she raised some pretty special kids, of whom Candice is the best known. Local girls basketball was never better than when she played, and the level of talent has diminished greatly when she left. Even with a bunch of great competition, she was the best. She now plays with Charde Houston of San Diego High for the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, and is spending her off-season playing for a team in Greece.
Shaun White - He's to this decade's kids what Tony Hawk was to those who grew up in the 90s, a legend in athletic pursuits a lot of us geezers don't really understand. The Carlsbad product won a gold medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics and is a favorite to win at least another in Vancouver in 2010. Indeed, recent performances indicate that he's stepping up his game. He's claimed a stratospheric celebrity status that might even surpass Hawk's.
Mark Fabiani - Everyone above is notable for success. Not Fabiani. The former special counsel to President Clinton has been tasked for most of this decade with coming up with a site for a new Chargers stadium, and so far he's failed. I cannot imagine why this guy remains employed by the Spanos family -- and no one should take this personally because I've talked to him a few times and he is personable and friendly with reporters. Perhaps the fact that the Chargers aren't building a new facility now isn't his fault, but he has yet to succeed, either. The proposed downtown site, news of which I broke over the summer with Mark's help, now looks like a bust, too, for reasons not quite so apparent at the time. It seemed like a good idea. Oceanside and Escondido never seemed liked good ideas. The pursuit of a new stadium, after more than half the decade, appears to be back at square one.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Many Decade Highlights at Torrey Pines
I've never been a big fan of golf. Of the more genteel past-times, I've always preferred tennis to both watch and play. However, I have to say that over the past decade, many of the local sports highlights have taken place on the links at Torrey Pines Golf Club. Consider:
-- the U.S. Open simply being here was a thrill, and then Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate go and kick it up a notch with their exciting playoff. A couple days after the tournament, people went bananas at a sale of memorabilia at a Miramar warehouse and several people needed to be hospitalized.
-- Phil Mickelson became the first three-time winner of the Buick tournament when he survived a three-way playoff with Frank Licklighter and Davis Love III.
-- Woods posted a four-stroke win in the Buick following knee surgery.
-- John Daly and Woods both also won in three-way playoffs. Daly's came when there were six other players just a stroke behind after four rounds, and Woods' victory made him the first four-time winner.
-- Woods extended the second-longest tournament winning streak in PGA history to seven with yet another Buick victory.
Golf been berry berry good to us.
Some other highlights:
-- the development of the Chargers franchise from 1-15 in 2000 to annual AFC West champion and Super Bowl contender,
-- the development of San Diego State men's basketball from arguably the worst major program in the nation to an annual 20-game winner and post-season entrant,
-- three appearances by local teams in the Little League World Series, by Oceanside, Rancho Buena Vista and this year's championship by Chula Vista's Park View,
-- Stephen Strasburg comes to SDSU's baseball team from West Hills High as a fat and lazy hurler with a decent fastball and leaves as a strapping and dominant power pitcher who becomes a first round draft pick and college baseball's Player of the Year,
-- USD's men's basketball team wins the West Coast Conference tournament in a championship upset over Gonzaga in a madhouse at the Jenny Craig Pavilion and presses Stanford hard in the NCAA tourney,
-- and a couple years later comes back to upset UConn in the first round of the Big Dance,
-- Tony Gwynn's retirement ceremony and enshrinement in the baseball Hall of Fame along with Trevor Hoffman's achievements. Jake Peavy's Cy Young.
Some of my favorite moments of the decade came in the first few years when I was covering high school sports:
-- Monte Vista topping star-laden El Capitan in a tense and well-played baseball semifinal match at Southwestern College,
-- In boys basketball, Lincoln downing Christian with a three at the buzzer in the first game of a semifinal doubleheader at Cuyamaca College only to be followed with a huge upset by Bishop's over Horizon in the nightcap thanks to a three-quarter court shot at the buzzer,
-- In girls basketball, Mount Carmel going to overtime to dethrone El Camino.
-- In football, Helix outscoring Ramona in a playoff game with future Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and Dartmouth's Jason Bash trading long touchdown runs.
Got some more?
-- the U.S. Open simply being here was a thrill, and then Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate go and kick it up a notch with their exciting playoff. A couple days after the tournament, people went bananas at a sale of memorabilia at a Miramar warehouse and several people needed to be hospitalized.
-- Phil Mickelson became the first three-time winner of the Buick tournament when he survived a three-way playoff with Frank Licklighter and Davis Love III.
-- Woods posted a four-stroke win in the Buick following knee surgery.
-- John Daly and Woods both also won in three-way playoffs. Daly's came when there were six other players just a stroke behind after four rounds, and Woods' victory made him the first four-time winner.
-- Woods extended the second-longest tournament winning streak in PGA history to seven with yet another Buick victory.
Golf been berry berry good to us.
Some other highlights:
-- the development of the Chargers franchise from 1-15 in 2000 to annual AFC West champion and Super Bowl contender,
-- the development of San Diego State men's basketball from arguably the worst major program in the nation to an annual 20-game winner and post-season entrant,
-- three appearances by local teams in the Little League World Series, by Oceanside, Rancho Buena Vista and this year's championship by Chula Vista's Park View,
-- Stephen Strasburg comes to SDSU's baseball team from West Hills High as a fat and lazy hurler with a decent fastball and leaves as a strapping and dominant power pitcher who becomes a first round draft pick and college baseball's Player of the Year,
-- USD's men's basketball team wins the West Coast Conference tournament in a championship upset over Gonzaga in a madhouse at the Jenny Craig Pavilion and presses Stanford hard in the NCAA tourney,
-- and a couple years later comes back to upset UConn in the first round of the Big Dance,
-- Tony Gwynn's retirement ceremony and enshrinement in the baseball Hall of Fame along with Trevor Hoffman's achievements. Jake Peavy's Cy Young.
Some of my favorite moments of the decade came in the first few years when I was covering high school sports:
-- Monte Vista topping star-laden El Capitan in a tense and well-played baseball semifinal match at Southwestern College,
-- In boys basketball, Lincoln downing Christian with a three at the buzzer in the first game of a semifinal doubleheader at Cuyamaca College only to be followed with a huge upset by Bishop's over Horizon in the nightcap thanks to a three-quarter court shot at the buzzer,
-- In girls basketball, Mount Carmel going to overtime to dethrone El Camino.
-- In football, Helix outscoring Ramona in a playoff game with future Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and Dartmouth's Jason Bash trading long touchdown runs.
Got some more?
Sunday, December 27, 2009
San Diego Sports Rising Toward Next Decade
Maybe I'm mathematically challenged but to me, 2010 ushers in a new decade. The purists say the new decade begins with a one. Poppycock, we're just placing the one in the tens column and doing so for the first time, so it's a new decade and that's all there is to it.
So, as the year/decade come to an end, there will be a series of posts that look back on the previous 10 years, the highs, the lows and some of the people who made the San Diego sports scene what it is. The first five years, of course, included my attempt at operating SanDiegoSportsTown.com, which gave me a close look at everything that was going on around here and provided some perspective when I became a more casual observer in the succeeding years.
I will say this. I like where we are heading into 2010 much better than going into 2000. If there were a president of San Diego sports, that person would be overwhelmingly re-elected. Things are really looking up. Consider where we were 10 years ago:
-- the Chargers had Ryan Leaf at quarterback and were in the midst of a period in which they and the Bengals were the worst franchises in the NFL,
-- the Padres were barely a year removed from a World Series appearance and were heading downhill.
-- the SDSU football team was headed for collapse and the basketball programs were among the nation's worst,
-- all of the USD athletic programs were mired in mediocrity.
Happily fast-forward to the present:
-- the Chargers have a legitimate shot at the Super Bowl behind a team that's still relatively young and with better line play has room for improvement,
-- the Padres have promising new ownership and an interesting foundation of young players to build around,
-- the SDSU football program is on the comeback trail and the basketball programs are now annual conference contenders and post-season participants,
-- all of the USD athletic programs are mired in mediocrity (but the middle of the decade was so good that .500 is no longer acceptable).
Things aren't perfect. As noted last week, the annual PGA tournament lost its sponsor and marquee player, the women's tennis tourney is no longer and the Holiday Bowl will struggle to maintain relevance. But I trust the Century Club and Holiday Bowl folks to come through, because they always do, and everything else is just so good right now.
I'll come back Monday or Tuesday with a list of some of the decade's memorable moments.
So, as the year/decade come to an end, there will be a series of posts that look back on the previous 10 years, the highs, the lows and some of the people who made the San Diego sports scene what it is. The first five years, of course, included my attempt at operating SanDiegoSportsTown.com, which gave me a close look at everything that was going on around here and provided some perspective when I became a more casual observer in the succeeding years.
I will say this. I like where we are heading into 2010 much better than going into 2000. If there were a president of San Diego sports, that person would be overwhelmingly re-elected. Things are really looking up. Consider where we were 10 years ago:
-- the Chargers had Ryan Leaf at quarterback and were in the midst of a period in which they and the Bengals were the worst franchises in the NFL,
-- the Padres were barely a year removed from a World Series appearance and were heading downhill.
-- the SDSU football team was headed for collapse and the basketball programs were among the nation's worst,
-- all of the USD athletic programs were mired in mediocrity.
Happily fast-forward to the present:
-- the Chargers have a legitimate shot at the Super Bowl behind a team that's still relatively young and with better line play has room for improvement,
-- the Padres have promising new ownership and an interesting foundation of young players to build around,
-- the SDSU football program is on the comeback trail and the basketball programs are now annual conference contenders and post-season participants,
-- all of the USD athletic programs are mired in mediocrity (but the middle of the decade was so good that .500 is no longer acceptable).
Things aren't perfect. As noted last week, the annual PGA tournament lost its sponsor and marquee player, the women's tennis tourney is no longer and the Holiday Bowl will struggle to maintain relevance. But I trust the Century Club and Holiday Bowl folks to come through, because they always do, and everything else is just so good right now.
I'll come back Monday or Tuesday with a list of some of the decade's memorable moments.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Rating the San Diego Sports Franchises
There are so many of those "Rate My ..." sites on the Internet these days I thought it would be a fun thing here in the holidays to rate our local teams and other sports efforts. So, from one to 10, from bad to good, here we go:
9 - Holiday Bowl. They live right, there's little else that can be said. Arizona-Nebraska is a great matchup that sold out within hours of the teams being announced. The game never fails to entertain. Next year, they sink in the pecking order, but that's a problem to be dealt with later. For now, enjoy one of the premier bowl events in the nation.
8 - Chargers. There's not much more to prove for the Bolts, annual division titlists and Super Bowl contenders. They have just have to get to the final game and win one. Unlike 1994, making it will not be an upset and they'd have a chance to win. Yes, the lines still need improvement, a deficiency that might be costly next month, but everything else seems to work.
7 - San Diego State men's basketball. They're kind of like the Chargers although the Aztecs are somewhat flying under the local radar. No question there's work ahead for Coach Steve Fisher, who needs a reliable point guard and a regular with a consistent outside shot. But you can't knock annual 20-win seasons and tournament appearances. To get to an 8 like the Bolts, they have to win an NCAA Tournament game.
7 - USD baseball. The Little Team That Could is ranked again in the preseason, all you need to know about a program mired in mediocrity when Coach Rich Hill took over. The Toreros have been regular-season wonders in beating top programs like Texas, but have performed poorly in the NCAA Regionals. Hoping last season was but a hiccup.
6 - San Diego State women's basketball. I would have been tempted to place the Lady Aztecs a notch or two higher before the season, but there is something wrong internally with Coach Beth Burns' team. G Jerica Williams quitting is a sign to me that there were some personality clashes early in the season, leading to a couple surprising blowout losses. Let's hope that this week's romp over Loyola-Marymount is a sign that Burns has put things back together.
6 - Poinsettia Bowl. That sixth draw out of the Pac-10 is turning into a bit of a dud, especially when you figure such a team has to face the second- or third-place team from the suddenly powerful Mountain West Conference. As predicted on this blog on bowl announcement day, the game would be a rout in favor of the Utes, and it was. Attendance is a problem, with both schools this year only selling half their allotments and local fans saving their money for the Holiday Bowl. On the other hand, the last two games, TCU-Boise State and Utah-Navy, have been stellar.
6 - USD men's basketball. Coach Bill Grier maximizes his talent, enough to get the occasional win over a name school like Oklahoma. Trouble is, there's not enough talent on this squad and while he's been able to attract recruits, none are exciting. The Toreros are no longer the consistent program they were under Brad Holland and if the West Coast Conference season doesn't go well, they'll be at a crossroads.
5 - USD football. Never would have rated the Toreros this low back in the high-flying Jim Harbaugh days, but they're coming off a 4-7 season, 3-5 in the Pioneer Football League. Coach Ron Caragher had two great years following Harbaugh, but the trend is now heading in the wrong direction. Chalk up part of the problem to injuries. But another losing season next year will put Caragher on the hot seat.
5 - San Diego State baseball. Okay, now that Strasburg is gone, show us what you've got. The college baseball Player of the Year carried the Aztecs to their first regional in a ridiculous 19 years, obscuring the fact that they only finished fourth in the Mountain West Conference, which is not the power it has become in football and basketball. Can Addison Reed do a Strasburg impersonation? We'll see.
4 - San Diego State football. The Aztecs came a long way in Coach Brady Hoke's first year, and a strong recruiting class is being put together. This coaching staff knows what it is doing, and the results will show in time. It still amazes how low this program sank under Hoke's predecessors. To think how close they came to a bowl game in 2009 is stunning.
4 - USD women's basketball. The Lady Toreros are coming off two strong runs in the WCC Tournament, one which got them to the NCAAs, and have compiled two straight 19-13 records. Yet, Coach Cindy Fisher hasn't seemed able to build on her success, with the Toreros only 6-6 heading into Christmas. Just like the men, they seem capable of more, and the low rating expresses my desire for them to step up their game a notch.
3 - Padres. New General Manager Jed Hoyer has his work cut out for him. As said before, I like the foundation of young players, but it's only a base, not a finished product. Right now, they're only capable of challenging for .500 next year, which is not good enough considering the high cost of attending games and inconvenient stadium location. I'm willing to watch Hoyer build this franchise up, but mostly from in front of my television.
3 - Golf. The Century Club lost Buick as a sponsor and now goes into next month's event at Torrey Pines without scandal-plagued Tiger Woods. Good luck with that. On the other hand, we did finally get the LPGA back with a September tournament.
0 - As in no professional tennis tournaments.
Arrows Up: Chargers, SDSU men's hoops, SDSU football.
Arrows Down: SDSU women's basketball, USD football, USD women's basketball.
---
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my readers!
9 - Holiday Bowl. They live right, there's little else that can be said. Arizona-Nebraska is a great matchup that sold out within hours of the teams being announced. The game never fails to entertain. Next year, they sink in the pecking order, but that's a problem to be dealt with later. For now, enjoy one of the premier bowl events in the nation.
8 - Chargers. There's not much more to prove for the Bolts, annual division titlists and Super Bowl contenders. They have just have to get to the final game and win one. Unlike 1994, making it will not be an upset and they'd have a chance to win. Yes, the lines still need improvement, a deficiency that might be costly next month, but everything else seems to work.
7 - San Diego State men's basketball. They're kind of like the Chargers although the Aztecs are somewhat flying under the local radar. No question there's work ahead for Coach Steve Fisher, who needs a reliable point guard and a regular with a consistent outside shot. But you can't knock annual 20-win seasons and tournament appearances. To get to an 8 like the Bolts, they have to win an NCAA Tournament game.
7 - USD baseball. The Little Team That Could is ranked again in the preseason, all you need to know about a program mired in mediocrity when Coach Rich Hill took over. The Toreros have been regular-season wonders in beating top programs like Texas, but have performed poorly in the NCAA Regionals. Hoping last season was but a hiccup.
6 - San Diego State women's basketball. I would have been tempted to place the Lady Aztecs a notch or two higher before the season, but there is something wrong internally with Coach Beth Burns' team. G Jerica Williams quitting is a sign to me that there were some personality clashes early in the season, leading to a couple surprising blowout losses. Let's hope that this week's romp over Loyola-Marymount is a sign that Burns has put things back together.
6 - Poinsettia Bowl. That sixth draw out of the Pac-10 is turning into a bit of a dud, especially when you figure such a team has to face the second- or third-place team from the suddenly powerful Mountain West Conference. As predicted on this blog on bowl announcement day, the game would be a rout in favor of the Utes, and it was. Attendance is a problem, with both schools this year only selling half their allotments and local fans saving their money for the Holiday Bowl. On the other hand, the last two games, TCU-Boise State and Utah-Navy, have been stellar.
6 - USD men's basketball. Coach Bill Grier maximizes his talent, enough to get the occasional win over a name school like Oklahoma. Trouble is, there's not enough talent on this squad and while he's been able to attract recruits, none are exciting. The Toreros are no longer the consistent program they were under Brad Holland and if the West Coast Conference season doesn't go well, they'll be at a crossroads.
5 - USD football. Never would have rated the Toreros this low back in the high-flying Jim Harbaugh days, but they're coming off a 4-7 season, 3-5 in the Pioneer Football League. Coach Ron Caragher had two great years following Harbaugh, but the trend is now heading in the wrong direction. Chalk up part of the problem to injuries. But another losing season next year will put Caragher on the hot seat.
5 - San Diego State baseball. Okay, now that Strasburg is gone, show us what you've got. The college baseball Player of the Year carried the Aztecs to their first regional in a ridiculous 19 years, obscuring the fact that they only finished fourth in the Mountain West Conference, which is not the power it has become in football and basketball. Can Addison Reed do a Strasburg impersonation? We'll see.
4 - San Diego State football. The Aztecs came a long way in Coach Brady Hoke's first year, and a strong recruiting class is being put together. This coaching staff knows what it is doing, and the results will show in time. It still amazes how low this program sank under Hoke's predecessors. To think how close they came to a bowl game in 2009 is stunning.
4 - USD women's basketball. The Lady Toreros are coming off two strong runs in the WCC Tournament, one which got them to the NCAAs, and have compiled two straight 19-13 records. Yet, Coach Cindy Fisher hasn't seemed able to build on her success, with the Toreros only 6-6 heading into Christmas. Just like the men, they seem capable of more, and the low rating expresses my desire for them to step up their game a notch.
3 - Padres. New General Manager Jed Hoyer has his work cut out for him. As said before, I like the foundation of young players, but it's only a base, not a finished product. Right now, they're only capable of challenging for .500 next year, which is not good enough considering the high cost of attending games and inconvenient stadium location. I'm willing to watch Hoyer build this franchise up, but mostly from in front of my television.
3 - Golf. The Century Club lost Buick as a sponsor and now goes into next month's event at Torrey Pines without scandal-plagued Tiger Woods. Good luck with that. On the other hand, we did finally get the LPGA back with a September tournament.
0 - As in no professional tennis tournaments.
Arrows Up: Chargers, SDSU men's hoops, SDSU football.
Arrows Down: SDSU women's basketball, USD football, USD women's basketball.
---
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my readers!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
San Diego Sports Moments of 2009
The Top 10, as I see them:
1. Chula Vista Park View Little League Wins World Series: The Bombers were on the verge of elimination at some point every step of the way, but when the dust cleared, they were the best group of 11, 12 and 13-year-old baseball players on the planet. The South Bay was energized, and the rest of San Diego County captivated, by their spirited play. Their impact was made obvious by the reception the players received upon their return, when they were accorded rock star status for more than a week. It was the first local team to win a Little League championship since the 1961 El Cajon-La Mesa Little League. Aside from indoor soccer, it was the first national or world championship for a local team since the 1973 SDSU mens' volleyball squad.
2. San Diego State men's basketball vs. Saint Mary's: One of the three or four greatest nights in the history of Aztecs athletics in terms of what was at stake, the players ability to come through in the clutch and fan participation. If you weren't thereon March 25, you really, really missed something special. Can't forget Billy White's dunk or Patty Mills being forced to dribble the ball off his leg.
3. San Diego Chargers beat Indianapolis in the playoffs: Darren Sproles ran wild over the Colts in a 23-17 OT win at Qualcomm Stadium on Jan 12. The running back gained 328 total yards, including 178 on kick returns and 105 rushing. Key play was a late sack of Indy QB Peyton Manning near his own goal line, setting up a short punt that the Bolts converted to a game-tying field goal with 31 seconds left.
4. Stephen Strasburg: I'm not sure how you pick just one single event, but here goes. On Mar. 27, he took the mound in Fort Worth with temperatures in the mid-40s and a stiff breeze, facing Number 16 TCU. He proceeded to pitch 8 innings, allow just 2 runs and strike out 14 Horned Frogs. He allowed just 3 hits and 1 walk as the Aztecs raced to an 11-5 victory. It was a night that called for toughness, and he had it. No complaints about the no-hitter against Air Force, being drafted first or the $140,000 donation, either.
5. Everth Cabrera's Fireworks: Independence Day was perhaps the coming out party for the Padres youth. In a televised game that overshadowed that weekend's return of the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez from a 50-day drug suspension, Cabrera was spectacular defensively at shortstop and drove in three runs during a 7-4 win by the Friars. A month later, he hit a walk-off grand slam against Francisco Rodriguez of the Mets. The Padres also saw promise from outfielders Kyle Blanks and Will Venable.
6. Jeff Moorad Buys Padres: The local major league baseball team had stagnated under owner John Moores and conditions were not going to improve under an owner who had moved out of town. His divorce made things worse and prompted the sale. Good for us fans, sucks for them, of course, since you don't want to wish that on anybody. Moorad has provided some fresh energy and a new direction that appears positive on the surface. If it translates to the field, all the better.
7. West Hills Upsets Mt. Miguel in CIF Girls Division II Basketball Final: This is why people love March Madness. The Matadors were routinely the section champions and the Wolf Pack had never been. Mt. Miguel beat them by 11 the first time they played last season. So, of course, on March 6 they go down to the final seconds at the Jenny Craig Pavilion tied at 44, and Wolf Pack junior Sherika Miller scooped up a loose ball, drove to the basket and flipped up a shot that somehow went in with 1.3 seconds remaining.
8. Chargers Stand Turns Around Season: The Chargers were 4-3 and riding a two-game winning streak, but still chasing the Broncos when they traveled to the Meadowlands to face the Giants on Nov. 8. No one at the time imagined the Chargers would be where they are now, comfortably in first place in the AFC West and aiming for the second seed in the playoffs. The reason why they're where they are now is they didn't fold when an interception return set the Giants up at the Chargers 4-yard line in the fourth quarter. After allowing pressure on QB Eli Manning all day, a Giants lineman was called for holding. The Giants only got a field goal, and the Chargers drove for the game-winning touchdown. The rest, as they say, is history.
9. Girls High School Cross-Country National Championship: It made nary a blip on the local radar last weekend, but it did make national news as Megan Goethels of Rochester, Mich. and Chelsey Sveinsson of Dallas finished the Morley Field course in identical times of 17:07. Goethals led most of the 5K race but fell behind Sveinsson late during a pouring rainstorm. The Michigan girl had a great finishing kick and pushed ahead with five meters remaining and won by mere inches.
10. SDSU Women's Basketball Wins in NCAA Tournament: Beth Burns' Aztecs hosted the first two rounds of the women's NCAA Tournament and used the home court advantage to defeat DePaul 76-70, with unstoppable G Jene Morris tying her career high with 35 points. The home court advantage was the real deal, the victory ran the Aztecs home record to 15-0 that season before they fell to Stanford two nights later.
Other cool things: Eastlake High School's football team making Qualcomm Stadium for the first time and defeating Vista for it's first CIF crown despite playing most of the game without star Tony Jefferson ... Oceanside winning its sixth straight Division II title and having all the Southern Section teams above them in consideration for the state bowl lose, giving both the Pirates and Francis Parker bids ... Brady Hoke's SDSU football team nearly pulled off a miracle, coming within two quarters, or two minutes if that's how you want to look at it, of going to a bowl game. It wasn't to be, with last-minute losses to Wyoming and UNLV, but the coaching staff is recruiting much better than anyone at State in years, possibly enough to land a bowl bid next year ... SDSU's mens' soccer team hit the big time in September with a 4-2 win over sixth-ranked old nemesis UC Santa Barbara, and also scored big wins over Stanford and Cal (twice). They also twice tied UCLA, once when the Bruins were ranked second in the nation.
I'm sure I forgot something, or things. Feel free to comment and jog my memory!
1. Chula Vista Park View Little League Wins World Series: The Bombers were on the verge of elimination at some point every step of the way, but when the dust cleared, they were the best group of 11, 12 and 13-year-old baseball players on the planet. The South Bay was energized, and the rest of San Diego County captivated, by their spirited play. Their impact was made obvious by the reception the players received upon their return, when they were accorded rock star status for more than a week. It was the first local team to win a Little League championship since the 1961 El Cajon-La Mesa Little League. Aside from indoor soccer, it was the first national or world championship for a local team since the 1973 SDSU mens' volleyball squad.
2. San Diego State men's basketball vs. Saint Mary's: One of the three or four greatest nights in the history of Aztecs athletics in terms of what was at stake, the players ability to come through in the clutch and fan participation. If you weren't thereon March 25, you really, really missed something special. Can't forget Billy White's dunk or Patty Mills being forced to dribble the ball off his leg.
3. San Diego Chargers beat Indianapolis in the playoffs: Darren Sproles ran wild over the Colts in a 23-17 OT win at Qualcomm Stadium on Jan 12. The running back gained 328 total yards, including 178 on kick returns and 105 rushing. Key play was a late sack of Indy QB Peyton Manning near his own goal line, setting up a short punt that the Bolts converted to a game-tying field goal with 31 seconds left.
4. Stephen Strasburg: I'm not sure how you pick just one single event, but here goes. On Mar. 27, he took the mound in Fort Worth with temperatures in the mid-40s and a stiff breeze, facing Number 16 TCU. He proceeded to pitch 8 innings, allow just 2 runs and strike out 14 Horned Frogs. He allowed just 3 hits and 1 walk as the Aztecs raced to an 11-5 victory. It was a night that called for toughness, and he had it. No complaints about the no-hitter against Air Force, being drafted first or the $140,000 donation, either.
5. Everth Cabrera's Fireworks: Independence Day was perhaps the coming out party for the Padres youth. In a televised game that overshadowed that weekend's return of the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez from a 50-day drug suspension, Cabrera was spectacular defensively at shortstop and drove in three runs during a 7-4 win by the Friars. A month later, he hit a walk-off grand slam against Francisco Rodriguez of the Mets. The Padres also saw promise from outfielders Kyle Blanks and Will Venable.
6. Jeff Moorad Buys Padres: The local major league baseball team had stagnated under owner John Moores and conditions were not going to improve under an owner who had moved out of town. His divorce made things worse and prompted the sale. Good for us fans, sucks for them, of course, since you don't want to wish that on anybody. Moorad has provided some fresh energy and a new direction that appears positive on the surface. If it translates to the field, all the better.
7. West Hills Upsets Mt. Miguel in CIF Girls Division II Basketball Final: This is why people love March Madness. The Matadors were routinely the section champions and the Wolf Pack had never been. Mt. Miguel beat them by 11 the first time they played last season. So, of course, on March 6 they go down to the final seconds at the Jenny Craig Pavilion tied at 44, and Wolf Pack junior Sherika Miller scooped up a loose ball, drove to the basket and flipped up a shot that somehow went in with 1.3 seconds remaining.
8. Chargers Stand Turns Around Season: The Chargers were 4-3 and riding a two-game winning streak, but still chasing the Broncos when they traveled to the Meadowlands to face the Giants on Nov. 8. No one at the time imagined the Chargers would be where they are now, comfortably in first place in the AFC West and aiming for the second seed in the playoffs. The reason why they're where they are now is they didn't fold when an interception return set the Giants up at the Chargers 4-yard line in the fourth quarter. After allowing pressure on QB Eli Manning all day, a Giants lineman was called for holding. The Giants only got a field goal, and the Chargers drove for the game-winning touchdown. The rest, as they say, is history.
9. Girls High School Cross-Country National Championship: It made nary a blip on the local radar last weekend, but it did make national news as Megan Goethels of Rochester, Mich. and Chelsey Sveinsson of Dallas finished the Morley Field course in identical times of 17:07. Goethals led most of the 5K race but fell behind Sveinsson late during a pouring rainstorm. The Michigan girl had a great finishing kick and pushed ahead with five meters remaining and won by mere inches.
10. SDSU Women's Basketball Wins in NCAA Tournament: Beth Burns' Aztecs hosted the first two rounds of the women's NCAA Tournament and used the home court advantage to defeat DePaul 76-70, with unstoppable G Jene Morris tying her career high with 35 points. The home court advantage was the real deal, the victory ran the Aztecs home record to 15-0 that season before they fell to Stanford two nights later.
Other cool things: Eastlake High School's football team making Qualcomm Stadium for the first time and defeating Vista for it's first CIF crown despite playing most of the game without star Tony Jefferson ... Oceanside winning its sixth straight Division II title and having all the Southern Section teams above them in consideration for the state bowl lose, giving both the Pirates and Francis Parker bids ... Brady Hoke's SDSU football team nearly pulled off a miracle, coming within two quarters, or two minutes if that's how you want to look at it, of going to a bowl game. It wasn't to be, with last-minute losses to Wyoming and UNLV, but the coaching staff is recruiting much better than anyone at State in years, possibly enough to land a bowl bid next year ... SDSU's mens' soccer team hit the big time in September with a 4-2 win over sixth-ranked old nemesis UC Santa Barbara, and also scored big wins over Stanford and Cal (twice). They also twice tied UCLA, once when the Bruins were ranked second in the nation.
I'm sure I forgot something, or things. Feel free to comment and jog my memory!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Does Chargers Super Bowl Equal Stadium? Plus SDSU Hoops
Are we in 1998 again?
In that glorious year, the Padres pitched their way into the World Series and fans showed their appreciation by voting to approve a complicated deal between the franchise and city to build Petco Park.
Now, 11 years later, we find ourselves with the Chargers in need of a new stadium and might have a chance to energize the electorate the same way their baseball brethren did. The Bolts 20-17 victory over the Cowboys in Dallas, in a game that wasn't as close as the final result, established themselves as favorites along with the undefeated Colts to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. The Cowboys were as big a challenge as the they've had in a couple of months, and they came answered.
The fear coming into Sunday was the Chargers would be exposed as pretenders, with deficient lines or poor secondary play. No one is perfect, but those units played well enough to win. The final Chargers offensive possession too more than seven minutes off the board in the fourth quarter and resulted in Nate Kaeding's clinching field goal. They did it mostly running against a pretty good defense that knew the ball would remain on the ground. It seems like earlier in the season the Bolts couldn't run the ball even if the other team dropped 11 into pass coverage.
The Chargers are now solid contenders, not pretenders. And you know their history against the Colts, whether home or in Indianapolis. If they do go to the Super Bowl, and thrill the local fans, they might have a chance to get a ballot measure passed that includes taxpayer financing of their new digs. The Chargers now say taxpayer money will be needed if they're to build downtown, which appears to be the only available spot left in the county. In normal circumstances, they would have no chance. Coming off a Super Bowl appearance, such a proposition might pass.
"Might" is they key word. The argument in favor of spending taxpayer money on a new football palace is that it keeps the team in town -- the NFL is THE premier sports league and a franchise brings San Diego a significant national presence it can't afford to lose, and that the project will renew a blighted area, bringing tax dollars into city coffers that will cover for the initial capital expenditures.
All well and good, but the economy is down and city finances are in poor shape. It's hard to justify paying for a stadium, no matter how it pencils out, if libraries are being closed.
But you know those arguments. Here's two more:
1. The downtown site is quite close to Petco Park. The redevelopment of the East Village has essentially already occured, so any redevelopment or economic benefits of a new stadium will run into the law of diminishing returns.
2. Petco Park and the surrounding redevelopment might be fine for city coffers, developers and real estate agents. It's a lovely thing if you have a lot of extra cash immune to the economic downturn and can pay for $35 game tickets, $20 parking and expensive junk food. Otherwise, while Petco has been a pretty place to watch the Padres, it's been an economic drain on the average San Diego resident. How Average Joe feels about doing the same thing regarding the Chargers is questionable. The one escape valve the Bolts have is that the NFL has already priced itself out of reach of most common men. But it is common men who will be casting votes some day to fund a new stadium.
Yeah, it might be 1998 again, but the results of any resulting election might be different. If we can make the results of the Super Bowl different from the Padres WS experience, most of us would take it.
---
In the history of San Diego State athletics, Arizona has often been a marker. In football back in the 1970's glory days, the Aztecs struggled to beat good Wildcats teams in frequent meetings until they broke through in 1977 and 1979, the two best seasons in that decade.
Saturday, the basketball team finally broke through after years of frustration by crushing the Wildcats 63-46. SDSU won comfortably even though they didn't appear to play their best in front of a sellout crowd at Viejas Arena. There were a lot of sloppy turnovers and plenty of missed shots from close to the basket. The Aztecs could have won by 30. But no matter, the Cats never came close to making it a game. This isn't vintage Lute Olson Arizona -- they're now 4-5 with a very young team -- but they were the most athletic team on the schedule so far this year. That the Aztecs matched that athleticism, and raised them by a lot, is heartening for the rest of the season. Only Arizona State, next Saturday in Tempe, and UNLV can offer similar threats athletically.
The Aztecs are now 8-2. I'll make a dramatic prediction. They won't lose more than three games the rest of the regular season. They'll fall to either Arizona State or Drake, one of the UNLV games and one of the BYU games. No one else will touch them. Their top substitutes would start on most Mountain West teams. That gives them a final regular-season record of 25-5. That looks right, at least for now.
In that glorious year, the Padres pitched their way into the World Series and fans showed their appreciation by voting to approve a complicated deal between the franchise and city to build Petco Park.
Now, 11 years later, we find ourselves with the Chargers in need of a new stadium and might have a chance to energize the electorate the same way their baseball brethren did. The Bolts 20-17 victory over the Cowboys in Dallas, in a game that wasn't as close as the final result, established themselves as favorites along with the undefeated Colts to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. The Cowboys were as big a challenge as the they've had in a couple of months, and they came answered.
The fear coming into Sunday was the Chargers would be exposed as pretenders, with deficient lines or poor secondary play. No one is perfect, but those units played well enough to win. The final Chargers offensive possession too more than seven minutes off the board in the fourth quarter and resulted in Nate Kaeding's clinching field goal. They did it mostly running against a pretty good defense that knew the ball would remain on the ground. It seems like earlier in the season the Bolts couldn't run the ball even if the other team dropped 11 into pass coverage.
The Chargers are now solid contenders, not pretenders. And you know their history against the Colts, whether home or in Indianapolis. If they do go to the Super Bowl, and thrill the local fans, they might have a chance to get a ballot measure passed that includes taxpayer financing of their new digs. The Chargers now say taxpayer money will be needed if they're to build downtown, which appears to be the only available spot left in the county. In normal circumstances, they would have no chance. Coming off a Super Bowl appearance, such a proposition might pass.
"Might" is they key word. The argument in favor of spending taxpayer money on a new football palace is that it keeps the team in town -- the NFL is THE premier sports league and a franchise brings San Diego a significant national presence it can't afford to lose, and that the project will renew a blighted area, bringing tax dollars into city coffers that will cover for the initial capital expenditures.
All well and good, but the economy is down and city finances are in poor shape. It's hard to justify paying for a stadium, no matter how it pencils out, if libraries are being closed.
But you know those arguments. Here's two more:
1. The downtown site is quite close to Petco Park. The redevelopment of the East Village has essentially already occured, so any redevelopment or economic benefits of a new stadium will run into the law of diminishing returns.
2. Petco Park and the surrounding redevelopment might be fine for city coffers, developers and real estate agents. It's a lovely thing if you have a lot of extra cash immune to the economic downturn and can pay for $35 game tickets, $20 parking and expensive junk food. Otherwise, while Petco has been a pretty place to watch the Padres, it's been an economic drain on the average San Diego resident. How Average Joe feels about doing the same thing regarding the Chargers is questionable. The one escape valve the Bolts have is that the NFL has already priced itself out of reach of most common men. But it is common men who will be casting votes some day to fund a new stadium.
Yeah, it might be 1998 again, but the results of any resulting election might be different. If we can make the results of the Super Bowl different from the Padres WS experience, most of us would take it.
---
In the history of San Diego State athletics, Arizona has often been a marker. In football back in the 1970's glory days, the Aztecs struggled to beat good Wildcats teams in frequent meetings until they broke through in 1977 and 1979, the two best seasons in that decade.
Saturday, the basketball team finally broke through after years of frustration by crushing the Wildcats 63-46. SDSU won comfortably even though they didn't appear to play their best in front of a sellout crowd at Viejas Arena. There were a lot of sloppy turnovers and plenty of missed shots from close to the basket. The Aztecs could have won by 30. But no matter, the Cats never came close to making it a game. This isn't vintage Lute Olson Arizona -- they're now 4-5 with a very young team -- but they were the most athletic team on the schedule so far this year. That the Aztecs matched that athleticism, and raised them by a lot, is heartening for the rest of the season. Only Arizona State, next Saturday in Tempe, and UNLV can offer similar threats athletically.
The Aztecs are now 8-2. I'll make a dramatic prediction. They won't lose more than three games the rest of the regular season. They'll fall to either Arizona State or Drake, one of the UNLV games and one of the BYU games. No one else will touch them. Their top substitutes would start on most Mountain West teams. That gives them a final regular-season record of 25-5. That looks right, at least for now.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Super Chargers, Hoops
It is questionable whether Chargers-Cowboys on Sunday is a preview of the Super Bowl, but it is certainly the toughest test for the Bolts since they played Pittsburgh back in the first week of October.
Dallas is tied for the NFC East lead with Philadelphia at 8-4, having won six of their past eight games. Tony Romo is the 10th ranked quarterback in the NFL and none of those above him are slouches. Miles Austin is a ridiculous deep threat with an average of 17.8 yards on his 52 catches, nine of which went for scores. The biggest worry on any team facing the Chargers is the tight end, and Jason Whitten is second in the league at the position with 73 catches. The defense is fifth in points allowed.
What's more, the Cowboys really HAVE to win this game. They play the Eagles under the giant video board on the last weekend of the regular season. If it's to crown a division champ, they have to keep pace and the Eagles have two winnable home games before then. The 'boys have the Chargers and, gasp, New Orleans.
No doubt, we're going to find out how the Chargers stack up against a good team with a lot of incentive. It's been a while.
---
Remember the old NBA free throw rule of "3 To Make 2?" You had three chances at the line to make two shots. I don't watch pro basketball. Do they still do that? I don't think so.
Anyway, that's the position the San Diego State men's basketball team finds itself in as the weekend approaches. The next three games are huge, and the Aztecs have to find a way to at least win two of them to gain NCAA selection committee respectability in March, or the nice 7-2 start to the season won't mean much.
All most people have seen about SDSU hoops this year is the opening night setback at Saint Mary's and that the women got ranked for the first time in a decade and blew a gasket at a Thanksgiving tournament. Despite what's happened since for the males, perception won't change until they win some big non-conference games.
So here we go. Saturday at Viejas Arena against Arizona, the following Saturday at Arizona State and three nights later at Drake -- part of the first Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge. The Aztecs have to win two, preferably the first two. None of the three opponents are ranked or even drawing votes in this week's AP poll, so they're beatable. It's just that UofA and ASU have the big names that tournament selectors recognize in a hurry. The Wildcats at 4-4 just ended a three-game losing streak to ranked teams -- including UNLV of the MWC -- and haven't beaten any good teams. Jamelle Horne of San Diego High is their leading rebounder with more than 8 per game. The Sun Devils are 6-3 and have lost two straight -- to Baylor, a legit team as we saw last March, and at BYU, where it's tough to win. It's too early to size up the Bulldogs.
The Aztecs can win all three. They better take at least two, or we fans will be rooting for a return to Madison Square Garden again next March.
---
By the way, the possible transfer of UCLA C Drew Gordon to SDSU reported Thursday in the newspaper is old news, as is the potential move of football RB Ryan Bass here from Arizona State, reported a few days ago. The Gordon thing has been known for nearly a week and it is still very iffy as there's interest among some high-profile schools. The Bass transfer has been out there for about two weeks, maybe more. It shows how the new media is beating old journalism pretty badly now, and neither of these were wild Internet rumors.
---
With Brady Hoke telling the San Diego Union-Tribune that his SDSU football team was "woefully weak" physically during the 2009 season, it's interesting to see him pulling in some commitments from JC offensive linemen. Now if he can just get a few big guys to man the defensive front.
---
I fully understand 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff being the top man on the Padres trading block during the off-season. He's made himself a great fielder and he has occasional pop in his bat. He also makes himself attractive to other teams with a relative low salary, and the Padres have to decide between him and Chase Headley before the 2010 campaign begins. Makes sense. I just hope they get some quality for him.
What I can't buy is the Padres being willing to part with P Kevin Correia, who finally made himself into a quality starter last season. Sure, he might go to arbitration, but the Grossmont High product is never going to make enough money to break even the Friars' bank.
---
One of the better days on the local sports calendar is the high school football championships quadruple-header at Qualcomm Stadium Friday night. After quite a few years of shuffling the schedule based on the Chargers needs, it's nice to have the event on a Friday where it belongs.
Also, congratulations to Eastlake High School and coach John McFadden for finally reaching The Q. The Titans had really good teams when I was doing SanDiegoSportsTown.com and nothing changed afterward, so it's nice to see them in the stadium.
Good luck to all the teams.
Dallas is tied for the NFC East lead with Philadelphia at 8-4, having won six of their past eight games. Tony Romo is the 10th ranked quarterback in the NFL and none of those above him are slouches. Miles Austin is a ridiculous deep threat with an average of 17.8 yards on his 52 catches, nine of which went for scores. The biggest worry on any team facing the Chargers is the tight end, and Jason Whitten is second in the league at the position with 73 catches. The defense is fifth in points allowed.
What's more, the Cowboys really HAVE to win this game. They play the Eagles under the giant video board on the last weekend of the regular season. If it's to crown a division champ, they have to keep pace and the Eagles have two winnable home games before then. The 'boys have the Chargers and, gasp, New Orleans.
No doubt, we're going to find out how the Chargers stack up against a good team with a lot of incentive. It's been a while.
---
Remember the old NBA free throw rule of "3 To Make 2?" You had three chances at the line to make two shots. I don't watch pro basketball. Do they still do that? I don't think so.
Anyway, that's the position the San Diego State men's basketball team finds itself in as the weekend approaches. The next three games are huge, and the Aztecs have to find a way to at least win two of them to gain NCAA selection committee respectability in March, or the nice 7-2 start to the season won't mean much.
All most people have seen about SDSU hoops this year is the opening night setback at Saint Mary's and that the women got ranked for the first time in a decade and blew a gasket at a Thanksgiving tournament. Despite what's happened since for the males, perception won't change until they win some big non-conference games.
So here we go. Saturday at Viejas Arena against Arizona, the following Saturday at Arizona State and three nights later at Drake -- part of the first Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge. The Aztecs have to win two, preferably the first two. None of the three opponents are ranked or even drawing votes in this week's AP poll, so they're beatable. It's just that UofA and ASU have the big names that tournament selectors recognize in a hurry. The Wildcats at 4-4 just ended a three-game losing streak to ranked teams -- including UNLV of the MWC -- and haven't beaten any good teams. Jamelle Horne of San Diego High is their leading rebounder with more than 8 per game. The Sun Devils are 6-3 and have lost two straight -- to Baylor, a legit team as we saw last March, and at BYU, where it's tough to win. It's too early to size up the Bulldogs.
The Aztecs can win all three. They better take at least two, or we fans will be rooting for a return to Madison Square Garden again next March.
---
By the way, the possible transfer of UCLA C Drew Gordon to SDSU reported Thursday in the newspaper is old news, as is the potential move of football RB Ryan Bass here from Arizona State, reported a few days ago. The Gordon thing has been known for nearly a week and it is still very iffy as there's interest among some high-profile schools. The Bass transfer has been out there for about two weeks, maybe more. It shows how the new media is beating old journalism pretty badly now, and neither of these were wild Internet rumors.
---
With Brady Hoke telling the San Diego Union-Tribune that his SDSU football team was "woefully weak" physically during the 2009 season, it's interesting to see him pulling in some commitments from JC offensive linemen. Now if he can just get a few big guys to man the defensive front.
---
I fully understand 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff being the top man on the Padres trading block during the off-season. He's made himself a great fielder and he has occasional pop in his bat. He also makes himself attractive to other teams with a relative low salary, and the Padres have to decide between him and Chase Headley before the 2010 campaign begins. Makes sense. I just hope they get some quality for him.
What I can't buy is the Padres being willing to part with P Kevin Correia, who finally made himself into a quality starter last season. Sure, he might go to arbitration, but the Grossmont High product is never going to make enough money to break even the Friars' bank.
---
One of the better days on the local sports calendar is the high school football championships quadruple-header at Qualcomm Stadium Friday night. After quite a few years of shuffling the schedule based on the Chargers needs, it's nice to have the event on a Friday where it belongs.
Also, congratulations to Eastlake High School and coach John McFadden for finally reaching The Q. The Titans had really good teams when I was doing SanDiegoSportsTown.com and nothing changed afterward, so it's nice to see them in the stadium.
Good luck to all the teams.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Holiday, Poinsettia Matchups
One lesson that can be taken from this college football season is you can't base your bowl projections on logic.
The Holiday Bowl is the case in point. I simply don't understand why either Nebraska or Arizona are spending part of their December in San Diego. The Cornhuskers won the Big 12 North, played a great game before falling to Texas by a point in the conference championship game and have a huge fan base that travels and must be excited by the revitalization of the program. So the Cotton Bowl, which picks Big 12 teams before the Holiday, takes Oklahoma State. Huh? The Cowboys had a nice start to the season by defeating Georgia but had some injuries, lost star WR Dez Bryant over eligibility rules and just didn't excite anyone during the rest of the campaign like they did last year.
Nebraska is where the fun is in the Big 12 right now outside Austin. The Holiday Bowl, which always seems to live right, is getting a huge gift with the Cornhuskers.
The curiosity about Arizona is with the Holiday officials themselves. The Wildcats strike me as being the least marketable team of those they could take, the others being Stanford and Oregon State. As mentioned last week, the Cardinal has a Heisman candidate in RB Toby Gerhart and a local favorite in coach Jim Harbaugh. Oregon State has its own coach who is popular here in town, Mike Riley, and is led by a former Carlsbad HS quarterback.
The problem is I've never heard of OSU having a reputation of traveling well and Stanford fans absolutely don't. The Farm has a ton of alumni in Southern California, however. Arizona? Well, you don't need to say anything to a 'zonie to get them to pack their bags other than the words "San" and "Diego," in that order. They're close and they'll come. Look for a lot of slow and swerving drivers on I-8 in the week after Christmas.
All that said, Arizona as a football team does not lack for attractiveness. They beat the Beavers and the Cardinals. There's a worthy tiebreaker, but remember we're not going on logic here, right? Even better, those two games, along with their loss to Oregon, might have been the three most exciting in the Pac-10 all year. Throw out routs of weak Washington State and UCLA, the average margin of victory or loss in conference was a little over four points. Sophomore Nick Foles looks like an excellent quarterback.
Logical choices? No. Potential for a great game with an offense vs. defense matchup? Oh, yes. The Holiday Bowl lives right for another year.
The Poinsettia teams, Cal and Utah, were pretty much locked in by the order of finish in the Pac-10 and Mountain West, and the desires of other bowls. With Cal RB Jahvid Best likely out of the game because of a concussion, this one has the looks of being kind of ugly, just a year after being one of the best post-season matches of all with TCU's 17-16 win over Boise State.
So the game chosen on pure logic gets a yucky matchup. The game with selections that confuse me has one of the better pairings of the bowl season. Funny how it works.
---
My final Heisman ballot, if I had a vote:
1. Colt McCoy, Texas QB
2. Toby Gerhart, Stanford RB
3. Andy Dalton, TCU QB
4. Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska DT
5. Mark Ingram, Alabama RB
The media is so infatuated with the Crimson Tide this season that I bet Ingram wins the award, but Texas will handle 'bama by a couple TDs in the BCS championship.
The Holiday Bowl is the case in point. I simply don't understand why either Nebraska or Arizona are spending part of their December in San Diego. The Cornhuskers won the Big 12 North, played a great game before falling to Texas by a point in the conference championship game and have a huge fan base that travels and must be excited by the revitalization of the program. So the Cotton Bowl, which picks Big 12 teams before the Holiday, takes Oklahoma State. Huh? The Cowboys had a nice start to the season by defeating Georgia but had some injuries, lost star WR Dez Bryant over eligibility rules and just didn't excite anyone during the rest of the campaign like they did last year.
Nebraska is where the fun is in the Big 12 right now outside Austin. The Holiday Bowl, which always seems to live right, is getting a huge gift with the Cornhuskers.
The curiosity about Arizona is with the Holiday officials themselves. The Wildcats strike me as being the least marketable team of those they could take, the others being Stanford and Oregon State. As mentioned last week, the Cardinal has a Heisman candidate in RB Toby Gerhart and a local favorite in coach Jim Harbaugh. Oregon State has its own coach who is popular here in town, Mike Riley, and is led by a former Carlsbad HS quarterback.
The problem is I've never heard of OSU having a reputation of traveling well and Stanford fans absolutely don't. The Farm has a ton of alumni in Southern California, however. Arizona? Well, you don't need to say anything to a 'zonie to get them to pack their bags other than the words "San" and "Diego," in that order. They're close and they'll come. Look for a lot of slow and swerving drivers on I-8 in the week after Christmas.
All that said, Arizona as a football team does not lack for attractiveness. They beat the Beavers and the Cardinals. There's a worthy tiebreaker, but remember we're not going on logic here, right? Even better, those two games, along with their loss to Oregon, might have been the three most exciting in the Pac-10 all year. Throw out routs of weak Washington State and UCLA, the average margin of victory or loss in conference was a little over four points. Sophomore Nick Foles looks like an excellent quarterback.
Logical choices? No. Potential for a great game with an offense vs. defense matchup? Oh, yes. The Holiday Bowl lives right for another year.
The Poinsettia teams, Cal and Utah, were pretty much locked in by the order of finish in the Pac-10 and Mountain West, and the desires of other bowls. With Cal RB Jahvid Best likely out of the game because of a concussion, this one has the looks of being kind of ugly, just a year after being one of the best post-season matches of all with TCU's 17-16 win over Boise State.
So the game chosen on pure logic gets a yucky matchup. The game with selections that confuse me has one of the better pairings of the bowl season. Funny how it works.
---
My final Heisman ballot, if I had a vote:
1. Colt McCoy, Texas QB
2. Toby Gerhart, Stanford RB
3. Andy Dalton, TCU QB
4. Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska DT
5. Mark Ingram, Alabama RB
The media is so infatuated with the Crimson Tide this season that I bet Ingram wins the award, but Texas will handle 'bama by a couple TDs in the BCS championship.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
SDSU-USD Hoops, Enberg, Other Stuff
My reaction upon watching Wednesday night's "City Championship" college basketball game won by San Diego State 69-62 in overtime at USD, was that neither team is going too this season as presently constituted, and that both probably sat in their post-game locker rooms wondering why they didn't win by double-digits.
The Aztecs were unable to capitalize on strong starts to each half and eventually fell behind in both periods. They can't shoot consistently from the outside to bust zone defenses and have difficulty with patient, experienced squads that play as a team. They lost to two such teams, St. Mary's and Pacific on the road, and struggled at USD. They are fortunate that the road game at Air Force doesn't come until the season finale, when maybe they will have pulled things together.
Observations after seven games:
-- DJ Gay is becoming a quality point guard. He took his matchup with Toreros G Brandon Johnson personally, it appeared, and he became a better player for it. If he can bottle that feeling, the Aztecs will be a tough team to beat.
-- Just because Tyrone Shelley came with a reputation as a big scorer, it doesn't mean he's a pure 3-point shooter, and he isn't. Coach Steve Fisher needs to find a way to get the Crawford/Christian alum the rock at mid-range.
-- You had to assume it would take C Brian Carlwell some time to get back in the flow after being hurt at Illinois and then sitting out a transfer year. Not this long, though. You have to think anything they get out of the big man this season will be gravy.
-- The best SDSU hoopster right now is G Chase Tapley. The freshman is somewhat hampered by a bad hamstring, but he is strong and has an eye for the basket on a team short on shooters. He might not be the best player at some other point, he's a freshman after-all, but he is right now.
Judging USD at this point is a little more difficult. They played SDSU very hard, and beat Stanford, Oklahoma and Houston. But they were crushed by Washington State in the Great Alaska Shootout final and probably should have defeated the Aztecs. Yet, they're just 4-3.
My thinking right now is they're nearly maximizing limited resources. That's not such a bad thing, because if the Toreros can handle New Mexico at the Phat Pharm next week, then they'll have a bunch of quality wins on the ledger -- assuming a decent conference record. It probably won't mean the NCAAs, but it could be enough for an NIT bid.
-- Johnson is still a great player despite only being 80 percent following last season's Achilles tear. You can tell he was gassed late Wednesday night after chasing Gay and trying to lose him all game. Can you imagine that guy healthy and at the point for the Aztecs. You'd have a Sweet 16 team, easy.
-- There are going to be games, like against SDSU, when they just won't have the athletes to match up. St. Mary's, Portland and Gonzaga will all be tough in the West Coast Conference. They do look good enough to be the best of the rest and, if they can steal one or two at home against the big guys, who knows?
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Dick Enberg doing about 120 Padres games on television? Awesome! I hope things go this well under Jeff Moorad on the baseball field, and it might if this is a hint at how he plans to run his operations. Mark Neely, bless his heart, might be the poster child for the way John Moores ran the franchise the last couple years. Neely grew on me late in the season, but he is what he's about to become, a quality substitute ... I still can't believe the Cotton Bowl would pass on a Nebraska team playing for the Big 12 championship, but most news sources say the Dallas-based bowl will take Oklahoma State and Mississippi. That's the Holiday Bowl's gain ... They'll have their choice of Pac-10 teams tied for second at 6-3 now that Oregon beat Oregon State for the conference crown. The choices will be the Beavers, Stanford and the winner between USC and Arizona, and even Cal if they beat Washington in Seattle. I think you can safely eliminate Arizona and Cal no matter what happens. The Beavers are a legitimate pick with popular former Chargers coach Mike Riley and local prep QB Sean Canfield. Stanford has a Heisman finalist in RB Toby Gerhart. USC is a dream entrant. None have played the Holiday. Tough call ... Aztec football aside, was there anything more disappointing than the SDSU women's basketball team tanking at the Paradise Jam, going 0-3 vs. Notre Dame, Oklahoma and South Carolina? Losing to the number five Irish was one thing, but getting crushed by the Sooners and falling to the Gamecocks isn't acceptable for a team that was talking about some March Madness wins.
The Aztecs were unable to capitalize on strong starts to each half and eventually fell behind in both periods. They can't shoot consistently from the outside to bust zone defenses and have difficulty with patient, experienced squads that play as a team. They lost to two such teams, St. Mary's and Pacific on the road, and struggled at USD. They are fortunate that the road game at Air Force doesn't come until the season finale, when maybe they will have pulled things together.
Observations after seven games:
-- DJ Gay is becoming a quality point guard. He took his matchup with Toreros G Brandon Johnson personally, it appeared, and he became a better player for it. If he can bottle that feeling, the Aztecs will be a tough team to beat.
-- Just because Tyrone Shelley came with a reputation as a big scorer, it doesn't mean he's a pure 3-point shooter, and he isn't. Coach Steve Fisher needs to find a way to get the Crawford/Christian alum the rock at mid-range.
-- You had to assume it would take C Brian Carlwell some time to get back in the flow after being hurt at Illinois and then sitting out a transfer year. Not this long, though. You have to think anything they get out of the big man this season will be gravy.
-- The best SDSU hoopster right now is G Chase Tapley. The freshman is somewhat hampered by a bad hamstring, but he is strong and has an eye for the basket on a team short on shooters. He might not be the best player at some other point, he's a freshman after-all, but he is right now.
Judging USD at this point is a little more difficult. They played SDSU very hard, and beat Stanford, Oklahoma and Houston. But they were crushed by Washington State in the Great Alaska Shootout final and probably should have defeated the Aztecs. Yet, they're just 4-3.
My thinking right now is they're nearly maximizing limited resources. That's not such a bad thing, because if the Toreros can handle New Mexico at the Phat Pharm next week, then they'll have a bunch of quality wins on the ledger -- assuming a decent conference record. It probably won't mean the NCAAs, but it could be enough for an NIT bid.
-- Johnson is still a great player despite only being 80 percent following last season's Achilles tear. You can tell he was gassed late Wednesday night after chasing Gay and trying to lose him all game. Can you imagine that guy healthy and at the point for the Aztecs. You'd have a Sweet 16 team, easy.
-- There are going to be games, like against SDSU, when they just won't have the athletes to match up. St. Mary's, Portland and Gonzaga will all be tough in the West Coast Conference. They do look good enough to be the best of the rest and, if they can steal one or two at home against the big guys, who knows?
---
Dick Enberg doing about 120 Padres games on television? Awesome! I hope things go this well under Jeff Moorad on the baseball field, and it might if this is a hint at how he plans to run his operations. Mark Neely, bless his heart, might be the poster child for the way John Moores ran the franchise the last couple years. Neely grew on me late in the season, but he is what he's about to become, a quality substitute ... I still can't believe the Cotton Bowl would pass on a Nebraska team playing for the Big 12 championship, but most news sources say the Dallas-based bowl will take Oklahoma State and Mississippi. That's the Holiday Bowl's gain ... They'll have their choice of Pac-10 teams tied for second at 6-3 now that Oregon beat Oregon State for the conference crown. The choices will be the Beavers, Stanford and the winner between USC and Arizona, and even Cal if they beat Washington in Seattle. I think you can safely eliminate Arizona and Cal no matter what happens. The Beavers are a legitimate pick with popular former Chargers coach Mike Riley and local prep QB Sean Canfield. Stanford has a Heisman finalist in RB Toby Gerhart. USC is a dream entrant. None have played the Holiday. Tough call ... Aztec football aside, was there anything more disappointing than the SDSU women's basketball team tanking at the Paradise Jam, going 0-3 vs. Notre Dame, Oklahoma and South Carolina? Losing to the number five Irish was one thing, but getting crushed by the Sooners and falling to the Gamecocks isn't acceptable for a team that was talking about some March Madness wins.
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