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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.