As this college basketball season was about to start, I mentioned my fondness for Brad Holland and my sadness that the University of San Diego had let him go as head basketball coach. However, I also stated that the overall situation at Alcala Park had come to an end, that the Toreros had ceased to become a viable entertainment option in a city where there's a lot to do.
With that as background, where USD sits near the end of its first season under former Gonzaga assistant Bill Grier is remarkable. The Toreros finished third in the West Coast Conference and beat Saint Mary's at home and embarrassed Kentucky at Rupp Arena. While there's almost no way they'll beat Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament championship game if they happen to get past the Gaels in the semis, a solid performance could be a steppingstone to the NIT, a tourney that has historically shut them out.
And to think that Grier has accomplished this with essentially two quality players, freshman F Rob Jones and junior G Brandon Johnson. Junior F Gyno Pomare has been wildly inconsistent, and his selection as first team All-WCC is a testament to what he was capable of and the overall weakness of the league, which stinks (and Sunday night's performance is what drives me crazy about him, you can see how good he can be in big situations). Freshman G Trumaine Johnson has developed in the second half of the season, and sophomore G De'Jon Jackson has come up big recently.
While over-shadowed by San Diego State, it's arguable that the Toreros have had a more successful season than the Aztecs. SDSU came in fourth in what was a slightly down year in the Mountain West Conference, failed to beat Saint Mary's on a neutral floor and dismissed or suspended key players under mysterious circumstances. While SDSU has, as usual in athletics, failed to meet expectations, USD has greatly exceeded them.
If this season is an indication of things to come under Grier, then the program is in good hands.
---
Steve Fisher's Aztecs have a chance to redeem themselves in the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas. A real chance, since the seedings set up nicely for them. They first play Air Force on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. and while the Falcons just beat SDSU in Colorado Springs, if the Aztecs had just hit just a couple more shots or free throws, the outcome would have been different. A semifinal match then looms with top-seed BYU, a team that SDSU should have swept in the regular season and can't match the Aztecs' athleticism. That gets them to the title game, probably against host UNLV or New Mexico.
Just get to Saturday and take your best shot, you never know.
And let's stop crying about UNLV's home floor advantage. Vegas is where everyone wants to go.
---
While I certainly have no ill-will for Padres CF Jim Edmonds, his leg injury is a blessing in disguise. If you hear someone mention that his signing was a good one, it'll be the first time. Heck, I'd take him as a role player. Regular center fielder, no way.
His loss to injury will open up the position for more realistic options and probably forces the brass to install Chase Headley as the starter in left. That's good. You do that while still getting looks at Scott Hairston and Jody Gerut, who hit 22 homers for Cleveland in 2003. Plus intriguing youngsters Will Venable and Callix Crabbe, who is hitting .375 and is showing an ability to draw walks.
General Manager Kevin Towers is also forced to take a fresh look at the trade market.
There's no downside that I've come up with yet for the Padres or fans. Only Edmonds.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Monday, March 03, 2008
Front-running Fans Not Coming to Cox
Win and they will come. No idea is repeated more regarding San Diego sports fans. They'll support a winner, but that's all.
Well, then, will someone please explain to me how Cox Arena last Saturday night was half-empty in the final regular-season home men's basketball game of the year? When the Aztecs are about to finish their most successful three-year stretch in their Division 1 history? When the team is close to completing its third straight 20-win season? When it's becoming apparent that the sky could be the limit for a young nucleus returning next year?
Now the opponent, Colorado State, winless so far in conference play, was no attraction and the home team made short work of the Rams. In a rout with many big plays by the locals, the loudest cheers of the evening were reserved for departing seniors Matt Thomas and Chris Lamb (a junior athletically by graduating in May). Through most of the game, there was no energy in the stands of Cox Arena. You could practically hear a pin drop.
In short, this winner is not being supported. The supposed front-running San Diego sports fans have not appeared in Cox Arena wearing red and black.
So what's wrong? There are a couple reasons within the program why this team has not caught on with fans at-large (as opposed to those few hardcore Aztec supporters). First, coach Steve Fisher's bunch blew three chances to beat non-conference opponents that would have given them credibility. All three games were winnable. The loss of Kyle Spain to suspension took away a solid team leader, and his absence was notable in three subsequent conference losses. The 8 pm starts forced on them by television prevent fans with jobs or children from attending during the week and whetting appetites for future contests. And the television coverage with the mtn and CSTV does more to hide the program than expose it.
Still and all, SDSU is 19-10 and 9-6 in the strong Mountain West Conference and, with a win at Air Force this upcoming weekend, will finish at or above its predicted fourth-place finish in the league, and all but clinch a berth in the NIT. Of course, a bigger dance card awaits if they can manage to win three straight games in the week that follows.
So there's your winner. San Diego sports fans have not responded and those who have aren't terribly excited.
I have always contended that San Diego sports fans have demanded a quality product, a team that is entertaining and competitive, not just a winner. Consider:
-- the Aztecs football team went just 19-15-2 with one winning season in Marshall Faulk's three years, yet fans turned out in droves and were into the game because the games were fun to watch.
-- the Padres drew some of their largest-ever crowds in the post-1998 World Series years even though the teams weren't terribly competitive.
-- the Padres moved into Petco Park and drew large crowds in its first season as people were curious about the new digs. In subsequent years, attendance declined as the team got better. The Padres won two National League West championships but didn't draw like a division-winner here normally would. The Friars were boring and the division stunk. We fans knew it.
Ultimately, I think area fans are tiring of Fisher's building process and are ready for the final product. They're not too happy that too many of the guys he's recruited haven't cut it academically or socially, often leaving the Aztecs a player short of major success. Think of where this squad would be with Jerome Habel manning the middle. But that's a "what might have been and will never be."
The Aztecs are winning, but they're falling short of having a quality product that will entertain fans. That's why Cox Arena is not as full as it should be.
Well, then, will someone please explain to me how Cox Arena last Saturday night was half-empty in the final regular-season home men's basketball game of the year? When the Aztecs are about to finish their most successful three-year stretch in their Division 1 history? When the team is close to completing its third straight 20-win season? When it's becoming apparent that the sky could be the limit for a young nucleus returning next year?
Now the opponent, Colorado State, winless so far in conference play, was no attraction and the home team made short work of the Rams. In a rout with many big plays by the locals, the loudest cheers of the evening were reserved for departing seniors Matt Thomas and Chris Lamb (a junior athletically by graduating in May). Through most of the game, there was no energy in the stands of Cox Arena. You could practically hear a pin drop.
In short, this winner is not being supported. The supposed front-running San Diego sports fans have not appeared in Cox Arena wearing red and black.
So what's wrong? There are a couple reasons within the program why this team has not caught on with fans at-large (as opposed to those few hardcore Aztec supporters). First, coach Steve Fisher's bunch blew three chances to beat non-conference opponents that would have given them credibility. All three games were winnable. The loss of Kyle Spain to suspension took away a solid team leader, and his absence was notable in three subsequent conference losses. The 8 pm starts forced on them by television prevent fans with jobs or children from attending during the week and whetting appetites for future contests. And the television coverage with the mtn and CSTV does more to hide the program than expose it.
Still and all, SDSU is 19-10 and 9-6 in the strong Mountain West Conference and, with a win at Air Force this upcoming weekend, will finish at or above its predicted fourth-place finish in the league, and all but clinch a berth in the NIT. Of course, a bigger dance card awaits if they can manage to win three straight games in the week that follows.
So there's your winner. San Diego sports fans have not responded and those who have aren't terribly excited.
I have always contended that San Diego sports fans have demanded a quality product, a team that is entertaining and competitive, not just a winner. Consider:
-- the Aztecs football team went just 19-15-2 with one winning season in Marshall Faulk's three years, yet fans turned out in droves and were into the game because the games were fun to watch.
-- the Padres drew some of their largest-ever crowds in the post-1998 World Series years even though the teams weren't terribly competitive.
-- the Padres moved into Petco Park and drew large crowds in its first season as people were curious about the new digs. In subsequent years, attendance declined as the team got better. The Padres won two National League West championships but didn't draw like a division-winner here normally would. The Friars were boring and the division stunk. We fans knew it.
Ultimately, I think area fans are tiring of Fisher's building process and are ready for the final product. They're not too happy that too many of the guys he's recruited haven't cut it academically or socially, often leaving the Aztecs a player short of major success. Think of where this squad would be with Jerome Habel manning the middle. But that's a "what might have been and will never be."
The Aztecs are winning, but they're falling short of having a quality product that will entertain fans. That's why Cox Arena is not as full as it should be.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Keep Barry Away; Disdain for Reign of Spain
With pitchers and catchers getting ready to report to Peoria, the Padres, who have no outfield to speak of, have a chance to sign perhaps the most dangerous hitter of our time, and whether they should do so is causing debate in the local world of sports.
Barry Bonds is said to want the Padres. It does not appear, though I could be wrong, that the Padres want Bonds. Nor should they.
When it comes to winning and losing in professional sports, morality exists but has limitations. The horror of bringing Barry to the East Village would quickly dissipate to curiosity. The Padres, who could expect about 90 games with three at-bats per contest from Bonds, would finally have a slugger in the lineup.
Heck, the Padres would simply have a warm body in left field, where they don't have one now. The rest of the outfield, manned by Jim Edmonds and Brian Giles, borders on pathetic. Edmonds, Giles and nothing equals the worst outfield in the majors. Some AAA outfields are probably better. The Padres own AAA outfield in Portland might be better.
So forget all you moralists who don't think the Padres should sign Barry Bonds because he's a serial steroid user and under criminal investigation. And too bad for those of you who think Bonds would be a disruptive influence in the clubhouse. Right now, there's no influence from the position he plays.
Now, here is the reason why the Padres should not sign Barry Bonds.
The Padres have carefully crafted a fine young infield of Adrian Gonzalez, Khalil Greene and Kevin Kouzmanoff. Gonzalez and Greene might be poised for huge years, and if Kouz can match his June-Sept. performance, he will have a solid 2008. Starting pitchers Jake Peavy and Chris Young are dominant and still youthful, as is Mark Prior, if he recovers. Heath Bell is one of the best young relievers in the game.
The point is not that the Padres are on a youth movement. It's that they have a relatively youthful core that is not built just for 2008, but for 2008 and beyond, for many seasons. If you plug and play Barry for a year, what does it get you? One season. Then you're back at square one.
For the Padres to return to contention -- I use the word return because unless some of those mentioned above have career years, they will not contend this year -- they need to keep building for the long term. They have Chase Headley waiting in the wings. If he has a solid spring, give him the job and the same amount of time to grow that Kouz had. I have to admit that I'm not sold on Scott Hairston as anything more than a role player. If they trade for an outfielder, they should get someone they can keep for a couple of years as part of their youthful core.
As much as I am not confident about the Friars in 2008, I like the core players and look forward to the team building upon them, especially with their own minor league products. Bringing in Barry Bonds will only slow the process.
---
The suspension of San Diego State basketball F Kyle Spain has been changed from "indefinitely" to the rest of the season, according to coach Steve Fisher, who made the announcement today. This is Spain's second suspension in three years, which likely puts him on the edge of being dropped from the Aztecs entirely. No one has yet ferreted out Spain's transgressions.
Two things come to mind:
1. Fisher doesn't fool around. He says he has few rules, but expects them to be followed. When one of those rules is broken, the coach lays down the law. He's suspended G Richie Williams twice this season and kicked two of his best players ever, Evan Burns and Jerome Habel off the team.
2. There's something missing with this team. At one point this season, I wrote that these players lacked mental toughness. At the time of the writing, I was right. They won some close games against solid opponents, and that problem appeared to be solved. But Spain never reached the greatness expected of him this year now that he was healthy. Williams not only hasn't gotten to the next level of play, he's regressed. Lorrenzo Wade has taken over leadership responsibilities and taken the offense on his shoulders, but he's not a good shooter. Kelvin Davis and DJ Gay, new arrivals who can shoot, suddenly can't. The only player who has improved over the course of the season is Ryan Amoroso, who is now the most consistently effective player on the floor.
This blog is designed to offer my observations of what's going on in the local sports world, but this one is strictly under wraps. I wish I could explain it more. Fisher has done the right thing. It will impact the team, which is now missing something tangible: it's second leading scorer.
Barry Bonds is said to want the Padres. It does not appear, though I could be wrong, that the Padres want Bonds. Nor should they.
When it comes to winning and losing in professional sports, morality exists but has limitations. The horror of bringing Barry to the East Village would quickly dissipate to curiosity. The Padres, who could expect about 90 games with three at-bats per contest from Bonds, would finally have a slugger in the lineup.
Heck, the Padres would simply have a warm body in left field, where they don't have one now. The rest of the outfield, manned by Jim Edmonds and Brian Giles, borders on pathetic. Edmonds, Giles and nothing equals the worst outfield in the majors. Some AAA outfields are probably better. The Padres own AAA outfield in Portland might be better.
So forget all you moralists who don't think the Padres should sign Barry Bonds because he's a serial steroid user and under criminal investigation. And too bad for those of you who think Bonds would be a disruptive influence in the clubhouse. Right now, there's no influence from the position he plays.
Now, here is the reason why the Padres should not sign Barry Bonds.
The Padres have carefully crafted a fine young infield of Adrian Gonzalez, Khalil Greene and Kevin Kouzmanoff. Gonzalez and Greene might be poised for huge years, and if Kouz can match his June-Sept. performance, he will have a solid 2008. Starting pitchers Jake Peavy and Chris Young are dominant and still youthful, as is Mark Prior, if he recovers. Heath Bell is one of the best young relievers in the game.
The point is not that the Padres are on a youth movement. It's that they have a relatively youthful core that is not built just for 2008, but for 2008 and beyond, for many seasons. If you plug and play Barry for a year, what does it get you? One season. Then you're back at square one.
For the Padres to return to contention -- I use the word return because unless some of those mentioned above have career years, they will not contend this year -- they need to keep building for the long term. They have Chase Headley waiting in the wings. If he has a solid spring, give him the job and the same amount of time to grow that Kouz had. I have to admit that I'm not sold on Scott Hairston as anything more than a role player. If they trade for an outfielder, they should get someone they can keep for a couple of years as part of their youthful core.
As much as I am not confident about the Friars in 2008, I like the core players and look forward to the team building upon them, especially with their own minor league products. Bringing in Barry Bonds will only slow the process.
---
The suspension of San Diego State basketball F Kyle Spain has been changed from "indefinitely" to the rest of the season, according to coach Steve Fisher, who made the announcement today. This is Spain's second suspension in three years, which likely puts him on the edge of being dropped from the Aztecs entirely. No one has yet ferreted out Spain's transgressions.
Two things come to mind:
1. Fisher doesn't fool around. He says he has few rules, but expects them to be followed. When one of those rules is broken, the coach lays down the law. He's suspended G Richie Williams twice this season and kicked two of his best players ever, Evan Burns and Jerome Habel off the team.
2. There's something missing with this team. At one point this season, I wrote that these players lacked mental toughness. At the time of the writing, I was right. They won some close games against solid opponents, and that problem appeared to be solved. But Spain never reached the greatness expected of him this year now that he was healthy. Williams not only hasn't gotten to the next level of play, he's regressed. Lorrenzo Wade has taken over leadership responsibilities and taken the offense on his shoulders, but he's not a good shooter. Kelvin Davis and DJ Gay, new arrivals who can shoot, suddenly can't. The only player who has improved over the course of the season is Ryan Amoroso, who is now the most consistently effective player on the floor.
This blog is designed to offer my observations of what's going on in the local sports world, but this one is strictly under wraps. I wish I could explain it more. Fisher has done the right thing. It will impact the team, which is now missing something tangible: it's second leading scorer.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Giants Best Chargers in Only Measure, Aztecs Recruiting
By winning the Super Bowl last weekend, the New York Giants demonstrated that they came out ahead of the San Diego Chargers in the Eli Manning-for-Philip Rivers trade in the only measurement that matters in the National Football League.
No background needed, I'm sure.
The fact is, in the four seasons since the draft day deal, the Giants under general managers Jerry Reese and Ernie Accorsi have become a better football team than the Chargers under A.J. Smith. And they've done so with a mostly-unheralded group that contrasts with some of the bright stars offered by the Chargers. Not many Giants in Hawaii this week for the Pro Bowl.
Manning blossomed toward the end of this season to lead the Giants through the playoffs and become the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player. Rivers has struggled at times in his two years as a starter, though he was much better late in the season than earlier and rightfully established himself with fans with a gutty injury-plagued performance at New England in the AFC Championship. Rivers can now be considered good. Maybe very good. Manning might be on his way toward his older brother's greatness.
There's more.
The Giants' no-name offensive line consistently opens holes for it's running backs and protects Manning. The Chargers' front needs to upgrade its right side to be Super Bowl-worthy. Part of why Rivers struggled this season is because he's been rushed so hard by defenses.
Giants starting receivers Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer are significantly better than the Bolts' trio of Chris Chambers, Vincent Jackson and Buster Davis. Our group was well below average until Chambers arrived. Now, as a group, they're decent. No more so.
Running back and tight end. Okay, sure.
On defense, the Giants are better on the line, at linebacker and at safety. The Chargers probably have an edge at corner with the maturation of Quentin Jammer and the stunning talent displayed by Antonio Cromartie.
The Chargers might have the best combination of kickers in the NFL.
Again, I'm in no way saying the Chargers stink. They're quite good. Just not Super Bowl good, not like the Giants, not yet. With the upgrade wish list here and in previous posts, they might get there next season. But the Giants got there first, with Manning at the helm.
---
The San Diego State football recruiting class announced this week is a further showing that coach Chuck Long and his staff are on the right track, at least between Monday and Friday.
When NFL draft day comes, you always have the question of: do you take the best player on the board or do you fill the immediate need?
In Long's case in college football recruiting, his Aztecs had glaring needs in the trenches, and it's taken three recruiting classes to address the problem. With this latest class, call the problem solved, though with the nature of offensive line play, it could take a couple of years to bear out.
In my years of following college football in Southern California, something that struck me as being a difference between USC, UCLA and others of their ilk and SDSU has been offensive line recruiting. You look at the lists of recruits for the Trojans, Bruins, and schools like Notre Dame and Ohio State, and every year it seems that half the players are lineman. The Aztecs usually grabbed a few.
Well, now the numbers are up in the trenches, and Long has something to work with. Aztec fans can argue about just how talented the group is, citing star ratings and the like, but a couple of these linemen are in fact pretty good and provide the numbers necessary to sustain a program.
Long's first three classes have righted the ship. There's enough bodies in the right places. Now, maybe they can get a few more wins. When that happens, Long can start grabbing for those four- and five-star recruits and up the talent level around here. The foundation appears to be in place now.
No background needed, I'm sure.
The fact is, in the four seasons since the draft day deal, the Giants under general managers Jerry Reese and Ernie Accorsi have become a better football team than the Chargers under A.J. Smith. And they've done so with a mostly-unheralded group that contrasts with some of the bright stars offered by the Chargers. Not many Giants in Hawaii this week for the Pro Bowl.
Manning blossomed toward the end of this season to lead the Giants through the playoffs and become the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player. Rivers has struggled at times in his two years as a starter, though he was much better late in the season than earlier and rightfully established himself with fans with a gutty injury-plagued performance at New England in the AFC Championship. Rivers can now be considered good. Maybe very good. Manning might be on his way toward his older brother's greatness.
There's more.
The Giants' no-name offensive line consistently opens holes for it's running backs and protects Manning. The Chargers' front needs to upgrade its right side to be Super Bowl-worthy. Part of why Rivers struggled this season is because he's been rushed so hard by defenses.
Giants starting receivers Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer are significantly better than the Bolts' trio of Chris Chambers, Vincent Jackson and Buster Davis. Our group was well below average until Chambers arrived. Now, as a group, they're decent. No more so.
Running back and tight end. Okay, sure.
On defense, the Giants are better on the line, at linebacker and at safety. The Chargers probably have an edge at corner with the maturation of Quentin Jammer and the stunning talent displayed by Antonio Cromartie.
The Chargers might have the best combination of kickers in the NFL.
Again, I'm in no way saying the Chargers stink. They're quite good. Just not Super Bowl good, not like the Giants, not yet. With the upgrade wish list here and in previous posts, they might get there next season. But the Giants got there first, with Manning at the helm.
---
The San Diego State football recruiting class announced this week is a further showing that coach Chuck Long and his staff are on the right track, at least between Monday and Friday.
When NFL draft day comes, you always have the question of: do you take the best player on the board or do you fill the immediate need?
In Long's case in college football recruiting, his Aztecs had glaring needs in the trenches, and it's taken three recruiting classes to address the problem. With this latest class, call the problem solved, though with the nature of offensive line play, it could take a couple of years to bear out.
In my years of following college football in Southern California, something that struck me as being a difference between USC, UCLA and others of their ilk and SDSU has been offensive line recruiting. You look at the lists of recruits for the Trojans, Bruins, and schools like Notre Dame and Ohio State, and every year it seems that half the players are lineman. The Aztecs usually grabbed a few.
Well, now the numbers are up in the trenches, and Long has something to work with. Aztec fans can argue about just how talented the group is, citing star ratings and the like, but a couple of these linemen are in fact pretty good and provide the numbers necessary to sustain a program.
Long's first three classes have righted the ship. There's enough bodies in the right places. Now, maybe they can get a few more wins. When that happens, Long can start grabbing for those four- and five-star recruits and up the talent level around here. The foundation appears to be in place now.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Chargers Season Ends
So rarely do sportswriters get a chance to discuss the end of a season and have so little to say. The Chargers season ended with a 21-12 loss to New England in the AFC Championship game, ending the year with a record of 13-6.
Behind a gutty performance by hurting QB Philip Rivers, the Bolts drove for four field goals, but without LaDainian Tomlinson against a great defense, they were unable to punch the ball in for a TD. The game was not decided until late in the fourth quarter. The Patriots are 18-0, were healthy, at home and in their weather.
The better team won. The Chargers had a fine year. We're happy.
By advancing past the wildcard and divisional rounds of the playoffs, the Chargers bettered their performance of last year, survived a rocky adjustment to a new coaching staff and either developed or signed receiving help with Vincent Jackson and Chris Chambers. Darren Sproles showed he could be a solid backup running back with Michael Turner likely to leave. Stephen Cooper was a find at middle linebacker. The secondary improved. Mike Scifres is turning out to be the best punter of our time.
So if it's not all good, it's pretty darn good.
Now, to the offseason. The game, and some of the previous losses, showed that the Chargers' biggest needs -- maybe their only needs -- are:
1. Upgrades over Mike Goff at right guard and at right tackle over Jeromey Clary and Shane Olivea. Maybe a rookie and a free agent combo?
2. Good teams, and one bad one, ran on the Chargers this year. The Bolts might have had a chance vs the Patriots if they'd been able to stop Lawrence Maroney in the fourth quarter. His ability to cut back against the grain was fatal. Somebody, DT, DE or LB has to get better.
To expand on number two a little bit, the thinking here is that the sun is setting on the wonderful era of Jamal Williams at nose tackle. No question, he's been the best at his position this decade. But he was hurt a lot this year and is no longer a spring chicken. Ryon Bingham is adequate as a fill-in, but adequate does not get teams to the Super Bowl.
A blocker to open the running game and a tackler to close it. That might advance the Bolts still one more game next year.
---
I also have little to say about San Diego State's 70-43 basketball victory over Wyoming Saturday, where the Aztecs scored the first 19 points of the "contest." The Cowboys couldn't hit the side of a barn in the first half, partly because the Aztecs played a stifling defense. We knew SDSU was a good team, but now you have Lorrenzo Wade assuming a leadership role, Ryan Amoroso re-acclimating to major college basketball following his transfer year, and Kyle Spain finding his shooting touch. Looked good early, now looking better.
Just how good the Aztecs can be will be answered this week when they travel to preseason conference favorite BYU and then host a UNLV squad that is suddenly making noise.
Behind a gutty performance by hurting QB Philip Rivers, the Bolts drove for four field goals, but without LaDainian Tomlinson against a great defense, they were unable to punch the ball in for a TD. The game was not decided until late in the fourth quarter. The Patriots are 18-0, were healthy, at home and in their weather.
The better team won. The Chargers had a fine year. We're happy.
By advancing past the wildcard and divisional rounds of the playoffs, the Chargers bettered their performance of last year, survived a rocky adjustment to a new coaching staff and either developed or signed receiving help with Vincent Jackson and Chris Chambers. Darren Sproles showed he could be a solid backup running back with Michael Turner likely to leave. Stephen Cooper was a find at middle linebacker. The secondary improved. Mike Scifres is turning out to be the best punter of our time.
So if it's not all good, it's pretty darn good.
Now, to the offseason. The game, and some of the previous losses, showed that the Chargers' biggest needs -- maybe their only needs -- are:
1. Upgrades over Mike Goff at right guard and at right tackle over Jeromey Clary and Shane Olivea. Maybe a rookie and a free agent combo?
2. Good teams, and one bad one, ran on the Chargers this year. The Bolts might have had a chance vs the Patriots if they'd been able to stop Lawrence Maroney in the fourth quarter. His ability to cut back against the grain was fatal. Somebody, DT, DE or LB has to get better.
To expand on number two a little bit, the thinking here is that the sun is setting on the wonderful era of Jamal Williams at nose tackle. No question, he's been the best at his position this decade. But he was hurt a lot this year and is no longer a spring chicken. Ryon Bingham is adequate as a fill-in, but adequate does not get teams to the Super Bowl.
A blocker to open the running game and a tackler to close it. That might advance the Bolts still one more game next year.
---
I also have little to say about San Diego State's 70-43 basketball victory over Wyoming Saturday, where the Aztecs scored the first 19 points of the "contest." The Cowboys couldn't hit the side of a barn in the first half, partly because the Aztecs played a stifling defense. We knew SDSU was a good team, but now you have Lorrenzo Wade assuming a leadership role, Ryan Amoroso re-acclimating to major college basketball following his transfer year, and Kyle Spain finding his shooting touch. Looked good early, now looking better.
Just how good the Aztecs can be will be answered this week when they travel to preseason conference favorite BYU and then host a UNLV squad that is suddenly making noise.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Monty Python Scripts Chargers, Aztecs Wins
In the comedy film "Monty Python's Holy Grail" there's a scene in which a game but outclassed swordsman loses a duel, along with four of his favorite limbs. Each time a body part goes flying off him, he says something like "Just a flesh wound!"
The victories posted this weekend by the Chargers, in their thrilling 28-24 playoff win at Indianapolis, and the San Diego State basketball squad's 72-67 conquest of New Mexico at The Pit are akin to the silly knight winning.
The Bolts? Just dethrone the defending Super Bowl champions with QB Philip Rivers, RB LaDainian Tomlinson and TE Antonio Gates on the sidelines nursing injuries. The fourth quarter game-winning drive was accomplished with the likes of Billy Volek, Michael Turner and Legedu Naanee.
The Aztecs? At a place where the Lobos have been nearly unbeatable, even in some recent down years -- and at 14-2 this did not appear to be a bad season at all -- they were without starting F Tim Shelton and, more importantly, G Richie Williams.
While the Chargers were merely trying to win their eighth in a row, the Aztecs were trying to overcome their Wednesday night upset at the hands of lightly regarded Northern Colorado. Now, the end of a wonderful weekend of sport here in America's Finest City, the Bolts get to prepare for an AFC Championship Game at New England. The Aztecs are off to a 2-0 start in the Mountain West Conference. Even USD won it's opening game in the West Coast Conference.
If I'm writing something similar next weekend, oh let's not get to far ahead!
---
Props to Stephen Cooper, the linebacker in his first year as a starter in the Chargers defense. He had 16 tackles in the game and perhaps saved the win by making like Dennis Gibson -- if you don't know, ask an elder -- to knock down a Peyton Manning pass just in front of the end zone. He's become a keeper, no question.
---
The best thing about the Chargers win is it takes fans out of the realm of just being relieved to get this far. Now it's time for pure fun. Win or lose, we get a shot at New England in the title game. It's all you can ask for.
If Manning had brought the Colts back for a late victory, this would have been a long off-season. Recriminations against the secondary for allowing so many opposing receivers to get free, tear wallowing over injuries, hatred toward officials for bad calls.
And the big stuff, of course. The Chargers changed coaching staffs in order to get past this round of the playoffs, so what difference did it make. Maybe Donnie Edwards would have made a difference.
Now, none of that. The Chargers did get past this round, with Norv, without Donnie. Nothing but fun from here on out.
The victories posted this weekend by the Chargers, in their thrilling 28-24 playoff win at Indianapolis, and the San Diego State basketball squad's 72-67 conquest of New Mexico at The Pit are akin to the silly knight winning.
The Bolts? Just dethrone the defending Super Bowl champions with QB Philip Rivers, RB LaDainian Tomlinson and TE Antonio Gates on the sidelines nursing injuries. The fourth quarter game-winning drive was accomplished with the likes of Billy Volek, Michael Turner and Legedu Naanee.
The Aztecs? At a place where the Lobos have been nearly unbeatable, even in some recent down years -- and at 14-2 this did not appear to be a bad season at all -- they were without starting F Tim Shelton and, more importantly, G Richie Williams.
While the Chargers were merely trying to win their eighth in a row, the Aztecs were trying to overcome their Wednesday night upset at the hands of lightly regarded Northern Colorado. Now, the end of a wonderful weekend of sport here in America's Finest City, the Bolts get to prepare for an AFC Championship Game at New England. The Aztecs are off to a 2-0 start in the Mountain West Conference. Even USD won it's opening game in the West Coast Conference.
If I'm writing something similar next weekend, oh let's not get to far ahead!
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Props to Stephen Cooper, the linebacker in his first year as a starter in the Chargers defense. He had 16 tackles in the game and perhaps saved the win by making like Dennis Gibson -- if you don't know, ask an elder -- to knock down a Peyton Manning pass just in front of the end zone. He's become a keeper, no question.
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The best thing about the Chargers win is it takes fans out of the realm of just being relieved to get this far. Now it's time for pure fun. Win or lose, we get a shot at New England in the title game. It's all you can ask for.
If Manning had brought the Colts back for a late victory, this would have been a long off-season. Recriminations against the secondary for allowing so many opposing receivers to get free, tear wallowing over injuries, hatred toward officials for bad calls.
And the big stuff, of course. The Chargers changed coaching staffs in order to get past this round of the playoffs, so what difference did it make. Maybe Donnie Edwards would have made a difference.
Now, none of that. The Chargers did get past this round, with Norv, without Donnie. Nothing but fun from here on out.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Chargers Dodge Bullet, Norv Dances
The Chargers took Tennessee's best shot but emerged Sunday with their first playoff victory since beating Pittsburgh for the AFC Championship in January 1995, sending the normally detached head coach Norv Turner into a sideline victory jig. The 17-6 victory puts the Bolts in the second round of the NFL playoffs in one week at Indianapolis.
The Titans, a pretty good but not great team, were able to run on the Bolts defense and stymie the offense -- for a half. The good news, something that San Diego fans have really wanted to see since the beginning of the season, was an ability by the coaches and players to adjust to what was happening on the field and eventually take over the game. That happened.
Also good news: the game was put in the hands of sometimes maligned QB Philip Rivers and what had been a rather ordinary batch of wide receivers and they came through with flying colors. Rivers hit Vincent Jackson with a 25-yard TD pass to give the Bolts their first lead, and later hit Chris Chambers for 39 yards on a 3rd & 10 play that led to the final score. Earlier in the year, games placed in their hands were usually lost. The same for last year's playoff debacle with the Patriots. This time was different, which could mean a positive carryover to next week.
The bad news: the game said little about how good the Chargers really are. The Titans really dominated the first half, but just didn't have enough playmakers to capitalize on their work, instead settling for a lone field goal in each of the first two quarters.
In a crucial stretch of the second quarter, which might have kept the Chargers in the game, they recovered a Chris Brown fumble deep in their own territory and then held the Titans to 3-and-out on two straight possessions. That the Titans eventually drove for that second FG was almost insignificant, because that still left the Bolts down by less than a touchdown.
In the regular season matchup with the Colts, the Chargers won 23-21 behind an unprecedented six interceptions thrown by Peyton Manning. That won't happen again. The Colts will have had two weeks to prepare for their matchup, and they'll be ready. Not only did Manning toss all those picks, but Adam Veniteri missed two short FGs. That won't happen again, either. Plus, after the Chargers broke out to a big lead, the Colts dominated the second half of the game and appeared to be the better team.
On the other hand, the Chargers have had success against the Colts at home and in the dome, and will certainly not be intimidated by facing the defending Super Bowl champions.
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I'm one of those not overly sold on the Patriots, despite their 16-0 record. Very good team. Not unbeatable. The way Jacksonville is going right now, they would appear to have what it takes to go into Foxboro in bad weather and come out with a victory.
If that happens, and the Chargers beat the Colts, then the AFC Championship Game would be held at Qualcomm Stadium. Not probable. But not beyond the realm of imagination.
The Titans, a pretty good but not great team, were able to run on the Bolts defense and stymie the offense -- for a half. The good news, something that San Diego fans have really wanted to see since the beginning of the season, was an ability by the coaches and players to adjust to what was happening on the field and eventually take over the game. That happened.
Also good news: the game was put in the hands of sometimes maligned QB Philip Rivers and what had been a rather ordinary batch of wide receivers and they came through with flying colors. Rivers hit Vincent Jackson with a 25-yard TD pass to give the Bolts their first lead, and later hit Chris Chambers for 39 yards on a 3rd & 10 play that led to the final score. Earlier in the year, games placed in their hands were usually lost. The same for last year's playoff debacle with the Patriots. This time was different, which could mean a positive carryover to next week.
The bad news: the game said little about how good the Chargers really are. The Titans really dominated the first half, but just didn't have enough playmakers to capitalize on their work, instead settling for a lone field goal in each of the first two quarters.
In a crucial stretch of the second quarter, which might have kept the Chargers in the game, they recovered a Chris Brown fumble deep in their own territory and then held the Titans to 3-and-out on two straight possessions. That the Titans eventually drove for that second FG was almost insignificant, because that still left the Bolts down by less than a touchdown.
In the regular season matchup with the Colts, the Chargers won 23-21 behind an unprecedented six interceptions thrown by Peyton Manning. That won't happen again. The Colts will have had two weeks to prepare for their matchup, and they'll be ready. Not only did Manning toss all those picks, but Adam Veniteri missed two short FGs. That won't happen again, either. Plus, after the Chargers broke out to a big lead, the Colts dominated the second half of the game and appeared to be the better team.
On the other hand, the Chargers have had success against the Colts at home and in the dome, and will certainly not be intimidated by facing the defending Super Bowl champions.
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I'm one of those not overly sold on the Patriots, despite their 16-0 record. Very good team. Not unbeatable. The way Jacksonville is going right now, they would appear to have what it takes to go into Foxboro in bad weather and come out with a victory.
If that happens, and the Chargers beat the Colts, then the AFC Championship Game would be held at Qualcomm Stadium. Not probable. But not beyond the realm of imagination.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Big But Not Groundbreaking Basketball Wins
It's tempting to throw a whole bunch of superlatives at USD's 81-72 road conquest of perennial power Kentucky today at Rupp Arena, but in watching the contest, it was clear the Wildcats are nowhere near what we're used to seeing. Nice win, Toreros. A confidence builder.
USD has had bigger victories, however. The win over Gonzaga in the 2003 West Coast Conference Tournament final, the victory over UCLA at Pauley Pavilion earlier that season and a 1990s win over Kansas at the Sports Arena come to mind.
It's also hard to see the Toreros building on such a win, as nice as it was. This is a team that has ground through a very difficult schedule for having a new coach and new system -- and more than a few new players. They've played UNLV and USC and at New Mexico. They've had losing streaks of four and three games.
After a New Year's Eve game at Marshall, they come home for a gimme vs Cal State-Bakersfield before beginning WCC play by taking on San Francisco with new coach Eddie Sutton and going to Gonzaga and Portland. A possible 0-3 start is not what the doctor ordered and renders the Kentucky win, well, not meaningless, but reduces the significance of the upset.
The best scenario is for the Toreros to have found themselves, for guard Brandon Johnson to play like he did today in every game, for the coaches to have become comfortable with what they have, resulting in a strong third-place finish behind Saint Mary's and Gonzaga. That would make today quite meaningful indeed.
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By contrast, San Diego State's 79-78 overtime victory over Sam Houston State last night could have resolved a big problem I have with these Aztecs: a lack of mental toughness. The poor shooting at important times, the inability to convert clutch free throws, mistakes and defensive lapses have been cause for concern despite a 10-3 start to the season. Really, SDSU should be 11-2 minimum, maybe 12-1 and ranked. But these issues have raised their ugly heads and resulted in losses to the first three legitimate opponents they've played.
Maybe the Aztecs turned the corner with number four. Sam Houston State of the Southland Conference has no reputation at all, yet was undefeated coming into the game and claimed victories over Texas Tech, Fresno State and Saint Louis, and made the NCAA Tournament last year. This was a good and experienced group of Bearkats.
It took mental toughness by the Aztecs to tie the game late in regulation and win on a late basket by freshman Billy White with 11 seconds left in OT. Both sequences included turnovers that gave Sam Houston State possession, making life difficult for the Aztecs. But they got the stops they needed, a couple breaks because the Bearkats are a poor FT shooting team, and did just enough to win.
The Aztecs overcame their usual problems. They made just a quarter of the 24 three-point attempts, sank just 58 percent of their FTs and allowed the Bearkats to hit nearly half their shots overall and 41 percent of their threes.
The question now, just like for the Toreros, is whether they can take the mental toughness they developed to survive this game and apply it to the rest of the season. The Aztecs open Mountain West Conference play next Saturday against 8-4 Texas Christian, who've beaten no one to write home about and take on Texas -- which could drain them -- on Wednesday.
Just judging by the Aztecs conference schedule, they have a chance for a hot start, which will be important, because some tough road games loom in February.
USD has had bigger victories, however. The win over Gonzaga in the 2003 West Coast Conference Tournament final, the victory over UCLA at Pauley Pavilion earlier that season and a 1990s win over Kansas at the Sports Arena come to mind.
It's also hard to see the Toreros building on such a win, as nice as it was. This is a team that has ground through a very difficult schedule for having a new coach and new system -- and more than a few new players. They've played UNLV and USC and at New Mexico. They've had losing streaks of four and three games.
After a New Year's Eve game at Marshall, they come home for a gimme vs Cal State-Bakersfield before beginning WCC play by taking on San Francisco with new coach Eddie Sutton and going to Gonzaga and Portland. A possible 0-3 start is not what the doctor ordered and renders the Kentucky win, well, not meaningless, but reduces the significance of the upset.
The best scenario is for the Toreros to have found themselves, for guard Brandon Johnson to play like he did today in every game, for the coaches to have become comfortable with what they have, resulting in a strong third-place finish behind Saint Mary's and Gonzaga. That would make today quite meaningful indeed.
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By contrast, San Diego State's 79-78 overtime victory over Sam Houston State last night could have resolved a big problem I have with these Aztecs: a lack of mental toughness. The poor shooting at important times, the inability to convert clutch free throws, mistakes and defensive lapses have been cause for concern despite a 10-3 start to the season. Really, SDSU should be 11-2 minimum, maybe 12-1 and ranked. But these issues have raised their ugly heads and resulted in losses to the first three legitimate opponents they've played.
Maybe the Aztecs turned the corner with number four. Sam Houston State of the Southland Conference has no reputation at all, yet was undefeated coming into the game and claimed victories over Texas Tech, Fresno State and Saint Louis, and made the NCAA Tournament last year. This was a good and experienced group of Bearkats.
It took mental toughness by the Aztecs to tie the game late in regulation and win on a late basket by freshman Billy White with 11 seconds left in OT. Both sequences included turnovers that gave Sam Houston State possession, making life difficult for the Aztecs. But they got the stops they needed, a couple breaks because the Bearkats are a poor FT shooting team, and did just enough to win.
The Aztecs overcame their usual problems. They made just a quarter of the 24 three-point attempts, sank just 58 percent of their FTs and allowed the Bearkats to hit nearly half their shots overall and 41 percent of their threes.
The question now, just like for the Toreros, is whether they can take the mental toughness they developed to survive this game and apply it to the rest of the season. The Aztecs open Mountain West Conference play next Saturday against 8-4 Texas Christian, who've beaten no one to write home about and take on Texas -- which could drain them -- on Wednesday.
Just judging by the Aztecs conference schedule, they have a chance for a hot start, which will be important, because some tough road games loom in February.
2008 Could be Great
This week in the news business is all about lists, looks back at 2007 and gazes ahead toward 2008, so I might as well add mine. Here, a look at what might take place in local sports in the coming year in somewhat chronological order.
Chargers: The Bolts will likely open the playoffs at home against Cleveland and should win. Then comes a probable road game at Indianapolis. While the Colts were the much better team in the first match between the two, oddly won by the Chargers, San Diego has improved so much since that you have to like their chances. While the road could very well end in the dome, it wouldn't surprise me to see them advance to play either New England in chilly Foxboro or host a contest vs Jacksonville. I honestly don't see the Chargers going any further than the championship game. Not out of the realm of possibility. I see a 55-45 shot at winning at Indy, but no more than a 25 percent chance of winning the AFC title.
Buick Invitational: Tiger Woods draws Torrey Pines South on the first day and, despite having a decent day, falls 12 strokes behind someone on the North course who you've never heard of. By the time the second round is over, he's 10 strokes ahead of the unknown and among the leaders, ready to shoot it out with Phil Mickelson.
SDSU Basketball: The conference schedule would appear to have the Aztecs men posed for a hot start, maybe as much as 8-2, but tough road games down the stretch will tell the tale. This team appears to be lacking some mental toughness, so my bet would be a rough end and a 10-6 Mountain West Conference record. At 21-10, you're talking NIT unless they win the MWC Tournament. The women, on the other hand, could have a tough go early. Where the NIT would be something of a letdown for the men, it would be a huge boost for the ladies.
USD Basketball: Hard to judge where the Toreros sit, after going 5-8 with a couple terribly uninspiring losses, they go out and beat Kentucky -- no matter how bad the Wildcats are -- on the road. My read on this team, which could very well be wrong, is that while the record tells no lie, the tough non-conference slate has put some backbone into these guys. Opening West Coast Conference play vs USF and interim-coach Eddie Sutton, then on the road at Gonzaga and Portland, could mean a tough start. The women look pretty good, maybe not as good as last year. NIT at minimum.
US Open: The course is what the course is, you can't get away from it, so Tiger and Lefty will be there on Sunday. More than anything, the PGA is going to learn that they ignored San Diego for far too long and will want to return in another five years or so.
Padres: I can't see how the Friars can recover from this off-season. Unless another deal brings some lightning into the lineup, I don't see how the Padres can keep from battling the Giants for last place. The lineup could arguably be less productive in 2008 and the pitching rotation is asking for too many questions to be answered positively. This is no return to the bad old days. They might even challenge for 80 wins. But no more. One chance for me to be wrong: Kevin Kouzmanoff hits for whole season the way he did after his poor start, and for Khalil Greene to be consistent all season, not just the last month.
SDSU Football: Cautious optimism. Maybe 7-5 and a bowl game. I'd be surprised if they failed to at least reach 6-6. The non-conference schedule is easier, maybe 3-1 easier. In conference, those games you expect to lose -- BYU, TCU, New Mexico -- are on the road, where you expect to lose anyway. An improved team loses in Provo and Fort Worth, but splits between New Mexico on the road and Utah at home. Gotta steal one of those. Then win the rest, with Wyoming on the road and everyone else at Qualcomm Stadium. New quarterback and three new starters on the offensive line. But so many young players are back with a year of experience that it's hard not to be a bit positive over what coach Chuck Long and his staff is doing.
Who knows? By this time next year, maybe I'll be writing about the Chargers being favored to reach their second Super Bowl, the Aztecs getting ready to build on an NCAA Tournament appearance and the Padres returning to contention behind rising young stars. Hey, how about a new women's tennis tournament to replace the Acura Classic? Hope springs eternal when you're a sports fan.
All in all, I see our major teams and events starting to hit on all cylinders. The hard work put in on the Chargers and SDSU hoops is close to paying off, the SDSU football coaches are doing the right thing, and if the Padres are simply using this season to buy time, they might have a point. If I'm right, next year's predictions ought to be pretty fun to make.
Chargers: The Bolts will likely open the playoffs at home against Cleveland and should win. Then comes a probable road game at Indianapolis. While the Colts were the much better team in the first match between the two, oddly won by the Chargers, San Diego has improved so much since that you have to like their chances. While the road could very well end in the dome, it wouldn't surprise me to see them advance to play either New England in chilly Foxboro or host a contest vs Jacksonville. I honestly don't see the Chargers going any further than the championship game. Not out of the realm of possibility. I see a 55-45 shot at winning at Indy, but no more than a 25 percent chance of winning the AFC title.
Buick Invitational: Tiger Woods draws Torrey Pines South on the first day and, despite having a decent day, falls 12 strokes behind someone on the North course who you've never heard of. By the time the second round is over, he's 10 strokes ahead of the unknown and among the leaders, ready to shoot it out with Phil Mickelson.
SDSU Basketball: The conference schedule would appear to have the Aztecs men posed for a hot start, maybe as much as 8-2, but tough road games down the stretch will tell the tale. This team appears to be lacking some mental toughness, so my bet would be a rough end and a 10-6 Mountain West Conference record. At 21-10, you're talking NIT unless they win the MWC Tournament. The women, on the other hand, could have a tough go early. Where the NIT would be something of a letdown for the men, it would be a huge boost for the ladies.
USD Basketball: Hard to judge where the Toreros sit, after going 5-8 with a couple terribly uninspiring losses, they go out and beat Kentucky -- no matter how bad the Wildcats are -- on the road. My read on this team, which could very well be wrong, is that while the record tells no lie, the tough non-conference slate has put some backbone into these guys. Opening West Coast Conference play vs USF and interim-coach Eddie Sutton, then on the road at Gonzaga and Portland, could mean a tough start. The women look pretty good, maybe not as good as last year. NIT at minimum.
US Open: The course is what the course is, you can't get away from it, so Tiger and Lefty will be there on Sunday. More than anything, the PGA is going to learn that they ignored San Diego for far too long and will want to return in another five years or so.
Padres: I can't see how the Friars can recover from this off-season. Unless another deal brings some lightning into the lineup, I don't see how the Padres can keep from battling the Giants for last place. The lineup could arguably be less productive in 2008 and the pitching rotation is asking for too many questions to be answered positively. This is no return to the bad old days. They might even challenge for 80 wins. But no more. One chance for me to be wrong: Kevin Kouzmanoff hits for whole season the way he did after his poor start, and for Khalil Greene to be consistent all season, not just the last month.
SDSU Football: Cautious optimism. Maybe 7-5 and a bowl game. I'd be surprised if they failed to at least reach 6-6. The non-conference schedule is easier, maybe 3-1 easier. In conference, those games you expect to lose -- BYU, TCU, New Mexico -- are on the road, where you expect to lose anyway. An improved team loses in Provo and Fort Worth, but splits between New Mexico on the road and Utah at home. Gotta steal one of those. Then win the rest, with Wyoming on the road and everyone else at Qualcomm Stadium. New quarterback and three new starters on the offensive line. But so many young players are back with a year of experience that it's hard not to be a bit positive over what coach Chuck Long and his staff is doing.
Who knows? By this time next year, maybe I'll be writing about the Chargers being favored to reach their second Super Bowl, the Aztecs getting ready to build on an NCAA Tournament appearance and the Padres returning to contention behind rising young stars. Hey, how about a new women's tennis tournament to replace the Acura Classic? Hope springs eternal when you're a sports fan.
All in all, I see our major teams and events starting to hit on all cylinders. The hard work put in on the Chargers and SDSU hoops is close to paying off, the SDSU football coaches are doing the right thing, and if the Padres are simply using this season to buy time, they might have a point. If I'm right, next year's predictions ought to be pretty fun to make.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Merry Christmas
Being a sports fan in San Diego brings with it much frustration, usually more aggravation than celebration, unfortunately. But as we approach Christmas, we are blessed with many gifts we've unwrapped this year under the sports tree.
-- Most timely, the Chargers have won four straight games and eight of their last 10 to clinch another AFC West title and playoff berth. The Bolts should win out, which would give them an 11-5 record and a postseason home game. We've also psychologically come to terms with the fact that while this is a pretty good team, it's probably not Super Bowl-worthy, so when the run comes to an end in January, we won't threaten mass suicide again.
-- The US Open at Torrey Pines is only six months away.
-- The Padres have come off a streak in which they won two straight National League West titles to make playoff berths, and played a meaningful game in October this year when a heck of a lot of other teams did not.
-- Beth Burns. Forget the UConn game. She's the best coach on the Mesa.
-- San Diego State's woeful football team finally has a coaching staff that understands the problems that have plagued the program for years and are, unlike most Aztecs coaches, are willing to undertake the challenge of what will be a long-term building program. No quick-fix scheme was going to change the Aztecs fortunes, but rather would have kept the program in a rut. Chuck Long and company are, finally, working to lay the strong foundation that has been sorely lacking. It will take longer to receive the payoff, but if success does come, it's more likely to be sustained.
-- Tiger is coming in just a few weeks.
-- The Oceanside High School football team, for winning the San Diego Section's debut in the state football bowl series, thereby gaining desperately needed street cred for future local teams that have good seasons. And to think of what coach John Carroll has done to mold a team. The problems in that city with gangs and crime are horrendous. Carroll has pulled together a winning group made up of kids who are black, white, Samoan and Latino and you never hear of troubles among them.
-- Three years of Josh Johnson. Now get to watch him on Sundays.
-- San Diego, of all places, now has three sports radio stations. The last, XTRA Sports 1360, is clearly the best. I can't listen to Dave, Jeff & Mike without a big smile on my face and I'm often laughing out loud in my car because of them. Josh Rosenberg is a fine young talent and Chris Ello is always willing to take a strong stand on issues. Lee Hamilton is still The 'saw, though his schtick often wears thin. Craig Elfsten is a portrait in hanging in there, now rewarded for sticking with Clear Channel through thick and thin.
-- Four years of Kevin O'Connell. Less likely to see him on Sundays, but the chance is still there.
-- Billy White, Tim Shelton and DJ Gay. White looks like a young Marcus Slaughter, Shelton appeared to be very good before he got hurt. Gay started well but now looks like a freshman, but point guard is the hardest position for a first-year player to learn. Once he gets it, he has the physical tools to be a good one. White's a future MWC Player of the Year. A couple more recruiting classes like this, and SDSU basketball will be a March Madness fixture.
-- Jake Peavy = Cy.
May 2008 bring more such gifts. Merry Christmas to all!
-- Most timely, the Chargers have won four straight games and eight of their last 10 to clinch another AFC West title and playoff berth. The Bolts should win out, which would give them an 11-5 record and a postseason home game. We've also psychologically come to terms with the fact that while this is a pretty good team, it's probably not Super Bowl-worthy, so when the run comes to an end in January, we won't threaten mass suicide again.
-- The US Open at Torrey Pines is only six months away.
-- The Padres have come off a streak in which they won two straight National League West titles to make playoff berths, and played a meaningful game in October this year when a heck of a lot of other teams did not.
-- Beth Burns. Forget the UConn game. She's the best coach on the Mesa.
-- San Diego State's woeful football team finally has a coaching staff that understands the problems that have plagued the program for years and are, unlike most Aztecs coaches, are willing to undertake the challenge of what will be a long-term building program. No quick-fix scheme was going to change the Aztecs fortunes, but rather would have kept the program in a rut. Chuck Long and company are, finally, working to lay the strong foundation that has been sorely lacking. It will take longer to receive the payoff, but if success does come, it's more likely to be sustained.
-- Tiger is coming in just a few weeks.
-- The Oceanside High School football team, for winning the San Diego Section's debut in the state football bowl series, thereby gaining desperately needed street cred for future local teams that have good seasons. And to think of what coach John Carroll has done to mold a team. The problems in that city with gangs and crime are horrendous. Carroll has pulled together a winning group made up of kids who are black, white, Samoan and Latino and you never hear of troubles among them.
-- Three years of Josh Johnson. Now get to watch him on Sundays.
-- San Diego, of all places, now has three sports radio stations. The last, XTRA Sports 1360, is clearly the best. I can't listen to Dave, Jeff & Mike without a big smile on my face and I'm often laughing out loud in my car because of them. Josh Rosenberg is a fine young talent and Chris Ello is always willing to take a strong stand on issues. Lee Hamilton is still The 'saw, though his schtick often wears thin. Craig Elfsten is a portrait in hanging in there, now rewarded for sticking with Clear Channel through thick and thin.
-- Four years of Kevin O'Connell. Less likely to see him on Sundays, but the chance is still there.
-- Billy White, Tim Shelton and DJ Gay. White looks like a young Marcus Slaughter, Shelton appeared to be very good before he got hurt. Gay started well but now looks like a freshman, but point guard is the hardest position for a first-year player to learn. Once he gets it, he has the physical tools to be a good one. White's a future MWC Player of the Year. A couple more recruiting classes like this, and SDSU basketball will be a March Madness fixture.
-- Jake Peavy = Cy.
May 2008 bring more such gifts. Merry Christmas to all!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Padres Win by Losing Fukudome, Oceanside Breaks Through in State Football
San Diego Padres General Manager Kevin Towers was saved from himself again Tuesday when Japanese free agent outfielder Kosuke Fukudome signed a four-year contract with the Cubs instead of the Friars.
Fukudome was a pretty good player in Japan, but according to media accounts, would likely have doubles power at Petco Park -- when the Padres really need a home run guy -- and was defensively more suited to right field than center, where the Padres have their real need. Not that I'd be complaining about his signing. His on-base percentage in Japan was always high. But there's better places to spend the Padres money, in my book.
Overall, it probably has not been a happy week for Towers. Milton Bradley signed with the Rangers instead of remaining with the manager, Bud Black, who injured him him September. Again, better them to take that risk than the Padres.
But that doesn't leave the Padres with a whole lot of wiggle room in filling their outfield holes. Towers is still pursuing Mike Cameron, though for a lot less than the player wants. And the notoriously slow starter at the plate won't be available until May because of his suspension. He can't even play in major league level spring games. So Cameron really won't be himself until July, you gotta figure.
News reports suggest that Towers will go the trade route if he can't sign Cameron. The obvious target: the Angels Gary Matthews Jr., who is expendable after the Halos signed Torii Hunter.
My preference, really, would be for Towers to slide some talent across the table toward Pittsburgh and bring Jason Bay home. With him in left, I'm a lot more willing to go cheap in center, even to the point of giving an incentive-laden contract to aging Steve Finley. Who knows, maybe you can get a good month or two out of the Rancho Santa Fe resident and mid-1990s Padres hero. That buys time to swing another deal. Having Bay around makes a lot of things easier.
Who knows how Fukudome would have performed for 81 games in Petco Park. Maybe he would have been outstanding. The only prediction we can truly make is that when he comes to visit, his last name will be intentionally and gleefully mispronounced by Friars fans in attendance.
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There is actual good news to report. The Padres Tuesday night were announcing that pitcher Jake Peavy passed his physical and was about to sign a $51.9 million contract extension through 2012. The San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that the Friars signed Tadahito Iguchi to fill the second base hole. Iguchi hit .304 for the Phillies in 45 games after being traded by the White Sox.
I actually thought Iguchi was the best of the Padres options at the position. He hit 15 and 18 home runs in consecutive seasons with the White Sox. I saw a scouting report that labels him as having some clutch hitting ability, has base-running speed and sure hands defensively with average range.
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Thrilled to see that Oceanside High School was invited to play in California's medium schools bowl game Friday against Novato High from Northern California.
When the state bowl game concept was developed, there were legitimate worries that the San Diego Section would be perpetually shut out of the contests by Southern Section powers like Long Beach Poly.
Well, with Oceanside storming through the season after an opening loss to Helix, section commissioners saw fit to give the Pirates an invite.
How did this come about? Those who made the selection will talk about the Pirates having a fine season and that Crespi High School of Los Angeles lost it's last game. But what's really gone on is longevity of success for coach John Carroll and his team. The Pirates are good every single year against tough competition and have now won four straight section titles.
Poway, the section's Division I champion, had a great year in 2007. In 2006, the Titans made the section final but didn't have a great season as a whole.
Oceanside has been doing it for years now and have gotten noticed over time. That's what it will take for all San Diego Section schools that want to break through into a state bowl game.
---
Not that it necessarily needs to be noticed after four years, but the first thing that came to my mind when I learned of Oceanside's opponent is Steven Rucker. Remember, he is the Novato firefighter who died in Julian in a flashover during the 2003 Cedar Fire. No matter what happens in the game, we owe the community of Novato a deep debt of gratitude.
Fukudome was a pretty good player in Japan, but according to media accounts, would likely have doubles power at Petco Park -- when the Padres really need a home run guy -- and was defensively more suited to right field than center, where the Padres have their real need. Not that I'd be complaining about his signing. His on-base percentage in Japan was always high. But there's better places to spend the Padres money, in my book.
Overall, it probably has not been a happy week for Towers. Milton Bradley signed with the Rangers instead of remaining with the manager, Bud Black, who injured him him September. Again, better them to take that risk than the Padres.
But that doesn't leave the Padres with a whole lot of wiggle room in filling their outfield holes. Towers is still pursuing Mike Cameron, though for a lot less than the player wants. And the notoriously slow starter at the plate won't be available until May because of his suspension. He can't even play in major league level spring games. So Cameron really won't be himself until July, you gotta figure.
News reports suggest that Towers will go the trade route if he can't sign Cameron. The obvious target: the Angels Gary Matthews Jr., who is expendable after the Halos signed Torii Hunter.
My preference, really, would be for Towers to slide some talent across the table toward Pittsburgh and bring Jason Bay home. With him in left, I'm a lot more willing to go cheap in center, even to the point of giving an incentive-laden contract to aging Steve Finley. Who knows, maybe you can get a good month or two out of the Rancho Santa Fe resident and mid-1990s Padres hero. That buys time to swing another deal. Having Bay around makes a lot of things easier.
Who knows how Fukudome would have performed for 81 games in Petco Park. Maybe he would have been outstanding. The only prediction we can truly make is that when he comes to visit, his last name will be intentionally and gleefully mispronounced by Friars fans in attendance.
---
There is actual good news to report. The Padres Tuesday night were announcing that pitcher Jake Peavy passed his physical and was about to sign a $51.9 million contract extension through 2012. The San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that the Friars signed Tadahito Iguchi to fill the second base hole. Iguchi hit .304 for the Phillies in 45 games after being traded by the White Sox.
I actually thought Iguchi was the best of the Padres options at the position. He hit 15 and 18 home runs in consecutive seasons with the White Sox. I saw a scouting report that labels him as having some clutch hitting ability, has base-running speed and sure hands defensively with average range.
---
Thrilled to see that Oceanside High School was invited to play in California's medium schools bowl game Friday against Novato High from Northern California.
When the state bowl game concept was developed, there were legitimate worries that the San Diego Section would be perpetually shut out of the contests by Southern Section powers like Long Beach Poly.
Well, with Oceanside storming through the season after an opening loss to Helix, section commissioners saw fit to give the Pirates an invite.
How did this come about? Those who made the selection will talk about the Pirates having a fine season and that Crespi High School of Los Angeles lost it's last game. But what's really gone on is longevity of success for coach John Carroll and his team. The Pirates are good every single year against tough competition and have now won four straight section titles.
Poway, the section's Division I champion, had a great year in 2007. In 2006, the Titans made the section final but didn't have a great season as a whole.
Oceanside has been doing it for years now and have gotten noticed over time. That's what it will take for all San Diego Section schools that want to break through into a state bowl game.
---
Not that it necessarily needs to be noticed after four years, but the first thing that came to my mind when I learned of Oceanside's opponent is Steven Rucker. Remember, he is the Novato firefighter who died in Julian in a flashover during the 2003 Cedar Fire. No matter what happens in the game, we owe the community of Novato a deep debt of gratitude.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Chargers Win, Aztecs Lose on Important Weekend
It was a put up or shut up kind of weekend for the Chargers and San Diego State men's basketball team and, well, let the Bolts fans shout in joy and the Aztecs supporters ponder yet another frustrating defeat in a high-profile contest.
The Chargers comeback in a 23-17 conquest of Tennessee was no miraculous turnaround. No stunning plays. No sudden turnovers or reversals in fortune. The Bolts went almost nowhere offensively in the first three quarters, courtesy of defensive end Kyle VandenBosch's absolute domination of Marcus McNeill, who is playing much more like a rookie in his second professional season than he did last year. VandenBosh and defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who played hurt, had Philip Rivers under such pressure that at one point in the second half, the Chargers quarterback had a passing rating of 11.
Getting the ball back at the 9 minute mark of the fourth quarter in decent field position, the Rivers hit Chris Chambers for 26 yards. LaDainian Tomlinson ran and and caught a pass for a TD to make the game 17-10.
Maybe the Chargers got their biggest break at this point. The Titans got a pair of first downs on runs by LenDale White, but on 3rd & 4, they tried to mix it up and have quarterback Vince Young throw a difficult pass. Incomplete. They punted.
The Chargers managed to complete a fourth-down pass to Chambers that was upheld on review, and the Bolts went on to score. For the second time in the game, punter Mike Scifres and special teams whiz Kassim Osgood pinned the Titans at their one-yard line, and the Bolts scored after a defensive stop on each occasion. The first one was the first TD, the second was the game winner in overtime.
This was the kind of game we wanted to see. The first half was extremely physical with both Rivers and Young going down with injuries. Antonio Gates, who caught the game-tying TD pass, was also hurt. Everything was going against Norv Turner's bunch against a good team on the road. Earlier this year, they lost in those situations (at Green Bay and Minnesota). This time they won.
This is the sort of game they'll need to win in the playoffs. Physical. On the road. Overcoming adversity. If Denver loses this afternoon, the Chargers will indeed be playoff bound.
---
On a day when LT is going to be profiled nationally on CBS' "60 Minutes," it was sort of odd to see him hit with an unnecessary roughness penalty. He made everything okay again by scoring the first and last touchdowns.
---
For San Diego State, a 69-64 loss to Saint Mary's College pointed up a number of problems.
On a deep team that has not developed a major star, no one has taken a floor leadership role who can run the team in the closing minutes of a close contest. That job should fall to point guard Richie Williams, but the junior has not stepped up the way he should in that regard. Lorrenzo Wade showed signs of trying to take on the role yesterday, but his efforts resulted in several forced shots that clanked off the rim. The Aztecs have been dramatically hurt by Kyle Spain's ankle injury, which limited him to 16 mostly ineffective minutes -- and he's a guy you wouldn't mind taking late-game shots.
The upshot is that offensive efforts were mostly in disarray in the second half of yesterday's loss, and late in the other loss in an otherwise fine season, at Cal.
These Aztecs have also become a poor free throw shooting team. They missed six straight, including the front end of a couple one-and-ones, late in yesterday's loss. We've been spoiled the past couple of years by great work at the charity stripe by Brandon Heath and Marcus Slaughter, among others. Not anymore.
The loss could be a costly one for the Aztecs come March. This is an NCAA Tournament worthy team, I think. But the selection committee likes to see "quality wins." The two good teams the Aztecs have played, Cal and Saint Mary's, have beaten them. The non-conference schedule includes only two more such schools, Arizona and Sam Houston State, before the Mountain West Conference slate begins. The MWC has not been impressive early this season, which bodes well for the Aztecs chances of a championship, but not in numbers of March Madness bids for the league.
Still, they've only lost twice. Figure a loss to Arizona and maybe three or four more in league play. I'm being a bit optimistic, I suppose. But that's still makes SDSU a 6- or 7-loss team. That will gain an NCAA berth.
Where the Cal and Saint Mary's losses hurt will be in seeding. A middle seed like 8 or 9 will probably give way now to 13 or 14 with a lack of big wins.
---
What's funny about the Chargers game is that writers, especially those on the road who have to be concerned about travel plans, are usually putting their stories together in the second half. With the Bolts down 17-3 and playing pathetically on offense midway through the fourth quarter, you can imagine what the stories were like.
"Hello, Sweetheart. Get me rewrite!"
---
On the other hand, props are due for the San Diego State and University of San Diego women's teams.
The Aztecs have beaten USD for the first time in years and are off to a 7-1 start. Freshman center Paris Johnson is the real deal. So is redshirt freshman forward Allison Duffy.
The Toreros season has been up-and-down to this point, but they just beat UCLA behind 30 points by center Amber Sprague and 12 assists by guard Amanda Rego.
The Chargers comeback in a 23-17 conquest of Tennessee was no miraculous turnaround. No stunning plays. No sudden turnovers or reversals in fortune. The Bolts went almost nowhere offensively in the first three quarters, courtesy of defensive end Kyle VandenBosch's absolute domination of Marcus McNeill, who is playing much more like a rookie in his second professional season than he did last year. VandenBosh and defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who played hurt, had Philip Rivers under such pressure that at one point in the second half, the Chargers quarterback had a passing rating of 11.
Getting the ball back at the 9 minute mark of the fourth quarter in decent field position, the Rivers hit Chris Chambers for 26 yards. LaDainian Tomlinson ran and and caught a pass for a TD to make the game 17-10.
Maybe the Chargers got their biggest break at this point. The Titans got a pair of first downs on runs by LenDale White, but on 3rd & 4, they tried to mix it up and have quarterback Vince Young throw a difficult pass. Incomplete. They punted.
The Chargers managed to complete a fourth-down pass to Chambers that was upheld on review, and the Bolts went on to score. For the second time in the game, punter Mike Scifres and special teams whiz Kassim Osgood pinned the Titans at their one-yard line, and the Bolts scored after a defensive stop on each occasion. The first one was the first TD, the second was the game winner in overtime.
This was the kind of game we wanted to see. The first half was extremely physical with both Rivers and Young going down with injuries. Antonio Gates, who caught the game-tying TD pass, was also hurt. Everything was going against Norv Turner's bunch against a good team on the road. Earlier this year, they lost in those situations (at Green Bay and Minnesota). This time they won.
This is the sort of game they'll need to win in the playoffs. Physical. On the road. Overcoming adversity. If Denver loses this afternoon, the Chargers will indeed be playoff bound.
---
On a day when LT is going to be profiled nationally on CBS' "60 Minutes," it was sort of odd to see him hit with an unnecessary roughness penalty. He made everything okay again by scoring the first and last touchdowns.
---
For San Diego State, a 69-64 loss to Saint Mary's College pointed up a number of problems.
On a deep team that has not developed a major star, no one has taken a floor leadership role who can run the team in the closing minutes of a close contest. That job should fall to point guard Richie Williams, but the junior has not stepped up the way he should in that regard. Lorrenzo Wade showed signs of trying to take on the role yesterday, but his efforts resulted in several forced shots that clanked off the rim. The Aztecs have been dramatically hurt by Kyle Spain's ankle injury, which limited him to 16 mostly ineffective minutes -- and he's a guy you wouldn't mind taking late-game shots.
The upshot is that offensive efforts were mostly in disarray in the second half of yesterday's loss, and late in the other loss in an otherwise fine season, at Cal.
These Aztecs have also become a poor free throw shooting team. They missed six straight, including the front end of a couple one-and-ones, late in yesterday's loss. We've been spoiled the past couple of years by great work at the charity stripe by Brandon Heath and Marcus Slaughter, among others. Not anymore.
The loss could be a costly one for the Aztecs come March. This is an NCAA Tournament worthy team, I think. But the selection committee likes to see "quality wins." The two good teams the Aztecs have played, Cal and Saint Mary's, have beaten them. The non-conference schedule includes only two more such schools, Arizona and Sam Houston State, before the Mountain West Conference slate begins. The MWC has not been impressive early this season, which bodes well for the Aztecs chances of a championship, but not in numbers of March Madness bids for the league.
Still, they've only lost twice. Figure a loss to Arizona and maybe three or four more in league play. I'm being a bit optimistic, I suppose. But that's still makes SDSU a 6- or 7-loss team. That will gain an NCAA berth.
Where the Cal and Saint Mary's losses hurt will be in seeding. A middle seed like 8 or 9 will probably give way now to 13 or 14 with a lack of big wins.
---
What's funny about the Chargers game is that writers, especially those on the road who have to be concerned about travel plans, are usually putting their stories together in the second half. With the Bolts down 17-3 and playing pathetically on offense midway through the fourth quarter, you can imagine what the stories were like.
"Hello, Sweetheart. Get me rewrite!"
---
On the other hand, props are due for the San Diego State and University of San Diego women's teams.
The Aztecs have beaten USD for the first time in years and are off to a 7-1 start. Freshman center Paris Johnson is the real deal. So is redshirt freshman forward Allison Duffy.
The Toreros season has been up-and-down to this point, but they just beat UCLA behind 30 points by center Amber Sprague and 12 assists by guard Amanda Rego.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Fisher Points the Way to SDSU Football Turnaround
Because of a scheduling conflict, I chose to attend the San Diego State basketball game vs. Western Michigan Saturday, while I listened to the bulk of the football contest vs Brigham Young. The contrast between the events -- a game but undermanned football squad losing by three touchdowns compared to the hoops team scoring a mostly unspectacular 11-point victory -- got me thinking that there is a link between the two situations.
More than the continuing mind-bending it takes to get yourself around the concept that SDSU is now a basketball school instead of one known for football.
Under Steve Fisher, the Aztecs this season replaced two of the better players in the history of the school with a score of highly talented newcomers who have made this team the best in the nearly 30 years I've been following them. Top-to-bottom, these kids can flat-out play. Fisher has never had this sort of depth and, it necessarily follows, neither has any prior Aztecs coach.
While it is early yet, in my experience I've never seen the Mountain West Conference or it's WAC predecessor with enough depth to slow a team like this over the course of a 16-game league schedule. A game or two or three? Sure. BYU and Utah with their size will cause some matchup programs, and a college basketball slate is grueling. No question. And you never know what will happen in a short conference tournament. But for this team to not make the NCAA Tournament will be a real disappointment, assuming the health problems end with Tim Shelton's knees. With the right sort of opponent, they could even make a short March Madness run.
That's a little different from where the football team is.
What Fisher has done over the last couple of years is re-stocking. The key part of that is "re." He had some pretty good building blocks in place during this decade and has been able to improve upon them with each recruiting cycle. Randy Holcomb and Aerick Sanders begat Mohamed Abukar and Brandon Heath, who led to Billy White and DJ Gay and Kelvin Davis and Ryan Amaroso and Shelton. Now they are where they are, and we'll see where it takes them.
Football coach Chuck Long, in contrast, is barely above Ground Zero in this process. He's managed to find some promising linemen, a quality receiver in Vincent Brown, an interesting tight end in Alston Umuolo and intriguing linebacker Miles Burris. Ryan Lindley is the heir apparent at quarterback.
But there's not much of a build-upon factor for the seniors who played their final game. Quarterback Kevin O'Connell is it. I'm not sure a high school offensive lineman wants to go to San Diego State because he's heard wonderful things about the outgoing quarterback, however.
For the Aztecs program to grow, the Lindleys, Browns, Umuolos and Burrises are going to have to take the field next season and produce. And not just them. For that to happen, the new linemen are going to have to set a new standard of play. With center Trask Iosefa finishing what has to be considered a superb debut season for a freshman at his key spot, the new guys, Tommie Draheim, Leo Grassilli, Kellen Farr and other youngsters in the trenches are going to have to get in there and make a name for themselves over the next four years.
The defensive line, where many got a baptism by fire this season, the sophomores-to-be Ernie Lawson, Peter Nelson, B.J. Williams and Peter Nelson will have to be far stronger next year than they were this.
The only way for Long to even begin to approach where Fisher is in the re-loading process, these new linemen -- along with Lindley -- will need to hold down their jobs for the next three or four years. Hopefully, those years will result in a bowl game or two or more. That way, Long and his staff can recruit their replacements and build them up to where they can start playing as juniors instead of true freshmen.
When the basketball teams were introduced last night and the PA announcer said "in his ninth year, Steve Fisher!" my wife turned to me and said something like "wow, has it been that long?"
Yes, it sure has. We're only now beginning to see the true fruits of his -- and Brian Dutcher's -- labors. It takes that long when you're starting from scratch. When Fisher and Dutcher came here, remember, San Diego State's men's basketball program was arguably the worst major college program in the nation. It can take that long to climb out of such a cellar.
Even with the recent struggles, the football program is not in quite as bad a shape as basketball once was. There is tradition to build on, for one. It may not take Long, Bob Elliott and Del Miller as long as it took Fisher and Dutcher. And even in the basketball buildup, there were two NCAA appearances and two NIT selections. So while football might take some years to reach the same level, there could be a couple minor bowl appearances between now and then.
Many wonder whether Long and his staff have what it takes to see the process through. Of course, Fisher himself has been often questioned by fans over the years. The football coaches seem to be taking Fisher's long-term approach, however. That approach has paid off in hoops, and if Long keeps his eyes down the road, football will get there, too. Someday. Quicker than nine years, hopefully.
More than the continuing mind-bending it takes to get yourself around the concept that SDSU is now a basketball school instead of one known for football.
Under Steve Fisher, the Aztecs this season replaced two of the better players in the history of the school with a score of highly talented newcomers who have made this team the best in the nearly 30 years I've been following them. Top-to-bottom, these kids can flat-out play. Fisher has never had this sort of depth and, it necessarily follows, neither has any prior Aztecs coach.
While it is early yet, in my experience I've never seen the Mountain West Conference or it's WAC predecessor with enough depth to slow a team like this over the course of a 16-game league schedule. A game or two or three? Sure. BYU and Utah with their size will cause some matchup programs, and a college basketball slate is grueling. No question. And you never know what will happen in a short conference tournament. But for this team to not make the NCAA Tournament will be a real disappointment, assuming the health problems end with Tim Shelton's knees. With the right sort of opponent, they could even make a short March Madness run.
That's a little different from where the football team is.
What Fisher has done over the last couple of years is re-stocking. The key part of that is "re." He had some pretty good building blocks in place during this decade and has been able to improve upon them with each recruiting cycle. Randy Holcomb and Aerick Sanders begat Mohamed Abukar and Brandon Heath, who led to Billy White and DJ Gay and Kelvin Davis and Ryan Amaroso and Shelton. Now they are where they are, and we'll see where it takes them.
Football coach Chuck Long, in contrast, is barely above Ground Zero in this process. He's managed to find some promising linemen, a quality receiver in Vincent Brown, an interesting tight end in Alston Umuolo and intriguing linebacker Miles Burris. Ryan Lindley is the heir apparent at quarterback.
But there's not much of a build-upon factor for the seniors who played their final game. Quarterback Kevin O'Connell is it. I'm not sure a high school offensive lineman wants to go to San Diego State because he's heard wonderful things about the outgoing quarterback, however.
For the Aztecs program to grow, the Lindleys, Browns, Umuolos and Burrises are going to have to take the field next season and produce. And not just them. For that to happen, the new linemen are going to have to set a new standard of play. With center Trask Iosefa finishing what has to be considered a superb debut season for a freshman at his key spot, the new guys, Tommie Draheim, Leo Grassilli, Kellen Farr and other youngsters in the trenches are going to have to get in there and make a name for themselves over the next four years.
The defensive line, where many got a baptism by fire this season, the sophomores-to-be Ernie Lawson, Peter Nelson, B.J. Williams and Peter Nelson will have to be far stronger next year than they were this.
The only way for Long to even begin to approach where Fisher is in the re-loading process, these new linemen -- along with Lindley -- will need to hold down their jobs for the next three or four years. Hopefully, those years will result in a bowl game or two or more. That way, Long and his staff can recruit their replacements and build them up to where they can start playing as juniors instead of true freshmen.
When the basketball teams were introduced last night and the PA announcer said "in his ninth year, Steve Fisher!" my wife turned to me and said something like "wow, has it been that long?"
Yes, it sure has. We're only now beginning to see the true fruits of his -- and Brian Dutcher's -- labors. It takes that long when you're starting from scratch. When Fisher and Dutcher came here, remember, San Diego State's men's basketball program was arguably the worst major college program in the nation. It can take that long to climb out of such a cellar.
Even with the recent struggles, the football program is not in quite as bad a shape as basketball once was. There is tradition to build on, for one. It may not take Long, Bob Elliott and Del Miller as long as it took Fisher and Dutcher. And even in the basketball buildup, there were two NCAA appearances and two NIT selections. So while football might take some years to reach the same level, there could be a couple minor bowl appearances between now and then.
Many wonder whether Long and his staff have what it takes to see the process through. Of course, Fisher himself has been often questioned by fans over the years. The football coaches seem to be taking Fisher's long-term approach, however. That approach has paid off in hoops, and if Long keeps his eyes down the road, football will get there, too. Someday. Quicker than nine years, hopefully.
Monday, November 26, 2007
"One Game at a Time" Good for Teams, Not Fans
Just a couple of weeks ago, it seemed that it was the San Diego State football team with the fortunes going up and the Chargers that were trending down. Now it's just the opposite, with SDSU's defense in a shambles and the Bolts getting off the floor with a dominant victory over Baltimore.
However, our opinions, not just me, but those of fans and other commentators, have too often been based on just one game. We might shriek with delight or scream in frustration, but one game just does not tell the story.
Seriously, is Philip Rivers back to being a Pro Bowl quarterback because he torched an opponent that's now lost five straight games? Is Shawne Merriman back to his "Lights Out" play after taking apart what is annually one of the league's weakest offenses?
Some of the trends that have caused the Chargers problems this season still exist. They can't open up holes for LaDainian Tomlinson, and they still can be run on. Granted, running and stopping the run are the strengths of the Ravens.
What we'll need is another couple of weeks to determine whether the Chargers are looking better. The next two Sundays will see them on the road at Kansas City and Tennessee. The Chiefs are awful and are trying to break in a new QB, but beat the Bolts earlier in the season, here. The Titans have lost three games in a row -- none were close -- after winning three straight. If the Chargers are back to being a playoff caliber team, then they'll have their own three-game winning streak by the end of Dec. 9.
At SDSU, the question of whether the Aztecs football team really has made any progress in coach Chuck Long's second season is a legitimate one. They barely edged-out three Mountain West Conference bottom-feeders and beat a 1-AA (I'll never buy into that new NCAA gobbledy-gook for naming divisions) squad that's had a poor season itself. That's compared to three wins all of last year, all over poor MWC teams, and a loss to a good 1-AA team. In sheer numbers, that's not much better. And with conference champ BYU coming to town for the postponed season finale, the Aztecs are looking at a very dubious one-game improvement over 2006.
But there we were back at mid-season, mostly after the come-from-behind win over Wyoming, looking at how much better things were. Now, not so much. If at all. There's much gnashing of teeth by local college football fans over results of the last two weeks.
The problem with the Aztecs defense is pretty simple to explain. The upperclassmen leaders who are regulars are:
-- Nick Osborn, a senior who is a wonderful kid but never became a top-notch defensive end;
-- Ornan Nwansi, a senior nose tackle who played little last year and has been only a part-timer in 2007;
-- Ray Bass, a senior who was spectacular in relief at times last year after transferring and has prevented a number of disasters this season;
-- Russell Allen, a junior linebacker who is by far the leading tackler on the team and the only regular defender with hopes of playing for pay on Sundays.
Everyone else is a sophomore, redshirt freshman or freshman. I'm not just talking about the remaining seven starters. It's the two-deep, the starters and the reserves who come in to play -- frequently when teams like TCU and Air Force are dominating the time of possession.
That's a big problem that won't be solved in a game or two. It's a year, an off-season, getting older, bigger, stronger, faster. And more experienced. It takes time, and a lot of it.
Football, by its nature of being a once-a-week sport, makes fans and scribes prone to examining each contest with a fine-tooth comb, looking for clues as to what went right or wrong, and signs of how things might go in the upcoming game. Basketball and hockey are less so as they play three or four times per week. Baseball, with six games a week on average, is definitely not.
I've often thought that people involved in football need to take more of a baseball-type of perspective on things. For example, I've previously mentioned that Norv Turner should have put Billy Volek in for Rivers when he struggled. A relief pitcher. That doesn't mean Rivers loses his starting job or can't go in a couple of possessions later in the same game. But sometimes in sports, you just don't have it, so the team will be better off with someone else in that spot.
And the same thing comes when you lose a big game in football. Sometimes you lose. Big shock. Sometimes you win. You can't get too low or too high on either circumstance or you lose sight of the big picture.
The big picture for the Chargers is they aren't as good as they seemed at times in 2006, but they're still a legitimate playoff team. For San Diego State, the quality of the team is in its youth, and that takes time to develop.
---
Most of the buzz over the start of the new sports radio station on 1360 AM has been over the return to the market of Lee Hamilton's afternoon program and the Jeff Dotseth-Dave Palet morning show.
However, the best thing I've heard is the increased airtime given to Craig Elfsten, who has been doing a wonderful job as a pre-game and post-game host for SDSU broadcasts and as a fill-in talk show host. His takes on the games are right on the money, especially last weekend with his "prove it" challenge to the claims of improvement for Aztecs football.
I also met him a couple times at Padres functions back in my old Sandiegosportstown.com days and, let me tell you, this is a guy you wish success upon. I think that's coming now.
--
However, our opinions, not just me, but those of fans and other commentators, have too often been based on just one game. We might shriek with delight or scream in frustration, but one game just does not tell the story.
Seriously, is Philip Rivers back to being a Pro Bowl quarterback because he torched an opponent that's now lost five straight games? Is Shawne Merriman back to his "Lights Out" play after taking apart what is annually one of the league's weakest offenses?
Some of the trends that have caused the Chargers problems this season still exist. They can't open up holes for LaDainian Tomlinson, and they still can be run on. Granted, running and stopping the run are the strengths of the Ravens.
What we'll need is another couple of weeks to determine whether the Chargers are looking better. The next two Sundays will see them on the road at Kansas City and Tennessee. The Chiefs are awful and are trying to break in a new QB, but beat the Bolts earlier in the season, here. The Titans have lost three games in a row -- none were close -- after winning three straight. If the Chargers are back to being a playoff caliber team, then they'll have their own three-game winning streak by the end of Dec. 9.
At SDSU, the question of whether the Aztecs football team really has made any progress in coach Chuck Long's second season is a legitimate one. They barely edged-out three Mountain West Conference bottom-feeders and beat a 1-AA (I'll never buy into that new NCAA gobbledy-gook for naming divisions) squad that's had a poor season itself. That's compared to three wins all of last year, all over poor MWC teams, and a loss to a good 1-AA team. In sheer numbers, that's not much better. And with conference champ BYU coming to town for the postponed season finale, the Aztecs are looking at a very dubious one-game improvement over 2006.
But there we were back at mid-season, mostly after the come-from-behind win over Wyoming, looking at how much better things were. Now, not so much. If at all. There's much gnashing of teeth by local college football fans over results of the last two weeks.
The problem with the Aztecs defense is pretty simple to explain. The upperclassmen leaders who are regulars are:
-- Nick Osborn, a senior who is a wonderful kid but never became a top-notch defensive end;
-- Ornan Nwansi, a senior nose tackle who played little last year and has been only a part-timer in 2007;
-- Ray Bass, a senior who was spectacular in relief at times last year after transferring and has prevented a number of disasters this season;
-- Russell Allen, a junior linebacker who is by far the leading tackler on the team and the only regular defender with hopes of playing for pay on Sundays.
Everyone else is a sophomore, redshirt freshman or freshman. I'm not just talking about the remaining seven starters. It's the two-deep, the starters and the reserves who come in to play -- frequently when teams like TCU and Air Force are dominating the time of possession.
That's a big problem that won't be solved in a game or two. It's a year, an off-season, getting older, bigger, stronger, faster. And more experienced. It takes time, and a lot of it.
Football, by its nature of being a once-a-week sport, makes fans and scribes prone to examining each contest with a fine-tooth comb, looking for clues as to what went right or wrong, and signs of how things might go in the upcoming game. Basketball and hockey are less so as they play three or four times per week. Baseball, with six games a week on average, is definitely not.
I've often thought that people involved in football need to take more of a baseball-type of perspective on things. For example, I've previously mentioned that Norv Turner should have put Billy Volek in for Rivers when he struggled. A relief pitcher. That doesn't mean Rivers loses his starting job or can't go in a couple of possessions later in the same game. But sometimes in sports, you just don't have it, so the team will be better off with someone else in that spot.
And the same thing comes when you lose a big game in football. Sometimes you lose. Big shock. Sometimes you win. You can't get too low or too high on either circumstance or you lose sight of the big picture.
The big picture for the Chargers is they aren't as good as they seemed at times in 2006, but they're still a legitimate playoff team. For San Diego State, the quality of the team is in its youth, and that takes time to develop.
---
Most of the buzz over the start of the new sports radio station on 1360 AM has been over the return to the market of Lee Hamilton's afternoon program and the Jeff Dotseth-Dave Palet morning show.
However, the best thing I've heard is the increased airtime given to Craig Elfsten, who has been doing a wonderful job as a pre-game and post-game host for SDSU broadcasts and as a fill-in talk show host. His takes on the games are right on the money, especially last weekend with his "prove it" challenge to the claims of improvement for Aztecs football.
I also met him a couple times at Padres functions back in my old Sandiegosportstown.com days and, let me tell you, this is a guy you wish success upon. I think that's coming now.
--
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Problem With the Chargers? It's Us
If football fans want to know when things began to go south for the Chargers, a good starting point would be this time a year ago. At this point of the 2006 season, the Bolts had scored scintillating comeback victories over the Bengals and Broncos to move to 8-2 and claim sole possession of first place in the AFC West. They would not lose again until that infamous playoff loss to New England.
A year ago. Close to Thanksgiving. That's when we realized just how good the Chargers were, began thinking about a deep playoff run, if not the Super Bowl, and began figuring out just how many players would make it into the Pro Bowl. Turned out it was a lot.
Just before Turkey Day 2007, things are much different. The Bolts are lucky to be 5-5 and tied for first in the division with those same Broncos. If not for two missed field goals by Adam Venitieri of the Colts, they would be a game behind and a long shot for the playoffs that we assumed to be our birthright.
What's gone wrong? After much contemplation I've decided that while there is plenty of blame to be shared, the largest portion belongs to us. That's right, you and me. The fans who wear the powder blue jerseys on weekends. We're joined by fans of teams that lost to the Chargers last year but were impressed. And, of course, the national sports media, which in near-unison proclaimed our team the most-talented in the league. By far.
You know what? We're wrong. All of us. Really wrong. The Chargers are pretty good. Just not that good.
Philip Rivers is pretty good, but doesn't make good decisions under pressure. This is the NFL, so no matter how good your offensive line, you will face pressure when trying to pass. The line, however, is missing a pretty good center in Nick Hardwick. Cory Withrow, his replacement, was much like a statue in Jacksonville on Sunday. Shane Olivea was hurt earlier. I wonder if he is fully recovered. In Minnesota, I saw Marcus McNeil beaten off the edge like I hadn't before. As a unit, they've been unable to open holes for LT. The receiving corps is missing Eric Parker, who was a reliable possession receiver who could keep drives going. Vincent Jackson has not risen to stardom. Buster Davis was a ghost until the second half last week.
The defense has been hit with injuries in two of the three positions on the line. The linebackers terribly miss Donnie Edwards -- a victim of AJ Smith's hubris -- and other recent veterans whom have not been adequately replaced. I don't think anyone envisioned Shaun Phillips as anything other than a situational pass rusher when he was drafted. Now he's a full-time linebacker. The secondary is well, the secondary.
Finally, the coaching. Individual people love Norv Turner. He's been a very successful coach of quarterbacks because of that. A good offensive coordinator, too. If you get close to him and take his message to heart, you'll play quite well. Turner had Alex Smith of all people on the verge of stardom last year and look at him now.
Groups don't respond well to Turner, however. The record is they respond quite poorly to him. As a head coach, you deal with the group far more than you do with individuals. The lack of inspiration from the top is clearly affecting this team.
We fans need to ratchet back our expectations to something more reasonable. This season is not turning in opportunity lost. The opportunity may have been much slimmer in the first place than we realized.
The division could come down to a Christmas Eve night battle at Qualcomm Stadium with the Broncos. The Chargers already have a win against them, and another win would give them the the tiebreaker if they finish with the same record. Otherwise, the team's schedules from here out look comparable.
A year ago. Close to Thanksgiving. That's when we realized just how good the Chargers were, began thinking about a deep playoff run, if not the Super Bowl, and began figuring out just how many players would make it into the Pro Bowl. Turned out it was a lot.
Just before Turkey Day 2007, things are much different. The Bolts are lucky to be 5-5 and tied for first in the division with those same Broncos. If not for two missed field goals by Adam Venitieri of the Colts, they would be a game behind and a long shot for the playoffs that we assumed to be our birthright.
What's gone wrong? After much contemplation I've decided that while there is plenty of blame to be shared, the largest portion belongs to us. That's right, you and me. The fans who wear the powder blue jerseys on weekends. We're joined by fans of teams that lost to the Chargers last year but were impressed. And, of course, the national sports media, which in near-unison proclaimed our team the most-talented in the league. By far.
You know what? We're wrong. All of us. Really wrong. The Chargers are pretty good. Just not that good.
Philip Rivers is pretty good, but doesn't make good decisions under pressure. This is the NFL, so no matter how good your offensive line, you will face pressure when trying to pass. The line, however, is missing a pretty good center in Nick Hardwick. Cory Withrow, his replacement, was much like a statue in Jacksonville on Sunday. Shane Olivea was hurt earlier. I wonder if he is fully recovered. In Minnesota, I saw Marcus McNeil beaten off the edge like I hadn't before. As a unit, they've been unable to open holes for LT. The receiving corps is missing Eric Parker, who was a reliable possession receiver who could keep drives going. Vincent Jackson has not risen to stardom. Buster Davis was a ghost until the second half last week.
The defense has been hit with injuries in two of the three positions on the line. The linebackers terribly miss Donnie Edwards -- a victim of AJ Smith's hubris -- and other recent veterans whom have not been adequately replaced. I don't think anyone envisioned Shaun Phillips as anything other than a situational pass rusher when he was drafted. Now he's a full-time linebacker. The secondary is well, the secondary.
Finally, the coaching. Individual people love Norv Turner. He's been a very successful coach of quarterbacks because of that. A good offensive coordinator, too. If you get close to him and take his message to heart, you'll play quite well. Turner had Alex Smith of all people on the verge of stardom last year and look at him now.
Groups don't respond well to Turner, however. The record is they respond quite poorly to him. As a head coach, you deal with the group far more than you do with individuals. The lack of inspiration from the top is clearly affecting this team.
We fans need to ratchet back our expectations to something more reasonable. This season is not turning in opportunity lost. The opportunity may have been much slimmer in the first place than we realized.
The division could come down to a Christmas Eve night battle at Qualcomm Stadium with the Broncos. The Chargers already have a win against them, and another win would give them the the tiebreaker if they finish with the same record. Otherwise, the team's schedules from here out look comparable.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Peavy Wins Cy Young, Padres Off-season
Jake Peavy of the Padres was a highly deserving and unanimous National League Cy Young Award winner today, after leading the senior circuit in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
I was actually a little nervous about whether Peavy would have won the prize that was rightfully his. Just this week, Ben Braun of Milwaukee won Rookie of the Year over Troy Tulowitzski of Colorado. Braun, who had a fine first season, is half the player that the Rockies shortstop is. Maybe that changes in 2008, but it was the case in 2007, which is what counts. The AL Cy Young vote, which favored Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia, was also controversial.
Plus, the Padres had been screwed before -- recently. I thought Trevor Hoffman was clearly the best pitcher in the league in 2006, but the award went to Brandon Webb of Arizona, who won only 16 games. Hoffman obviously fell victim to anti-reliever bias, something I understand in general, but as in most things in life, there are times when exceptions can be made, and the season before last was one of those occasions.
The question now becomes what to do with Peavy, who is signed through 2009 and will command a heap of money when he becomes a free agent. General Manager Kevin Towers is reportedly in preliminary negotiations with agent Barry Axlerod, which is good to hear. It sounds like both sides have the same goal of keeping the pitcher in San Diego for a long time. The only downside I see is if they go through the winter without coming to any sort of agreement, the story of Peavy's future in San Diego will be front and center all season and could become a major distraction. If the team and agent are smart, even if no agreement is reached, they will all put on smiling faces in April, say their relatively close, and not let Peavy blow his value.
Which brings us to free agency. The Padres have a lot of money available this winter but have a lot of holes to fill. Center field, second base, the back end of the pitching rotation and catching are major holes. Neither Mike Cameron nor Milton Bradley will return.
Plus, an upgrade is necessary in right field, where the play of Brian Giles has been sub-standard for two years running. Khalil Greene was sub-par at shortstop until August. Adrian Gonzalez's second season with the Padres was not as impressive as his first.
But looking at the list of free agents and, well who do you want?
Braves CF Andruw Jones, who hit just .222 last year and will want well into eight figures for a year of services? You know, there's spending money, and there's spending money wisely. Jim Edmonds? Puhleeze! (I almost never write Puhleeze, but the thought of acquiring Edmonds is the right time). Geoff Jenkins in left brings yawns.
Torii Hunter of the Twins has had two straight excellent seasons at the plate, but he wants a five-year deal, and he's 32 years old.
Aaron Rowand of the Phillies makes sense. He's a Gold Glove winner with a decent average each year who inflated his power numbers playing in a bandbox last season.
That's the high point. Players at 2B and C are more likely than not to stay home, unless you want to spend big buck for Paul LoDuca of the Mets, who is injury prone, not great defensively and not a strong clubhouse guy.
Starting pitchers? Let's put it this way. Josh Fogg of the Rockies is listed as the second-best free agent pitcher on Sportsline.com, behind the Angels' Bartolo Colon.
In other words, the free agent market ain't happening, unless the Padres decide to make a splash for Hunter.
If I'm the GM, I think I bite the bullet and spend the newfound cash on what I have. You want to keep Peavy, Chris Young, and Heath Bell around for the next decade. If Kevin Kouzmanoff produces for a full season the way he did in the last 2/3 of 2007, you'll add him to the list of big 2009 contracts.
At catcher, remember it was only a year ago that people were thinking Josh Bard had some real potential. Maybe another year is not out of the question, but when prompted by Lee Hamilton in a radio interview, Peavy did not rise to Bard's defense. So maybe not. It might be time to give Oscar Robles a shot at 2B and let him handle the bat in the eighth position in the batting order.
None of these are great options, I know. But screaming at Kevin Towers to go spend some money is not likely to get you too far. Maybe you can get a Hunter or Rowand and, if so, great. But the number of needs the Friars have lead you to think the solutions are more likely to come from the minor leagues, over a period of several years. Those upcoming seasons might be lean.
---
XTRA Sports 1360 is off to a fine start, by the sound of it, but Lee Hamilton's schtick is still hard on the ears sometimes. "Along the West Coast" is laughable when you can barely receive the station north of Lake Hodges.
And he's still geographically challenged. There is no "East Valley" here. When he says "from North Park to Balboa Park," maybe that's a statement about the station's signal strength, because there's nothing between those two spots. And did I really hear him say "from Del Mar to Duarte?" Huh?
---
Memo to Norv. Play Billy Volek. You don't need to take away Philip Rivers' starting job, or remove him to prove a point. But there's a reason why baseball has relief pitchers. Sometimes in football you just need to put in another guy for a series or two to see what happens. Give Volek that chance.
I was actually a little nervous about whether Peavy would have won the prize that was rightfully his. Just this week, Ben Braun of Milwaukee won Rookie of the Year over Troy Tulowitzski of Colorado. Braun, who had a fine first season, is half the player that the Rockies shortstop is. Maybe that changes in 2008, but it was the case in 2007, which is what counts. The AL Cy Young vote, which favored Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia, was also controversial.
Plus, the Padres had been screwed before -- recently. I thought Trevor Hoffman was clearly the best pitcher in the league in 2006, but the award went to Brandon Webb of Arizona, who won only 16 games. Hoffman obviously fell victim to anti-reliever bias, something I understand in general, but as in most things in life, there are times when exceptions can be made, and the season before last was one of those occasions.
The question now becomes what to do with Peavy, who is signed through 2009 and will command a heap of money when he becomes a free agent. General Manager Kevin Towers is reportedly in preliminary negotiations with agent Barry Axlerod, which is good to hear. It sounds like both sides have the same goal of keeping the pitcher in San Diego for a long time. The only downside I see is if they go through the winter without coming to any sort of agreement, the story of Peavy's future in San Diego will be front and center all season and could become a major distraction. If the team and agent are smart, even if no agreement is reached, they will all put on smiling faces in April, say their relatively close, and not let Peavy blow his value.
Which brings us to free agency. The Padres have a lot of money available this winter but have a lot of holes to fill. Center field, second base, the back end of the pitching rotation and catching are major holes. Neither Mike Cameron nor Milton Bradley will return.
Plus, an upgrade is necessary in right field, where the play of Brian Giles has been sub-standard for two years running. Khalil Greene was sub-par at shortstop until August. Adrian Gonzalez's second season with the Padres was not as impressive as his first.
But looking at the list of free agents and, well who do you want?
Braves CF Andruw Jones, who hit just .222 last year and will want well into eight figures for a year of services? You know, there's spending money, and there's spending money wisely. Jim Edmonds? Puhleeze! (I almost never write Puhleeze, but the thought of acquiring Edmonds is the right time). Geoff Jenkins in left brings yawns.
Torii Hunter of the Twins has had two straight excellent seasons at the plate, but he wants a five-year deal, and he's 32 years old.
Aaron Rowand of the Phillies makes sense. He's a Gold Glove winner with a decent average each year who inflated his power numbers playing in a bandbox last season.
That's the high point. Players at 2B and C are more likely than not to stay home, unless you want to spend big buck for Paul LoDuca of the Mets, who is injury prone, not great defensively and not a strong clubhouse guy.
Starting pitchers? Let's put it this way. Josh Fogg of the Rockies is listed as the second-best free agent pitcher on Sportsline.com, behind the Angels' Bartolo Colon.
In other words, the free agent market ain't happening, unless the Padres decide to make a splash for Hunter.
If I'm the GM, I think I bite the bullet and spend the newfound cash on what I have. You want to keep Peavy, Chris Young, and Heath Bell around for the next decade. If Kevin Kouzmanoff produces for a full season the way he did in the last 2/3 of 2007, you'll add him to the list of big 2009 contracts.
At catcher, remember it was only a year ago that people were thinking Josh Bard had some real potential. Maybe another year is not out of the question, but when prompted by Lee Hamilton in a radio interview, Peavy did not rise to Bard's defense. So maybe not. It might be time to give Oscar Robles a shot at 2B and let him handle the bat in the eighth position in the batting order.
None of these are great options, I know. But screaming at Kevin Towers to go spend some money is not likely to get you too far. Maybe you can get a Hunter or Rowand and, if so, great. But the number of needs the Friars have lead you to think the solutions are more likely to come from the minor leagues, over a period of several years. Those upcoming seasons might be lean.
---
XTRA Sports 1360 is off to a fine start, by the sound of it, but Lee Hamilton's schtick is still hard on the ears sometimes. "Along the West Coast" is laughable when you can barely receive the station north of Lake Hodges.
And he's still geographically challenged. There is no "East Valley" here. When he says "from North Park to Balboa Park," maybe that's a statement about the station's signal strength, because there's nothing between those two spots. And did I really hear him say "from Del Mar to Duarte?" Huh?
---
Memo to Norv. Play Billy Volek. You don't need to take away Philip Rivers' starting job, or remove him to prove a point. But there's a reason why baseball has relief pitchers. Sometimes in football you just need to put in another guy for a series or two to see what happens. Give Volek that chance.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Sports Radio, Aztecs End Vegas Curse
That San Diego tomorrow will have a third all-sports radio station, one led by the enigmatic Lee Hamilton, brings a story of great irony.
Just a few short years ago, Clear Channel ended the sports format on what was known as XTRA Sports 690, meaning that San Diego had no sports radio at all, and Hamilton was relegated to a radio station in Los Angeles. A few months later, John Lynch, the founder of the station years earlier, rode to the rescue with what is now XX Sports 1090, bringing with him a number of former 690 employees, but not Hamilton.
As I was still operating the Sandiegosportstown.com site at the time, I was pretty close to the people who were involved in the sports radio comings and goings. They were not only thrilled at the rescue, but immensely pleased that Hamilton was frozen out of the picture. Now that they were free of Lee, they could go do sports radio the way it should be done. The smug anti-Hamilton jokes flowed freely.
Fast-forward to 2007, and look at who is getting the last laugh. Lee Hamilton.
Lynch's rescue quickly soured, in large part due to a lack of direction at the staff level. I've heard that many on the staff were far more concerned with the next chance to party instead of the next chance to actually work. On-air hosts were rarely at games. The best people they had, Matt Vasgersian, John Fricke and Alan Horton, bailed out as fast as they could. The station is now an unlistenable mess outside of Padres game broadcasts.
Hamilton, meanwhile, stayed the course with Clear Channel, eventually shifted to KOGO to file morning and afternoon sports reports and put himself in position to work on San Diego State football broadcasts. Monday he will be the prime talk show host on the new sports radio station. He has ingratiated himself with Aztecs fans by posting regularly on the Aztectalk.com site, is the top sports voice for a radio outfit that carries Chargers games -- which would have been unheard-of years ago -- and made up with Ted Leitner after a long-running feud. Leitner, who spent several years at 1090, is obviously aware of how things are.
Hamilton also made national news and gained well-deserved empathy with his daring and close escape from the Witch Creek Fire, which damaged his Rancho Bernardo home.
Not long ago, Hamilton was the butt of jokes. Now he's back where he belongs, hosting a sports show in San Diego and giving us the "best damn 15 minutes of radio there is."
How long the man remains on top is up to him, and his managers. Many of the anti-Hamilton sentiments had an element of truth. I made some comments about the way Hamilton did business myself, and I hope he's changed his ways.
Many of those items listed in his infamous show-opening 15 minutes were old enough to be in the morning newspaper, and in the Internet age, are certainly too stale to be given to a modern audience. Same with his "high-speed sports wire," which gave "news" that was hours old. His pitiful begging for telephone callers and haranging of local sports fans was often pathetic -- a display that he'd lost his audience, not that there was something wrong with that audience.
He also frequently presented taped interviews as if they were live. One time, there was an event at San Diego State that many reporters -- myself included -- covered. Hamilton was there. I knew what was said and by whom. To hear it played on the radio THREE WEEKS later was a shock, even by Lee Hamilton standards.
Let's hope those days are over. The show-opening headlines and the high-speed sports wire have to be fresh. He has to respect his audience, which is far more in-touch and sophisticated than when he started doing radio. And if he tapes an interview -- which is often because his show airs when most teams practice -- just say he taped it earlier in the day. People are okay with it, just be honest.
Everyone is on Lee Hamilton's side now, so let's hope he's worthy. As much as the pendulum has come back his way now, it could easily drop away again.
---
San Diego State's struggles in football over the years have included a heavy dose of bad karma to go along with the poor play, ineffective coaching and bad recruiting decisions. So often SDSU came into a season with high hopes, only to have a returning starter at QB go down to injury in the first game or two. Or one of Ted Tollner's last years, when some favored SDSU to win the Mountain West, but nearly every offensive lineman was hurt a month into the season.
Or, looming large in the minds of fans Saturday night, the bizarre 44-42 nightmare loss at UNLV in 1996, which cost the Aztecs a bowl game. The Aztecs entered that game with eight wins and had just beaten a ranked and unbeaten Wyoming team. UNLV was winless and terrible. And SDSU, a reasonable defensive team, could not stop the Rebels that day in a contest that resembled a bunch of buddies slinging the ball around at the neighborhood park. Peter Holt, a reliable placekicker, missed a last-second field goal that would have saved the season.
So maybe Saturday night's 38-30 win over UNLV is a sign of changing fortunes. After State took a quick 21-0 lead over a dispirited and disorganized Rebels' squad, Bad Karma raised its ugly head and tried everything possible to sandbag the Aztecs chances of victory.
A short-but-strong running back the Aztecs held in check in the first half suddenly started bouncing off defenders like a pachinko ball on his way to long gains. The secondary gave up a long touchdown pass on 3rd and 22. The offense that sparkled in the first 30 minutes went three-and-out on the first two possessions and QB Kevin O'Connell threw an interception on the third -- a pass that bounced off the intended receiver's hands. UNLV closed to within 21-17.
Previous Aztecs teams would have, at worst, collapsed like a house of cards or, at best, might have prevailed in a shootout.
Instead, this happened. Mekell Wesley ran back a kickoff 88 yards for a TD and a 28-17 lead. UNLV scored again to cut their deficit, but inexplicably went for two-point and had the ball swatted away by an Aztec defensive back. Note that it was a UNLV coach making a bonehead call and an Aztec defender making a positive play.
The offense then got in gear and drove for a field goal. UNLV was held to three-and-out their next possession and, while State had a poor offensive possession that only took a minute off the clock, Martell Fantroy picked off a pass and broke several tackles while running it back 55 yards for the clinching score at 38-23. UNLV added its final points on a Hail Mary pass with 7 seconds left.
San Diego State still displays a lot of youthful inexperience, from letting down after taking the big lead to allowing that last Rebels TD.
But they didn't let Bad Karma kill them this time, like previous teams. This was not a good UNLV team, and it should not have beaten SDSU. And they didn't.
Maybe we really are entering a new era of Aztecs football. Fans have been tired not just of losing to teams better than ours, but losing in weird ways to teams that we should have taken care of. The win in Las Vegas might be a sign that things are getting better.
Now it's on to Air Force, a team that has eight wins under new coach Troy Calhoun including Saturday's 17-point victory over Notre Dame in South Bend, an impressive feat despite the Irish' 1-9 record. We can take our chances on talent. Nice to know that Bad Karma might be out of the way.
Just a few short years ago, Clear Channel ended the sports format on what was known as XTRA Sports 690, meaning that San Diego had no sports radio at all, and Hamilton was relegated to a radio station in Los Angeles. A few months later, John Lynch, the founder of the station years earlier, rode to the rescue with what is now XX Sports 1090, bringing with him a number of former 690 employees, but not Hamilton.
As I was still operating the Sandiegosportstown.com site at the time, I was pretty close to the people who were involved in the sports radio comings and goings. They were not only thrilled at the rescue, but immensely pleased that Hamilton was frozen out of the picture. Now that they were free of Lee, they could go do sports radio the way it should be done. The smug anti-Hamilton jokes flowed freely.
Fast-forward to 2007, and look at who is getting the last laugh. Lee Hamilton.
Lynch's rescue quickly soured, in large part due to a lack of direction at the staff level. I've heard that many on the staff were far more concerned with the next chance to party instead of the next chance to actually work. On-air hosts were rarely at games. The best people they had, Matt Vasgersian, John Fricke and Alan Horton, bailed out as fast as they could. The station is now an unlistenable mess outside of Padres game broadcasts.
Hamilton, meanwhile, stayed the course with Clear Channel, eventually shifted to KOGO to file morning and afternoon sports reports and put himself in position to work on San Diego State football broadcasts. Monday he will be the prime talk show host on the new sports radio station. He has ingratiated himself with Aztecs fans by posting regularly on the Aztectalk.com site, is the top sports voice for a radio outfit that carries Chargers games -- which would have been unheard-of years ago -- and made up with Ted Leitner after a long-running feud. Leitner, who spent several years at 1090, is obviously aware of how things are.
Hamilton also made national news and gained well-deserved empathy with his daring and close escape from the Witch Creek Fire, which damaged his Rancho Bernardo home.
Not long ago, Hamilton was the butt of jokes. Now he's back where he belongs, hosting a sports show in San Diego and giving us the "best damn 15 minutes of radio there is."
How long the man remains on top is up to him, and his managers. Many of the anti-Hamilton sentiments had an element of truth. I made some comments about the way Hamilton did business myself, and I hope he's changed his ways.
Many of those items listed in his infamous show-opening 15 minutes were old enough to be in the morning newspaper, and in the Internet age, are certainly too stale to be given to a modern audience. Same with his "high-speed sports wire," which gave "news" that was hours old. His pitiful begging for telephone callers and haranging of local sports fans was often pathetic -- a display that he'd lost his audience, not that there was something wrong with that audience.
He also frequently presented taped interviews as if they were live. One time, there was an event at San Diego State that many reporters -- myself included -- covered. Hamilton was there. I knew what was said and by whom. To hear it played on the radio THREE WEEKS later was a shock, even by Lee Hamilton standards.
Let's hope those days are over. The show-opening headlines and the high-speed sports wire have to be fresh. He has to respect his audience, which is far more in-touch and sophisticated than when he started doing radio. And if he tapes an interview -- which is often because his show airs when most teams practice -- just say he taped it earlier in the day. People are okay with it, just be honest.
Everyone is on Lee Hamilton's side now, so let's hope he's worthy. As much as the pendulum has come back his way now, it could easily drop away again.
---
San Diego State's struggles in football over the years have included a heavy dose of bad karma to go along with the poor play, ineffective coaching and bad recruiting decisions. So often SDSU came into a season with high hopes, only to have a returning starter at QB go down to injury in the first game or two. Or one of Ted Tollner's last years, when some favored SDSU to win the Mountain West, but nearly every offensive lineman was hurt a month into the season.
Or, looming large in the minds of fans Saturday night, the bizarre 44-42 nightmare loss at UNLV in 1996, which cost the Aztecs a bowl game. The Aztecs entered that game with eight wins and had just beaten a ranked and unbeaten Wyoming team. UNLV was winless and terrible. And SDSU, a reasonable defensive team, could not stop the Rebels that day in a contest that resembled a bunch of buddies slinging the ball around at the neighborhood park. Peter Holt, a reliable placekicker, missed a last-second field goal that would have saved the season.
So maybe Saturday night's 38-30 win over UNLV is a sign of changing fortunes. After State took a quick 21-0 lead over a dispirited and disorganized Rebels' squad, Bad Karma raised its ugly head and tried everything possible to sandbag the Aztecs chances of victory.
A short-but-strong running back the Aztecs held in check in the first half suddenly started bouncing off defenders like a pachinko ball on his way to long gains. The secondary gave up a long touchdown pass on 3rd and 22. The offense that sparkled in the first 30 minutes went three-and-out on the first two possessions and QB Kevin O'Connell threw an interception on the third -- a pass that bounced off the intended receiver's hands. UNLV closed to within 21-17.
Previous Aztecs teams would have, at worst, collapsed like a house of cards or, at best, might have prevailed in a shootout.
Instead, this happened. Mekell Wesley ran back a kickoff 88 yards for a TD and a 28-17 lead. UNLV scored again to cut their deficit, but inexplicably went for two-point and had the ball swatted away by an Aztec defensive back. Note that it was a UNLV coach making a bonehead call and an Aztec defender making a positive play.
The offense then got in gear and drove for a field goal. UNLV was held to three-and-out their next possession and, while State had a poor offensive possession that only took a minute off the clock, Martell Fantroy picked off a pass and broke several tackles while running it back 55 yards for the clinching score at 38-23. UNLV added its final points on a Hail Mary pass with 7 seconds left.
San Diego State still displays a lot of youthful inexperience, from letting down after taking the big lead to allowing that last Rebels TD.
But they didn't let Bad Karma kill them this time, like previous teams. This was not a good UNLV team, and it should not have beaten SDSU. And they didn't.
Maybe we really are entering a new era of Aztecs football. Fans have been tired not just of losing to teams better than ours, but losing in weird ways to teams that we should have taken care of. The win in Las Vegas might be a sign that things are getting better.
Now it's on to Air Force, a team that has eight wins under new coach Troy Calhoun including Saturday's 17-point victory over Notre Dame in South Bend, an impressive feat despite the Irish' 1-9 record. We can take our chances on talent. Nice to know that Bad Karma might be out of the way.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Turnarounds in Football
It can't accurately be said -- yet -- that this weekend's football results for San Diego State and the San Diego Chargers represent turnarounds, but both teams appear to be just entering the long curve and starting to rotate the steering wheel. For the Aztecs, it's a good thing. Not so for the Bolts.
SDSU's 27-24 comeback victory over Wyoming was the best Aztecs game at Qualcomm Stadium in about 11 years, probably since that scintillating 28-24 conquest of an undefeated and ranked Cowboys team in 1996, which I've listed as one of the programs Top 10 all-time wins.
State began the season with a small, young and confused defense that couldn't stop anyone. There were some baby steps of improvement, but in the past few weeks, it's become apparent that this unit can stop most of the teams in the Mountain West Conference. That's light years ahead of where it was at the beginning of the season.
The offense, unfortunately, has not improved at all. In fact, it has probably regressed somewhat. The offensive line was expected to be a weak point, and it remains so: unable to generate a running game and barely unable to protect QB Kevin O'Connell. If the senior signal-caller didn't have some of the best legs in college football, he'd be dead. O'Connell, who was pretty good at the beginning of the season, missed on 12 straight passes before offensive coordinator Del Miller had his troops go into a no-huddle attack. That played right to O'Connell's leadership strengths and forced him into a passing rhythm. Look for more of that in the week ahead.
Cautious optimism? Of the people who played key roles in the win, CB Vonnie Holmes, LB Russell Allen and DE Siaosi Fifita are juniors; WR Roberto Wallace, LB Luke Laologi, CB Aaron Moore and DE Jonathan Soto are sophomores; and S Martrell Fantroy, RB Brandon Sullivan, LB Andrew Preston, C Trask Iosefa and WR Vincent Brown -- who caught the winning TD -- are freshmen. There's a lot of good college football to come at The Q in future seasons.
Not so sure about whether pro football will be similarly good.
The Chargers not only got blown out in a 35-17 embarrassment at what had been a 2-5 Minnesota squad, but their defense got blown off the ball. Rookie RB Adrian Peterson did not gain 296 yards rushing all by himself. The Vikings offensive line physically dominated the Chargers front seven in a manner rarely seen in the NFL, let alone against the traditionally stingy Bolts.
This, even with the Vikings offering very little in the way of a passing threat behind QB Brooks Bollinger. In it's first seven games, the Vikes had scored more than 17 points just twice.
The Chargers were just as weak on offense. Against a defense that had distinguished itself against the run, but was vulnerable to the pass, QB Philip Rivers was 19-42 throwing for just 197 yards. RB LaDainian Tomlinson gained 2.5 yards per rush.
The Chargers were outscored 28-3 in the final half-hour. Ugly.
Waving goodbye to a three-game winning streak against bad teams, the Chargers are now 4-4 and face a slate that includes Indianapolis, at Jacksonville, Baltimore, at Kansas City where they rarely play well, at Tennessee and home against improved Detroit. They're tied in the standings with Kansas City, which will own the tiebreaker if they beat the Chargers in their rematch.
Suddenly, where once the only important thing for the Chargers was to make the Super Bowl, the chances of just making the playoffs are beginning to dim.
For both the Aztecs and the Chargers, the curve leading to the turnaround -- both good and bad -- is just beginning. Both could change course quickly: the Aztecs will be in trouble if O'Connell can't get back to his early-season accuracy and if an improved defensive line has trouble with large blockers of TCU or BYU, of if the Las Vegas curse rears its head for a third time; the Chargers if the play of the lines improve and if coach Norv Turner can show some guts and pull Rivers in favor of Billy Volek when the offense stalls.
Anyway, this is why the play the games on the field instead of on paper, I suppose. Teams, and opponents, are always in a state of flux, moving up and down. Turnarounds are always much closer than we think.
SDSU's 27-24 comeback victory over Wyoming was the best Aztecs game at Qualcomm Stadium in about 11 years, probably since that scintillating 28-24 conquest of an undefeated and ranked Cowboys team in 1996, which I've listed as one of the programs Top 10 all-time wins.
State began the season with a small, young and confused defense that couldn't stop anyone. There were some baby steps of improvement, but in the past few weeks, it's become apparent that this unit can stop most of the teams in the Mountain West Conference. That's light years ahead of where it was at the beginning of the season.
The offense, unfortunately, has not improved at all. In fact, it has probably regressed somewhat. The offensive line was expected to be a weak point, and it remains so: unable to generate a running game and barely unable to protect QB Kevin O'Connell. If the senior signal-caller didn't have some of the best legs in college football, he'd be dead. O'Connell, who was pretty good at the beginning of the season, missed on 12 straight passes before offensive coordinator Del Miller had his troops go into a no-huddle attack. That played right to O'Connell's leadership strengths and forced him into a passing rhythm. Look for more of that in the week ahead.
Cautious optimism? Of the people who played key roles in the win, CB Vonnie Holmes, LB Russell Allen and DE Siaosi Fifita are juniors; WR Roberto Wallace, LB Luke Laologi, CB Aaron Moore and DE Jonathan Soto are sophomores; and S Martrell Fantroy, RB Brandon Sullivan, LB Andrew Preston, C Trask Iosefa and WR Vincent Brown -- who caught the winning TD -- are freshmen. There's a lot of good college football to come at The Q in future seasons.
Not so sure about whether pro football will be similarly good.
The Chargers not only got blown out in a 35-17 embarrassment at what had been a 2-5 Minnesota squad, but their defense got blown off the ball. Rookie RB Adrian Peterson did not gain 296 yards rushing all by himself. The Vikings offensive line physically dominated the Chargers front seven in a manner rarely seen in the NFL, let alone against the traditionally stingy Bolts.
This, even with the Vikings offering very little in the way of a passing threat behind QB Brooks Bollinger. In it's first seven games, the Vikes had scored more than 17 points just twice.
The Chargers were just as weak on offense. Against a defense that had distinguished itself against the run, but was vulnerable to the pass, QB Philip Rivers was 19-42 throwing for just 197 yards. RB LaDainian Tomlinson gained 2.5 yards per rush.
The Chargers were outscored 28-3 in the final half-hour. Ugly.
Waving goodbye to a three-game winning streak against bad teams, the Chargers are now 4-4 and face a slate that includes Indianapolis, at Jacksonville, Baltimore, at Kansas City where they rarely play well, at Tennessee and home against improved Detroit. They're tied in the standings with Kansas City, which will own the tiebreaker if they beat the Chargers in their rematch.
Suddenly, where once the only important thing for the Chargers was to make the Super Bowl, the chances of just making the playoffs are beginning to dim.
For both the Aztecs and the Chargers, the curve leading to the turnaround -- both good and bad -- is just beginning. Both could change course quickly: the Aztecs will be in trouble if O'Connell can't get back to his early-season accuracy and if an improved defensive line has trouble with large blockers of TCU or BYU, of if the Las Vegas curse rears its head for a third time; the Chargers if the play of the lines improve and if coach Norv Turner can show some guts and pull Rivers in favor of Billy Volek when the offense stalls.
Anyway, this is why the play the games on the field instead of on paper, I suppose. Teams, and opponents, are always in a state of flux, moving up and down. Turnarounds are always much closer than we think.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
San Diego State Football Frustration
Frustration is rife among those involved with San Diego State football, based on Internet posts, postgame comments and talk show calls following Saturday night's 20-17 last-second home loss to New Mexico.
Conservative play-calling, an ill-timed fumble by quarterback Kevin O'Connell and a win-preventing prevent defense all drew ire and blame for the loss, which dropped the Aztecs to 2-5 overall, and 1-2 in what's turning out to be a typically weak Mountain West Conference.
Ordinarily, fans of the red and black would be pleased with coming close against a team which had won the previous six meetings, and led last year's game 24-0 after just one quarter in Albuquerque. However, the Aztecs led this year's meeting nearly the entire way and had the ball several times in the second half with a chance to stretch their advantage to two touchdowns. That would have put the game away.
Alas, O'Connell's fumble on a run that otherwise would have resulted in a first down with under two minutes left in the game and would have sealed victory gave the Lobos a last chance at victory. They seized the opportunity. The Aztecs did not, which is why they lost.
And that's why we fans spent late-Saturday night frustrated.
But frustration in this program is actually a step up from where it once was. In 2006, the Aztecs lost that match with New Mexico 47-14. They fell to Texas Christian 52-0. They were similarly uncompetitive in losses to San Jose State, Brigham Young and Utah. They dropped a contest to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, for goodness sakes!
This year, things are better. Much better. They've been blown out just twice, to Washington State and Cincinnati, schools which just aren't out of their conference but at the moment out of their league, thanks to the hated BCS. They played very well in Tempe against an Arizona State squad that remains undefeated and is tied for the Pac-10 lead. They won in the final seconds on the road at Colorado State in difficult weather conditions -- leaving Rams fans feeling then like we do today. While they lost at Utah, their defense for the first time displayed the strides that were apparent last night.
Then came the New Mexico game. For the first time in about a decade, a San Diego State coach out-game planned and out-prepared the Lobos staff. The offensive line did not allow a sack after giving up 12 the previous two weeks. The defense kept an efficient quarterback and the conference's leading rusher bottled up most of the night, the only exceptions being drives against the prevent defense late in each half.
The bottom line is that the Aztecs are back to being competitive again in the Mountain West. That means games will be relatively close and some will come down to the wire, like last night, so mistakes like O'Connell's fumble, a worthless prevent defense and a failure to go for it on fourth and one at midfield in the third quarter will be magnified. Just as O'Connell's interception at Utah turned out to be huge. Just as his scramble on the game-winning drive in Fort Collins that led to a key third down conversion pass to Brett Swain was the play of that game.
So when we win these games, we'll celebrate and all will be right with the world. When we lose, our blood pressure goes up and we point to all kinds of individual things that happened throughout a game that maybe, by themselves, contributed to a heart-sickening loss.
Me, I'll take a couple doses of frustration over what I felt last year. And, to be honest, what I felt again while watching the Cincinnati game.
I know now that we can compete with BYU and Wyoming in the next two weeks and believe we should win one of those games. If all goes well, maybe we win both. We'll see. This team remains greatly undermanned, but with recruiting going well and some youngsters stepping up, that's something that won't last much longer.
---
A lot of fans appear to be blaming the New Mexico loss on coach Chuck Long and his staff. In such a close call, as noted above, it's easy to point at some individual failure and say it cost us the game. Most of the ire goes to conservative play calling that resulted in 12 runs and 6 passes in the fourth quarter, or that third quarter decision not to go for it on fourth down.
None of it would have mattered if O'Connell hadn't fumbled. Okay, maybe I'm pointing at just one thing, but the game was over if he'd protected the ball. It's just how the plot line went. It's magnified.
Really, though, San Diego State football fans should be pleased with this coaching staff in two of the three main areas of their duties: their game-planning and their Monday-Friday work of recruiting and changing the character of their losing program. Considering the resources they have available, they've been tremendous in those areas.
The last remaining area is game management. On Saturdays, between the opening kickoff and the final gun, these coaches have often resembled Keystone Kops. They've needed timeouts after TV timeouts. In the New Mexico game, a problem in the secondary required a timeout, before the first play of the fourth quarter!
There's been three fourth-and-shorts in the past couple games in which this staff has decided not to go for it. Hard to say whether their decisions were correct. Considering they've lost the last two games, maybe they were not. At some point, though, they are going to have to show some confidence in their players, or their athletes -- who have fought hard loss after loss -- might give up on their coaches. Which would be a shame.
Conservative play-calling, an ill-timed fumble by quarterback Kevin O'Connell and a win-preventing prevent defense all drew ire and blame for the loss, which dropped the Aztecs to 2-5 overall, and 1-2 in what's turning out to be a typically weak Mountain West Conference.
Ordinarily, fans of the red and black would be pleased with coming close against a team which had won the previous six meetings, and led last year's game 24-0 after just one quarter in Albuquerque. However, the Aztecs led this year's meeting nearly the entire way and had the ball several times in the second half with a chance to stretch their advantage to two touchdowns. That would have put the game away.
Alas, O'Connell's fumble on a run that otherwise would have resulted in a first down with under two minutes left in the game and would have sealed victory gave the Lobos a last chance at victory. They seized the opportunity. The Aztecs did not, which is why they lost.
And that's why we fans spent late-Saturday night frustrated.
But frustration in this program is actually a step up from where it once was. In 2006, the Aztecs lost that match with New Mexico 47-14. They fell to Texas Christian 52-0. They were similarly uncompetitive in losses to San Jose State, Brigham Young and Utah. They dropped a contest to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, for goodness sakes!
This year, things are better. Much better. They've been blown out just twice, to Washington State and Cincinnati, schools which just aren't out of their conference but at the moment out of their league, thanks to the hated BCS. They played very well in Tempe against an Arizona State squad that remains undefeated and is tied for the Pac-10 lead. They won in the final seconds on the road at Colorado State in difficult weather conditions -- leaving Rams fans feeling then like we do today. While they lost at Utah, their defense for the first time displayed the strides that were apparent last night.
Then came the New Mexico game. For the first time in about a decade, a San Diego State coach out-game planned and out-prepared the Lobos staff. The offensive line did not allow a sack after giving up 12 the previous two weeks. The defense kept an efficient quarterback and the conference's leading rusher bottled up most of the night, the only exceptions being drives against the prevent defense late in each half.
The bottom line is that the Aztecs are back to being competitive again in the Mountain West. That means games will be relatively close and some will come down to the wire, like last night, so mistakes like O'Connell's fumble, a worthless prevent defense and a failure to go for it on fourth and one at midfield in the third quarter will be magnified. Just as O'Connell's interception at Utah turned out to be huge. Just as his scramble on the game-winning drive in Fort Collins that led to a key third down conversion pass to Brett Swain was the play of that game.
So when we win these games, we'll celebrate and all will be right with the world. When we lose, our blood pressure goes up and we point to all kinds of individual things that happened throughout a game that maybe, by themselves, contributed to a heart-sickening loss.
Me, I'll take a couple doses of frustration over what I felt last year. And, to be honest, what I felt again while watching the Cincinnati game.
I know now that we can compete with BYU and Wyoming in the next two weeks and believe we should win one of those games. If all goes well, maybe we win both. We'll see. This team remains greatly undermanned, but with recruiting going well and some youngsters stepping up, that's something that won't last much longer.
---
A lot of fans appear to be blaming the New Mexico loss on coach Chuck Long and his staff. In such a close call, as noted above, it's easy to point at some individual failure and say it cost us the game. Most of the ire goes to conservative play calling that resulted in 12 runs and 6 passes in the fourth quarter, or that third quarter decision not to go for it on fourth down.
None of it would have mattered if O'Connell hadn't fumbled. Okay, maybe I'm pointing at just one thing, but the game was over if he'd protected the ball. It's just how the plot line went. It's magnified.
Really, though, San Diego State football fans should be pleased with this coaching staff in two of the three main areas of their duties: their game-planning and their Monday-Friday work of recruiting and changing the character of their losing program. Considering the resources they have available, they've been tremendous in those areas.
The last remaining area is game management. On Saturdays, between the opening kickoff and the final gun, these coaches have often resembled Keystone Kops. They've needed timeouts after TV timeouts. In the New Mexico game, a problem in the secondary required a timeout, before the first play of the fourth quarter!
There's been three fourth-and-shorts in the past couple games in which this staff has decided not to go for it. Hard to say whether their decisions were correct. Considering they've lost the last two games, maybe they were not. At some point, though, they are going to have to show some confidence in their players, or their athletes -- who have fought hard loss after loss -- might give up on their coaches. Which would be a shame.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
USD Basketball
The University of San Diego men's basketball team, now relegated to fourth-class status by the football, baseball and women's hoops squads, has been predicted by The Sporting News to finish sixth in the West Coast Conference in this upcoming inaugural season for new head coach Bill Grier. League coaches were more charitable, picking the Toreros third behind perennial power Gonzaga and Saint Mary's.
That the basketball team would have been upstaged by not one, but three other teams on campus -- none of them with soccer in their name -- would not have been figured four years ago, when the Toreros won the WCC Tournament and nearly knocked off Stanford in the NCAA Tournament. Even though everyone realized that graduation losses from that group would hurt then-coach Brad Holland's team the next season, no one knew that still another loss -- Corey Belser to injury -- would result in a 4-win season.
The basketball team never really recovered from that disaster. Potential recruits are often willing to give smaller programs a look, but especially when one has sudden success, they want to know that you're not just a flash-in-the-pan. Okay, you won big this year, but is there any gas left in the tank. For the Toreros, their fuel-level went to empty in that run to March Madness, and there were no gas stations in the neighborhood. Holland became the proverbial man walking down the freeway shoulder with a gallon emergency-tank in his hand.
Holland managed 18 wins last year, but the Toreros were just 6-8 in the WCC and were never really a post-season threat. Only two current players, F Gyno Pomare and G Brandon Johnson, would have seen floor time on that Toreros conference championship team.
I was very sorry to see Holland fired. I liked Brad Holland. I saw him when he was joyful and saw him when he was mad. I asked him tough questions he didn't like and he answered them. Maybe begrudgingly. But we knew where each other stood, so the disappointments he sometimes faced and were forced to talk about did not impact our relationship.
It's kind of funny, sports fans often hold college and pro coaches on some sort of pedestal, like they're so much different from us. But it's not necessarily true. One day right as preseason practice was about to start, I went to see Holland at the Jenny Craig Pavilion so I could get a feel for his team and pass along to you, my readers, what he seemed to have that year.
We walked from the floor of the arena and back to his office. We sat down and before I fired away with my questions, he punched the "play" button on his answering machine. His wife left a message reporting that she'd run an errand to some store in Rancho Bernardo and had driven over a curb in a parking lot and struck something. He hung his head and slowly shook it, crestfallen. His wife said not to worry, everyone was okay, but they had to get the car fixed.
I laughed and told him it was nice to see how similar our lives were.
As much as I was sorry to see him go, I hope that other opportunities open up for him, in basketball or some other endeavor. I haven't heard what he's doing now. That he was fired is sad because the act, and the stigma associated with it, are quite harsh. Undeserved in his instance.
My experience is that sometimes situations simply come to an end. Firing someone connotates wrongdoing, certainly not a factor in Holland's case. But as fate smiled on him in 2003 and some prior seasons, it did not afterward. The Toreros men's basketball team -- the school's lone athletic revenue-producer -- had stopped being a viable commodity in the local entertainment market, and it had slipped behind those other sports in status on its own campus. By March of this year, it was just simply over, and time for everyone to move on.
---
Those who read the old Sandiegosportstown.com will remember my fondness for Toreros women's stars Amanda Rego and Amber Sprague, the alums from Mission Bay High School. This season will be the last to see the childhood friends play together, for Rego is a senior and Sprague, whose college career has been beset by injury, is a redshirt junior.
Rego led the nation with an average of 7.6 assists per game last year and was named the WCC Co-Player of the Year. While she was productive her first two seasons, it was her junior year in which she finally blossomed into a star. Far from the rail-thin pony-tailed teeny-bopper who fired up left-handed threes in a vain effort to keep pace with powerful Santana High in a CIF playoff game as a prep freshman, Rego is now a mature 5-10 and 21 years old. How the time flies.
She can shoot, is a great passer, and is in control of the game. Once, in high school, playing a game vs. Rancho Bernardo High at the JCP, I was along the baseline getting some of those awful photographs I used to take. A Broncos player makes a basket. Rego takes the ball as it falls from the net and, in one smooth motion, steps out of bounds, looks down at me, smiles, says "Oh, hi there," in-bounds the ball and heads downcourt. That was a girl in charge of her environment.
Maybe it was no surprise that Rego had her breakout year last season, because it was the first time Sprague had a full season in college, and she ended up being All-WCC herself. She missed the previous year entirely, redshirting in a bid to regain health. She's grown to 6-5, which is the sort of thing you deal with when you play Tennessee or UConn, not USD. She will once again -- if healthy -- dominate conference games in the paint.
From the moment I became aware of their existence, covered their games and a couple of times interview them, I went to few basketball games in which those two were not in attendance. They are hoops junkies on par with Dick Vitale. Their success, and that of their team, which won the regular season WCC title under coach Cindy Fisher, came through a lot of hard work and much passion for the game.
It's absolutely worth it to head out to the JCP at some point this season to watch them play together for the last time.
That the basketball team would have been upstaged by not one, but three other teams on campus -- none of them with soccer in their name -- would not have been figured four years ago, when the Toreros won the WCC Tournament and nearly knocked off Stanford in the NCAA Tournament. Even though everyone realized that graduation losses from that group would hurt then-coach Brad Holland's team the next season, no one knew that still another loss -- Corey Belser to injury -- would result in a 4-win season.
The basketball team never really recovered from that disaster. Potential recruits are often willing to give smaller programs a look, but especially when one has sudden success, they want to know that you're not just a flash-in-the-pan. Okay, you won big this year, but is there any gas left in the tank. For the Toreros, their fuel-level went to empty in that run to March Madness, and there were no gas stations in the neighborhood. Holland became the proverbial man walking down the freeway shoulder with a gallon emergency-tank in his hand.
Holland managed 18 wins last year, but the Toreros were just 6-8 in the WCC and were never really a post-season threat. Only two current players, F Gyno Pomare and G Brandon Johnson, would have seen floor time on that Toreros conference championship team.
I was very sorry to see Holland fired. I liked Brad Holland. I saw him when he was joyful and saw him when he was mad. I asked him tough questions he didn't like and he answered them. Maybe begrudgingly. But we knew where each other stood, so the disappointments he sometimes faced and were forced to talk about did not impact our relationship.
It's kind of funny, sports fans often hold college and pro coaches on some sort of pedestal, like they're so much different from us. But it's not necessarily true. One day right as preseason practice was about to start, I went to see Holland at the Jenny Craig Pavilion so I could get a feel for his team and pass along to you, my readers, what he seemed to have that year.
We walked from the floor of the arena and back to his office. We sat down and before I fired away with my questions, he punched the "play" button on his answering machine. His wife left a message reporting that she'd run an errand to some store in Rancho Bernardo and had driven over a curb in a parking lot and struck something. He hung his head and slowly shook it, crestfallen. His wife said not to worry, everyone was okay, but they had to get the car fixed.
I laughed and told him it was nice to see how similar our lives were.
As much as I was sorry to see him go, I hope that other opportunities open up for him, in basketball or some other endeavor. I haven't heard what he's doing now. That he was fired is sad because the act, and the stigma associated with it, are quite harsh. Undeserved in his instance.
My experience is that sometimes situations simply come to an end. Firing someone connotates wrongdoing, certainly not a factor in Holland's case. But as fate smiled on him in 2003 and some prior seasons, it did not afterward. The Toreros men's basketball team -- the school's lone athletic revenue-producer -- had stopped being a viable commodity in the local entertainment market, and it had slipped behind those other sports in status on its own campus. By March of this year, it was just simply over, and time for everyone to move on.
---
Those who read the old Sandiegosportstown.com will remember my fondness for Toreros women's stars Amanda Rego and Amber Sprague, the alums from Mission Bay High School. This season will be the last to see the childhood friends play together, for Rego is a senior and Sprague, whose college career has been beset by injury, is a redshirt junior.
Rego led the nation with an average of 7.6 assists per game last year and was named the WCC Co-Player of the Year. While she was productive her first two seasons, it was her junior year in which she finally blossomed into a star. Far from the rail-thin pony-tailed teeny-bopper who fired up left-handed threes in a vain effort to keep pace with powerful Santana High in a CIF playoff game as a prep freshman, Rego is now a mature 5-10 and 21 years old. How the time flies.
She can shoot, is a great passer, and is in control of the game. Once, in high school, playing a game vs. Rancho Bernardo High at the JCP, I was along the baseline getting some of those awful photographs I used to take. A Broncos player makes a basket. Rego takes the ball as it falls from the net and, in one smooth motion, steps out of bounds, looks down at me, smiles, says "Oh, hi there," in-bounds the ball and heads downcourt. That was a girl in charge of her environment.
Maybe it was no surprise that Rego had her breakout year last season, because it was the first time Sprague had a full season in college, and she ended up being All-WCC herself. She missed the previous year entirely, redshirting in a bid to regain health. She's grown to 6-5, which is the sort of thing you deal with when you play Tennessee or UConn, not USD. She will once again -- if healthy -- dominate conference games in the paint.
From the moment I became aware of their existence, covered their games and a couple of times interview them, I went to few basketball games in which those two were not in attendance. They are hoops junkies on par with Dick Vitale. Their success, and that of their team, which won the regular season WCC title under coach Cindy Fisher, came through a lot of hard work and much passion for the game.
It's absolutely worth it to head out to the JCP at some point this season to watch them play together for the last time.
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