Denver ... Sucks!

What a game!  I like Peyton Manning, but did he have to sign up with a team in my Chargers' division?  So, have to root against him, and of course, Denver.

Great game, though.  Glad Denver was knocked off.

Junior Seau Had A Degenrative Brain Disease

There was much speculation after Seau committed suicide, especially the manner in which he did so.  He went the way many other NFL players went  by suicide, not shooting in the head.  Since Seau left his brain to science, and after an autopsy, the following was revealed:

The former N.F.L linebacker Junior Seau had a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma when he committed suicide in the spring, the National Institutes of Health said Thursday.

The findings were consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease widely connected to athletes who have absorbed frequent blows to the head, the N.I.H. said in a statement. Seau is the latest and most prominent player to be associated with the disease, which has bedeviled football in recent years as a proliferation of studies has exposed the possible long-term cognitive impact of head injuries sustained on the field. 

Read more of the article here.

Let The Firing Begin!

San Diego Chargers President Dean Spanos finally ran out of wiggle room.
Coach Norv Turner and general manager A.J. Smith had to go.

Spanos fired Turner and Smith on Monday after a season of stunning come-from-ahead losses left the Chargers out of the playoffs for the third straight season, not to mention the fan anger that was turning to apathy and leaving thousands of unsold seats at many home games.

Thank goodness.  I let my feelings be known by this post back in November 2008, and I have felt that the Chargers would continue to decline under Norv Turner and A.J. Smith.  Hell, letting LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles get away seriously pissed me off.

Here's hoping that a new coach will help re-build the team that Turner destroyed. 

Junior Seau, RIP 5/2/12

“

He wasn't just a football player, he was so much more. He was loved by everyone in our family, our organization and throughout the NFL. This is just such a tragic loss. One of the worst things I could ever imagine. My prayers go out to Junior's family. It's heartbreaking.

” --Chargers president Dean Spanos

I am at a loss for words on this. Junior Seau was one of my favorite players of all time, but more so because he was a Charger, and being a fan since 1979 ...

I did find it interesting to read that Junior's death is the ninth eighth death of the only Charger team to play in the Super Bowl.

I just can't figure out if it really was suicide. The man was eternally happy and up. He had his foundation, he loved the San Diego area, and was truly loved by the fans and the locals. He was also not concussion prone in his career, so I feel we can rule that out.

Sad day for all of us that love football, the Chargers and Junior. RIP, bro.

The "Fleecing" Of Minnesota Citizens By NFL

The rich never, ever, run out of ideas to screw the non-rich. I am copying the post from Think Progress verbatim, as cutting it up will now give the full impact of the deviousness nor the duplicity of the NFL (the "rich") stealing money from the non-rich, in this instance, the citizens of Minnesota. Guess there's a reason I don't root for the Vikings, and now I have another reason not to root for them.

In an egregious example of how professional sports can be little more than a “glorified real estate scam,” the owners of the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings are about to fleece an unwilling Minnesota public for hundreds of millions of dollars, as they push to secure public subsidization of a new stadium. A deal is reportedly “imminent.”

Real estate developer Zygi Wilf and five partners bought the team in 2005 for a reported $600 million. (The franchise is now valued at $796 million.) From the get-go, Wilf and his partners wanted what every owner in the NFL wants: a new stadium.

The Metrodome opened in 1982 and is certainly not the newest and most lavish in the league, but there are eight stadiums that are older. And Minnesota voters clearly do not want to pay for a new stadium using public funds. A February 3 poll sponsored by KSTP-TV in Minneapolis found that a whopping 68 percent of Minnesota voters think the new stadium should be built “entirely with private financing.” Only 22 percent believed that any tax dollars should be used at all.

Even more astounding, these results came after a six-figure ad campaign paid for by the Vikings to try to drum up support for financing the stadium.

So leave it to Minnesota’s politicians to find a way around the public will. Gov. Mark Dayton (D) has been out front on the stadium issue and is doing everything he can to get a new stadium built. “We’re at the five yard line and its first and goal, and I think we’ve got a great opportunity,” Dayton recently said.

But in 1997, Minneapolis voters overwhelmingly passed a referendum stating that voters must approve any plan to spend more than $10 million on a sports facility. Given that a referendum today would obviously fail, how is the governor going to get a stadium built in downtown Minneapolis? By exploiting a loophole, of course.

In the latest stadium proposal, at least $300 million in Minneapolis taxes already devoted to paying off the city’s convention center would be diverted to pay the city’s share of the new stadium. And to circumvent the requirement that voters approve funding for the stadium, Dayton’s top stadium negotiator, Ted Mondale, explained that a newly created “stadium authority” would spend the city’s money, rather than the city itself.

So despite the fact that the Minneapolis public voted to require a public referendum before financing any new stadium, and has made it clear that it doesn’t want a new stadium in this case, Minnesota’s governor and state legislature appear poised to spend $300 million in taxes on one anyway by creating a new entity out of thin air that is not subject to the referendum law.

The NFL is making money hand over fist, but the public is expected to pay the costs of providing a (lavish new) place for NFL teams to play, socializing the costs of the sport while privatizing the profits.

At Least The Giants Won

I cannot stand Tom Brady. It's not personal, though. It started a few years back when the Chargers had to get past Tom to get to the Super Bowl. And all I heard for days and days was "Brady" this and "Brady" that. I got so sick and tired of hearing just how much better Brady is/was than Phil Rivers that I just grew to hate the guy.

I also won a few bucks at the local watering hole's pick a square pool. Although I didn't win as much as I bet (lost $25 on the overall squares picked), it was still fun to be, again, a winner in the bar's football pool.

I guess it's back to hockey now.

Giants YAY!

My second favorite NFL team are the Giants, which is weird considering the fact that Eli was initially drafted by the Chargers but refused to play for them on the advice of his father. That begat the Chargers Philip Rivers, who is my FAVE at the moment! So, I am glad for the trade. However, the Chargers still just do not quite get there, year after year ...

Anyway, Super Bowl match up -- Giants vs. New England.

See Ya Tebow, Stone Cold Steve Austin Can Keep His 3:16

FINALLY, no more Tebow! It was bad enough when last week he threw for 316 yards with an average completion of 31.6 yards, given his favorite Bible verse is John 3:16. Take that, Steve Austin! And here's what Austin had to say about Tebow:

However, after the win over Pittsburgh, Austin talked about Tebow and the Bible verse. See, not only did Tebow win the game in overtime, but he threw for 316 yards in the game. Since he only completed ten passes on the day, his average per completion was 3.16 yards. Did I mention that Tebow's favorite receiver, Demaryius Thomas was born on Christmas Day?

How about the fact that the overtime television rating was 31.6? Or the fact that the only interception Ben Roethlisberger threw in the game was on 3rd-and-16?

All that is freaky enough but it all is probably just coincidence. Austin is betting his cash cow on that as well.

"I'm no football analyst or a real religious person, but I think he's a great role model for young kids and I wish him the best," Austin said. "So yeah, if he can throw for another 316 yards and beat the New England Patriots, the '3:16' is all his."

See ya!!! I guess "god" did not want you to win this week. :(

More Posts To Come Soon, I Promise!

I have not posted much politically during this holiday season, despite the plethora of comical (as in Republican debates, etc.) and interesting (as in new laws in effect as of 1/1/12) and stupid (as in Republican debates, etc. -- oops, does that count twice?) to actually post on.

However, now that the holidays are over, tree ready to be tossed this weekend, Christmas decorations ready to be put away and regular stuff put back into place, I will resume my regular posting.

One funny thing that happened over the holidays, though, was this ad site (that was real, trust me) singling out my blog and offering to pay me for the right to put some advertisements on. Now I have already seen this company's work with placement of ads on some really big blogs, so to say I was somewhat impressed they thought enough of my content to want to place adverts on my site and pay me per advert is an understatement! However, as we discussed further, and I indicated I did not use Pay Pal for payments (and never would), that I did not have a bank account, and that I hated WalMart so if they put a WalMart ad on my site, I might have to make fun of it ... suddenly NO MORE contact from the company.

Ha, ha. Well ... it's not like I was going to get rich off of this, what with my 25 regular readers (although I sometimes get more hits from the googlebot that still has not finished hashing my blog).

Anyway, it's FOOTBALL playoff time. So, tell me who you think is going forward after Sunday, and/or who is going all the way?

Football Win Bet ... Am I The Real Sports Pig?

I don't usually play betting pools re sports, but at my new watering hole, they have straight up pick the winners of all the games each week (not based on under/over or point spreads). I won last week, but had to stay at the bar on Monday to see who won that game to determine if someone tied me, which no one did. Tonight, I walked into the bar, and they simply handed me the money. I had picked 13 correct teams to win and no one was close so that it didn't matter who won tonight, I would still have the best record. Sweet!

Everyone wants to sit next to me when I put my bet in on 10/6, LOL. We shall see! I told my readers I am a sports pig ... now I am proving it. Who walks into the betting arena and is handed the prize before the last game is played? ME....!!!!

P.S. If you were wondering what happened last night with the "no pre-game show" with Hank Williams, Jr., it was pulled because of this segment that aired earlier in the day on Fox News:

NFL Opening 2011 !!!

So, where will YOU be Thursday?

Ah, Football Season

Wow, it's 117 outside in Phoenix for the Chargers vs. Cardinals game? I'm sweating just thinking about this!

"Some teams can't score fast. The Chargers can." (quoting one of the announcers) And if you were watching the game, they came back fast and ended up with the win. Arizona led pretty much the entire game. However, second stringers came on strong and Billy Volek tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Bryan Walters with only 3 seconds to play.

That's my Chargers!

Boston Takes The Cup 2011 Style!

After everything is said about playoff games, whatever sport, and the plethora of images of the "losing" teams' (and sometimes the winning teams') fans rioting in the streets, I bring you Vancouver, after their loss.


Thomas was superb, and he deserved the Conn Smythe Trophy (um for those that don't know what that is, it is the MVP of the series).

Me loves me sum hockey!

What a way for Mark Recchi to end his career, eh?

This is when I generally start to get my groove on with football, but ... are we going to actually have a season?????

First Round Of Wild Card Playoffs

Tough teams to pick someone to root for, given my Chargers were not one of them.

I picked Seattle over New Orleans, and the Jets over the dreaded Colts (despite how much I like Peyton). So, I'm batting 1,000 thus far. Let's see how tomorrow plays out.

Well, My Chargers Sucked It Big Time, And Are Out Of The Picture

They couldn't punt the ball more than a few yards, couldn't pass, tried to run it more than they should have, and basically, in December, are out of play-off contention.

Another year in my 31 year history of being a fan that I end up hating football (until the Super Bowl, which I watch no matter who is in it).

Deck The Halls, Er, The Tree!

Mercedes and her friend, Armen, went and got a tree for me and decorated it. We were supposed to have Zaire on Sunday to do the decorating, but as usual, the "father's family" refused to let him be with me. They seem to be ok with letting Mercedes have visits, but they have absolutely refused to abide by the court orders that say I can have unmonitored visits (as I am a monitor). I'm really getting tired of this crap.

Well, as I am typing this post, my daughter told me that the "other family" told her I can have Zaire on Saturday. We shall see if they follow through on that, or find a reason to cancel it on Friday! LOL ... not.

Meanwhile, work is a bitch this week. Our tenth annual Christmas party is on for Thursday, and as usual, I am the party planner. This year, we hired a bartender and a waitress. My boss, though, forgot to order the tables and chairs, so I scrambled all day today to try to find someone to rent me chairs and tables in like two days. Sheesh! On top of the party being Thursday (we have karaoke machine as well as booze, a lethal combination haha) I have my beloved Chargers playing Thursday Night Football, on the NFL Network, which of course, cable doesn't carry (it's only on Dish) so I'm trying to find friends who will be watching the game, or find a bar near my house to watch the game. And yeah, I'm ditching my office party early to go watch the game!

Chargers Kicked Some Colts' Butt Tonight!

Chargers kicked some serious butt out of Indianapolis tonight. As usual, the other team marched right down the field and scored the first goal, and with Peyton Manning at the helm (despite his loss last week against the Patriots), I still cringed.

But, Philip Rivers is on par, so it seems, to break some records this year. He's already number one in a few categories, despite the poor start, and the mediocre standings. At least we are only behind Kansas City in our division (Kansas City, really?), with our 6-5 record (K.C. is 7-4, Oakland is 5-6 and Denver is 3-8). I do believe the next three games are at San Diego, and they are against our division rivals.

My spirits were definitely lifted watching my Chargers kick some ass tonight!

What Is Wrong With My Chargers????

I really don't understand the problems that the Chargers are having this season. The sacks, the fumbles, the blocked punts ... everything that is a football nightmare has happened to this team. They are down 2-4 in the standings, and are on the losing end of this game with New England, with sacks, botched kick-offs, and interceptions. And let's not get started on the overall penalties since the beginning of the season.

Yet, their stats in passing and some others, are rather phenomenal for a team that is sucking this bad thus far in the season.

Chargers Not Off To Good Start

Ouch. The game today was a disaster. In under five minutes, the Raiders had 12 points, all created by the defense. Two punts were blocked, one for a safety, one run in for a touchdown. Then a field goal.

The team appears to not be doing well this season on the road, although it has been seven years since the Raiders beat the Chargers ...

IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON, BABY!

Some interesting games today. I watched three, the Giants' home opener (they won), the Green Bay game (they won), and currently watching the Redskins (with new quarterback McNabb) lead Dallas by six points with a minute left to go.

And Detroit -- that, to me, was a touchdown, damn it! Sorry, dudes.

Tim Tebow was a bust tonight, despite all the hoopla. Oh, and Peyton took a beating as well, tee hee!

The season opened last Thursday, and my beloved Chargers will play on an ESPN double header Monday Night Football.

Man I love the smell of pigskin in the morning!