“We’re gonna get one.”

I’m glad Rivers doesn’t get over playoff losses, however keeping Tweety and going back with the same D-Line (Ian Scott was resigned today along with Boone and Johnson) doesn’t inspire my confidence.

I’m not sold that Merriman will be better.  Larry English?  I read an “anonymous” bit in Pro Football Weekly comparing AJ to Beathard with picks that seem to want to prove something.  It was in the “Whispers” section that is attributed to NFL coaches and executives.  Simply put, it said English beat inferior players in college with his speed but that won’t work in the pros.

Is anyone secure in the belief that we are going to draft a “stud” RB in this draft?  We certainly didn’t draft a thumper at LB.

I love Rivers, but I also know that his W-L and TD-INT in the playoffs will be the standard he is judged by unless (or until) we win it all.  In the home losses to Baltimore and Denver (as well as the loss in the playoffs), he had trouble under pressure.  Was that due to our lack of a run game?  Lorenzo Neal is becoming quite the Chatty Cathy to LT’s Tiki Barber act.  We didn’t run all year and then tried to do it in the biggest game of the season?  I thought going for balance was the right call, but clearly we got no where on the ground.

LT can have the worst year of his career but if he does ANYTHING in a postseason game en route to a title that is all anyone will remember.  How about this team creates its own championship legend?

Shamrocks and Shakedowns,

Ross

“There would be no greater place than to bring a championship to the city of New York,” says LaDainian Tomlinson.  I agree, LT but only to the Charger fans in it.  If all this wasn’t enough, Jim Steeg announced he is leaving The Organization as of March 31.  If nothing else, now I have no way to replace the LT autographed football which is now in my shed.  If LT does win a ring on another team, I will destroy that ball.  I kid you not.

Well, most Jet fans are as cynical about their team as I am ours.  However, they looked like they did a lot more with their talent last season than we did ours.  What does that mean for this season?  Absolutely nothing.  Of course, if LT should join Eli Manning and Drew Brees and win a Super Bowl with any team before it’s all said and done, it will simply illuminate the fact that we have not.  Don’t think for one second that I am suggesting that I have any complaint with Philip Rivers.  Sheli has not won a playoff game before or after the Giants’ magical four game playoff run.  But the one thing AJ Smith is right about is that no one can take a Super Bowl championship away from you.

Some people might want to see LT get to the Super Bowl.  If you know me at all, you know I am not one of them.  But I am not going to huddle in fear of that happening.  The issue is that we have not.  Him winning or another local (for me) team getting a parade would just be more salt in the wound.  I am sure LT will have a lot more to say about what is wrong with the Chargers in the future.  The issue is, as I said on Friday, are we trying to fix it.  AJ cannot talk about winning and behavior being the bottom line and allow guys who implode on and off the field to be Chargers for more than “one year at a time.”  I’m not sure if Thomas Jones or Brady Quinn being in our division now will have any effect on what we do from September to December.  I do know that only one end result matters for the Chargers.  Right know, this all feels like another punch in the gut.  However, it’s still within the Bolts’ power to make it better.

In the future, I am sure LT will talk about the great enthusiasm of the fans and the excitement of being in the center of the NY media malestorm.  Again, that only comes from winning.  The joy comes in having the hope that you will be on that podium.  That’s what we all want.  I know the Justice League remains as commited as ever to that goal.  We may not always agree on how to acheive it, but we all are hoping for the same thing.

Crazy rooster crowin’ midnight, Balls of lightin’ roll along
Old men sing about their dreams, Women laugh and children scream
And the band keeps playin’ on.

Let’s pull in that driveway,

RLW

PS  I will never watch LT’s farewell press conference any more than I will Jon Runyan’s campaign speech.  As much as I love some of our players, you’re on one side or the other.

I snatched this pic off ESPN’s “Page Two” from I assunme immediately after the playoff loss.  By this time, I assume you have heard or heard about AJ Smith’s radio interviews(on 1090, 1360 and I believe Sirius)  He didn’t say anything that surprised me.  However, I give 1090’s Darren Smith credit for asking AJ most of what I would have wanted to know.  Did this team become unglued in the playoffs?  (Made uncharacertisic mistakes and missed field goals)  What about Tweety? (He’s very confident in Kaeding although he was disappointed in his performance in playoff game. Believes he is mentally tough enough)  Is the line good enough for another running back?  (He believes so)  He also suggested that Cromartie was on the trading block for some time and that his off field stuff and lack of tackling had nothing to do with his departure.

Of course what AJ says and what AJ does are usually two different things.  On Tweety, I stumbled upon this piece from right before his latest and greatest meltdown.  I know, I’m just torturing myself.  But The Organization’s message appears to be mixed or just hollow.  In his 1090 interview, AJ flatly states that the reason we haven’t won a Super Bowl is that “we aren’t good enough.”  We’ll be good enough when we do it, he argues.  I get it.  It’s all about the results.  But why haven’t we done it?  Actually, it’s not that we haven’t won the Super Bowl that most concerns me.  It’s that we imploded before we ever gave ourselves a chance.  Could we have beaten any of the teams in the playoffs if we gotten out of the first round?  We’ll never know and that is my issue. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently what was once called Grateful Dead Ticket Sales still remembers my years of patronage as they gave me the first seat in the first row of Radio City Music Hall for Bobby and Phil’s Furthur show a few weeks back.  I didn’t snap this pic, but it shows the Wall of Sound backdrop they projected at the show.  I’m sure you recognize it from every installment of this wonderful project I have called JUSTICE IS COMING.  I was looking at some of my final comments before the playoff loss in my “Justice Files Redux Deluxe” column today.  The Chargers actually failed to realize anything I predicted during their four quarters of playoff football.  Everything they accomplished in 2009 was predicated on them learning from the mistakes of the past.  In the end, they proved they haven’t learned a fucking thing.  All year long, we marveled at the way this team was keeping its cool (including the kicker) during crunch time.  I wrote before that the game that the Jets might beat us, but that we weren’t going to lose.  In other words, we wouldn’t implode.  Boy, was I wrong.  What’s worse is that when I hear guys like Vincent Jackson and Merriman shrug off our latest defeat with comments like “we just didn’t make the plays we were used to making,” I don’t see them learning from this failure either.  VJ should have showed a little more regret towards the police as well, apparently.  Shawne Merriman is complaining about his “high tender” offer and thinking about donating his salary?  These guys just don’t get it.  When LT said that guys were talking about their contracts before games, I don’t think he’s lying.

Which brings us to “L’Affaire LT.”  Don’t get me wrong, FAITHFUL READER.  I don’t think that we should have paid LaDainian Tomlinson his scheduled 2010 salary.  But the fact that we were all forced watch LT’s career in San Diego, despite AJ Smith’s promise to the contrary, end in vain is yet another sickening chapter in recent Charger history.  When I saw twenty powder blue #21 jerseys in the bargain bin at a local sports store while Drew Brees’ jersey was proudly display in the window, it really hit home what a shitty spot we are in.

Read the rest of this entry »