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Nado Natterings |
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weekly column by David Axelson |
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25 August 2010 Issue #34
Prior to launching into a discussion regarding the San Diego Chargers, the 2010 edition, let’s review the rules regarding exhibition season NFL football. The results don’t matter. Okay, that’s ‘rule’ singular. When the starters aren’t on the field, what happens on the scoreboard doesn’t reflect any present or future reality.
It would be akin to watching the Lakers without Kobe, Pau, Derek, Ron and Andrew on the floor. The rest of the team still have ‘Lakers’ across their chest, but they are largely irrelevant. Interchangeable parts, if you will.
My lasting memory of the Dallas game Saturday night will be the fumble return by Cowboys safety Barry Church, who had a convoy of blockers in front of him, seemingly on his way to an 88-yard return for a touchdown. Play-by-play announcer Ron Pitts said during the play, that Charger quarterback Philip Rivers was the only player standing between Church and the end zone. My immediate reaction was, “Yeah, right,” thinking Rivers would do the sensible thing and sprint in the direction away from Church so that he and the Chargers nascent season would live on.
Rivers instead made a football play, tackling Church on the eight yard-line, delaying for a couple of plays an eventual Cowboy touchdown. If you enjoy hard-nosed football, Rivers made a fine play. Unless you are a closeted (backup quarterback) Billy Volek fan and want to see good old No. 7 under center for the next 5 months, then it was potentially the bonehead play of the entire preseason by Rivers. Think Chargers Head Coach Norv Turner had a few choice words for Rivers? Bet that he did.
A few trends seemed to emerge from the game that might be construed as positive signs. Featured rookie running back Ryan Mathews has what future Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson unfortunately no longer has, which are young, speedy legs. Mathews is the real deal and look for No. 24 jerseys to sprout in profusion in and around Qualcomm Stadium in the coming weeks. Mathews still must learn how to use his offensive line effectively, a part of the running game that Tomlinson also had to learn. Let your blockers deal with the opposing linebacker and then take off for a big gain.
Staying on the offensive side of the ball, Coach Turner called a nice play for diminutive running back Darren Sproles early on, a swing pass that got Sproles into space and earned the Chargers 24 yards. Later Sproles tried a couple of runs into the line and it was the 5-foot, 6-inch back that coughed up the fumble that led to Rivers’ feat of derring-do.
Tight end Antonio Gates appears to be healthy and has returned to receiving stud-dom. Wide receiver Malcom Floyd’s fine play is creating tremors in the Vincent Jackson holdout camp.
On the defensive side of the ball, the starting line seems to be neutralizing the opposition’s running game thus far. However, the Chargers’ first exhibition opponent the Chicago Bears are a below-average offensive team and the Cowboys lost two starters to their offensive line due to injuries in practice last week. The San Diego linebacker corps seems to be solid and the defensive backs look to be playing with a newfound unity and purpose now that former Charger Antonio Cromartie has his feet located 2,500 miles away from SoCal, now firmly entrenched on the Eastern Seaboard.
On the player front, the trends seem to be positive. If the Chargers were a stock, I would buy. They will miss holdout offensive tackle Marcus McNeil before the season is over, despite the constant palaver from the announcing team covering the game to the contrary. An NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint and the Chargers depth at the critical offensive left tackle is non-existent. Mathews, with about two-thirds of a game total of NFL experience, missed a blocking assignment which left Rivers badly exposed to an onrushing Cowboys lineman early in the game. With a veteran offensive line in front of Mathews and Rivers, that mistake is less likely to occur.
In past columns, I have beaten up on Play-by-Play man Pitts and color analyst Billy Ray Smith, apparently to no avail. They are still bad and the broadcast instantly morphed into a three-hour, extended play San Diego Charger commercial. Objectivity officially went out the window at 6:01 pm Saturday evening. But, with the aid of DVR and the ability to speed through the paid commercials, as opposed to the on-going, in-game ‘Go Bolts!’ commercial, it was a pleasant way to spend 45 minutes over the weekend.
Outlook is Positive for CHS Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams
Islander Head Cross Country Coach George Green provides ‘Natterings’ readers with a pre-season profile of his program. “Both the Boys' and Girls' Cross Country Teams are poised for great seasons this year with the girls returning as CIF champs and the boys fielding a much-improved team that could surprise last year's top finishers at both the League and CIF Final.
Even though the girls' squad lost two of their top runners to graduation, in Sallie Privett and Adie Davies, they're still the team to beat at the CIF championships where they'll be gunning for their third consecutive title.
The five girls returning from the 2009 championship squad are Annie Lovering (who was last year's CIF Division IV champion), Sadie Gimber, Nicole Davies, Meg Sweeney and Ashley Engleman. This group is currently ranked by ESPN Rise as being among the top 10 percent of all California girls cross country squads from any division, and among the top few teams statewide in Division IV.
Also looking strong are two letter winners from last season Maddy Danielson and Mollie Privett. Other athletes who could make an impact include Elise Umanski, Madison McBride, Mary Grace Braun, Sydney Swanson and Sierra Smith.
The Boys' team looks really strong up front with last year's top three runners returning. Ryan Keeney was All-CIF last year, Aryan Shay made a huge improvement in track where he clocked 1:58.6 for 800 meters, and Will Funk switched from lacrosse to track last spring and, after a summer of training, appears to be ready for a breakthrough season.
The rest of the varsity squad is up for grabs but there are several runners who could
make the cut. It's a bit early to know for sure, but these runners include Nate Wilson, Jack Gold, Carlos Montez, Ryan Herrmann, Georgios Takos and Paul Rodriguez.
The team meets every school day at 3 pm at the high school track, but we don't run there. If you're interested in joining the team see our website at islandertrack.com or stop by the track after school at 3pm.”
CHS Sports Calendar for the Weekend
Starting Friday, August 27, there will be three consecutive days of major sporting events at Coronado High School, as the 2010-11 Islander sports season gets underway. That evening, Coronado will host the Kickoff Classic doubleheader, with La Jolla Country Day playing Hoover at 5:30 pm. Following that game, the Coronado Islanders will play Francis Parker at 8 pm.
Saturday the CHS Boys Water Polo program will host the 5th Annual Coach Draz Classic at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center. The all-day event will consist of 10 games, several of which include the best teams in San Diego County.
The Draz Classic schedule is: Del Norte vs. Serra at 8:30 am; Mt. Carmel vs. La Jolla Country Day at 9:35 am; Westview vs. Eastlake at 10:40 am; Grossmont vs. Rancho Bernardo at 11:45 am; University City vs. Rancho Buena Vista at 12:50 pm; Torrey Pines vs. Scripps Ranch 1:55 pm; La Jolla vs. Granite Hills at 3:00 pm; Carlsbad vs. Cathedral Catholic, 4:05 pm; The Bishop’s School vs. Vista at 5:10 pm; and Poway vs. Coronado at 6:15 pm.
To complete the weekend, Sunday, August 29, the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center will be the site of a water polo clinic for both parents and players from the ages of 13-18 years old.
The player portion of the clinic will cost $75 per player, with instruction to be provided by UCLA Women’s Water Polo Coach Brandon Brooks and UCLA Men’s Coach Adam Wright. The player clinic will begin registration at 9 am and the clinic itself will run from 10 am to 3 pm.
From 10 to 11 am, a parent clinic will be conducted by Coronado Head Boys Coach Randy Burgess and college coaches in a classroom setting. The topic will be “The Realities of the College Process for the High School Student-Athlete.” This element of the clinic will cost $35 per parent.
Group discounts are available by contacting Coach Burgess at rbpolo@gmail.com. Net proceeds from the clinics will be directed to a fund to assist with lifeguard staffing expenses for the “Learn to Swim” aquatics classes conducted by the Coronado Unified School District.
Sports Before ESPN
Sports history is now effectively delineated as what occurred before the founding by Bill Rasmussen of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) in 1978 and what happened afterwards. ESPN is itself promulgating this shortened sense of history with their “30-on-30” series, which highlights major sporting events that occurred only during the relatively short life of the network.
In the past few months, I was twice in conversations with sports fans roughly my age, when the topic turned to college football. I grew up in a suburb of Kansas City and we were inundated with Big Eight Conference football, including the University of Oklahoma.
Which leads me to this thought provoking question; ‘How crazy would ESPN have gone with the Oklahoma Sooners’ 47-game winning streak from 1953-57, if they had been on the air to cover it?’
Under Head Coach Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners outscored their opponents by an average of 34.5 to 5.9 points per game. Sooners from Wilkinson down to and including the last man on the Oklahoma roster would have received air time on the ESPN Family of Networks.
If the Sooners’ streak had occurred during ‘modern’ times, ESPN may even have broken into their wall-to-wall coverage of The Brett Favre Comeback Story - Part IV. My favorite part of said coverage was ESPN showing the live landing of Favre’s private plane at a private airport in Minnesota. Except the initial live shot featured a close-up of a plane he wasn’t actually on.
I wonder if that footage will be used in an updated installment of “31-on-31” or the “ESPN Producer Gets Fired” special coming soon. It is guaranteed that the highest ranking guy not in the room when that management meeting was held got the axe, so to speak.