Al Bianchi is former NBA (Seattle) and ABA (Virginia) head coach and a long time assistant with the Phoenix Suns. He has a blog and the other day he wrote this:
"With football now in full swing, have you noticed that the playersf pants are getting shorter? So, now, we have basketball shorts getting longer while football pants are getting shorter. I donft know what to make of it all but it might be food for thought c"
I hadn't really noticed but yesterday I was watching the Swabbos play the Catholics (Swabbos put up a good fight, but eventually the Catholics prevailed 41-24) and I noticed some of the Notre Dame players' pants barely made it to their knees. Like Al I have no idea what it's all about but it must mean something. :headscratch:
SAN DIEGO -- Mark Fabiani, point person for the San Diego Chargers on their stadium issue, stated what's been expected here and around the NFL for several months: The team plans to file for relocation to Los Angeles when the league opens the application window in January.
"At this point yes, because there's no sign that the other team or teams are not going to file," Fabiani told The Mighty 1090 AM radio show. "Everyone assumes all three teams will file, and in that case we can't afford to lose our market in Los Angeles and Orange County.
"As you know, 25 percent of our season-ticket business comes from those markets. So we have to be able to protect those markets. That's why as a last resort we went out and created the certain option we now have in Los Angeles. And if everything is moving ahead, we're not going to be standing on the sidelines and watching everything go by. We've got to stay in the game to protect the future of the franchise."
The Chargers, the Oakland Raiders and the St. Louis Rams are all expected to file relocation papers in January, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney told The Los Angeles Times earlier this month.
So I wonder which one of those teams will be the loser, i.e. end up in Los Angeles.
The city of San Diego has no one to blame but itself if the Chargers move. The issue of a new stadium has been a focal point of negotiations between the city and the Chargers for well over a decade. While the Spanos family, who own the team, have made a well intentioned effort to get a deal done, the city has not. Basically the Chargers have run out of patience, and I don't blame them for moving. The current stadium is a disgrace.
Re: Raiders. They would be by far the L.A. fan favorite for moving. Tons of Raiders fans in Southern California. The Hispanic community (are they the majority now in the L.A. basin?) love the Raiders. The Rams and the Chargers combined wouldn't have the fan base that Raider Nation possesses in Southern California.
So, can we just pick the best players for all three teams and make on super team?
Chargers, Raiders and Rams file for relocation
As expected, the St. Louis Rams, San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have submitted applications for relocation to Los Angeles.
Monday was the first day the organizations were eligible to petition the league, as required by the NFL Policy and Procedures for Proposed Franchise Relocations.
The NFL released the following statement:
"The applications will be reviewed this week by league staff and three league committees that will meet in New York on Wednesday and Thursday -- the Los Angeles Opportunities, Stadium, and Finance committees. The applications will be presented for consideration at next week's league meeting in Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday. The relocation of a franchise requires the affirmative vote of three-quarters of the NFL clubs (24 of 32)."
The Chargers released a statement of their own, outlining the reasons for this action:
"We have tried for more than 14 years, through nine separate proposals and seven different mayors, to create a world-class stadium experience for fans in San Diego. Despite these efforts, there is still no certain, actionable solution to the stadium problem. We are sad to have reached this point."
The Rams' statement was more elemental:
"The St. Louis Rams informed the National Football League today that the Rams propose to relocate to the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. The relocation would be effective for the 2016 NFL League Year."
The Raiders were the last to release a statement:
"In accordance with the relocation policies, the Oakland Raiders submitted a relocation package to the NFL. The matter is now in the hands of the NFL's owners. An owners' meeting is scheduled to take place in Houston, Texas on January 12 and 13, 2016."
Bud Grant also gave one of my favorite quotes of all time: "A good coach needs a patient wife, a loyal dog, and a great quarterback. But not necessarily in that order."
So we have our two Super Bowl participants. Most folks expect another Bronco blowout.(Meaning the Broncos are going to get blown out) While I was watching Carolina beat up on the Cardinals I was thinking the Cardinals have never had much success ever so I looked up on Wiki and they are basically the Chicago Cubs of the NFL. Which is kind of ironic since they started in Chicago. From Wiki:
The team was established in Chicago in 1898 and was a charter member of the NFL in 1920. Along with the Chicago Bears, the club is one of two NFL charter member franchises still in operation since the league's founding. (The Green Bay Packers were an independent team until they joined the NFL in 1921). The club then moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1960 and played in that city through 1987 (sometimes referred to as the "Football Cardinals" or the "Big Red" to avoid confusion with the Major League Baseball St. Louis Cardinals). Before the 1988 NFL season, the team moved to Tempe, Arizona, a college suburb east of Phoenix, and played their home games for the next 18 seasons at Arizona State University's Sun Devil Stadium. In 2006, the club began playing all home games at the newly constructed University of Phoenix Stadium in the northwestern suburb of Glendale, although the team's training facility is in Tempe.
The franchise has won two NFL championships, both while it was based in Chicago. The first occurred in 1925, but is the subject of controversy, with supporters of the Pottsville Maroons believing that Pottsville should have won the title. Their second title came in 1947, two decades before the first Super Bowl game was played.
Since winning the championship in 1947, the team suffered many losing seasons, and currently holds the league's longest active championship drought, at 68 consecutive seasons.
Back in the mid-70's, they had winning seasons, division-championship seasons under Don Coryell. They were exciting to watch and had a penchant for pulling out come-from-behind victories. Their offense was well balanced between the run and the pass and showcased among the most exciting players at the time, Terry Metcalf.
One big obstacle they never overcame was that, being in St. Louis, they were always going to play second fiddle to the baseball Cardinals.
gaijinmark wrote:
As the cliche goes, "a good defense will beat a good offense everytime."
What is overlooked is how well the Panthers' defense played. They held Denver to under 200 yards total offense and most of the Broncos' offensive points came as a result of short drives when Carolina's offense turned the ball over in their territory.
Been listening to a number of talking heads commenting on yesterday's game. A lot of clueless and ignorant statements polluting the airways, far outnumbering the few insightful remarks that were uttered.