Super Chargers

Outstanding win for the Bolts. I never really had a doubt we'd pull that one out. Yeah, right. So here we are, back in the thick of things and it's time to swallow some painful medicine. LT is done as a first option at running back. This team needs a running game now. They need to activate Bennett, like yesterday and get him into the game. Sproles can't do it. Hester certainly can't do it. Bennett's the only other option. If the Bolts can bring themselves to do this, the sky's the limit going forward. It's the final piece of the puzzle. Go Bolts!!!

Update: Let me expand a little bit on this whole Bennett thing, as I have a theory that I'm not sure I have mentioned here. Bennett has basically been inactive since about the time he ran the ball four times for 20 yards against Baltimore. The reason cited for this is all the injuries we've had and roster spots we've needed to fill those injury slots, and while I'm sure this is a factor, it seems strange to me that guys like Hester and Kolbert are active instead. Those guys are valuable special teamers they say, but I'm pretty sure Bennett has seen his share of special teams reps at this point in his career. My personal opinion is that AJ and/or Spanos has told Turner that in light of the amount of money dedicated to LT and Sproles, he must make do with those two players in the running game in order to save face for management. Hester must stay in for the same reason (switch dedicated money with draft picks sacrificed, though). This may sound like conspiracy, but it's not like AJ is above this sort of control and if you think Norv is a "Yes Man" then this is right up that alley. Well, now is the time for Turner to sack up and do the one last thing this team needs to succeed. Do I think Bennett is some sort of savior who's going to come in and put up big time fantasy numbers? No, of course not. But I do think that with the Chargers' current running scheme, he makes more sense. Can you imagine what Rivers and Jackson could do if other teams had to respect the run all day long? I shiver.

Off to the East Coast to face the vaGiants. These East Coast trips rarely end well for us. Neither does playing against teams with winning records. Seriously, go back and look at the 14-2 year. The vast majority of those wins came against woeful bitches. But they say good teams beat the teams they're supposed to beat, and so far at least, we've done that. We just need to get to a point where the teams we are supposed to beat are pretty much every other team. We're probably not there yet, but I like us in New York for some reason. Maybe it's because they were kind enough to schedule us for a late afternoon game out there, so our guys aren't going to feel like they just got out of bed at kick-off. Seriously, could you imagine playing a game of football at 7:00 in the morgraa;hox,gf-huh! What? Sorry, I fell asleep on my keyboard just thinking about it. There just isn't that much coffee, greenies and meth in the universe. Maybe I like us because we've spent the last two weeks learning how to win, while the vaGiants have spent the last three weeks remembering that they suck (specifically Eli, who everybody wants to say has slipped because he's got planter's warts or some shit and not because he's gone through wild streaks of inconsistency throughout his entire NFL career). Mostly, though, I like us because Philip Rivers will be out there fighting for our honor. Look, I couldn't give a shit that Eli cried his way out of town (we got the better QB, as far as I'm concerned), but that fact remains that these two franchises are tied together by these two QBs and we Charger fans need this win to keep our sanity at this point, because the other guys already got their ring. Do you think Philip Rivers wants you to go insane? AJ, sure. Norv, undoubtedly. But Rivers? No effing way, man.

Gritty, if not wheelsy.

He's got too much to prove. I mean, did you know that people in New Orleans call Drew Brees, Breesus? That's fucked up.

Way too freaking likeable.

In light of my quick return to The Cut the other day, I've decided to add a new, possibly recurring featuring called Sign This. As in, you need to get down with whatever I'm talking about here. The inaugurral(?) subject of sign this will be the show Community. You should be watching this show. It's got Chevy Chase and the guy from The Soup on E! and it's pretty gloriously funny.

[Imagine clip here. I would have included one but NBC is stingey with their shit and their video player sucks balls.]

It's got a good premise and doesn't rely on any single camera or real life comedy gimmicks, it just brings the funny. The best part is you can watch it On Demand, which I do because it conflicts with Bones, which isn't as good as it used to be, but still features Emily Deschanel's boobs which I fully expect to see come out during an episode because all the porn I've downloaded over the years has screwed up my logical conclusion meter. I've had some awkward encounters with nurses and lady cops, let's just leave it at that.

Last note, I have started hearing other people that I don't even know using the term vaGiants. I'm pretty sure I made that up. I should've copywritten that shit, like "That's hot" or "Let's get ready to rumble." It's like the time Comedy Central stole the word ginormous from me and now everybody uses it and acts like I'm crazy when I tell them I made that word up and that they should give me a quarter. True fucking story! People will steal your shit, don't ever forget it.

Go Bolts!!

Earlier today I was reminded that I was neglecting my responsibility to entertain my friends because I am obviously some sort of clown and that lead me to ponder over other things I have been neglecting. Sexing up bitches, cleaning my upstairs windows, my Fantasy Cricket team, sexing up anything, changing the filter in my heater, book reading, that creepy ass space video game I've been playing and this stupid blog. Well, obviously there's nothing I can do about any of those other things, but I can half-ass a quick post here for that sweet endorphin rush that comes from a sense of accomplishing the easiest thing on your list of sad, sad goals.

Let's talk about the Chargers, shall we? All of my predictions are now coming true and while I may not be able to call INTs on any given play in a Jesus-like fashion the way my cohort, CJ does, I feel at least Moses-like in my assessment of our once mighty and now at least nifty Bolts. Denver got trounced by Baltimore and I have no doubt the Steelers will hand it to them as well this coming Monday. The Bolts, on a montagesque journey to rediscover the secret to winning, dismantled back-to-back hapless foes. Now when we manage to beat either or both the stumbling vaGiants and the wildly inconsistent Eagles we will be no more than two games behind when we march into the Craptopolis of Denver to exact our revenge. The back end of our schedule is a walk and the division is ours!!! Bank on it.

On a side note, I'd like to do a quick revisit of an old feature here known as The Cut, where I excercise the easiest part of any coaches job on any damn thing I please. This week's Cut? The new version of the old TV series V. Holy shit was that a bad first showing last night. I realize that network television execs demand ridiculously fast pacing and at least two knife fights, car chases, alien invasion rip-offs per episode, but that does not excuse the terrible dialogue going on here. Exposition is a bitch as a plot device, but it's not flippin' rocket science. Awful. This show is chock full of people I've liked in other stuff, but as my partner in crime said at the time you just can't act your way out of bad writing. Maybe this show settles down and starts to let things develop at a more natural pace now that they appear to be where they want to be, but if they don't do something about that ridiculous dialogue this shit is doomed. Maybe they should turn it into a musical. Lyrics in musicals can be as hokey as you want. You know, because everybody's dancing like an idiot anyway so who's going to notice? I will be watching this show as though it is supposed to be a comedy until further notice.

Tune in again as there is a good chance (33%-Stellar in baseball!) that I'll break down my thoughts on Eli coming to town and gettin' what's comin' to 'im. Go Bolts!!!

Sunday's game on local TV

By Kevin Acee
October 30, 2009, 1:15 p.m.

The semi-weekly game that we began playing last year -- wait for the blackout to be lifted -- has come and gone again.

The Chargers sold enough tickets to avert a blackout of Sunday's game.

It will be shown locally on Channel 8 and in the Los Angeles area on Channel 2.

Since there are about 2,000 tickets left for the Philadelphia game and even more for Kansas City, Cincinnati and Washington, this will likely happen every week.

The Chargers have "sold out" 43 straight regular-season home games.



Blackout lifted and Acee throws the quotes around [sold out] presumably as a jab at the fans for not buying up all the tickets sooner and the likelihood that the local TV affiliate snatched up the last of the tickets. What the heck does Acee care how the games end up "sold out?" It's the players! It's the fans! It's certainly not the ownership, coaching or management. This guy is on the payroll in some way, shape or form. Or he's looking for a network gig. Or both. Broken record, this cocksucker. Go Bolts!!!

// posted by Maximum Colossus @ 2:59 PM 0 comments

On crying women in Green Bay Favre jerseys when Brittfar goes back to Lambeau on Sunday: 6

What can I say? I'm down with the cheesy headlines during a cheesy season.

That red zone offense is still attrocious. I hate seeing LT get stuffed on so many shots within the 5. I know that the offensive philosophy there is to show the world that he's still got it, but I'm afraid the message may have been lost. And you can certainly put some of that on the O-line and you can say the other team knew what was coming, but you can't tell me the old LT wouldn't have found a way. The whole thing makes me feel like I'm in a loveless marriage with Nate Kaeding. I can't stand to even look at his face anymore.

But the good news is, we pretty easily handled a team we should have pretty easily handled. That's the first step. Let's do it to Oakland now and really get our chi going before we hit a tough stretch in the middle. I still like our chances. Go Bolts!!!

I actually think we're going to be fine. I mean, we're probably not going to win the division, but it's not like there are two teams out there that have stood out as wildcards. We're half a game out of that race, with KC and Oakland coming up. And the real bottom line here is that we looked pretty good in the first half for the first time all year. That coupled with the fact that we know we can be good in the second half should give us all a little hope. I seriously doubt we'll be giving up 14 special teams points a week. That was the first time this season I can recall having ANY real special teams problems, so let's just call that an aberration for now.

There are problems, of course. We desperately need to do a better job of protecting the QB; Rivers has been harassed all year. And the red zone offense is horseshit. I've seen enough Nate Kaeding inside the 20 to last a lifetime at this point. And I really can't condone calling off the dogs in the second half. The defense took a very passive approach towards the end of the game, and that's on the coaches again. If you're going to get burned anyway, you might as well get burned while taking it to the other team a bit. That's been the D's problem for the last two and half years; They play it too safe most of the time.

The good news is, Tomlinson looked productive. Not great, but productive. And hungry. Our receivers are still some of the best around; I honestly believe that. The secondary was not terribly embarassing (though I still question the wisdom of running out such a young safety tandem, and I worry that Eric Weddle is Khalil Greene with an attitude). We know our QB is a gamer, and if I hear anybody crying over Drew Brees I will punch your ass. If the D ever takes the gloves off for real, we have the dogs to run...theoretically. And aside from last night's freaky outcome, our special teamers tend to hold up nicely. Let's not forget our true MVP, Mike Scifres.

There's a lot of season left an in the aftermath of last night's emotional loss and it's easy to lose what little faith we had left, but I think that when the dust from that game settles in your mind, you might actually see some of the promise I see that wasn't there before. I still hate Norv Turner, AJ Smith and Ron Rivera, and a part of me believes the team would be better off collapsing at this point and getting them run out on a rail, but I can't really root against the blue and gold. I still think there is some hope here. I still think there is a fight to be fought. Go Bolts.