With Chargers easy pickin's, Falcons figure: Let us prey
Dec. 1 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Maybe if the Chargers were goofy, if they threw pies and poked each other in the eye and wore huge shoes and red noses, then maybe the masses could get some kind of slapstick thrill out of them. But there is a stark difference between bad and boring, between lively and lifeless, between useful and useless.
And the Chargers are boring, lifeless and useless.
More Nick Canepa Columns
Nov. 30 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Don't scan buddy list for coach: Sez Me . . . Those great navigators searching for San Diego State's new football world should keep Glen Mason sealed in the jar that bears his name. At least for now.
Nov. 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Sending out some thank-yous: Today we give thanks. Many San Diego sports fans might say, “For what?” But let's do it anyway.
Nov. 25 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Sad AFC West keeping Bolts on life support: The Chargers are not David with the sling. They are not Samson wielding the jawbone of an ass. They are not the Brits cornered at Dunkirk. If they overcome what they have to overcome, it will not be biblical or historic, because what they're chasing seemingly can be caught by a three-toed sloth.
Nov. 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Blame this coaching fiasco on Schemmel: Chuck Long didn't hire himself. Remember that. He filled out the application, interviewed for the job, flashed his medals. He was not a legacy. He didn't have a prominent alum in his family to grease the doors.
Nov. 23 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
SDSU teams sailing on opposite courses: What a way to spend my Saturday, drinking in San Diego State basketball and then finding the stomach to chase it with San Diego State football. It was as though I spotted two ships passing in the night, except they were 20,000 leagues apart, one upright and steaming, the other drifting off course.
Nov. 20 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Like it or not, he'll rightfully be back; learn to live with it: There are a whole lot of people in this town who don't carry snapshots of Norv Turner in their wallets and purses. But if you're waiting for Joe the Knight to soon mount his white steed and gallop into Mission Valley as the next Chargers head coach, don't bother reserving a space in your photo sleeves.
Nov. 19 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
New laws, if I had power of the Prez: President-elect Barack Obama has elected to come out in favor of a college football playoff. Surely, in a maddening world, this is a minnow in his frying pan. He has sharks such as the economy, two wars, the environment, health care, crime, drugs, immigration, Rush Limbaugh – well, you know, etc. – sitting on the sink beside his hot stove, waiting to be cleaned.
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Chargers' clunker of a season just about ready for junk heap: Maybe it was all too fitting that it happened here, in Heinz Field, where the Chargers found a variety of ways – maybe around 57 of them – for their season to reach the unofficial finish line on Nov. 16.
Nov. 14 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Hearing Vitale sound off is like a holler day, baby: Dick Vitale is not an acquired taste. You've either acquired him, or you haven't. Not everyone likes Dick Vitale. I don't happen to be among them, but then I've always enjoyed characters, especially Italian ones. At least one person, remember, didn't like Gandhi.
Nov. 13 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Time comes for Dear John letter: An open letter to John Moores: Dear John:
Nov. 11 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
It's ludicrous to write LT's final chapter: Rumors of LaDainian Tomlinson's demise not only are greatly exaggerated, they're asinine. But the doubting villagers are out there all right, in force, waving torches, ready to storm the once-impregnable Castle LT.
Nov. 10 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
A portrait not fit for the Louvre, at least the work wasn't a loss: There is no better time to say it. Norv Turner should get NFL Coach of the Year votes. Any man who can get four wins out of these Chargers deserves consideration. Canton should be dusting off a shelf.
Nov. 9 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Urgent call for Bolts to step up vs. Chiefs; time is slipping away: Sez Me . . The sense of urgency just took on an added sense of urgency.
Nov. 7 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Stadium situation still a mess: The Chargers and their new stadium issues are stuck between a rock and hard times. They're now trying to walk down a street of broken American dreams to find a suitable home. And all those foreclosure signs they're seeing along the way tell them this isn't how it was when they first came up with the idea.
Nov. 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
London NFL club would be balmy: Sez Me . . . The NFL thinks things through. It doesn't stroll willy-nilly into minefields, or areas known for quicksand. It's intellectually escorted. It makes mistakes, but remains the greatest and richest success in the history of sports because it's so damn smart.
Nov. 1 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Trading ace Jake would be a mistake: The Padres should not trade Jake Peavy. I don't want to hear it. Of course, this isn't going to keep it from happening – and Peavy must approve any trade – but that doesn't mean we have to like it, or stand for it lying down.
Oct. 31 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
GM mad; More heads might roll: A.J. Smith was convinced the sky was about to fall around him. So the NFL's John Wayne did the macho thing. He turned down the role of Chicken Little and signed on to play Foxy Loxy.
Oct. 29 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Somebody had to go in this debacle: Ted Cottrell was the fall guy. The chump. The easy way out of a messy room. He was like the kid who always gets caught after everyone else runs away and hides.
WEMBLEY, England, Oct. 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Bad defense leaves team in a haze: Those of us from the colonies waited all week for a good fog. You know, a pea-souper, as they say here when not ingesting eggs and pints. The mythical mist didn't show up until last night at fabled Wembley Stadium, and wouldn't you know? The Chargers were lost in it, arms out, feeling their way around.
Oct. 25 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Goodell: Today, London - tomorrow, the world: LONDON – Roger Goodell wants to be a man of the world. Literally. The NFL commissioner would like his sport to go global, which is why he's here this week and why we're here this week and why the Chargers and Saints will play a game tomorrow on British lawn.
Oct. 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Amid goals, grog, NFL not main attraction: LONDON – When Hubert Vogelsinger coached the San Diego Sockers, he once declared in his Austrian way: “English soccer isn't worth the time I don't spend watching it.” Hubert also noted: “If the British fought World War II like they play soccer, it would have ended in a nil-nil tie.”
LONDON, Oct. 23 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Wembley: Once remade, still revered: Yesterday dawned bright and clear, as rosy – to paraphrase from the Roger Miller songbook – as the cheeks of the little children. Hence, it was a perfect morning to head out for a tour of Wembley Stadium, site of Sunday's Chargers-Saints international summit. It was but a 15-minute train ride from our hotel to history.
LONDON, Oct. 22 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
In London, there's still only one real football: Everything's old here. And those who aren't Italian or French speak something called the King's English, so they're equally difficult to understand. They drive on the wrong side of the road. Pedestrians are in constant peril.
Oct. 9 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
SD's no-win situation: Sez Me . . . Welcome, visitors, to America's Most Disappointing Sports City. If your allegiance is with teams outside this area, you have nothing to worry about in terms of a threat to your favorites. We're neutral in San Diego. We accommodate. Make yourself comfortable. Have a fish taco. Just don't drink on the beach.
