For The Chargers…What Tomorrow Brings, No One Knows

This past game was my final Chargers game for the season and as I wrote last year, there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty surround this franchise.  Will it be the San Diego Chargers or the Los Angeles “Re-branded Team”.  A rumor was spread on social media during the middle of the Raiders game that Dean Spanos has planned to re-brand the team for the eventual and inevitable move to Los Angeles.  That made quite a stir for Charger fans in the ether of the internet, but you wouldn’t have noticed it at Qualcomm stadium since it was essentially a Raiders home game and hardly a Charger fan was to be seen.

But to the point, there is a lot of uncertainty when it comes to the future of this franchise.  There is no stadium deal in the works and the last, best chance at a new deal, a ballot initiative, was voted down in the November election.  Relocating to Los Angeles is still on the table, but if you read the reports on the internet, sharing a brand spanking new stadium with Stan Kroenke’s Rams is a less than ideal situation for Spanos, something that he would only consider as a final option when all the other San Diego alternatives have been exhausted.  And now, that seems like the only possibility left for the Chargers.

For what do they get if they move the team to Los Angeles?  They will undoubtedly double or triple the book value of the franchise the moment they change the address on their stationary, but they will also have to build their fan base from the bottom up as the second class tenant in a city that now belongs to the Rams.  The core of it’s current fan base, San Diegans, will not support this team.  They will not buy season tickets.  They will not buy merchandise.  They will not travel north to see a game.  So the worse case scenario for Dean Spanos is to move to Los Angeles and start over in a city rife with teams competing for the sports and entertainment dollar.  And this city doesn’t support losing franchises, not with so many other teams to choose from.

So as the season winds down, so does the doomsday clock.  What would you do, if you were the owner of the Chargers?  Me?  I would exercise the Los Angeles option, but choose to play the next two or three seasons in San Diego until Kroenke’s stadium is built.  Yeah, it’s not ideal, but it gives Spanos a few more years to try to work something out here and if nothing comes to fruition, then I would make the move up north.  I mean the Chargers should be in San Diego.  It’s what the owner wants.  It’s what the NFL wants…so they say.  And it’s what Charger fans want.

But in the end, this has to be a business decision…and the NFL is all about big business.

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Speaking of the game…the 10-2 Raiders were in town to play the Chargers in a game that had a lot of significance in determining the outcome of the AFC West.  There was a lot at stake for the Raiders and their fan base turned out in droves to support their team.  The Chargers radio announcers estimated that the crowd was 80% Raiders fans and that might not be too much of an exaggeration.  It was a sea of black clad fans cheering for the visiting team.

You would have expected the Raiders, whom some consider to be the second best team in the AFC, to come in and plunder the hapless Chargers, but that didn’t happen.  In fact, it was a tightly contested game with the Chargers essentially leading or tying the Raiders well into the fourth quarter when the Raiders scored two field goals to win the game.

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Final Score: Oakland Raiders – 19, San Diego Chargers – 16

A most competitive and entertaining game and well worth the price of admission.  And another thing well worth the price of admission…the hottest dance team in the NFL, your San Diego Charger Girls.

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Got to love the Charger Girls wearing their blue velvet Christmas uniforms…there’s nothing better than that to kick off the holiday season!  Oh, and you know what my favorite stocking stuffer is?  The Charger Girls!!!  Okay, enough of the bad puns.

Let’s begin our final game day report with the Captains: Marissa, Bridget, Teran and Delani.

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Continue reading “For The Chargers…What Tomorrow Brings, No One Knows”

Untimely Interceptions Doom The Chargers

Week 13 of the NFL season and what have we learned so far?  There is no more relevant metric than turnovers and to put it simply, if you turn the ball over you’ll lose the game.  Or as former Dallas Cowboys lineman Dave Widell has said, “Turnovers are like ex-wives.  The more you have, the more they cost you.”

Proponents of football analytics believe there’s a fairly strong correlation between turnover differential and winning percentage, namely that 44% of the variation in a team’s winning percentage can be explained by their turnover differential.  And this past Sunday, the Chargers lost the turnover battle when Philip Rivers threw two untimely interceptions, one of which was returned for a defensive touchdown.  Consequently, the Chargers lost the game to the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Final Score: Captain Fear – 28, Boltman – 21

There’s another truism in the NFL and that is…if your team has a squad of hot cheerleaders, you’re going to have a great day regardless if you win or lose.  And yeah, I had a great day!

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Well…the season is winding down and for some teams, it’s winning time…the final push for the playoffs.  And for others, it’s time to evaluate players, coaches and staff for next year.  There’s only four weeks left in the regular season and the Chargers are barely alive in the playoff hunt.  With a 5-7 record, they’re the 12th seed and need to improve six places in order to make the postseason.  Unfortunately, the three other Western Division teams are among the top six seeds and it is not likely that the Chargers will be able to overtake any of them.  Oh well.

So let’s begin this week’s coverage of the Hottest Dance Team in the NFL with the Captains: Bridget, Teran, Marissa, and Delani.

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Continue reading “Untimely Interceptions Doom The Chargers”

NFL Cheerleader Photos From Week 10

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NFL teams that hosted games during week 10 of the regular season have uploaded photos of their cheerleading squads to their team sites. Click on the links below to go to the team page galleries.

Baltimore Ravens
Jacksonville Jaguars
New Orleans Saints
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Carolina Panthers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Redskins
Tennessee Titans
San Diego Chargers
Arizona Cardinals
New England Patriots

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Philip Rivers Turns San Diego Into Pick City

It was an unseasonably hot Sunday in Southern California…perfect weather for some football.  The Miami Dolphins made a cross country trek to battle the San Diego Chargers in a game that was played more for pride than a chance at the playoffs.  Both teams, sporting mediocre records, are long shots at making the postseason considering that there are three better teams in the AFC West with seven wins each.  Realistically this was a game that had little playoff relevance, but that doesn’t mean it was a game played without entertainment value.  For surely, it was…especially if you were a Dolphins fan.

In a tightly contested game, Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes to move past John Elway for eighth place on the career list with 301.  But he also threw four costly interceptions, included two bad ones in the final four minutes that sealed the fate of the home team. 

Final Score: Dolphins – 31, Chargers -24

It was the Chargers’ Salute to Service game and as you would expect, the Charger Girls wore special military themed uniforms for the event.  And because the Chargers play in San Diego, where the weather is always good, the Charger Girl uniforms were damn skimpy…uh, um…damn sexy.  See for yourself!

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With a 4-6 record and three aforementioned AFC West teams with 7 wins, it appears that the Chargers playoff aspirations are at an end.  There’s just not enough games left in the season to improve in the standings.  But that’s okay…I still have the Charger Girls to justify the 120 mile trek down the 15 freeway.

So let’s begin this week’s coverage of the Charger Girls wearing special military themed uniforms with the Captains: Bridget, Teran, Marissa, and Delani.

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Continue reading “Philip Rivers Turns San Diego Into Pick City”

Chargers Run Over the Titans En Route to Victory

On a balmy autumn Sunday, Melvin Gordon rushed for 196 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Chargers in an outburst of scoring that proved to be too much for the visiting Tennessee Titans.  Charger quarterback Philip Rivers chipped in 275 passing yards and two touchdowns and a resilient Bolts defense added two defensive scores to top off the points spasm.

Final Score: San Diego Super Chargers – 43, Tennessee Tuxedos – 35

With the victory, the Chargers improved to 4-5 on the season and kept their thin playoff hopes alive.  Remember this was a team that was leading in the fourth quarter of three of the first four games, only to lose in a most tragic fashion.  The boys in blue could easily be 7-2 and among the division leaders, but alas…they are not.

So, let us turn our attention to the state of the Tennessee Titans.  Although their record suggests mediocrity, you can see positive things happening.  Second year quarterback Marcus Mariota is showing the tremendous potential that inspired the Titans to draft him second overall in last year’s draft.  He threw for 313 yards, three passing touchdowns and had one rushing touchdown.  But he also threw two costly interceptions, one a pick six to Charger defensive back Brandon Flowers.  However, you could see the promise in the young signal caller.

And the Titans have a good rushing attack with the resurgence of running back DeMarco Murray, the old Dallas cast off.  Even though the Chargers held him in check for most of the game, Murray is the second leading rusher in the NFL and I am not too ashamed to say that I am riding him to a fantasy football championship…but I digress.  Yes, good things are happening in Tennessee.

But enough football chit chat…bring on the Charger Girl photos. Well…here you go!

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Last game, I was able to sneak a few posed photos of two of the Charger Girl lines at the Bud Light Power Party and this week I photographed the other two.  Here’s a few teaser images from this week’s shoot.

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I’ll post the remainder on my personal blog on Friday.

Well, let’s begin this week’s coverage with the Captains: Bridget, Teran, Marissa, and Delani.

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Continue reading “Chargers Run Over the Titans En Route to Victory”