Chargers Nearing Bottom, Lose To Browns

The Chargers continue to reveal how awful they really are.  They lose to the (previously) one win Cleveland Browns on a windy, rainy day.  The Chargers were unable to score even a touchdown and settled for two field goals to lose 7-6 in a mostly boring contest between two teams whose defenses aren't really that good but the offense, for both teams, is fairly inept.

The mood in Chargerland is finally one of acceptance that this Charger team is crap.  I had that feeling before the season started but seeing the fanfare from the "super fans" I almost felt guilty in my perception and public outcry that this team was garbage.  But now, the "super fans" have either completely disappeared from the discussion about the Chargers - because they are the ones who continually state that the off season was a good one, that Meachum, Royal and Gaither would be the difference makers and this team would regain it's 2006 (14-2) form and be a factor in the NFL.  No, that is not the case...Meachum hasn't done dick and even dropped what would have been a long touchdown pass on Sunday.  Royal has usually been sidelined with injury and a non-factor this season.  And left tackle Gaither played this last Sunday but will likely be hurt shortly as that seems to be his trend.

Now, most Charger fans are looking ahead to the end of the season and the hopes that Norv Turner will get fired, but I hate to be the bearer of bad news again...remember last season?  Remember when we were told that Norv Turner would be fired last season and then he wasn't?  If there is anything we know and that is Dean Spanos doesn't care about winning or this football team.  He only cares about money.  So if there is a way he can save a buck and keep Turner, I think he will.  Of course it won't take a rocket scientist to do the math and Dean will see the numbers too...that is, no one will be going to the games anymore because the team stinks and that may eventually force his hand to fire Turner...and who knows, if the losing skid goes for a while, maybe it will happen sooner rather than later.

With the loss to Cleveland, there is one thing that is abundantly clear about this Charger team right now...they are a bad team that is capable of losing to any team.  As my previous post mentioned prior to the Cleveland game, where some Charger fans saw the Browns, Chiefs and Buccaneers as three almost guaranteed wins,   think the Chargers will be lucky to win Thursday night against the Chiefs - but won't guarantee it, and come out of this three game "guaranteed wins" with a 1-2 record.  After that, the Chargers schedule gets pretty brutal and they will be lucky to get to 6-10...they do have Carolina, Jets and Raiders left to play...but I think they will be lucky to win 1 out of those three games...the rest of their opponents will have little problem with this Charger team. 

Does It Mean Anything If The Chargers Beat The Browns?

The San Diego Chargers, fresh off two of humiliating losses, where they held double digit leads and end up losing, going away, both games.  Where Monday night's loss wasn't just losing a 24 point lead, it was the revelation that the Chargers are exactly who we thought they were...again...and that is bad.

So now they travel to play the Cleveland Browns after having a week off to stew in the cauldron that fans have ignited a bonfire under.  But will the Chargers actually accomplish anything this weekend?  The short answer is no and no matter the outcome, the Chargers are still losers...it is just a matter to what degree.

If the Chargers beat the Browns, which I don't think anyone is penciling in as a guarantee, it should be expected...heck the Chargers were once the best lousy team in the NFL and now hover above just being a bad team...which the Browns are.  So if the Chargers lose this game, and depending on how bad they look, the Chargers will certainly move themselves into being one of the worst teams in the NFL this season.

So the Chargers are in a "no win" game this weekend...but clearly, they would rather have the win and let the fans and media continue to see them as epic chokers or lose and let everyone know that the descent to the bottom of the league is complete.

Last Night's Loss Shakes Chargerland

I knew last night's epic choke and loss against the Broncos was huge, but I didn't think it would rattle many of the "all is fine" Charger fans.  Heck the Chargers are still tied for the lead in the AFC West, they have a bye and when the left tackle that has played almost 2 games is back, it will be full steam ahead to the Super Bowl.

But not after this loss.  After this loss there is more than one "homer" that has finally taken the step off the bandwagon and joined the "dark side" with many of us other Chargers...where I have essentially been for the past 3 seasons.  The other "homers" have simply disappeared.  They can no longer stick up for Norv Turner or AJ Smith and be taken seriously.  Last season was suppose to free the Chargers of those miserable louses and instead we just get another season of the same courtesy the owner, Dean Spanos...thanks again.  Norv Turner should have been fired last season and this is what the Chargers get for not doing so...a humiliating, prime time, Monday Night Football debacle.  As I was driving to work and listening to the sports talk radio - note, not from San Diego - and during the "casual conversation" regarding the game one person said "You almost come to expect San Diego to self implode because they do it so often." and that is why the Chargers get no respect...nor do they deserve any.

I thought the Chargers were at least a pretty good lousy team, now I think they are just a lousy team trending to becoming a bad team.  Unfortunately, I wish I could say this is coming as a surprise to me but this blog is evidence I am fully aware of how awful this team is now and has been.

Chargers Post Epic Choke Against Denver

As I am writing this, there is 2:00 left in the game... The Chargers are down by 11 points, 35-24.

The Chargers, like last week, jump out to a nice first half lead and then totally fold up the tent and call it a game and this week was in even a bigger epic fashion than last week...

After owning the first half, picking off Peyton Manning and ruining ESPN's pre-planned Peyton Manning lovefest, going up 24-0, then Phillip Rivers, literally, hands the ball to the Broncos in the form of 2 pick sixes and a fumble recovery for a td as well as an additional interception.  I've stuck up for Rivers for a long time but I can no longer do so.  Last year, I had hoped, was just an aberration, but Rivers seems to be getting worse and worse every game.  It is almost painful to watch how predictable he has become with throwing interceptions and bad passes.

The second half, the Broncos had no fear of the Chargers and the Chargers had no interest in trying anymore.  They were completely and thoroughly embarrassed on national television, something that is standard operating procedure under Norv Turner's tenure as coach of the Chargers.

The good news is that the Chargers won't lose next week because it is their bye week...the bad news is that ESPN and every other sports outlet is going to be slobbering over Peyton Manning's cock for the next week...but he didn't win this game...Phillip Rivers lost this game for the Chargers...plan and simple.

The Chargers were in first place going into this game and I suspect that will be the last time they will sniff "contention" for the rest of this season.

Norv Turner can not out coach anyone, it has been proven time and time again.

Is the season over?  No and those with hope will still have it.  Unfortunately, this season is going just about as well as I thought it would...

BTW, the game is over, and Rivers ends the game with SIX turnovers.  Tirico is already trying to get Gruden off of Manning's cock so he can get his turn...

DISGUSTING is all I can say.

Saints Score 17 Unanswered To Beat Chargers

The Chargers are still, exactly who we think they are...not good.

This past weekend's game was against the winless New Orleans Saints and most of the people I talked with, most agreed the Saints would likely win the game.  I wasn't shocked because the word on the Chargers is very well known by now...they are the best of the lousy teams in the NFL and people aren't willing to put the Saints in the lousy category yet, even despite their defense being horrendous.  Well, as any team on the skids needs to feel better about a season that isn't going so well so far is a visit from the Chargers.

How'd the Chargers fare then? Who, if you listen to the Charger homers, have this high powered unstoppable offense led by offensive guru/mastermind and head coach Norv Turner.  Chargers super offense was 4-12 on third downs.  And then on the other side of the ball, the Chargers have this revamped defense that is going to shut down opposing teams, or at the very least, keep the game close...the Saints were able to go deep on the pathetic Chargers secondary at their leisure.

Charger homers are crying about the officiating, but that happens every week.  If the Chargers would have won there would have been barely anything said about the officials because in Charger land where everything is always great (tomorrow) the only reason the Chargers lost was because of a bad call...which is complete bullshit. 

The Chargers offense can easily be stopped by even the worst defense...as we just witnessed and the Charger defense is exactly like it was last year...worthless.  The defense is unable to stop any quality team when it really matters.

The Chargers host the Broncos this week on Monday Night Football.  ESPN and specifically Jon Gruden can't wait to slobber all over Manning.  I don't think the Broncos are all that good either, but I've lost a lot of faith in Rivers' decision making and there is nothing I have seen from this year's Charger team that is leading me to believe that they will be a factor in the postseason...but there is still plenty of season left and they certainly have plenty of room to improve...the question is, can they and will they improve?  Norv Turner has the track record to show that they probably won't.
 

Static-X - 9/22/12 - Fargo, ND

Last week I went to the Static-X show in Fargo and it rocked!

I have finally got the pictures uploaded after trying a variety of "new" methods to get them onto the internet.  Anyways this show does have a tale to tell before the show even started...

It's Friday, September 21st and I'm just hanging out at home.  One of my buddies calls me at about 6:30 to (drunkenly) say he is at Hooters and I should come down for a beer.  (Note: I do not regularly frequent Hooters but now that I have a friend that does, I do so on occasion but is not by my choice).  I say "Sure" and as a matter of fact, I need to swing by and pick up my free Static-X tickets from my friend so I don't have to worry about that the next day.  So I stop by and grab my tickets and head on down to Hooters, I barely sit down when my friend says, "Hey, isn't that Wayne Static over there?" One look and there is no doubt about it, there is Wayne Static and his wife eating at Hooters.  After they were done eating they were nice enough to take some pictures with me and my friends and also autograph my tickets.  It was pretty cool to say the least.

Now onto the show...which rocked!  Static-X came out and played mostly their older stuff and tore it up.  They started out with Wisconsin Death Trip and that got the place going right off the bat.  Some other personal favorites that they played was "He's A Loser", "Bled For Days" and for their encore, Wayne asked the crowd what we wanted to hear and because I had declared that I would be yelling (and hearing) one of my favorite songs that it would get played, "Love Dump", it was at that time me and my friends started the "Love Dump" chant and within seconds Wayne and the band broke into it.

I've seen Static-X a few times and they are always a good show.  This particular time the drummer was completely insane... more than once I was watching him and his crazy antics during almost every song...it was both good and hilarious at the same time as he had this jet powered fan blowing up so his long hair was flying about and he would frequently be standing up and on his drum stool pounding on cymbals or drums...whatever the song required...it was pretty crazy!

Anyways, this post has a few of the pics I took from that evening, if you want to see more, including myself with Wayne, his wife and my friends click here.
 

Chiefs Have 6 Turnovers, Chargers Win

The Chargers took advantage of a sloppy Kansas City Chiefs team that turned the ball over 6 times including a pick 6.  As long as the Chargers didn't self implode, like the Chiefs were doing, they were going to win this game.

Phillip Rivers continues to play fairly erratic.  Threw a pretty poor interception and there were times his throws were off the mark.  He had a wide open Meachum and underthrew him...if it would have been on target, in stride, would have been an easy touchdown.  He still is able to manage the game and be fairly efficient, but I think he may have issues going deep accurately which would help defenses defend against this team.

Jackie Battle started at runningback in front of Ryan Mathews, who fumbled last week and with his past history of being a back with ball control issues it looks like he will be playing in select situations for a while.  Battle did a fine job, running and catching the ball out of the backfield.  The run game, though, seemed to bog down in the second half, when the Chiefs knew it was coming.  If the Chargers are going to be able to play with the lead, they are going to have to be able to effectively run the ball in the second half, something they struggled with in this game.

Special teams for the Chargers was decent.  Nate Kaeding hurt himself on Friday and the Chargers got Nick Novak and he filled in nicely.  The Chargers even recovered an onside kick in the second half, not sure why Norv wanted to really pour it on, but he certainly had little mercy for the Chiefs yesterday.

Next up the Chargers travel to New Orleans and play on Sunday Night Football and it will be an interesting game...if you looked at the records, the Chargers are 3-1 and the Saints are 0-4, one would think the Chargers are the clear favorite.  The Saints will be desperate for a win and the season is still young.  As I've said many times before, the first 6 games of the NFL season are relatively meaningless...sure you don't want to be 0-6, but teams don't begin to "rise to the top" until the second half of the season and your season is not lost if you can get to 4-4 at the 8 game mark. 

With the Chiefs win, that's 2 road games I didn't think the Chargers would win.  If they beat the Saints that would make it 3 and I won't complain...but I am still waiting to see if this Charger team can beat a playoff caliber team.  The Saints, at this point, are clearly not at the same level they have been the past couple of years and that may be just the break the Chargers need to pull out the win.