We'd Like an Operational Definition of "Super".

Yes, the Super Bowl really does stink. Or to be more accurate, Super Bowl week can be downright depressing. Our spiritual 3rd person forebearers at DeadSpin have a nice wrap-up here, staring into the nihilistic cultural abyss created this week by the Super Bowl and divining the relevance thereof.

Look, we’re American capitalist pigs to the core but even the annual Super Bowl week and its celebration of conspicuous consumption shames us somewhat. And its not just because the Chargers lost last week because we feel this way every year… the season really does end after the conference championship games as far as we’re concerned. Never before in the history of mankind has there been hype, hysteria and general self-gratifying hyperbole that has consistently failed to meet those expectations. And in that sense it feels very much like the unsatisfying conclusion of the college football season as brought to you by the Tostitos BCS.

So what does all this say about our society? We’re not really sure. We’ll leave that up to the more insightful types like Robert Lipsyte, NYT columnist and model of emasculated East Coast pomposity:

“in the late 1970s, I even attended anti-Super Bowl parties at which we ostentatiously ignored the game, jogged, ate healthful snacks, and screened Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly films, dividing ourselves into Fred-ites or Gene-ists to compare the two, a sorry substitute for judging the finesse vs. power of, say, O.J. Simpson vs. Jim Brown. There was a certain subversive pleasure in the anti-Super Bowl parties, but not enough. It was less like the back-alley thrills of paganism in the early centuries of Christianity's ascension than the dull rationality of organized Atheism.”

Wow… dontcha wish you were there? At the pagan thing, that is. And do you despise this guy as much as we do yet?

Anyway, absent a compelling reason to go to a Super Bowl party, we’re 50/50 as to whether or not we will even watch the game. Honest. Its supposed to rain Sunday (thank City Hall) which is a shame because it would be the perfect opportunity to get out to the mountains or desert since Team Lakeside will be getting bombed indoors instead of out.

... and just when we start believing ourselves, we run across this .... found while searching for the image of sexual assault above. Hot wings, anyone?

Its the Electability, stupid.

Republican Congressman Mel Martinez of Florida was on T.V. the other night after John McCain’s Florida primary victory trying to convince us that John McCain was the “real conservative” in the Republican field. Martinez’s breathlessness made it apparent that despite his track record, Camp McCain really, really wants you to believe he is. At this point, though, we really don’t care how conservative McCain or his fantasist supporters claim he is… it’s a moot point.

Its moot because we missed the part where protection of free speech, a commitment to the sovereignty of this country and a respect for the American citizen became “conservative” issues as much as much as people like Frank Rich would have us believe.

Stow it, Martinez. Don’t insult us. We’d have entirely more respect for the man and Camp McCain in general if Martinez said that McCain is the “only real electable” Republican in the field. He may well be and there are certainly worse strategies than electability when it comes to politics but cease and desist with the shameless pandering that everyone knows is bullshit. McCain and his supporters would do well to stop embarrassing themselves by claiming its anything other than the obvious: Please just say that the War on Terror and victory in Iraq trump all other issues collectively and they will gain a measure of respect from us.... and possibly our vote.

He’ll have a real opportunity to prove how principled he is in controlling spending and reigning-in debt with this hapless “bipartisan” stimulus bill that rolled through the House earlier this week and is in full sausage-making mode in Senate committees and where Harry Reid has niced-up the bill with unemployment bennies that were absent in the House version. For a man that voted against Bush’s tax cuts in ’01 and ’03 on the principle of being a fiscal conservative, his vote on this Dr. Feelgood stimulus bill should be a no-brainer, right?

So… are we going to enter the voting booth and pull the lever for McCain? … don’t know. Whatever we do, it won’t be because we don’t think McCain is conservative enough. At this point, his “conservatism” is the least of our concerns. Clinton (both) and to a lesser extent, Obama are known evils… Maverick on the other hand is a complete wild card. There is no telling what calamities will befall this country as a result of all his “reaching across the aisle” and bipartisanship. One thing we are certain of though, it will be really tough to vote when one hand is pinching our nose and the other is covering our backside.

And in the interest of fairness (doctrine), and to demonstrate our love for our fellow Theo-kats that transcends any petty political differences, we’ll throw you over to KT who’s treatment of the Senator you will find far more charitable than you ever will here. And remember, there is no crying in politics, only periodic trips to the wood shed.

Sameul L. Jackson takes issue with Ronulans

Samuel L. Jackson has a blog. For reals. And in it we find that Samuel L. isn’t particularly fond of the supporters of Ron Paul. Here are some of his thoughts:

"You know why I won’t vote for Ron Paul? His supporters are annoying the shit out of me. They’re acting like he’s Tom Joad or some shit. “Wherever Ron Paul’s name is mentioned, I’ll comment. Wherever Ron Paul bombs in the polls, I’ll be there to insist there was fraud. Wherever Ron Paul wipes his ass, I’ll be there to proclaim the toilet paper a sacred got-damn object to be studied and celebrated on Fark.com.”

Tom Joad? We spit up our beer when we read that.

Anyway, the rest of the blog post is here. (and Samuel L. being Samuel L., consider this your strong, nay, profane language warning in case you’re surfing around with the chillins this evening)

And no, it really isn’t his blog… its News Groper’s blog where you will find the spoof blogs of numerous celebrities, politicians, athletes, etc.

Rummaging around in the Attic

While doing research for our next McCain hit piece we ran across a legal document that caught our attention. Its an 18th century piece that looks to be based, in part, on British law. It starts off well enough but unfortunately it too often descends into paranoid-delusional, black helicopters territory by establishing all these restrictions against abuses of power by the government which the authors obviously reasoned, the potentiality of such abuse was inevitable.

We tried to think how the provisions contained therein would succeed if applied today in 21st-century America. Some better than others and others yet, not at all. We like it, anyway. It has a sort of an old-world charm to it. We suppose its cute in its quaintness. Here it is if you care to read.

Quickies

It dawned on us last night that Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama proves that Clinton Inc. hasn’t lost its campaigning acumen completely.

The only thing we can attribute to the relatively precipitous drop in the Super Bowl betting line from 14-1/2 pts. last week to the current 11-1/2 pts. is Tom Brady’s injured right foot. Whatever the severity of the injury, we believe it won’t make an iota of difference to the most immobile yet elusive quarterbacks we’ve ever seen. We reserve the right to change our mind right up until kick-off but we’re liking the Pats and laying the 11-1/2. Oh… one more reason for our boy Dick Styles to swoon for Tom Brady: He’s encouraging everyone to see Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth”

San Diego has apparently done something to rile the Almighty: it just seems to us that over the past year or so an inordinate amount of rainy days have fallen on the weekend. Oh yeah… that something would be City Hall.

Come and keep your comrade warm. Story here about all the smokin' Russian babes that have been unleashed upon the planet iwo of models and tennis players the past decade or so and the reason for it. Seems pretty obvious to us: prior to the collapse of the Soviet empire, Russian and Eastern Bloc hotness was on lock-down. This article, however, takes a more nuanced approach arguing from a market-driven perspective, i.e., there wasn’t a demand for Russian babes. The hell there wasn’t. Interesting comment thread… one of which argues that steppe betties owe their beauty to a 100% organic diet.

Well… maybe we’ll give this “face of the illegal immigrant movement” thing another shot. Flor Crisostomo, a 28 yr. old Mexican illegal has taken up residence in a Chicago church setting up a showdown with Federal immigration authorities. Of course, she wants to follow in the footsteps of Elvira Arellano who attempted this grandstanding last year (our thoughts at the time, here) only to be nabbed in L.A. and shipped back home to Mexico (free of charge!) where she has been agitating for the cause of illegal immigration and succeeding only in revealing the hopelessly screwed-up political and economic situation that exists in Mexico. Story here. Flor, are you ready for your close-up?

Dozens not maimed and killed by Thousands not Rioting and Looting Over Offensive Remarks

ESPN's Dana Jacobson got herself into a little trouble at a roast of ESPN Radio personalities Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic a couple of weeks back. Jacobsen a Michigan grad who by all accounts was completely sideways at the time, was directing her comments at Golic a Notre Dame grad when she allegedly shouted, “F### Notre Dame! F### Touchdown Jesus! F### Jesus!” You stay classy, Dana.

ESPN suspended Jacobson for a week – she just returned to her duties as co-host of First Take today. And there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that she gets absolutely bombed on a routine basis because she has to work with Skip Bayless. Link here for more from Awful Announcing.

ESPN has never addressed exactly what she said though Jacobson has apologized for the incident which means that she did indeed say something offensive.

Anyway, while looking at the angry mob outside ESPN studios protesting ESPN and Jacobson’s remarks, it reminded us of just how flippant and casual Christians treat their own religion. We had some thoughts on that here.

Update Alert

The John McCain “straight-talk express” keeps picking up passengers. Click here and scroll to bottom of page, please.

.

But at least McCain doesn't have to worry about that homocidal drunk from Massachusetts... he's decided to come out for Obama. Story here. Whew... we were starting to worry a little.

Remind Us to Tell our Dad about This Place

Chart Smart swung by the other day so we wanted to return the favor by stopping by their place. OK, these guys are smart…. we had a vague notion of what they were talking about nearly 50% of the time. The site devotes its energies to world markets and science/technology and as the site name would suggest, lots of charts and graphs. We cherry-picked a couple of posts we found interesting and we hope you will also:

Tired of that linguini entrée behind your entertainment center? Fear not - help is on the way in the form of wireless technology that is HD-capable. Click here.

And something called the Baltic Dry Index as leading economic indicator for global markets as it tracks shipment around the world of raw materials rather than finished products.

R.I.P. ?

Two imminent deaths have been predicted this week, though, we think the demise of both have been greatly exaggerated.

Article here from Ezra Klein (we found it while bumping around Blue Crab Blvd. aka Prelate to the Primates) who lays the possible downfall of the Democrat Party at the feet of Bill and Hillary. The performances of both lately are starting to turn-off even the most ardent of supporters, particularly when viewed in the context that a Hillary win in the general election means Bill is back in the White House.

Aside from the person of Bill Clinton possibly being the First Man(?), we’ve believed all along that Hillary’s biggest obstacle to winning the Presidency was the simple fact that her time in office would represent 24 straight…. 24 consecutive yrs. of either a Bush or Clinton in the White House. tee-hee. sorry, we couldn’t resist. As Americans, the skepticism and distrust of political dynasties is encoded in our DNA and as such her biggest opponent won’t be whoever the Republican candidate is but the collective national aversion to a quarter-century of two-family rule.

Peggy Noonan opines here of the collapse of the Republican Party at the hands of President Bush. Noonan writes: “George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.”

Again, we enjoyed both articles and agreed to a large extent with both but the two parties aren’t going anywhere. Some personnel shake-ups, some “re-branding”, and perhaps even some gut-wrenching ideological warfare for the “soul” of the Parties are most likely. As (R)s, we believe the last action is one that is long overdue. As Reagan conservatives in Goldwater trim, there has been disgustingly little to distinguish the people we voted into office from their Democrat counterparts.

STORM WATCH '08

We and apparently the rest of San Diego got in what may be the last of any outdoor activity for a couple of days before what's being billed as the "storm of the year" hits later today. Traffic was heavy on the way to the top of Cowles Mountain and if the forecast is correct, blogging over the weekend will be heavy as well. Consider yourself forewarned.

With Friends Like These....

The Conventional Wisdom is that John McCain needs to shore up support among conservatives to win the Republican nomination. If the last day or so is any indication, though, he’s gonna have to try a little harder.

Story here from Hot Air has open-border advocate, Juan Hernandez, joining McCain’s campaign staff… this after McCain claimed to “see the light” with regard to enforcing the border and thus our nation’s sovereignty. Ethno-centric border softie, Geraldo, is apparently keen on McCain as well.

But the coup de crap, of course, is the New York Times endorsement of McCain for the Republican candidacy (they wait ‘til Fred bows out and then they make their endorsement. Swell).

Quoth the Gray Lady: “Senator John McCain of Arizona is the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe. With a record of working across the aisle to develop sound bipartisan legislation, he would offer a choice to a broader range of Americans than the rest of the Republican field.”

By “small, angry fringe”, the Times is of course talking about conservatives. Don’t get us wrong. The small and angry part doesn’t bother us in the least, it’s the “governing from and on behalf of…” part that slays us.

The events in D.C. this week have been nothing more than a microcosm of all the bipartisanship we’ve seen the last 8 years and whose lasting legacy will be a mountain of debt for someone else to deal with.

.

Hey do you know what our favorite bipartisan moment of the Bush years was? It was when Bush said “Hey guys, we gotta do something about Social Security” and the other guys said “No” and then Bush said “OK.” Yeah, that was cool.

We’re going to give you every chance to make your case, Dear Senator but with the long uphill trudge you have with us as it is, you are not doing yourself any favors by the company you are keeping.

.

UPDATE: The Friends of McCain bandwagon swells its ranks: Mother Jones cozies up with article here. Dig the front cover of current issue on left-hand margin: "Can the world survive China's headlong rush to emulate the American way of life?" So its free speech and property rights that are dumping all those heavy metals into the water. Damn Western liberals.

.

UPDATE #2: So is John McCain now in George Soros's back pocket? Piece here from Hot Air links funding of McCain’s Reform Institute (of which aforementioned open borders clown, Juan Hernandez is said to be an unpaid voluneer) to a number of lefty outfits including the lefty Sugar Daddy-in-Chief himself, George Soros. This is a pretty convenient arrangement, we think. Afterall, it was McCain’s very own Campaign Finance Reform Act that thrust 527s to the fore in shaping the issues in national politics. Soros, of course, runs the most prominent 527 of them all, Moveon.org, who among other things are probably most infamous for their smearing of Beers with Demo’s Man of the Year, General David Petraeus with their despicable “General Betray us” ads.

Beijing '08 Olympics Update

(One in an occasional series provided during the run-up to the ’08 Summer Games in Beijing, China. Archived posts in this series can be accessed by entering “Olympics” in the blog search box above).

As kids growing up in SoCal in the 70s, smog alerts were a common occurrence, particularly in September and October when some smog alerts actually kept us inside during recess. Once school let out, though, we’d run home and get our homework done so we could run around outside again to make up for all the pollutants that those kill-joys at public school deprived our lungs.

Anyway, it appears the athletes competing at the ’08 Summer Games in Beijing will be contending with similar problems as according to article here, the host city, on a typical day has airborne pollution that is 5 times above the World Health Organization’s standard of safety.

The effects of this pollution has already been experienced by athletes who have competed there in Olympic test events such as Colby Pearce a cyclist who developed bronchitis as a result: “When you are coughing up black mucus, you have to stop for a second and say: 'OK, I get it. This is a really, really bad problem we're looking at.” He got it, alright.

So while the Chi-comms might find it in their hearts to resist persecuting dissidents, Christians and Falun Gongers for the 2-3 weeks we’re all there, this pollution business will literally be a much more visible issue that won’t so easily be swept under the carpet.

Scared yet?

Well, it looks like its going to happen. Story is here. We were starting to warm to this thing a little bit when reading that Pelosi agreed to drop the extension of unemployment benefits but... not to worry... the gentleman to Bush's left who does not look nearly as pleased as Pelosi has vowed to put it right back in there when this bill goes to the Senate. C'mon Harry, smile... you'll get yours.

When we addressed this originally, we thought this would be a perfect opportunity for Bush to browbeat Congress into making permanent his tax cuts. We were wrong... oh so wrong.

Can the photo above be used as a sort of political Rorschach test to gage the amount of terror it strikes into the heart of the viewer?

At any rate, we will be keeping a close eye on the vote tally, particularly that cast by a “principled” Senator from the great American desert south-west.

A Different Time, Indeed.

This was passed along to us, courtesy Mongo. It’s Branch Rickey’s scouting report of Dodger Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale from back in 1945 when Drysdale was coming out of high school. Standard fare for a scouting report, we suppose but then we ran across this: “Intelligent face and manner. Shows good breeding.” dude....

Since this is the same man that also signed Jackie Robinson a few years later, we can only assume that the manner of speech employed by Rickey was from a period in this country’s history when “breeding” was not freighted with the social significance it would be today.

And this reminded us that its coming up on the 20th anniversary of then-Dodger general manager Al Campanis’ infamous remarks on “Nightline” that blacks “lacked the necessities” to be managers. Video here. Campanis was forced to resign his post shortly thereafter and for a man who played for and ran the front office of one of the most progressive and successful sports franchises ever, he will always be remembered more for those comments than of his professional acheivements. And if we can engage in a bit of analytical self-pity, it is no coincidence that our Dodgers gradual descent into mediocrity over these past 20 yrs. started precisely the moment Campanis stepped down.

Like Rickey, Campanis was neither a racist nor a bigot but rather he was a product of his time when any prejudices or held stereotypes no matter how benign, were just matter-of-fact beliefs (Blacks can’t swim because they aren’t as buoyant… no biggie.) that were easily-held because they were never seriously challenged.

Anyway, didn’t really intend on going all there when we first started posting… just thought you’d enjoy something from America’s Pastime archives.

Warning: Bi-partisanship Ahead

As the sign would suggest, Congress is back in session and the President has a looming(?) recession on his hands so what better opportunity for everyone to put aside this counterproductive and nasty partisanship than to join hands and slop at the trough!

.

Article here from the AP documents the White House’s willingness to work with a Democrat-controlled Congress and visa versa in cobbling together a stimulus package. And why shouldn’t everyone put aside their differences…? From the way this package is shaping up, there’s something in here for everybody: tax cuts for the Republicans and unemployment benefits for the Democrats to name a few.

We don’t know how we feel about this rebate business. Look, don’t get us wrong – less money in their pockets and more money in ours is always a good thing its just that we feel cheapened, used…. Like we are being paid-off in return for some unbeknownst service that we performed. My g*d… so what did really happen last night?

And as we’ve commented before, we understand the compassion and sentiment behind the unemployment benefits but being fairly astute judges of human nature, we don’t think it takes an economist to figure out that extending unemployment bennies only extends unemployment. Wait, maybe it does. Read here.

In fact, if we’re getting our rebate from the general till and these unemployment bennies are also from the till then who’s paying for all this? Pffft. You know, who cares? They’re all playing nicely together in DC right now and that’s all that matters. Take your rebate and just shut-up. Hooray, bipartisanship!

KT, has some thoughts on stimulus here.

Hey Charger Fan, Remember this Guy?

Yeah, didn't think so.

Add Marcellus Wiley to the list of media jack-asses who have questioned LaDainian Tomlinson’s decision to not play in the AFC Championship game after the first two offensive series. To bolster his argument, Wiley, who was on ESPN’s Mike’n’Mike radio show this morning noted that while he was with the Chargers between ’01 and ’03, LT was “protected by the organization” to a degree that he “had never seen before”. Wiley noted that physical contact with LT in contact drills during practice was forbidden and that L.T. rarely ever played in pre-season games (in fact, LT hasn't appeared in a pre-season game in 2-3 years now).

We wish to commend Charger management for their prescience and wisdom in this blatant coddling and enabling of LT so that he would grow into the finest running back of his generation.

But back to Wiley… the irony here is that we remember Wiley. We remember this guy receiving a huge free agent contract with the Chargers after some very fine Pro-Bowl seasons in Buffalo and then basically mailing it in..... shutting it down..... essentially “laying down on an organization” to a degree that we “had never seen before”. Stick it in your ear, Wiley, you hack.

Yeah, but can He convince you to vote for John Kerry?

While John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen and other musicians were trying to win hearts and minds for Anybody but Bush back in ’04, it seems the music of one Johan Sebastian Bach has people leaning towards another non-politically affiliated individual. Fellow Theo-cat, Foxfier aka Precentor of Measurements, has linked to an interesting piece documenting a seemingly unlikely triad of Bach’s music, Asians and Christianity. Click here.

We liked this quote from the original story…..,

“The reason why Bach’s most abstract works guide some Asian people to Christ is because his music reflects the perfect beauty of created order to which the Japanese mind is particularly receptive,” suggested Charles Ford, a mathematics professor at the University of St. Louis. “Bach has the same effect on me, a Western scientist…”

…… because we’ve always wondered why mankind's seeking of God and his seeking of reason and rationality had to be mutually exclusive endeavors.

It Helps that these Bruins are Worth Watching

(...this is what happens when you sit on a post. We were ready to run this last week - it was in the can, ready to go but it kind of got lost in the shuffle of some other stuff we wanted to get to and look what happened. UCLA winds up losing to arch-rival USC over the weekend. Our bad, Coach Howland. Sorry.)

Despite his 97 years, ex-UCLA coach and the greatest college basketball coach ever, John Wooden has been a regular at UCLA games since he retired over 30 years ago. And because of his legend and the model human being he is, his autograph has always been highly sought after by fans…. during the game. Story from L.A. Times, here.

Wooden’s family has requested, though, that the Wizard of Westwood be left in peace to watch the game without having to satisfy autograph requests. After having to sit through the games of the terminally hapless Steve Lavin-coached Bruins, we suppose that signing autographs for fans was a welcome diversion from being forced to watch the train-wreck out on the court. To a program that was chronically talented yet underachieving, Coach Ben Howland (Cerritos High School, ‘76) who came from the University of Pittsburgh 5 seasons ago, has brought a Big East grittiness and a quality of play that has resulted in two straight Final Four appearances and which we’re sure the Coach admires and appreciates. Now if all you autograph hounds would kindly take your seats, the Coach would like to take in some good hoops. Enjoy the games again, Coach!

An Open Letter to Charger Fan

(This is not directed at all Charger fans but to far more than should be the case... and they know who they are)

Dear Charger Fan,
It has come to our attention that many of you are less than pleased with LT’s performance or lack thereof on Sunday afternoon. You see, we know this because after swearing we weren’t going to do it, we broke down and listened to some local sports yak on 1360 yesterday afternoon and as sure as the Sun rises in the East, there you were Charger fan in all your ignorant glory. Typical of this was Jose’ from Spring Valley who was so disappointed that LT didn’t take up his fife alongside injured teammates, Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates that he felt that Charger management should “get rid of LT” because he didn’t "gut it out" or do the “cheerleader” routine on the sidelines when it was obvious he wouldn’t play.

We love hearing some of what passes for “logic” with you Charger Fan, like, if Rivers was able to play with two sprained MCLs and a partial tear of his ACL, then LT should’ve been able to play with merely a hyper-extended right knee AND a sprained MCL in that same knee. Your lack of understanding as to what the two positions require physically is truly breathtaking. Honestly, how do you make it out of bed in the morning and to work safely everyday when its apparent you don’t have sufficient quantity of simultaneously-firing synapsises to grasp the most basic athletic fundamentals.

How dare you. How dare you criticize LT, Charger fan - a man who has exhibited more heart both on and off the field than you will ever deserve as a “fan”. Oh, so you wanted him to play “cheerleader” on the sideline instead of “sulking”…? of course, that would’ve only resulted in “heck, if he’s well enough to walk around on the sideline and cheer-on his teammates, then he’s well enough to play”…. Thanks to your immaturity, Charger fan, it was a no-win situation for LT. Nice work. I hope you are proud of yourself.

Do us a favor, then. Continue to regale us of how you "gutted out" that sprained ankle in your Tuesday night slo-pitch softball league or how you "manned-up" with a jammed thumb at OTL that one year but please remove the Charger gear, the jersey, the hoodie, and the ball cap that was obviously just purchased within the past month and give it to Father Joe, Goodwill or the Salvation Army… any group that will make far better use of it than to clothe your sorry ass. Honestly, we’ve never seen a group of fans that were a bigger bunch of pathetic, whining, ADD-addled ingrates than you.
Sincerely,
The Beers with Demo Editorial Staff
P.S. A stronger letter to follow

We’ve been critical of the U-T’s sportswriters in the past when it comes to their coverage of the Chargers so in the interest of fair and sporting play, here is columnist Tim Sullivan’s article which is spot-on.

So What Would Dr. King Make of All This?

We’ve been reminded on numerous occasions that white males, particularly conservative white males, invoking Martin Luther King is a purely self-serving exercise that cherry-picks elements of his legacy to bolster arguments against institutionally racist programs like affirmative action and hate crime laws. So we’re just gonna keep our mouths shut and let Hitch' take the hit for this one.

Beers with Demo’s favorite boozing, pro-Western, neo-con liberal misanthrope, Christopher Hitchens is at it again, this time taking Obama and Hillary to task for their use of identity politics. Click here for story from Wall Street Journal.

Some Housekeeping

We dropped the archives down towards the end of the page and we’ve added Weasel Zippers and Powerline to our political websites and Rivals.com to our sports sites since now that the Chargers are out of it and college football wrapped up (we think) two weeks ago or something, it is now the “off-season” and time to get ready for college letter-of-intent signing day and the NFL Draft.

We’ve added a feature called “Fighting the Good Fight”. These links are to the blogs/websites of individuals whose cause is worth noting and keeping updated. We’ve linked to Ezra Levant’s blog, the Canadian publisher (posted here and here) who is being sued and harassed by a Muslim individual and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, respectively for reprinting the Danish cartoons that “offended” many Muslims two years ago… AND who has been the subject of perhaps our very first little blog-roversy – check out the comments from the 2nd link.

Also added to this feature are websites for Border Patrol agents, Jose’ Campeon and Ignacio Ramos who were tried and convicted of shooting and wounding a convicted drug smuggler back in February of 2005 and who are now serving prison terms of 12 and 11 years respectively. This is the first we’ve written of this case because the more we read about it, the more simultaneously baffled and enraged we become (This is America… this sort of thing isn’t suppose to happen here) and we do our utmost to not be guilty of blogging-while-angry. And though our laundry list of grievances against President Bush is sizeable, we’ve always believed, at his core, he was a decent and honorable man. This case suggests something to the contrary which is disturbing.

There is a common thread between Levant and Campeon/Ramos. Its becoming clear that the fight against jihadism and fight for control of our country’s border also involves a fight against the government(s) whose very reason for existence is to be protectors of free speech and sovereignty, yet the evidence points to capitulation and appeasement, instead.

... and the Aftermath

A few thoughts on the Charger game yesterday:

- Norv Turner should not be faulted for sticking with Philip Rivers instead of Billy Volek. Volek captained one scoring drive last week and suddenly he’s ready to take on the Patriots? Sorry. Ain’t buying it. Rivers was game and outside of a couple of horrible passes, he played very well. By the logic employed by some Charger fans we’ve heard, Brady should’ve been yanked as well in favor of Matt Cassell because Tom Terrific threw 3 picks!

- Would LT have made a difference? There is no way we’ll ever know but one has to think that instead of all those field goals, LT would have been able to find his way into the end zone at least once, no? And Charger fans, again, being who they are have questioned LT’s courage for not “gutting it out” with his bum knee. Honest to g#d, these people are pathetic. There has been nothing this man has ever done on or off the field as a Charger that would suggest that he would not give up years off his life to be out on that field yesterday.

- Ironically enough, it was the Charger’s run defense that really let them down. Too many missed tackles in the 2nd half, allowing Maroney to rush for 122 yards was really the story of the game.

- The defensive game plan template was set last week against the Colts. As predicted, Def. Coordinator Ted Cottrell was going to sit back in the cover-2 zone, make the Pats work their way downfield and pray for turnovers. He got some timely turnovers but unfortunately Brady was able to take advantage of the soft-spot in this particular scheme which is out in the flats. The Charger linebackers were unable to get outside quickly enough to cover the Pat wideouts on the quick-hitters and screens which were defacto running plays. And when they did, they overran the play which allowed for clear sailing upfield for first downs.

- We almost went with it in our keys to the game yesterday but declined because it seemed too, well… it seemed too “gimmicky” but in a conversation with B-Daddy after the game, he said that if there was ever a game situation for which to run a gadget play, this would’ve been it. Concur. And outside of any trick plays even, the lack of creativeness in the Chargers offensive scheming is very disappointing.

- In the end, the Chargers have nothing to be ashamed of. They played tough under daunting circumstances and outside of the physical mistakes (missed tackles), they played with tremendous poise, not letting the emotion of the game draw them into mental mistakes – a marked contrast from last year’s playoff loss to the Patriots. Could it be that these Chargers are at long last growing up?


If anyone questions why the NFL is the most popular sport in America it is because of this: Its 1000 PST on the day after and we’re nearly done licking our wounds and are ready to sit down with the roster, assess the teams needs and start getting prepared for the Senior Bowl at the end of the month, the Combine at the end of February and of course, the Draft in June.

AFC Championship

(If this all appears redundant to what you have heard on T.V. or radio, we apologize. We have purposely avoided any corporate media analysis so as to not taint our outlook. And we apologize for not having any more creative insight than 70-80% of the ‘heads on T.V/radio who are paid to do so.)

If its going to go down, this is what needs to happen:

1. Pressure Brady. duh. Not just any pressure though. The Chargers need to generate pressure up the middle. There is no better quarterback in the game than Tom Brady when it comes to sensing AND adjusting to pressure. If we are choosing our poison, though, we would much rather see Brady having to throw while moving laterally than being able to step-up into the pocket and fire lasers downfield. Lasers….

2. Shorten the game… stay committed to the run game to keep the Pats offense off the field even if the Chargers go down early by a couple of scores. Don't panic. Which leads to…

3. Be creative. Again, this may be the last opportunity for the Chargers to utilize LT and Michael Turner/Darren Sproles in the backfield at the same time. We’ve never understood why this has never happened. Defensive scheming is all about allocation of resources and no one does it better than the Pats. Force the Pats aging linebacker unit to chase both LT AND Turner/Sproles around the yaahd this afternoon. If one dynamic game-changing talent in the backfield is good, we defy anyone to prove to us how two is not better? We beseech ye, then, O football gods for Norv Turner to break with convention and make this happen!

4. Pray for turnovers. Turning to the heavens twice in one post may be asking for too much but lets face it… the Chargers are going to need some breaks. Two red-zone turnovers by the Colts was pretty much the difference in the Charger victory last week and they will need some similar “help” this week as well.

OK. That’s it. Probably the last post for today as we will either be crying in our beer or re-enacting the days of our youth by streaking down Garnet Blvd. as we did 13 yrs. ago when the Chargers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC crown.

Go BOLTS!

Now What?

South Carolina Republican primary results:

McCain… 33%
Huckabee… 30%
Thompson… 16%
Romney… 15%

Well, looks like this may be it for our man, Fred Thompson. Click on over to KT’s site for his analysis of what may be the ultimate “hold your nose” square-off between McCain and Guiliani. For ourselves, we aren’t committing to anybody yet and may not even make it public when we do as a specific endorsement implies a degree of enthusiasm towards that candidate and we don’t see that happening right now. Again, merely voting for a candidate because that person has the best chance of beating the Democrat candidate lacks principle and conviction.

We’ve chronicled in this blog how ineffectual the left-wing netroot crowd is at pushing agendas and influencing outcomes… it appears that the right-wing blogosphere may be similarly impotent. By our reckoning, the sites we frequent the most and which are linked to on the right hand margin were very much pro-Fred. What does this mean…?... we’re not sure. We have some thoughts but we have more important things to talk about like…the Chargers!

We will make one prediction, though. If it is McCain v. Clinton, McCain wins going away.

Catchin' up with Ezra

Last week we posted about one Ezra Levant, the editor of the now-defunct Canadian-based Western Standard who has been brought before a kangaroo court known as the Alberta Human Rights Commission for having the gall to reprint the Danish cartoons that were deemed offensive by Muslims a couple of years ago. He has been releasing segments of his video-taped hearing at his blog and the blogosphere has enthusiastically posted them on their sites. After his tour de force from last week, he follows up here (courtesy Little Green Footballs) with more brilliance.

We believe these segments should be packaged and offered to high schools and universities under the title: “In defense of the liberal Western tradition”.

At the 1:35 mark, he levels the money-shot of this particular segment: “…it is the bedrock of our Western liberal society that unreasonable speech should be permitted… in fact, unreasonable speech is the only reason we’ve had progress in the West – people who offend the order…” Levant then gives the examples of suffragettes, blacks and homosexuals who “offended” and “upset” the order at that time to fight for rights and equality.

We’re glad he brought up homosexuals because we’re not particularly down with the entirety of the gay agenda, however, though we oppose gay marriage, those in favor of gay marriage have every constitutional right to speak in favor of it and do it in a manner that may offend people, even. It amazes us that writing the previous sentence should be so elementary and so obvious as to appear repetitive but apparently there are some Western nations that are rather subjective when it comes to the application of that concept.

Towards the end of this near-6 minute segment, Levant comments that it is against the law for the state to compel upon a convicted murderer to issue an apology for his/her act because it is considered “cruel and unusual punishment” yet star chambers like the Alberta Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Human Rights Commission can and have done so with publishers. Levant correctly compares the apology of which he is being extorted to fascism.

Let’s compare this vigorous defense of free speech with a couple of the Republican front-runners like Mike Huckabee who thinks campaign speech should be regulated to where one has to get the opponent’s permission if one is going to mention that opponent’s name in any ads. This is to eliminate any negative campaigning to which Pastor Mike (and by extension, you) might take offense. And this boob actually cites 527s as one of the sources of all that negativity.

The irony here is that the Campaign Finance Reform Act, co-authored by John McCain was supposed to cut back all that nasty negative campaigning by restricting political (free) speech prior to elections which only increased negative campaigning, of course, by allowing non-affiliated 527 groups like MoveOn.org and the SwiftBoaters free rein to go after candidates as long as they didn’t endorse anybody themselves.

So, since CFR has been entirely counterproductive and actually increased "negative" campaigning, Pastor Mike thinks the government now needs to put a muzzle on groups CFR helped create. And round and round it goes.....

That two men who might be President of this country have such a flimsy grasp of free speech but are perfectly willing to use the government, precisely because of their ignorance, to regulate and restrict words that they find “negative” or “offensive” is highly discouraging.

Embrace the hatred of Hate (Anything) Laws.

Georgia

The co-owner of the St. Louis Rams, Georgia Frontiere, passed away yesterday at the age of 80 due to complications from breast cancer which was first diagnosed 4 years ago.

Frontiere, a former dancer, singer and showgirl married multi-millionaire and then-Los Angeles Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom after the two were introduced in the late 50s by Kennedy patriarch, Joe Kennedy. Rosenbloom died in 1979 in a drowning accident that to this day is shrouded in mystery, after which Frontiere was able to successfully wrest control of the Rams from Rosenbloom’s son Steve for whom he intended to leave ownership.

Frontiere, then engaged in what was nearly a 15-year campaign to move the Rams, which was the first NFL franchise on the West Coast (relocated from Cleveland) to her hometown of St. Louis. In what could charitably be called corporate sabotage under her ownership, she was able to convince the NFL that the Rams were no longer financially viable in the Southern California market (after nearly 35 years playing in the L.A. Coliseum they had since moved to Anaheim Stadium in 1980) and was thus able to take advantage of a sweet-heart stadium deal when St. Louis ponied-up tax-payer dollars for a new domed stadium to facilitate their move in 1995.

Shortly thereafter the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders who had relocated from Oakland in the early 80s returned to the Bay Area. Although constantly talked about and used as a bargaining chip both in the NFL and in the byzantine world of Los Angeles
City politics, there has not since been an NFL franchise in Los Angeles.

For this Gen-Xer who grew up listening to Bob Starr and Dick “Scooter” Bass broadcast the Ram games on K-ABC radio and who was acutely aware of the tradition of the team (Kenny Washington, Bob Waterfield, Norm VanBrocklin, the Fearsome Foursome, Lawrence “of Los Angeles” McCutcheon, Jack Youngblood, perennial quarterback controversies, etc.) – and of a team that along with the Lakers and the Dodgers formed about as interesting and dynamic a sports landscape a city will ever experience and then thinks of the 2nd largest city in America that would actually rather not have an NFL team …. for the woman owner that liked to give out crystals and stuffed animals to her players, this is her legacy.

And this is for Pops. A soundbyte of which was a staple on the show of another L.A. sports legend, Jim Healy.

Georgia Frontiere…. R.I.P.

"Niedermeyer, Dead! ... Hoge, Schlereth, Dead!"

The national sports media’s obsession with Charger QB Philip Rivers and more precisely, his propensity to run smack at opponents and opponents’ fans, has reached epically ridiculous proportions as evidenced in attached piece here from AOL Fanhouse which documents ESPN’s Merril Hoge and Mark Schlereth drawing Ryan Leaf comparisons to Rivers.

And this morning on ESPN Radio, Scott Van Pelt, was commenting on Rivers’ jaw-jacking with Colt fans at the end of the game on Sunday and opined: “Do you know how many other starting NFL quarterbacks would have done that? None.” Hey, Scott: do you know how many starting NFL quarterbacks are still playing football right now? 4. We like that stat better.

Lo Neal, the Charger’s starting fullback (and many other Chargers) have come to River’s defense saying, “(Rivers)… is a great teammate, a good husband, a good father and a good Christian”. We will also add that Rivers is 27-8 in his first 35 starts. Did we miss anything?

Look, do we wish that perhaps Rivers didn’t run his mouth as much? Sure, if only so we didn’t have to hear all the whining ad nauseum on T.V. and radio. We’ve been critical of Rivers in this very blog but this is, for lack of a better term, a “family matter”…. we can make objective critiques and criticisms of Rivers’ game but when we see “outsiders” piling on, we’re going to lash out.

We’ve mentioned before the increasingly unwatchable nature of ESPN, especially its NFL coverage because of the overbearing nature of some of the rhetoric. Perhaps, ironically, we find the NFL’s house organ, the NFL Network to provide the most rational commentary and analysis. “Total Access” host Rich Eisen is solid, Jamie Dukes' “Put Up Your Dukes” is highly entertaining and we always love us some Prime Time.

Update: Rumors are swirling that Philip Rivers may have a partially torn ACL in his right knee as well as the sprained MCL. Get ready to strap it on, Billy! We’ll take back all those horrible things we said about you a couple weeks back.

The Great Chips'n'Salsa Mystery of 2008

Each week we treat the project office to chips’n’salsa bought from Rancho Fresco in Barrio Logan. Now, this ain’t no ordinary salsa as B-Daddy (and we believe ‘Dawg and Mongo) will attest but rather life-altering quality stuff and the proof is in the pudding: this salsa is gone by lunchtime…. mere-mortal salsa in the same quantity lingers all day and is usually not even finished by close of business.

We have noticed something, though, upon which we are not sure is remarkable. It seems that the 16 oz. tub of salsa and the corresponding 16 oz. bag of chips we buy decrease in quantity at the same rate until the end state is an empty bag of chips and an empty tub of salsa achieved nearly simultaneously!

How does this happen? Is it mere coincidence that the 16 oz. bag of chips and the 16 oz. tub of salsa are perfectly complementary, quantity-wise or (we feel a “Wisdom of the Crowds” moment coming on) is there a group dynamic in play by which each individual, subconsciously or not, “knows” the precise amount of salsa to dig out with their chip in order for the salsa/chip balance to remain intact?

If so, is there then a psychological motive behind this quantifying that is driven by a desire to not leave anyone in the office chips without salsa and visa versa (i.e. would this balance still exist in a group of strangers?). Further, how does each individual know how much salsa to put on their chip to maintain the equal depreciation in the quantities of both? We suppose that after years of collective chips and salsa consumption with an experienced group as ours, there is an element of “thin-slicing” that takes place which can deduce the current amount of chips vs. that of the salsa and thus make an instant determination of the amount of salsa to put on a chip that would best preserve an equal rate of depreciation.

How would we test this theory? This is where we need your help. We thought about bringing in two tubs of the world’s greatest salsa vs. one bag of chips or conversely, two bags of chips and only one tub of this ecstasy-inducing salsa as an experiment. However, this would appear to overcompensate the one-to-one balance our consumers have come to expect when walking in the door at the beginning of a random work-week day and thusly skew the results.

A colleague in which we confided, suggested a larger bag of chips to maintain the expected one-to-one balance. Seemed like a reasonable suggestion, but again we’re open to other suggestions as well.

We’ll keep everyone posted if we decide to experiment with this apparent phenomena.

Cruisin' the Theocracy Pt. 1

B-Daddy reminded us recently that we’ve been thoroughly remiss at checking in with our fellow Theo-kats (courtesy Kat-in-Chief, KT), so this post (and others to follow) will attempt to correct this negligence.

If you’re into Google Earth and geology with minors in geography and topography then Ron Schott’s site aka Keeper of the Catacombs is a site you will want to check out.

Our favorite feature on Ron’s blog is “Where on (Google) Earth?”, where a Google Earth snapshot is provided and commenters are asked to identify where that particular location is (by giving approx. lat. and long. coordinates) and also to identify some distinguishing geological/topographical features. Ron’s “usual suspects” are well-versed in these areas but newbies are encouraged to try their hand. We’ll play the role of “observer” here for a while before we jump in with both feet.

So link on over when you get a chance, we think you will enjoy it.

We have a feeling Mongo just found a new toy.

“Where’s that Confounded Bridge?”

… its in the upper left hand corner of Frank Luntz’s Nevada Democrat primary focus group, that's where.

While Clinton Inc. and Camp Obama were busy mending fences and primary voters were asking John Edwards how he had the nerve to still be in the race, it appears that some of Clinton’s supporters may have a ways to go in putting identity politics behind them.

YouTube video here. Luntz is pinging the focus groups on the candidates, voting locations and union bullying when at the 2:30 mark, things get really interesting.

There he is. There’s David Brooks’ glorious bridge to the 21st century stumbling all over himself when asked to explain why Latinos won’t vote for Barack.

An atta-boy to the first commenter who can correctly identify the reference to the post title.

"You see, John... We're not so different, you and I."

Senator John Edwards doing his best Beers with Demo impersonation. Please click here.

.... hey now

We're not Saying its Going to Happen, but....

We didn’t pay it much never mind when we first heard the rumors this fall but click here and after reading it, does that not sound like the posturing of someone who may jump into the fray soon or later…. possibly at the Republican convention in August if no clear-cut primary winner emerges? That would be soooooo gnarly, dude.

Cue howls of derision from the Left.

Hey, at Least He Tried.

Wow, it must be New York Times day... Columnist David Brooks comments on the clash between Camp Obama and Clinton Inc. with respect to the Democrats’ long-standing tradition of identity politics. For those of you scoring at home, Barack Obama is a black male and Hillary Clinton is a white female…. handicap your card accordingly.

Way back in August we had some thoughts about John Edwards and the fact that his wife couldn’t wave a magic wand to bring him any closer racially or gender-wise to the two respective candidates above and thus more electorally-palatable to the Party as a whole. Being a white male (even with hair we’d kill for) just ain’t what it used to be, we suppose.

Anyway, Brooks brings up some interesting points in the article, being somewhat critical of the concept of identity politics but even more critical of the candidates because identity politics is at the center of this internecine squabble.

He loses us in the very last 2+ sentences of the article, though, when Brooks sees a light at the end of the tunnel…there is hope afterall. And in what form shall that hope take shape? Who or what will be holding the staff and leading the way for the Party in finding their way out of this gender/race-centric morass? Listen in:

‘…this dispute is going to be settled by the rising, and so far ignored, minority group. For all the current fighting, it’ll be Latinos who end up determining who gets the nomination.
At last, a bridge to the 21st century. "

At last, a bridge to the 21st century? Uh, yeah. All that nasty stuff he was saying about identity politics… don’t take it too seriously.

UPDATE #1: Poor Edwards. Dude can’t buy a break. During the Nevada primary debates this evening, there is asked perhaps (thanks to YouTube and HotAir, you are witness to history) the WORST question in the history of televised debates. Click here. Maybe they’re just trying to make light of the feud between Clinton and Obama and diffuse it with …. humor. Yeah, humor, as is “ha-ha, let’s let the white guy try to handle this situation”. Now, why the hell does Breckie have to do the dirty work for them?

Clip ends before Breckie has a chance to answer because…. who cares? The question stands on its own as an epic monument to shallow banality, selfishness, bigotry, and ignorance… indeed, a monument to identity politics itself.

But before Breckie leaves the public stage and we forget about him altogether, lets drink in the true essence of the man while he is in contemplation and yes, reflection, whilst preparing his countenance prior to a public appearance. Please, click here.

Got Recession?

We admit it. We don’t understand economic policy. To be more precise, we don’t understand standard liberal economic policy of which NYT columnist Paul Krugman favors as he documents a round-up of the presidential candidates’ proposals to lift this country out of the impending/looming/pretty-darn-near/already-in-full-swing economic recession. (Paul Krugman, who should know better, isn’t sure whether or not we are in one, though, the standard definition is at the bottom of the post as well as a secondary definition which we can assume is also Krugman’s fall-back definition).

For his part, Krugman offers no advice of his own but is clearly critical of the Republicans’ proposals and seems warm to the Clinton and Edwards plan of extending benefits to the unemployed, public investment in alternative energy and robbing Peter to pay…. ummm… (federal) aid to state and local governments.

Krugman saves his strongest salvo for Obama warning all of you Baracknids out there that he isn’t nearly as progressive as you all think (tut, tut) because he favors a long-term tax-cut plan. And we all know who are the only people devious enough to propose those sort of things.

But here’s where we are at a loss: Extending unemployment benefits, however niiiiice that may be… how does that actually provide an economic stimulus? How does extending the grace period for unemployment actually help the employment figures. We understand the compassionate motive behind it but how does it actually create more jobs? Didn’t we learn this lesson when Clinton, Bill passed the Welfare Reform Act in the mid-90s that effectively cut-off much the gravy train of unemployment benefits and which resulted in a swelling of the employment rolls?

Also, Krugman thinks we need to do something quick to head off this recession that we may or may not be in, but how does mere investment in alternative energy and again, extending unemployment (benefits) provide any short/mid-term economic stimulus? One’s gotta think the economic benefits of denuding woodlands to grow ethanol corn and constructing all those sexy refineries out on the prairie to produce the ethanol won’t show up for a few years down the road, if at all.

Yes, we cop to complete ignorance of standard Mark I, Mod 6 liberal economic policies.

And since you all asked….

The definition of “recession” from About.com is as follows: “The official definition of recession is when GDP growth is negative for two quarters or more.” Period. The secondary definition, however, applies to how one may happen to “feel” at the time, particularly when a Republican is in the Oval Office: “However, you can feel like you are in a recession before it has officially started because it is usually preceded by several quarters of slowing but positive growth.” (italics, ours)

A Large, Florida State-like Black Hole has been spotted in northern Indiana.

Well, looky-here at who’s atop the national recruiting rankings thus far in college football. According to Rivals.com, its our old friend Notre Dame in their assumed position as reaper of the choicest high school talent in the nation – a position they are seemingly in every year. Of course, given Notre Dame’s lack of success of late, this can be interpreted one of two ways: either Rivals.com overrates the players Notre Dame recruits or the fat man isn’t the coach he would like you to believe he is. Since Rivals is about the most respected recruiting service around and the ranking process too transparent, we tend to lean towards the latter.

Look, we know schadenfreude is a very unbecoming emotion but we hope that the university continues to choke on that monstrous 10-year contract they gave to Charlie Weis a couple of years ago. Like Florida St., Notre Dame is becoming the place where 4 and 5-star recruits disappear.

One of our favorite sports columnists, Jason Whitlock, had some thoughts on the Great Weis Hope, here.

John McCain doesn't appreciate your lack of respect for the military.

John McCain was stumping in Michigan and speaking on the topic of immigration when as this video shows he started drifting into mealy-mouthed Amnesty-speak. A few people in the audience (our type of people) recognizing this b.s. for what it is let out very audible groans but then McCain just shut ‘em down to wild applause with this:

“I’m not going to call up a soldier who’s fighting in Iraq today and tell him I’m deporting his mother. I'm not going to do it, you can do it”.

Huh? Did he just say that? Did the man who wants to be the most powerful man on the planet just try to link service in Iraq with illegal immigration? We’re dying to know just how many troops serving in Iraq or even Afghanistan have mothers that are here illegally. ...and what about Bosnia, McCain? – you forgot about Bosnia… like those peoples’ mothers don’t deserve some shameless pandering also? How pathetic.

If you’ve ever wondered just how tortured the logic has become and just how far gone the Amnesty cabal is, look no further than that quote.

Coming to Ruin an AFC Championship Near You

Sorry, America. Apologies for the Chargers scuttling the AFC Championship game matchup you all wanted to see. In doing so, the Chargers displayed the heart, fortitude, savvy and smarts that were all found lacking by this very blog just a few months ago, overcoming a hostile crowd, injuries to their offensive stars and some absolutely brutal officiating to achieve perhaps the most improbable victory in franchise history.

Some thoughts:
- We hate to say it because it makes us look like ungracious winners but… Roger Goddell dodged a bullet yesterday. Had the Colts won, the league office would’ve spent the entirety of this week attempting to explain away some of the calls that were made against the Chargers, namely, the holding call on Eric Weddle that negated Antonio Cromartie’s (Cro!) interception return for a touchdown at the end of the half and the pass interference call in the 4th quarter on Clinton Hart. It also appeared that Merriman and Phillips were held about every time they got to the corner on their pass rushes. After being largely immune to the same, Goddell would’ve found out what David Stern, the NBA commish has had to deal with for years now: the open secret that the Association will do whatever it can to put big market teams (especially the L.A. Lakers) in the Finals.

- It was encouraging to see some emotion from Norv Turner. Though we don’t subscribe to the theory that a coach needs to be overly demonstrative on the sidelines to be effective, we feel that every once in a while a coach needs to let the refs know, in no uncertain terms, his opinion of the officiating if for nothing else to let the players know the coach has their back. We would’ve loved to have been in the Charger locker room at halftime… we imagine the Chargers are on the hook for some damaged lockers and furniture. They channeled that emotion effectively, though in the 2nd half – something that they had been incapable of doing prior to yesterday.

- The CBS acronym of Can’t Broadcast Sports was upheld in fine fashion yesterday. We never seemed to get replays in a timely fashion and because of sloppy camera work, we never saw the alleged offsides penalty against the Chargers in the 3rd quarter that kept a Colt’s drive alive and which ultimately resulted in a touchdown. And with Joe Theismann now out of the picture, Dan Dierdorf assumes the position…. of worst game analyst in football. Words cannot describe how much we detest this man. To add insult to injury, it seemed like the team of Greg Gumbel and the ‘Dorf were assigned to about half the Charger games this year.

- Billy Freaking Volek!

- The Charger’s defense successfully executed what the Jaguars defense tried the night before against the Patriots. The scheme was to sit back in the cover-2 zone, keep everything in front of the secondary, make the offense chip its way down field and…. pray for turnovers! If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know we are not fans of the cover-2, a defense of which the Chargers are ill-suited to play, but Ted Cottrell can successfully argue that the scheme helped produce a victory. We fully expect the Chargers to do the same thing next week, whereby Tom Brady will carve up the Chargers secondary like a Thanksgiving butterball.

- The Chargers may need to look for a placekicker in the off-season. Nate Kaeding continues to miss playoff field goals.

- Though he didn’t have the impact we were predicting because Antonio Gates did start, the one time Legedu Naanee got his hands on the ball, he acquitted himself quite nicely, rambling 27 yards on a tight end bubble screen during the Billy Volek-led game-winning scoring drive.

- In our minds, one of the most important plays of the game was Mike Scifres, with his back to the goal line, uncorking a 66 yard punt and forcing the Colts to start their last offensive series at their own 32 yard line. Aside from the obvious field position advantage gained, it’s simultaneously a psychological boost to the defense and a deflation to the Colt offense. Mike Scifres is the best punter in the game. End of discussion.

- And finally… are we going to eat some crow and admit we were wrong about Norv Turner? Nope. While we congratulate Turner and the rest of the coaching staff for taking the Bolts to the conference championship game, they could’ve saved everybody, including themselves a whole lot of grief by capitalizing on this team’s core competencies from Week 1. These Chargers are a big, physical team that is equipped to get after the quarterback on defense and run the ball to set up play-action downfield on offense. This current 8 game winning streak is not merely coincidental with the coaches playing to those strengths.

Great win. The Chargers open up as 14-1/2 pt. dogs to the Pats. Good. Let’s stay loose, go into New England, roll the bones and see what happens.

... and as Darren Spoles would say. "buh-bye".