McBoog Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 For those of you who have read Hat Trick's sig line, he refers to a "quote" of mine that states that “on the hiring of Norv Turner”. Well, that part is not true. What is true is that despite the hire of, well, even my 2 year old for God’s sake, the Chargers should have been the “default winner” or better stated the “default choice” to win the AFC West. Boy was I F’n WRONG! I actually expected a division sweep this year. They'll be lucky at this point to beat any of them! The Raiders are playing much better than anticipated but are still not scary (even though the same thing cannot be said about their fans. Dr, Freud, paging Dr. Freud ). The Chiefs are a little worse than expected. Though the D is looking improved . The Broncos are disappointing many, but I expected them to have problems this year. Just me, maybe, but I was not really concerned about them or their “big moves” in the off-season. The Chargers right now are a BAD TEAM! They are being completely out coached, especially “in game”. The greatest problem (though Norv pulled a Cameron and forgot he had LT on the team in the second half… Sound familiar? ), is the defense. Cotrelle flat out sucks as a DC and I have said before that he may be the first of this “staff” to go…bring on Rivera! For those of you that are not Charger fans, let me take you through the self-destructive/sabotage that Marty took this team through. The Spanoses decided to keep Marty at the end of the season and offered him a one-year extension so that he would not be a “lame duck”. In other words, they decided to give him one more shot with this team. Spanos also believed that Marty would keep, by in large, the same coaching staff! For whatever reason, this pissed Marty off. His ego was hurt that he was not offered a multi-year extension! Marty, hates AJ as much as AJ hates Marty, they never spoke, and Marty wanted out of San Diego as badly as AJ wanted him gone. Despite this, AJ provided the players and let Marty choose and coach them, this professional line was not crossed by either of them. Dean Spanos was the one who decided to keep him, with AJ’s concurrence. Marty TURNS DOWN THE EXTENSION and then has to figure out a way to get fired and take the team down in a way that makes him look like the genious. After all, he may want to coach again. Marty accomplishes this by doing the following: - Allows both coordinators and key staff members to interview and go to other teams. NFL rules would have supported him if he started to decline permission for other teams to interview his coaches after losing a certain number and he did NOT have to lose both OC and DC. - He started doing this so late, that there were no quality “back-ups” available. The Spanoses had a clear policy of not hiring family members to the coaching staff, and the ONLY NAME that Marty would submit for DC was that of his brother. Nobody else, and he made it an issue with Spanos himself. - Marty also started to submit other bone-head submissions for his staff, and even he realized he had to promote Shelmon, the running backs coach with NO coordinator experience to OC. All the good assistants had already been taken. - Faced with such blatant insubordination and the fact that Marty allowed his staff to be decimated, Spanos got pissed and fired him… NOT AJ! Personnally and in retrospect, Marty made his bed and the Chargers should have let him sleep in it forcing him to fulfill the last year of his contract. Marty had become purely a figurehead. He had little to do with gameday preparation and was a high paid cheerleader that would have looked BAD in a Charger Girl outfit ! His ego could not deal with it! Many of the players (and I don’t have time to find and re-link the stories, but they were there and were getting tired of the Marty shtick (it happened in KC) and were getting tired of him and thought he was kind of a joke. Looking at it now, my optimism was based on the fact that two coordinators with knowledge of the systems in place (Turner & Cotrell), could not have come in and made things worse . I was not expecting 14-2, but 11 or 12 wins was not out of the question. I know I was not alone in this! Christ was I wrong! But I do think that the Chargers would be struggling just as badly if they kept Marty. What made this team was Phillips and Cameron. AND… Marty was smart enough to let them both go so that nobody could say, “See, it was his coordinators, not him!” Then he just sabotaged the whole coaching situation with his following actions. I think even HE knew he couldn’t be anywhere near as successful with both of those guys gone and forced Spanos to fire him. I never said Marty was stoooopid, just not capable of winning the big games. Just look at what those two are doing with their teams. The Dolphins may not be winning games, but at least Cam is turning Brown into LT3. The Cowboys could be going to the Super Bowl. And to think, we could have had either of those guys had SPANOS had the balls to fire Marty and promote from within. As for now, the Chargers need to go 9-3 to have a shot at post-season. From what I see right now, I don’t think they can do it! I will always root for my Bolts, no matter how much they suck, but there is obviously something wrong with this team and the only real thing you can point to is coaching! Well, at least the preasure of winning 14 games is gone now! I still stick with my first choice. I would have liked to have seen Ryan Jr. get the job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Vatican Hitsquad Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 You should have stopped typing after the subject line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco Billy Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Norv Turner sucks. Readers Digest condensed version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cre8tiff Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Trade you straight up for Linehan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hat Trick Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco Billy Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Trade you straight up for Linehan. That's a fascinating thought. If both teams' woes continue for another couple of weeks, I wonder if owners would ever think this far out of the box to even consider trying something like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charty Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 - Allows both coordinators and key staff members to interview and go to other teams. NFL rules would have supported him if he started to decline permission for other teams to interview his coaches after losing a certain number and he did NOT have to lose both OC and DC. - Faced with such blatant insubordination and the fact that Marty allowed his staff to be decimated, Spanos got pissed and fired him… NOT AJ! Sorry, whatever the rules might be in place to decline permission, any move that blocks an assistant from getting a head coaching job would be ridiculed. On top of that, if Marty has made X million over his career, and he feels like the deal given to him was a lame duck/slap in the face deal, he has every right to decline that extension. It was a 1 year deal for $4.5M, but if they fired him after this season, the Chargers buy out was $1M. Marty rightly said "why should I sign with them so I get a $1M "severance" after the 2007 season, I don't need their money." How can Marty sit there and block assistants from interviewing after the position Spanos and AJ put him in? Success means your assistants will become targets, the Pats lost both OC and DC in the same year. Belichick didn't block them, and he had much better job security than Marty. Everything happened late - Marty declining the option, Tuna retiring, Saban skirting back to college, that this had no win written all over it. But the ball started rolling with the 1yr joke extension from Spanos (with AJ's input I bet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBoog Posted October 1, 2007 Author Share Posted October 1, 2007 What I really like about these boards is that you can come in, man up and admit you were wrong and get some good discussion in return! All I know is that my Bolts look like sh!t right now, and I was way off in my thinking. I figured a OC and a DC that already knew the systems in place was better, for this team, than brining in, late, guys that would change everything and have to start from scratch. Coryell taught Gibbs and Gibbs did it better, Turner taught Cameron... I should have seen it coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pope Flick Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 What happened to them was actually revealed in the your quote, and something I saw first hand in a majority of fans when I went to the Bears game week 1: your team bascially had a sense of entitlement after going 14-2. There's a reason the games are played on Sunday, and being new to this type of success you are finding out why. You knew they were better than the Stan Humphries team, and as a result had wildly unrealistic expectations. Also, I appreciate LTs passion for the gmae, but he has diminished himself with what's basically a whiny attitude that started after the Pats loss last year. suspect that's infected the team as well, because he is their leader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Swerski Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Also, I appreciate LTs passion for the gmae, but he has diminished himself with what's basically a whiny attitude that started after the Pats loss last year. suspect that's infected the team as well, because he is their leader. Agreed to an extent, and I suspect that he's also pissed big-time at management for firing Marty. Say what you will about Marty's ability to win in the playoffs, but his players are generally very loyal to him. And he and LT seemed to be especially close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charty Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 What happened to them was actually revealed in the your quote, and something I saw first hand in a majority of fans when I went to the Bears game week 1:.... Speaking of the Bears game, the Chargers had the best record in football, are expected to be one of the best teams in the league, opening game after a tremendous season, etc..... How can that stadium be half filled with Bears fans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pope Flick Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Speaking of the Bears game, the Chargers had the best record in football, are expected to be one of the best teams in the league, opening game after a tremendous season, etc.....How can that stadium be half filled with Bears fans? We travel well. I nearly got in a fight when LT came running out of the tunnel with the American flag and I screamed "that'll be the best run he has all day!" But, I was right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaiderSteve Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 I love that you got a little piece of the Norv that we so loved here in Oakland A lot more will tell about the state of the Chargers in week 6 when we come off of a bye and meet you at your place. You think maybe you can temp hire Marty for one game? He used to love to stick it to us, Norv on the other hand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco Billy Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 What I really like about these boards is that you can come in, man up and admit you were wrong and get some good discussion in return! All I know is that my Bolts look like sh!t right now, and I was way off in my thinking. I figured a OC and a DC that already knew the systems in place was better, for this team, than brining in, late, guys that would change everything and have to start from scratch. Coryell taught Gibbs and Gibbs did it better, Turner taught Cameron... I should have seen it coming! Knowing how avid a Bolts fan that you are, I don't feel the need to pile on, just stick a small barb in you. I'm sure others here like HT feel the same way. If you've read any of my stuff on DEN at all, you know how disenchanted I am with them this year, and I know HT feels the same way about the direction that his Chefs have taken. It's incredibly frustrating to have high expectations for your team, put forth those expectations before the season starts, and then have your team perform so far below what you reasonable expected. The fall of the Chargers so far certainly is not one of those homer-colored glasses type of situations - I don't know how many people saw SD doing so poorly, with the exception of a few of us who know what Turner has done to teams in the past and used his history of HC failure to override the overwhelming physical talent on that team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBoog Posted October 1, 2007 Author Share Posted October 1, 2007 Speaking of the Bears game, the Chargers had the best record in football, are expected to be one of the best teams in the league, opening game after a tremendous season, etc.....How can that stadium be half filled with Bears fans? HUGE transplant community. They face it with almost every home game. Same with the Padres. Lots of people move to San Diego, that is why a crappy little condo costs half a mil. I am a transplanted Charger fan, but you don't see me changing to the Redsklins just because I live in the D.C. area now. I would bet that many more people move to San Diego than San Diegans moving to Chicago! There is so much more to do there, ALL YEAR LONG, that one football game is not the most important thing to do week after week. There is so much more of a diversified interest that it creates a "bandwagonfan base". When they are good, it is "fashionable" be be a Charger fan, when they suck, it is too easy to say, "Let's go water skiing, to the beach, fishing, Sea World, Zoo, Park, Snow skiing, running, hiking... get my point?" San Diego does NOT have good fans overall. They are not, in general, very passionate about anything but what is convenient to them only. The Chargers have sdome of the most fairweather fans in the NFL. I am not one of them, but you have to be honest about certain things, and that is one of them. San Diego is a great city, but it is also full of plastic, self-centered Kalifornicans. I am glad to be out of the state, but because I love football and have been a Charger fan most of my life, I will always be a Charger fan. There are a few of us... but not many! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Swerski Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Lots of people move to San Diego, that is why a crappy little condo costs half a mil. People are moving out of California in droves for that very reason.. and driving up housing prices all over Oregon, Washington, and Montana. There is so much more to do there, ALL YEAR LONG, that one football game is not the most important thing to do week after week. There is so much more of a diversified interest that it creates a "bandwagonfan base". When they are good, it is "fashionable" be be a Charger fan, when they suck, it is too easy to say, "Let's go water skiing, to the beach, fishing, Sea World, Zoo, Park, Snow skiing, running, hiking... get my point?" San Diego does NOT have good fans overall. They are not, in general, very passionate about anything but what is convenient to them only. The Chargers have sdome of the most fairweather fans in the NFL. I am not one of them, but you have to be honest about certain things, and that is one of them. San Diego is a great city, but it is also full of plastic, self-centered Kalifornicans. I am glad to be out of the state, but because I love football and have been a Charger fan most of my life, I will always be a Charger fan. There are a few of us... but not many! That's true about many places on the West Coast. I grew up in the Midwest and am just shocked at how little people care about professional sports out here. I even have difficulty finding a good sports bar with the Sunday ticket. One opened up in town last summer and had just about everything (~12 HDs with all of the sports packages, free Wi-Fi, really good food and microbrews, etc.) and was out of business by December. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Vatican Hitsquad Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 You think maybe you can temp hire Marty for one game? He used to love to stick it to us, Norv on the other hand... I think it's safe to say Norv stuck it to us too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBoog Posted October 1, 2007 Author Share Posted October 1, 2007 I think it's safe to say Norv stuck it to us too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexgaddis Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Whatever you crybabies... two words...Brad Freaking Childress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hat Trick Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Whatever you crybabies...two words...Brad Freaking Childress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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