The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
Football fans are insane. They know they’re insane, and they make no effort to reverse course. An example of this is the celebration upon the release of the NFL schedule for the upcoming season. Fans rejoice, and then they quickly start the process of predicting which games will be won or lost by their favorite team in the upcoming year.
This behavior is insane because so much is left to happen with the NFL offseason. The 2013 NFL draft hasn’t taken place, teams haven’t had training camps or played any preseason games, and there’s no telling which players on the roster will even make the team, much less which ones will be healthy. How could I predict who the 2013 San Diego Chargers will be, much less how good each of their opponents will be, before any of these things happens?
It’s lunacy, I tell you, but it keeps the cash rolling in for the NFL and each of its 32 franchises. As far as they’re concerned, their fans could all be cold-blooded, as long as they keep buying tickets.
You’re reading the Sports Report, our weekly compilation of news and information for the San Diego sports fan.
The NFL Draft Looms Large
• The 2013 NFL draft begins Thursday evening, and new San Diego Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco explained what his philosophy will be on draft day.
• While many mock drafts are predicting the Chargers will move up to the No. 6 spot to get an offensive tackle, I explained why it’s much more likely that the team actually moves down and adds more draft picks in 2013 and 2014.
Tom Garfinkel Makes a Bad Joke
• I ended up in the middle of a Padres scandal this week, after a friend of mine leaked a recording to Yahoo Sports that put team president and CEO Tom Garfinkel into some hot water. His reason for leaking the story in the first place may surprise you.
• David from Vocal Minority responds to Garfinkel’s comments and publicly admits to struggling with social anxiety disorder and depression.
• Before the Garfinkel kerfuffle , the Padres were momentarily giving their fans something to cheer about as they traveled to Los Angeles and swept the Dodgers for the first time since 2007.
Stories You May Have Missed
• The abrupt retirement of San Diego State’s Beth Burns, the most successful women’s basketball coach in Aztecs history, hasn’t gotten any clearer, Beau Lynott noted here on Active Voice. Local sports writers have tossed around plenty of theories — ranging from health reasons to impending NCAA sanctions — but so far SDSU has maintained its “cone of silence.”
• Over at Bolts from the Blue, writer “CrimeTime31″ explained the science behind concussions and CTE, which is the degenerative disease that brought Junior Seau to the point of suicide last year. You may laugh at his username, but CrimeTime31 is a real neuroscientist who provides the facts on this disease that’s ruining the lives of ex-football players. VOSD put together a look at the issue last year, which you can read here.
• Jason Peters broke down the coaches’ tape for new Chargers Jarius Wynn and King Dunlap.
• The Boston Marathon bombing led to a lot of singing. First, MLB teams around the league played “Sweet Caroline”, a Fenway Park tradition, during their first game after the bombing. Then, Bruins fans took over the national anthem in the first home game since the attack.
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I’m John Gennaro, contributor to Active Voice and managing editor of Bolts from the Blue. You can tweet me @jmglion or e-mail me directly at boltsfromtheblue@gmail.com.
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