The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
The San Diego Chargers once against shocked the football world Monday night when they beat the Indianapolis Colts in a game that nobody thought they could win.
How did they do it? Well, Chargers defensive coordinator John Pagano coached the game of his life against his brother, who is head coach of the Colts. Despite missing his best linebacker and team captain, Donald Butler, and down to the backup backup pass-rushers after losing Melvin Ingram, Dwight Freeney and Jarret Johnson to injury, Pagano was able to draw up a game plan that confused the Indianapolis offense and kept it from scoring a single touchdown.
This Sunday, the 3-3 Chargers look to break their streak of alternating wins and losses when they head to Jacksonville to take on the 0-6 Jaguars. This seems like a game Chargers fans should be confident about, until you remember that San Diego was unanimously picked to beat the Tennessee Titans and Oakland Raiders earlier this season.
You’re reading the Sports Report, our weekly compilation of news and information for the San Diego sports fan.
Are the Chargers Eyeing L.A. (Again)?
The San Diego Union-Tribune, which has long worked as a mouthpiece for a new Chargers stadium to replace Qualcomm Stadium, posted two new articles on the topic this week. The first, from Kevin Acee, seemed to point the blame for why the team may eventually leave directly at fans.
It also says that the team’s No. 1 source of revenue is ticket sales, which is categorically untrue. While Acee admitted as much on Twitter, the post has yet to be updated. The piece suggests the Chargers are upset that they don’t have more ways to make money from Qualcomm Stadium than simply selling tickets to football games.
The second post, from Nick Canepa, works as an attack on the California Coastal Commission for denying the team’s proposal to build a new stadium in East Village. It also states that the team, now out of options, is once again pushing to build a new stadium next to Qualcomm. Once again, though, the Chargers are pushing for the development of an “urban village” in Mission Valley instead of simply focusing on the stadium.
It’s clear the team is no longer satisfied with the millions it makes each year off the NFL and its fans. The Spanos family truly wants to own a part of San Diego, the same way that it owns a great deal of land and businesses (including a golf course) in Stockton, Calif. Jeff Siniard says the Spanos family has turned the Chargers fans against it with mistakes, and that a stadium proposal will not be considered until Dean Spanos makes a serious offer that includes covering part of the constructions costs himself.
Local Action
• Kyle Posey explains how Tom Telesco, in his first year as general manager of the Chargers, may have already found a suitable replacement for Vincent Jackson.
• Jodi Paranal took a trip to the new Sullivan Family Baseball Research Center, located in the newly finished Central Library in downtown San Diego. As a baseball fan who loves to read, I can’t wait to go check out the incredible collection of baseball books they have.
• USD’s Mason Mills is set to bypass Josh Johnson’s school record for passing yards in the Toreros game against Dayton on Saturday. Don Norcross talked to his coaches and teammates to figure out why the four-year starter is such a good QB, despite looking more like a kicker.
• Andrew Keats tried to figure out what a “Sports and Active Lifestyle Cluster” is and how the industry is growing in San Diego.
Stories You May Have Missed
• Players, coaches, fans and media members have spent a good chunk of this season criticizing Thursday Night Football. Supposedly, four days is not enough time for players to recover from the previous week’s game, which is why this year’s games have been noticeably sloppy compared with Sunday games. While that’s true for the six games played this season, Bill Barnwell discovered that Thursday games typically have fewer turnovers and fewer dropped-passes than games played on Sunday.
• In a groundbreaking move destined to become a new fad, San Diego native and Texans running back Arian Foster has agreed to a lump-sum payment in exchange for letting fans buy and sell his future earnings online, as if he was company stock. It’s a weird move, but I could see this turn into something huge for those who understand sports better than they understand Wall Street.
• GIF of the Week: In the ALCS, Detroit Tigers second baseman Jose Inglesias made a play that most centerfielders and shortstops couldn’t make when he caught a pop-up in short left-centerfield.
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I’m John Gennaro, contributor to Active Voice and managing editor of Bolts from the Blue. You can tweet me @john_gennaro or e-mail me directly at boltsfromtheblue@gmail.com.