Chargers play one for the ages
Jan. 4 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
As a rule, great football games are remembered by how they ended. This one will be chiseled into the memories of the Chargers faithful for its beginning, middle, end – and its other end. Chargers-Colts was the best professional football game that has been played in Mission Valley, and that merely goes back to 1966 – or 17 years before Darren Sproles weighed 10 pounds at birth.
Last night's AFC wild-card playoff game had so many good and bad things and ridiculous storylines jabbed into its 66 minutes and 20 seconds, it's difficult to press down on one thing without another popping up.
More Nick Canepa Columns
Dec. 28 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Alex Spanos says his memory is fading: This is a tough write, because it's both heartbreaking and, in a strange way, heartwarming. It's difficult to imagine this proud, stubborn captain of industry and philanthropist in such a state, and yet he seems no less important and vital.
ANAHEIM, Dec. 14 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
SDSU has yet to get passing grade in big tests: Can the Aztecs come out and play with the big boys? Not yet. They still have homework and chores to do.
Dec. 13 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Lucchino, Padres are just what each needs: Sez Me . . . It was Larry Lucchino returning my call and he knew what I wanted – if he's interested in putting together a group to buy the Padres.
Dec. 10 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Tackling the Rivers paradox: Philip Rivers has absolutely nothing to hide and even less to be ashamed of. If any athlete is stripped down to where only his emotions are showing, it's the Chargers quarterback. His book appears open, with enough copies in print to easily check out of the library. An easy read. A page-turner.
Dec. 7 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
SDSU's Weber delves into a teaching moment: Stephen Weber is president of San Diego State University by trade, a philosopher by choice. So he knows as much about football X's and O's as he does particle physics. Plato and Aristotle weren't Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside. Socrates knew not of The Gipper, and it's doubtful he concerned himself much with electrons, neutrons and protons.
Dec. 5 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Slopball suddenly became Martyball: Well, you finally got the gift you've been asking for. You've longed for the return to the days of Marty Schottenheimer, when no lead was too small to sit on, when nothing he did at the time seemed good enough, when the Raiders were a cheap buffet and the Chargers were gluttons.
Dec. 4 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Longhorns QB the real McCoy: My Heisman Trophy vote has gone to Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, for the right reasons. He's the best college football player in the country. He had the best season of any player in the country on quite possibly the finest team (although we'll never know that for sure, will we?).
Dec. 2 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
'Embarrassed' GM isn't biting on coach questions: A.J. Smith normally is in a good mood during our quarterly sessions. Not this quarter. The Chargers general manager yesterday morning was looking and talking very much like a miserable GM responsible for a miserable 4-8 NFL team.
Dec. 1 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
With Chargers easy pickin's, Falcons figure: Let us prey: Maybe if the Chargers were goofy, if they threw pies and poked each other in the eye and wore huge shoes and red noses, then maybe the masses could get some kind of slapstick thrill out of them. But there is a stark difference between bad and boring, between lively and lifeless, between useful and useless.
Nov. 30 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Don't scan buddy list for coach: Sez Me . . . Those great navigators searching for San Diego State's new football world should keep Glen Mason sealed in the jar that bears his name. At least for now.
Nov. 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Sending out some thank-yous: Today we give thanks. Many San Diego sports fans might say, “For what?” But let's do it anyway.
Nov. 25 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Sad AFC West keeping Bolts on life support: The Chargers are not David with the sling. They are not Samson wielding the jawbone of an ass. They are not the Brits cornered at Dunkirk. If they overcome what they have to overcome, it will not be biblical or historic, because what they're chasing seemingly can be caught by a three-toed sloth.
Nov. 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Blame this coaching fiasco on Schemmel: Chuck Long didn't hire himself. Remember that. He filled out the application, interviewed for the job, flashed his medals. He was not a legacy. He didn't have a prominent alum in his family to grease the doors.
Nov. 23 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
SDSU teams sailing on opposite courses: What a way to spend my Saturday, drinking in San Diego State basketball and then finding the stomach to chase it with San Diego State football. It was as though I spotted two ships passing in the night, except they were 20,000 leagues apart, one upright and steaming, the other drifting off course.
Nov. 20 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Like it or not, he'll rightfully be back; learn to live with it: There are a whole lot of people in this town who don't carry snapshots of Norv Turner in their wallets and purses. But if you're waiting for Joe the Knight to soon mount his white steed and gallop into Mission Valley as the next Chargers head coach, don't bother reserving a space in your photo sleeves.
Nov. 19 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
New laws, if I had power of the Prez: President-elect Barack Obama has elected to come out in favor of a college football playoff. Surely, in a maddening world, this is a minnow in his frying pan. He has sharks such as the economy, two wars, the environment, health care, crime, drugs, immigration, Rush Limbaugh – well, you know, etc. – sitting on the sink beside his hot stove, waiting to be cleaned.
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Chargers' clunker of a season just about ready for junk heap: Maybe it was all too fitting that it happened here, in Heinz Field, where the Chargers found a variety of ways – maybe around 57 of them – for their season to reach the unofficial finish line on Nov. 16.
Nov. 14 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Hearing Vitale sound off is like a holler day, baby: Dick Vitale is not an acquired taste. You've either acquired him, or you haven't. Not everyone likes Dick Vitale. I don't happen to be among them, but then I've always enjoyed characters, especially Italian ones. At least one person, remember, didn't like Gandhi.
