'06 OPPONENTS, NICE

Paul Lowe 1964

Koucerek in 1960, against the Titans, of NY. Lookit all the fans!

John Hadl 1963 AFL Champion. When I was a kid in the late 60's for Xmas I got a kiddie Charger uniform and you know what rocked about it? Single bar mask! 1967 I think.

  My team is out of the playoffs this I know. But hope for tomorrow and knowing in reality you have a chance to make huge strides toward the goal of a Super Bowl Championship in 2006 is awesome. I know who the 2006 SD Chargers opponents are home and away. We were tested with the toughest of all schedules of 2005 and performed well on occasion but ultimately came up short. Sure I like a top tier schedule but with light whining I say for 2005, gimmee a break...sheesh! That was brutal, only respite was OAK twice, BUFF, and Miami...and we all know how Miami did us in house!

  This season looks way realistic in terms of playoffs and or AFC West Championship or get high faith and maybe home field and best record. That goes a long way in securing a spot in the ultimate game. Oh, its not way too early for me to begin pining for next year to start. Looks like I'm in for 3 games this year and some will be reuniting with old pals. We will for sure video and photographic montages of these upcoming 2006 game experiences. So here are our opponents in 2006...read em and weep. As James Brown would say "I Feel Good!"

I'm gonna even call W's and L's for fun now so you can pull this up and remind me next season and I'm sure Raiderfanmarc77 or Crazychieftude will remind me! Remember I'm a homer and its the earliest of early to call games before training camp and even this yrs playoffs are ongoing so this is early Vegas betting at best.

Home opponents:

1) Arizona   C'mon now, be serious  W

2)Cleveland  if the games were in this order...we are now 2-0  W

3)Denver  Drew returns and we get payback!  W

4)Kansas City  Puh leez  W

5)Oakland  7 in a row VS Raiders

6)Pittsburgh  c'mon now...revenge factor for '05 game  W

7)St. Louis  I will be attending this one so of course W

8)Tennessee  remember the hip hop group Arrested Development's hit "Tennessee" Niether do I . Were gonna whup this team like "Mr. Wendel".  W

AWAY GAMES:

1)Baltimore  the "Heckyl & Jeckyl" helmets always make me cringe w/that fierce purple  W

2)Buffalo  this will be like beating up on a CFL team  W

3)Cincinnati  Our pass defense will shred Carson P.  W

4)Denver  LT runs wild in the snow at Mile High  W

5)KC  still in tears over Vermiel's departure the Chiefs are in disarray and we take one at Arrowhead!  W

6)OAK  the OCHO!  W

7)San Francisco   Alex S. meet Merriman, blow out!  W

8)Seattle  I will be at this one up in Seattle also, my prescence alone will bring the W  W

  So there you have it. By my expert and unbiased analysis looks like we are gonna be 16-0 and Super Bowl Champions. Funny, I come up with this scenario every year. Realistically the schedule has enough tough bumps to keep us strong but we got some bottom feeders too! My calls for the upcoming playoff weekend if you care: 1) Skins @ Hawks...Hawks 27-10 (2)Pats @ Donks  go against the feel good story...Broncos 31-26 (3)Steelers @ Colts...Colts 34-17 (4)Panthers @ Bears...go with the mighty teal...Panthers 21-14

I will be on the train to SoCal for these playoff games so I will listen on walkman radio as the broadcasts drift in n out down the west coast. Good Luck to all participants!

Skins Commemeration

  I congratulate you Jamie Mottram, on your team making the playoffs. While mine sits at home...wahhhhhhh! Best of luck...you'll need it! But you never know. My picks: Pats / Hawks. Tampa bay, it can be done. Almost looked liked the Skins weren't hungry enough against Philly. Hope your enjoying your holiday time and my cool "Best of NBA" dvd prize came today. Thanks. Good luck in the playoffs and see you on sportsbloggerslive. My Sonics blog be blowin' up at: http://journals.aol.com/trickage2/ShaLockLockBoom/  Wish you the best of luck in the playoffs.

Sailin' On To Higher Ground

  Roared in like a lion, well a little, and went out like a little lamb. The underwhelming underachieving Chargers ended a very disappointing 2005 season at 9-7 and finished 3rd in the powerful AFC West. Who we beat is significant, how we lost was unforgivable.  We took out 4 playoff bound teams handily. NYG,NE, WAS, IND...we whupped em all. But we lost games in the closing seconds to DEN and PIT, also playoff bound. The killer was a loss to MIA at home that basically sent us packing.

  Lets start where we need improvement the most. For me it is close to a toss up between revamping the O line or overhauling the secondary. The special teams besides the kickers were fairly atrocious. I may be wrong and feeling sorry for myself, but it seemed every game we gave up big yards on punt and kick returns. Thats a field position battle the opponents seemed to win every game. I like Sproles as a kick/punt returner but he needs to shag fly balls in the offseason. He dropped a few big kicks. Also it seems we always run one all the way back each season on kicks and as far as my memory serves me we didn't this year.

  This may meet with some objection but I say "Get Rid of Marty". We need a transfusion. We need a new way to look at things. We need a coach with some piss and vinegar! As Donald Trump would say, "Its nothing personal Marty, its just business". I think he coached some horrible games, the Philly game comes to mind. Damn, how many times did he run LT up the middle to no avail? He even ran Sproles up the middle in that game! And he was injured! Marty is a limited winner. A great regular season coach with a horrid playoff record. Look up his old KC record, eerily similar to what he has done in SD when he has won. Except for those horrible losing seasons of a few years back. Don't really know who is out there and as far as I know the Bolts aren't looking. Its just my personal opinion, maybe it would light a fire under our ass and we would be winning all those games we lost by mere FG's and last minute pass plays.

  I have already stated I think Drew may not be the man to lead us to the uncharted waters of a Super Bowl triumph. But in all reality our best chance in the next 2 to 3 years is with him at the helm. To surprise everybody and trade Brees with the current talent and potential we have would be like throwing in the towel on having a chance at it. I have heard another rumor that we are keeping Rivers, don't know if its true. I'll take our current QB's over the Billy Joe Tolliver/Babe Laufenberg era any day!

  I will try not to completely disappear this off season. Keep you posted on trades, acquisitions, hopefully no "National Enquirer" type stories or legal proceedings about any Charger players and such. The Chargers seem to have a 2 to 4 year window to work with, cause we got the talent to do it, regardless of opinion of others. Especially Raider opinions.
 Pop goes the shoulder of our savior Drew. We shall return in 2006 with a vengeance. No way are we gonna give up 99 yd winning drives when we have the lead with :59 left on the clock. Hopefully, like the famous "Grasshopper" who became a spiritual bad ass in "Kung Fu" we will walk the rice paper and leave no trace. And we are gonna freakin' snatch that pebble from the AFC Wests' hand again. We have learned!