Gearing Up For Chargers Training Camp
The 2008 Training camp season for the San Diego Chargers is almost upon us. The Rookies start training on July 21 and the Veterans enter the field on July 25. Going into the season, make sure to keep an eye for backup running back, the slot that could be filled by either Darren Sproles or rookie Jacob Hester. On the defensive side veteran newcomer Derek Smith from the 49ers and Anthony Waters will be emerging as an opening day inside linebacker. The preseason schedule has the Chargers vs. Dallas on August 9, at St. Louis on August 16, at Seattle on August 25 and at San Francisco on August 29.
The training will take place at Chargers Park in San Diego, California. The team doesn’t face many pressing issues heading into this season as they are a reigning division champion. Be sure to watch all of the newcomers to the team and root on your favorite veteran players as the San Diego Chargers will try to make another run for the Super Bowl. Get your San Diego Chargers tickets from Stubhub.com.
Chargers Next AFC Champs?
Dennis Dillon of SportingNews.com has predicted that the Chargers will win the AFC this season. The Chargers reached the AFC title game last season, but were ousted by the New England Patriots. The team did defeat the then-reigning champion Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the playoffs.
There is no reason to think the Chargers can’t win the conference. They’re among the AFC’s elite teams, along with the Patriots and Colts. The team has everything that you need to win a championship. LaDainian Tomlinson is the best running back in the league and one of the top backs of all time. Philip Rivers is emerging as one of the league’s top signal-callers. Both players missed a substantial portion of the AFC championship game against the Pats and tight end Antonio Gates was playing on a bum toe. A healthy Chargers squad can beat any team in the league. The highway robbery of wide receiver Chris Chambers late last season added another dimension to their offensive attack and his chemistry with Rivers should be much-improved this year. Their defense has a ton of playmakers, including Shawn Merriman and Antonio Cromartie, who are top tier players at their respective positions.
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Fred Dean Is Headed to Chargers Hall of Fame
Not only will Fred Dean soon be a part of Canton, Ohio’s Pro Football Hall of Fame this August, but he’ll also become a part of the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame this October. The Chargers will induct Dean into their team Hall of Fame during halftime of the Chargers-Patriots game this season, and the event should be nothing short of tear-jerking. Dean is pretty much universally beloved in the pro football world- and not just among the Chargers organization.
You should check out this article from the Chargers’ website about the announcement that Dean will soon be a Hall of Famer. We also went to a great reference guide, conveniently called Pro-Football-Reference.com, to look up the stats of this amazing player. In case you aren’t familiar with Dean, he played for the Chargers in the 1970s after he was drafted by the team in the second round. He really became one of the best in the game around 1979, when he began getting selected for the Pro Bowls. In fact, he was a four-time Pro Bowler and a two-time first-team all-pro.
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Cromartie Bombarding ESPN
Chargers All-Pro cornerback Antonio Cromartie is looking to become more of a household name. Cromartie will appear on all three ESPN networks, ESPN radio and ESPN.com today. Cromartie set a Chargers record last season with 10 interceptions and was basically a human highlight reel. He was selected for the Pro Bowl in his first full season as a starter.
Anyone who closely follows the NFL knows Antonio Cromartie. He’s definitely not a household name; few corners are. Champ Bailey is probably the most well-known player at the position in the league and a lot of casual fans probably don’t know who he is. Cromartie is one of the league’s rising stars though. Just 24-years-old, he’s already establishing himself as an elite corner. At 6-2, 204 pounds Cromartie is huge for the cornerback position and finds himself bigger than the average NFL receiver. He’s got elite speed and athleticism and should give just about any wideout fits. The Chargers nabbed Cromartie with the 19th pick in the 2006 draft, an unbelievable steal. At the time though, it may have even seemed a little high to some draft experts. The talent has always been there and everyone knew he was a freak of an athlete, but Cromartie was oft-injured at Florida State and didn’t see much time on the field as a result. The Chargers took a chance on him and boy has it paid off.
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Chargers Seek to Trade Eric Parker
Eric Parker’s days with the San Diego Charges may be numbered, and it may be a small number. Parker, the wide receiver has undergone surgery on his right big toe in October and did not appear on the field last season. The Chargers also have a long list of possible wide receiver stand ins, so that Parker has essentially become expendable, not a word that you want to hear no matter what line of business you are in. He has accomplished 170 receptions since 2003 and he currently ranks third behind players Antonio Gates and LaDainian Tomlinson.
The word from the San Diego Union Tribune is that Parker will be dealt or released before training camp even starts. It almost sounds like he is some sort of playing card, being discarded only to be snapped up again by some leery opponent. Perhaps, that is the the whole irony of sports trading cards-trading the cards themselves happens nearly as frequently as trading the players. Keep an eye for all of the activity generated by the San Diego Chargers this season, with your own pair of tickets from Stubhub.com.
What Teams Do the Chargers Most Own?
The San Diego Chargers have a fine history of success in the National Football League. They’ve been around since 1960, and they’ve won a lot of games. In fact, according to the stats at Pro-Football-Reference.com, the Chargers have an overall record of 354-359-11 all time. While technically that’s a losing record, they still have beaten quite a few teams.
And trends have developed. The Chargers can routinely open a can of whoop on a few teams, as their overall record shows. So here are the teams with which San Diego has the best odds of playing like a dime store fiddle. Their record against the Bufflao Bills might just be the most impressive, I think, as they have played them plenty of times over the years.
THE CHARGERS TRADITIONALLY
OWN THESE TEAMS
1.Houston Texans (3-0, 1.000)
2.Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-1, .875)
3.New Orleans Saints (7-2, .778)
4.Arizona Cardinals (8-3, .727)
5.Buffalo Bills (20-9, .690)
6.Detroit Lions (6-3, .667)
7.Cleveland Browns (13-7, .643)
8.Cincinnati Bengals (18-10, .643)
9.Indianapolis Colts (14-8, .636)
10.Tennessee Titans (22-13, .629)
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Fans Super Bowl Demand: Chargers-Cowboys
The fans at BoltHype.com demand that the Cowboys play the Chargers in the next Super Bowl. The Chargers were the overwhelming AFC favorite to get to the big game, according to the blog’s survey, but the NFC team that Chargers fans most wanted to see the Chargers play in the Super Bowl was the Dallas Cowboys, who ended up losing to the New York Giants in the playoffs last year. The Cowboys should return to the playoffs again, as they are widely expected to be the class of the NFC when the season starts back up.
The blog post at BoltHype goes into detail about how the matchup between the Chargers and the Cowboys would be awesome. And we tend to agree here at the Chargers Blog. Romo vs. Rivers. T.O. vs. L.T. Merriman versus the Big Tuna. Plus, there’s the cheerleader battle. What would be great is if the Super Bowl could be in San Diego this next year. This little daydream is too awesome to continue. We do not want to jinx it, too bad, so all of you out there in the blogosphere can pick up where we leave off here. Happy daydreaming! Hope it becomes a reality.
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Chief’s Gonzalez Saves Chargers Fan’s Life
The San Diego Chargers have many rivals. Since becoming one of the NFL’s elite teams, the Chargers have built up some bitter, nasty rivalries with the likes of the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. Then, of course, the Chargers have their bitter divisional rivals. The Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs all have axes to grind with the Chargers. However, sometimes we are reminded that there is more to life than just football. When Chiefs tight end Anthony Gonzalez saved a Chargers fan from choking last week, it put things into a bit of perspective.
The heroic effort was made in Huntington Beach, where Gonzalez resides during the offseason. The man in question managed to get a piece of meat lodged in his windpipe, and Gonzalez applied the Heimlich. The man was saved, but Gonzalez didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. However, someone got wind of the story, and now it’s national news, all over ESPN. This being the slowest time of year, it’s no surprise that this story grew legs. However, this is the kind of feel-good story you see during the offseason.
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Tragic News for Former Charger
I have made a mountain of a molehill about the quiet Chargers offseason this year. However, I have been doing so mostly in jest, and never actually wanted any real news of this kind to report. Former Chargers Safety Terrence Kiel died when he was thrown from his car Friday night. The accident occurred around about 10 pm in Scripps Ranch, a suburb of San Diego. Kiel played four years for the San Diego Chargers after they took him in the 2003 in the second round. Before that, he played his football at Texas A&M. Kiel was only 27 years old.
While other media outlets seem very quick to point out Kiel’s other missteps and brushes with the law, such practice seems insensitive at the moment. Yes, the narrative of this young man’s life is a biography of a traveler of the straight and narrow path, but that is not all there is to this story. Kiel’s story is unfortunately that of a young man who never was able to conquer all his demons on the way to realizing his full potential. His story is tragic, and our thoughts and comforts are with all those affected by his early passing.
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Foley Settles Suit with Officer Who Shot Him
One more time, with feeling: So this one time, in Coronado, this cop shot this football player. No, seriously. This happened. I’ve told the story more than once now, but since I think this particularly episode in Chargers lore is finally over, so perhaps the story bears telling one more time. For starters, we need to point out that Steve Foley was shot by an off duty police officer two years ago.
Now, the reason we bring this up is because Foley has finally reached a settlement in his lawsuit over the incident. But the issue has been tying up the courts for awhile now because the policeman was off duty and not in uniform when he shot the unarmed Foley in the leg. Which, as you can imagine, caused quite a stir. However, now it’s all behind us, so let’s not speak of it again if we can keep from it. It will be nice to not have to hear about this story ever again. I’m glad both sides were able to resolve things to their liking.
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