Tuesday Afternoon Linebacker

I know, I said there wouldn’t be a new TALB until the end of preseason. With so much going on around football these last few weeks I just wanted to get in a quickie.

Big Ben’s Big Fall
In case you’ve been living under a rock lately, Steelers’ quarterback Ben Rothlisberger had a pretty serious accident on his motorcycle. And the furor that has errupted over NFL players on motorcycles is frankly surprising. These are grown men who can make decisions for themselves. Neither the League, the teams, the union, or anyone else should mandate what these guys can or cannot do. If Rothlisberger wants to ride without a helmet and risk his multi-million dollar a year career, that’s his business.

Titanic Bore
What’s the big deal about Steve McNair leaving Tennessee for Baltimore? The guy was good, but he’s been injured more than not the last season or two. Maybe the Ravens can “Dilferize” McNair and make him a champion. But recent history with that franchise would indicate otherwise.

Football In 2016
The Chargers completed their move back to San Diego on March 1st, the start of the league year. This comes after a disasterous eight years in Los Angeles. After the 2006 season and several failed attempts to have Qualcomm stadium renovated or replaced, the team announced their plans to move to Los Angeles and the Coliseum. It took another full year for the site to be ready to host the Chargers and they played their final lame-duck season in a nearly empty Qualcomm. The first two years were magical, then league consultant and former commissioner Paul Tagliabue; architect of the move, was eccstatic. In those years the stadium was full for every game. But the team managed to win just eight games combined in 2008 and 2009. As expected, Angelenos began to sour on the team. In the intervening seasons the franchise could never find traction and win more than six games a season. Following the 2012 season Philip Rivers was waived and LaDanian Tomlinson retired. Tomlinson cited his main reason being the rudderless management of the team since the move (He would come out of retirement two seasons later when former teammate Drew Brees enticed him to play again with New Orleans.) With fewer than 10,000 season ticket holders and less than 25% occupancy, the team was losing money. At the same time Google Field in San Diego was on the drawing board. The Internet giant had funded an effort to lure an existing team or persuade the NFL to add an expansion club in San Diego. After the 2013 season Google began talks with the owners of the Chargers about purchasing the team. A deal was reached before the 2014 draft for Google to buy the team for $987M. Construction of Chargers Stadium At Google Field began before the end of the year. The venue will be completed in time for the Chargers to open their home season during week 3. Once the move was complete NFL Commissioner Rich McKay admited defeat and vowed that the league would never again force the issue of a franchise in Los Angeles, “We’ve had three teams in the area over the years, and they all moved away. The Raiders managed 12 years while the Chargers’ future in the city was doomed before they reached half that time. We won’t abandon the city. But the NFL is not going to lead any further efforts to put a team in that area.”

The Chargers’ return to San Diego has already been successful. Season tickets were sold out within two weeks of their avaiability and there is already a 15,000 person waiting list. All home games are sold-out for the 2016 season. Google Sports chairman, and Chargers president Bill Clinton has also begun lobbying the league for consideration as the host for the next available Super Bowl in 2021. The league is expected to approve the bid at the next owners’ meeting.

BMOC
- The NCAA has changed replay in college football to now include one coach’s challenge per game.

Another Great Reason To Watch Or Attend A Football Game
According to some academic in Tejas, it costs the Dallas area about $500,000 in sales tax revenue each time the Cowboys play. So, if you don’t enjoy paying taxes then rejoice as you sit back on your Barcolounger downing another beer while watching your favorite team play on your new big screen TV which gets its signal from your cable or satellite provider.

Running Items
WTF?
Paris + Matt, TLA. The question now is, how soon before the tape comes out?

LA Story
Since the effort to get an NFL team into Los Angeles seems to be gaining more traction, along with column inches in your local paper, I thought I’d add a new Running Item.
The Governator wants not one, but two teams to make Southern California their home. This makes TALB wonder just what is packed in Arnie’s cigars. Let me trot this tired old argument out once again; the area couldn’t support two teams 10 years ago. WTF do you think is going to change Mr. Shriver? Not a damn thing!

And then the league committed $10M to help get a team in La-La Land. Serenity NOW!

Captioned
Add your caption to the comments section. My contribution will follow the image.
Caption these winners:

FSU fans listen as Bobby gives son Jeff a spanking for his terrible play calling.

Oh Ricky!
Ricky Williams, eleventy time NFL substance abuse policy violator, has signed on with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadaian Football League. Last I heard, the Mary Jane was leagal up in Cannuckistan, bully for him.

In his CFL pre-season debut, he ran wild and amassed SEVEN yards on four carries. He ended the pre-season with an 11 rush, 46 yard (1 fumble) performance. And on Saturday the CFL regular season started and Ricky gained 97 yards to lead the Argos to victory. In related news, the immortal Spergon Wynn stepped in at quarterback when the starter went down. Oh, I smell QB controversy in Toronto.

West Coast Offense Barbie
Ms. Mullen waxes nostalgic about the history of womens’ professional football in her April installment. And she also touches on what drives her to succeed. Then in May she talked about her busy life as football, school, and her modeling career take off. And she waxes nostalgic about training for football.

Team TALB
TALB is always looking for fresh insight and additional input. If you want to submit something to be included in TALB, please feel free to contact me and I’ll get it put in the next edition.

King Of Football
As always, feel free to submit your entry for TALB’s King Of Football 2007. It will appear during the off week between the NFL conference championships and the Super Bowl (January 30).

Next Time: The season before the season. It’s Pre-Season Madnesssssssssssssss (but for real this time).