It’s been an eventful off-season and a dramatic camp. The big three holdouts are still unseen in Chargers activities. Fortunately, all of our draft picks are now signed. We had a bit of a wrinkle with Ryan Mathews brief display of discontent, but that monster bedded down almost as fast as it arose. Still now sign of Vincent Jackson, Marcus McNeill, or Shawne Merriman. Though, it seems fans are getting used to that sight. The worst thing on fans minds right now seems to be the absence of Donald Butler, who will miss the entire season with an injury to his Achilles tendon. It’s a shame. I was really looking forward to seeing our third round pick tear it up on special teams at the very least. Hopefully Antwan Applewhite can stay healthy for the whole season and put up some good numbers.

The bolts will have their hands full in their first pre-season game. Hopefully Tyronne Green, Brandyn Dombrowski, and Tra Thomas (at left tackle) can keep Julius Peppers off of Philip Rivers and Ryan Mathews. If anybody can make the team miss Marcus McNeill, it would be Peppers, who also plays the left side very well so we will probably see him at both defensive end positions. Our offensive line is going to have their hands full in this game.

Everyone should also pay close attention to tonight’s game, as we will be playing the Cowboys in week two of the pre-season and the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints the following game. This pre-season will really show us what we are made of, so don’t blink or you might miss something.

This seems to be the logical next step since the NFL decided that schedules should be set in a way that teams face their divisional opponents towards the end of the regular season in order to keep the playoff picture more competitive and to avoid the annual ratings drought that a lot of  the perennial post-season teams experience when coaches decide to rest their starters in games that don’t affect their playoff position in any way whatsoever. I would say that having a schedule such as ours, with two AFC West opponents in the first nine weeks and four in the final seven after the BYE week, that would make other teams plan for the long haul instead of taking the controversial New Orleans-Indianapolis approach from last season. It would seem that the win your first 14 to lock up the top spots in each conference and rest for three weeks before the playoffs approach is on its way out the door.

I suppose that will keep my 72-inch high definition television, as well as every other high-def TV and computer in my home and office, powered up and streaming full time. However, we still have a long way to go until the pre-season starts up for us on August 14 against the Bears. Who, by the way, now have our old blocking tight end Brandon Manumaleuna and sack machine Julius Peppers on their roster. Marcus McNeill is going to have his gigantic hands full while the starters are on the field. Preseason toughness only expands from there as we face the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints on August 21 and 27 respectively.

Ouch… Those two make the schedule look a lot more like the NFC Playoff picture from last year than preseason opponents. We will be battle hardened by the time the regular season rolls around. Hell, it might even be a good idea to rest our starters for the second and third regular season games against the Jaguars and Seahawks with so much more emphasis on the end of the season. That most likely wont happen, but with this recent scheduling ruling you can expect teams to find interesting ways to adapt, improvise, and overcome in order to chase a championship.

Now as I eat this leftover pizza that I’m sure the Raiders fans that made it probably spit in, I leave you with this link. (I will post the full URL for those of you that aren’t very computer savvy or not equipped with Google Chrome.) The idea of a Super Bowl quality stadium in San Diego gains more and more steam every year and I strongly suggest that everybody get involved in every way they can. It would create jobs and bring a ton of money into the city. It would also be a good idea to built an alternative to the Qualcomm relic before the city of Los Angeles builds something equally tempting in an effort to snag another NFL team, which may or may not happen but we can’t afford to be left without an NFL team. That would be devastating. Even though the Chargers remain committed to San Diego, they have the option to explore any and every possible location and make their own decision.

http://www.sdstadium.org/

Chicago has won the Julius Peppers sweepstakes which will mean loads to the hearts of Bears fans after the early death of Gaines Adams. My heart goes out to NFL fans everywhere who loved him.

What surprises me the most is how big of a spending spree the unlikely Bears have embarked on. Manumaleuna will enjoy $6 million in guaranteed salary to be a blocking tight end while Chester Taylor grabs $7 million in guarantees but most likely wont be the starting tail back. Julius Peppers is looking like he will get a whopping $40 million guaranteed, and $72 million total, for six years of his sack-services. I can’t wait to see him and a healthy Brian Urlacher disrupt some offenses.

Best of luck to you, Brandon, Chester, and Julius. Enjoy your new home.