Like it or not, he'll rightfully be back; learn to live with it
Nov. 20 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
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.
You'd come to dislike that guy, anyway. Eventually.
More Nick Canepa Columns
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.
Nov. 13 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Time comes for Dear John letter: An open letter to John Moores: Dear John:
Nov. 11 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
It's ludicrous to write LT's final chapter: Rumors of LaDainian Tomlinson's demise not only are greatly exaggerated, they're asinine. But the doubting villagers are out there all right, in force, waving torches, ready to storm the once-impregnable Castle LT.
Nov. 10 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
A portrait not fit for the Louvre, at least the work wasn't a loss: There is no better time to say it. Norv Turner should get NFL Coach of the Year votes. Any man who can get four wins out of these Chargers deserves consideration. Canton should be dusting off a shelf.
Nov. 9 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Urgent call for Bolts to step up vs. Chiefs; time is slipping away: Sez Me . . The sense of urgency just took on an added sense of urgency.
Nov. 7 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Stadium situation still a mess: The Chargers and their new stadium issues are stuck between a rock and hard times. They're now trying to walk down a street of broken American dreams to find a suitable home. And all those foreclosure signs they're seeing along the way tell them this isn't how it was when they first came up with the idea.
Nov. 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
London NFL club would be balmy: Sez Me . . . The NFL thinks things through. It doesn't stroll willy-nilly into minefields, or areas known for quicksand. It's intellectually escorted. It makes mistakes, but remains the greatest and richest success in the history of sports because it's so damn smart.
Nov. 1 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Trading ace Jake would be a mistake: The Padres should not trade Jake Peavy. I don't want to hear it. Of course, this isn't going to keep it from happening – and Peavy must approve any trade – but that doesn't mean we have to like it, or stand for it lying down.
Oct. 31 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
GM mad; More heads might roll: A.J. Smith was convinced the sky was about to fall around him. So the NFL's John Wayne did the macho thing. He turned down the role of Chicken Little and signed on to play Foxy Loxy.
Oct. 29 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Somebody had to go in this debacle: Ted Cottrell was the fall guy. The chump. The easy way out of a messy room. He was like the kid who always gets caught after everyone else runs away and hides.
WEMBLEY, England, Oct. 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Bad defense leaves team in a haze: Those of us from the colonies waited all week for a good fog. You know, a pea-souper, as they say here when not ingesting eggs and pints. The mythical mist didn't show up until last night at fabled Wembley Stadium, and wouldn't you know? The Chargers were lost in it, arms out, feeling their way around.
Oct. 25 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Goodell: Today, London - tomorrow, the world: LONDON – Roger Goodell wants to be a man of the world. Literally. The NFL commissioner would like his sport to go global, which is why he's here this week and why we're here this week and why the Chargers and Saints will play a game tomorrow on British lawn.
Oct. 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Amid goals, grog, NFL not main attraction: LONDON – When Hubert Vogelsinger coached the San Diego Sockers, he once declared in his Austrian way: “English soccer isn't worth the time I don't spend watching it.” Hubert also noted: “If the British fought World War II like they play soccer, it would have ended in a nil-nil tie.”
LONDON, Oct. 23 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Wembley: Once remade, still revered: Yesterday dawned bright and clear, as rosy – to paraphrase from the Roger Miller songbook – as the cheeks of the little children. Hence, it was a perfect morning to head out for a tour of Wembley Stadium, site of Sunday's Chargers-Saints international summit. It was but a 15-minute train ride from our hotel to history.
LONDON, Oct. 22 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
In London, there's still only one real football: Everything's old here. And those who aren't Italian or French speak something called the King's English, so they're equally difficult to understand. They drive on the wrong side of the road. Pedestrians are in constant peril.
Oct. 9 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
SD's no-win situation: Sez Me . . . Welcome, visitors, to America's Most Disappointing Sports City. If your allegiance is with teams outside this area, you have nothing to worry about in terms of a threat to your favorites. We're neutral in San Diego. We accommodate. Make yourself comfortable. Have a fish taco. Just don't drink on the beach.
Oct. 8 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Long's flood of Aztecs cheer doesn't hold water: No one, not even those fluent in Googleese, can name the first person who uttered: “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” It may have been a constipated Adam, who wanted fruit in his diet. One thing we know for sure. It wasn't said by anybody involved with San Diego State's modern football program.
MIAMI, Oct. 6 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Rotten Bolts: One whale of a stinker: To the thousands of fans who chose AC, to leave their chairs empty and not take their Sunday afternoon sauna in Dolphins Stadium, we salute your cool judgment. For the Chargers players and coaches who also declined to attend en masse, we only can ask: What the hell is wrong with you?
Oct. 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Rising MWC belongs in snooty BCS: There really isn't any reason now to call the Bowl Championship Series elitist. Why repeat ourselves? As a toddler, the BCS slurped lucre pabulum with a silver spoon and still haughtily swaggers around with one lodged in its throat.
Oct. 1 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Plenty of blame to go around: The Padres have pushed their $70 million lemon through the car wash and come clean. They've admitted their jalopy was the product of everyone on their assembly line – with the possible exception of salesmen Henry Paulson and George W. Bush – and that's still to be determined.
Sept. 30 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
GM Smith likes the view quarter-way up mountain: A.J. Smith makes a lot of money doing what he does, but he likes to speak in quarters, and it has nothing to do with coin of the realm. Caesar may have divided Gaul into three parts, but the Chargers' general manager splits an NFL season into four quarters.
OAKLAND, Sept. 29 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Bolts too good to let motley Raiders hang with them: It's not the same. This graveyard of lost pride and poise no longer could frighten a wide-eyed child. Once, Al Davis, who tempted Adam and Eve with the apple, forced angels to tread here as if the field were mined and covered with rotten eggs.
Sept. 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
True craftsman steps down after leaving indelible mark: Tuesday will mark Jerry Magee's final day of work after more than 52 years on our newspaper. We are losing The Magee Touch, and it's one that cannot be replaced, surpassed or even duplicated. There has been but one. There can be only one. Don't even bother trying. His thoughts are unlike our thoughts.
