Chargers are itching to erase playoff past
If momentum is what you crave, the Chargers are your guys. Of the Elite 8 remaining in the playoffs, none of the Super Bowl wannabees has a bigger head of steam than San Diego does. The Chargers have not lost a game since Oct. 19, and they have the pelts and mounted heads of 11 consecutive opponents in their game room.
That 11-game winning streak includes victories at New York (when the Giants were actually decent), at Denver, at Dallas and at Tennessee (when the Titans were on fire). They have a quarterback (Philip Rivers) who is itching to break into the conversation as one of the best in the game, they have an attacking defense that is tough to pass against, and they no longer have Marty Schottenheimer as the head coach.
Really, does it get any better than this for Chargers fans?
The Chargers take on the Jets in the late game (4:40 ET) Sunday, and the line that opened at San Diego -9 but has been bet down to 7 in most books, most likely due to heavy New York money. It would be no surprise if the smart money swoops in on Saturday or early Sunday and moves the line a half-point in the other direction.
Under Schottenheimer, San Diego fans expected the worst come playoff time, and that’s basically what they wound up getting year after year. Schottenheimer’s sphincter got tighter and tighter with each game, and it was clear that he had playoff-time issues that couldn’t be overcome.
Norv Turner took his share of heat this season, especially when the Chargers got off to a 2-3 start and spent the good part of September and early October playing in the shadows of Denver’s white-hot 6-0 beginning. But Turner preached patience, and San Diego came around just when the Broncos became exposed. By mid-November it was clear who the AFC West winner would be, and it would not be the team playing in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains.
Avoiding what would be a monumental playoff defeat at home hinges on two factors – San Diego’s ability to first stop the Jets running attack, and then rattle rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.
The Jets’ running game, which has compensated nicely for the absence of injured Leon Washington, revolves around Thomas Jones, who put up nice numbers this season – 1,402 yards and 4.2 yards a carry. Jones’s ability to move the chains has provided just enough breathing room for Sanchez, who this season has shown that he can both win games or lose games all by himself. Sanchez’s passing beat the Patriots in Week 3, then New England intercepted him four times and crushed the Jets the next time around.
The Jets’ biggest fear is that the Chargers will get up a couple of scores, forcing Sanchez to throw and allowing the Chargers’ playmaking linebackers to tee off. New York will no doubt try to pound the ball early, take possession of field position and hope the Chargers curl into the fetal position like so many previous Charger playoff teams have.
Dress rehearsal for Pacquiao?
If you can’t be with the one you’d love to fight, love the one you’re with. With the mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. officially in the dustbin, Manny Pacquiao will battle Joshua Clottey. Same date as the now-dead Mayweather fight (March 13), but the venue is Cowboys Stadium in Dallas and not the MGM in Las Vegas. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones threw $25 million into the pot to make things work, and observers say this bout will be a trial run for a pitch to get the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight – possibly in the early fall -- when differences can be worked out.
Pacquiao has opened as a huge (3-1) betting favorite, but Clottey is hardly a tomato can. He has a reputation as an excellent counter-puncher, and in the past Pacquiao has had trouble with that type of fighter. Still, assuming Clottey doesn’t pull a major upset, five minutes after the final bell attention will once again focus on a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight of the century.
Mayweather, who is ticked that he has been blamed by many for torpedoing what had appeared to be a done deal to fight Pacquiao in Vegas, is trash-talking the Philippine and now says he wants the fight more than ever. Maybe, but Mayweather is known to be ultra-protective of his undefeated record and if he’s going to put that at risk, it wouldn’t hurt for Pacquiao to have a little more wear and tear before the two step in the ring in either Texas or Nevada.
Odds favor Obama’s re-election
There’s an old adage in politics – You can’t beat someone with no one. With that in mind, the European sports book Paddy Power is offering odds on the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Barack Obama’s popularity might be slipping as the controversial health care plan inches through Congress and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq show no signs of ending, but Obama is still a prohibitive 4/5 favorite to win re-election.
Mitt Romney is the Republican with the best chance of knocking off Obama, but Romney is still a 7/1 dog. Sarah Palin (God help us all) is at 10/1, the same as Hillary Clinton. Arnold Schwarzenegger goes off at 100/1, but anyone foolish enough to take those odds is obviously ignorant of the fact that the governor of Califonia was born in Austria and therefore not eligible to run for president.
