My Dad Is Optimistic About The Chargers

My Dad sent me the above, depressing photo yesterday in the aftermath of the Bolts' horrendous loss to the Rams, but his accompanying message rang optimistic:

I don't know Bo, but for some reason 2 & 4 doesn't bother me.

I'm choosing patience.

We still have Richwoods and Boise State.

Dad

With age - sometimes - comes wisdom. I'll give my Dad the benefit of the doubt here and join in his patient outlook on the Bolts' season. After all, the Raiders, Broncos, and Chiefs also crashed and burned yesterday.

The Bolts are only one game back in the division!

p.s. No, I don't know why my Dad likes Boise St. We have no connection to that university, or the state of Idaho, or any player or coach connected to the team, as far as I know. I think he just likes their team colors of blue and orange.

Invading East Lansing

The Illini take the field in East Lansing in about 45 minutes time.

Can the defense stop the MSU running game? Can Martez, Bussey, and the boys get to the MSU quarterback? Can the Illini corners protect against the deep ball? Can Scheelhaase complete the majority of his passes and limit turnovers? Can Dimke and Santella maintain their elite kicking games? Can the three-headed monster - Leshoure, Pollard, Ford - find running holes and gallop for huge chunks of yardage?

So many questions.

Let's get this dun.

Anthony Santella: Mid-Season All-American

In the sport of American Football, the punter is the equivalent of the "cleaner," the guy killers send in to hide the evidence of a dead body. You don't necessarily want to see him involved, but if he does need to be out there, you hope to God he does his job well and erases any evidence of your mess. In Anthony Santella, the Illini have finally found their Winston Wolf.

Santella has been dominant this season. He is third in the nation in punting average at 47.9 yards per punt, and six of his punts have landed inside the 20-yard line. If not for the greasy hands of his coverage team, he would have had at least one more punt downed inside the 2-yard line last Saturday at Penn St. Santella's stellar performance was rewarded today when he was named to the Rivals.com Mid-Season All-America squad. That's well-deserved recognition.

As you well know, the all-time leader in Illini punting history is current Jets standout, Steve Weatherford. Steve finished his Illini career with a 43.5 average, including three of the top four best single-season punting averages in Illini history, his best being 45.4 in 2004. Anthony's current average would top that by over two yards per punt. He has some work to do catch Steve's career record - Anthony currently sits at 40.4 on his career - but if he keeps up his current pace, he will at least be known as one of the top 2 punters in Illini history.

No doubt he'll bring that big boot to East Lansing on Saturday.

Shawne Merriman: I Bid You Adieu

The Chargers put Shawne Merriman on the injured-reserve list today. Once he is healthy - if that ever happens - they will release him and he will sign with another team.

It's a sad day here at PCI Blog HQ. Merriman has been one of my favorite players since he entered the league in 2005. Based on his first few seasons alone his play ranks him as the best Chargers defensive player ever, and that is a list that includes Junior Seau, Fred Dean, Earl Faison, Ernie Ladd and Rodney Harrison. He starred in one of the top two sports commercials of all time. His jersey is the only jersey I've ever purchased for my wife. I even taught her the "Lights Out" dance, though, despite several hundred attempts, she's never quite mastered it.

My favorite plays Shawne made were against the Colts. He pressured Peyton Manning on the clinching plays in both the '05 Week 14 upset over a then-undefeated Indy squad, and the divisional playoff "Billy Volek" game at Indy in '07. He also forced the game-changing fumble against the Titans in the Wild Card that same '07 playoffs.

Setting aside the steroid suspension and the chronic injuries of the last three seasons, the only real tragedy of Shawne's Bolts career was that the '06 squad - one of the great NFL teams of all time - didn't play in a Super Bowl.

Still, my memories of Shawne will always be positive. Shawne will probably catch on with another team, probably the Pats or another AFC contender, before the season is out. I wish him the best. To a point.

Marcus McNeill Will Be With Bolts For Awhile

It looks as if Big Marcus and the Bolts are near agreement on a 5-year contract extension that, added to the one year Marcus still has remaining on his current contract, will keep him with the Bolts until 2015.

Details of the contract have not yet been released, but I'm betting the deal puts Marcus into the top 5 paid left tackles in the National Football League.

Now about those special teams ...

Illini Running Game, Defense A Saving Grace

In a week of heinousness - the Padres don't make the playoffs, the Bolts lose to the Raiders, Tony Gwynn announces he has cancer - the Illini victory in State College was some kinda nice. Zook's boys dominated both sides of the ball on their way to a 33-13 drubbing of Joe Pa and his Nittany Lions.

Props especially go to the defense and the running game. On the D side, Nate Bussey had a choice pick at a key spot early in the 2nd quarter, and the defense as a whole held Penn St. freshman quarterback Robert Bolden to a 38.1 completion percentage. The team also picked up a couple sacks and held Evan Royster, soon to be Penn St.'s all-time leading rusher, to 35 yards on 11 carries.

And the running game was unstoppable. Mikel Leshoure ran 27 times for 119 yards, Nathan Scheelhaase 8 times for 61 yards, Troy Pollard 8 times for 55 yards, and Jason Ford 9 times for 47 yards. Even Bud Golden had a carry, finishing off the game with a 3-yard run. All told the Illini netted 282 yards rushing at 5.2 yards per rush.

Derek Dimke also deserves special mention. He was perfect on field goals in a hostile, "white-out" environment, hitting 4 out of 4 field goals, including a 50-yarder.

Oh and Scheelhaase, a redshirt-freshman starting in his first real road game, completed 15 of 19 passes for 151 yards and no picks. Clutch.

Many thanks to the Illini for doing their part to save the week.

In The Belly Of The Beast: Padres Lose Game Three In San Franciso, Miss Playoffs

This was the only photo I could bring myself to take during yesterday's season finale in San Francisco. I don't know who this Padres fan was roaming AT&T Park, but he was definitely a beast. You can't see it, but he's dominating a hot dog in this photo. The Giants fans are top notch rooters, and heckled me quite a bit as I walked around the park the last few days. When I showed my wife the photo of this Padres fan, all she said was, "I bet he doesn't get heckled."

She's probably right.

I don't have much to say about the game because the more I think about it, the more I want to weep. A few things stand out in my mind: Adrian's line-out with two outs in the first, Ludwick striking out with two on in the third, Denorfia diving and missing Aubrey Huff's two-out double in the bottom half of the third, Torrealba's 5-4 double play after the Padres had the first two runners on in the top of the 6th, Tejada striking out on a full count with two on in the seventh, Durango working the count full to lead off the 9th before grounding out to short. Geoff Young has a much more thorough summary at Hardball Times.

I'll quote my wife again, as she was the one person I interviewed after the game: "They just got in a rut early, and the game just kept going forward, and they never pulled out of it."

My thought? The Padres didn't lose the season yesterday. They lost it during the three-game losing streak last Sunday to Tuesday, and then with the 1-0 loss to the Cubs on Thursday. Those losses just left too much ground to cover, even for a game Padres team.

In The Belly Of The Beast: Padres Win Game Two In San Francisco

A less palpable tension this afternoon in Frisco. Maybe it was the bright sunny day, or perhaps it was the fact that Tim Stauffer, who has been absolute money in the second half, was on the mound, but today didn't feel as intense as last night.

Don't get me wrong, the game was riveting, from Zito's first inning control problems, to Bruce Bochy getting tossed for arguing a called strike three on Buster Posey in the 6th inning, to the final double play Heath Bell induced in the last half of the ninth. But it felt like the Padres were more in control this afternoon, even with a slightly smaller lead, than last night. Again, strange as it sounds, I think daylight made a difference.

Tomorrow's game is also during the day. Mat Latos throws for the Padres against archenemy Jonathan Sanchez. At stake is merely the playoffs and freedom for humankind.

October!

In The Belly Of The Beast: Padres Win Game One In San Francisco

I couldn't make it to San Diego to support the Padres earlier this week, so instead I came out to San Francisco - the belly of the beast - to root on the team in the final series of the regular season.

Tonight was the most intense baseball game I've ever seen in person.

A few observations:

- Even though he is in his late thirties and has a sore groin, I was still shocked Miguel Tejada was thrown out at home in the first inning. I swear the right fielder still had the ball when Miggy rounded third. Yet he was out by a three steps.

- The Ryan Ludwick, Adrian Gonzalez and Matt Stairs home runs in the second, third, and fourth innings, respectively, were three of the more satisfying moments in the history of non-playoff Padres baseball.

- AT&T Park was absolutely electric. Moreso than I've ever seen Petco. When the Giants rallied in the 6th, and had the tying run at the plate, it felt like the world was ending. At least from my point of view. I know the 8th inning got a little dicey, but the 6th inning was the most nerve-wracking inning I've watched in person. Having a big lead in the 6th inning is nice, but when a quality home team still has 12 outs to play with, and a raucous crowd behind them, the game is nowhere near over. The sixth inning was like my worst fears coming true. I thought Bud Black was making a mistake removing Thatcher after one batter, and replacing him with Gregerson, but to Bud's credit it worked out.

- All of Adrian's mishaps with the glove. I sincerely hope I never have to witness anything like that ever again.

- The ninth inning. Oh my. Just before Aubrey Huff hit his surefire double to deep right field, I'd glanced up and saw that Will Venable - who had shifted over from center - was playing very deep. I don't know who deserves credit for that defensive placement but it was brilliant. Venable ran down Huff's drive and then doubled up Freddy Sanchez who, thinking Huff had either homered or doubled, had already rounded second. The play happened so fast and was so awesome, I'm still not sure I actually saw it. Overheard from the Giant fan sitting next to me, "Oh my God that was deflating."

Plan for tomorrow: after a morning watching the Illini take on Ohio St. at Kezar Pub, it's back to AT&T for Game 2.

Jaysus.