kellyfzl
38 posts
Mar 22, 2012
10:22 PM
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SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Chargers president Dean Spanos didnt feel he had to issue any ultimatums when he made the unpopular decision to bring back coach Norv Turner and general manager A. Rajon Rondo Swingman Jersey.J. Smith despite the team missing the playoffs for the second straight season. "Everybody knows in this business that youve got to win. OK?" Spanos said Tuesday. "Thats the net bottom line. You dont have to say that." The Chargers havent been winning enough lately, which is why Spanos was forced to decide the future of his top football men. The Chargers are 17-16 since the end of the 2009 season, including an embarrassing home playoff loss to the New York Jets in January 2010 that was the Chargers last post-season appearance. San Diego went 4-1 at the beginning and end of this season but was undone by a six-game losing streak in the middle. One more win would have earned the Chargers (8-8) the title in the mediocre AFC West. Feeling that he has a good team with a marquee quarterback in Philip Rivers, "Keeping this intact gives us the best chance to win and change this thing as quickly as possible," Spanos said. Spanos said he was heartened by the players response to Turner in winning four of five down the stretch. The one loss, though, a rout at Detroit, eliminated the Bolts from playoff contention. "I was confident that I had a good chance to stay here," said Turner, who has two years left on his contract, at $3 million a season. Turner has a 49-31 regular-season record in five years in San Diego but is only 3-3 in the playoffs. "I would expect wed have to make the playoffs" to stay employed, Turner said. "If we manage things right and have some good fortune, I imagine we will." Turner was an unpopular hire in February 2007 after Marty Schottenheimer was fired following a 14-2 season and a home playoff pratfall against New England. When the news came that Turner would be back for a sixth season, fans reacted angrily on radio talk shows and the Internet. Some threatened to cancel their season tickets. "Obviously, Im very sensitive to what the fans have to say," Spanos said. "Ive come to the conclusion that I can talk until Im blue in the face that this is the right thing to do. But until we go out and win and change the course of where this team has been heading, get back into the playoffs and make a serious run for the Super Bowl, anything short of that isnt going to change their minds. We have to go out there next year and win." Rivers, who supported Turner in the closing days of the season, said he was "glad we are staying the course." "Sometimes the course isnt always smooth," Rivers said. "Weve had a bit of bumpy ride the last two years . but there is plenty of history other places that if you just stick with it, stick with it, stick with it, you get to the top and that is what we are trying to get done." Rivers said theres not much anyone can do to talk the fans out of the way they feel. "Youve got to win," he said. "You tell them well take the off-season like we are going to take it, and get geared up again. When September rolls around, I am quite confident they will be excited about us again." Turner is 107-113-1 in three stints as a head coach, including with Washington and Oakland. Both of those teams fired him. "A lot of the fans never gave him a chance when he came here," Spanos said. "I think its unfair. When you look at his record ... albeit, weve fallen off and were in the middle right now and its not where we want to be, but we are not the dregs of the league. And believe me, we were there. Ive seen it. I dont ever want to go there again. But I think hes been treated unfairly. Until we all win, its probably never going to change." From the beginning, there was a perception that Smith wanted a puppet of a head coach after butting heads with Schottenheimer. "They dont understand the working relationship we have," Turner said. Many fans feel Turner is a great offensive mind but not a good head coach. "Again, thats such a cliche, I dont respond to it because its easy to say," Turner said. Turner got the Chargers to the AFC championship game his first season before losing at New England. Since then, though, theres been a steady decline in post-season success, with just one victory in four seasons. Smith has come under fire for the erosion of talent from a roster that at one time was considered among the NFLs best. Smiths best draft was in 2004, when he took Eli Manning with the first pick despite Archie Mannings request that he not do so, then swapped the players rights to the New York Giants for Rivers and additional picks he used on kicker Nate Kaeding that year and Shawne Merriman the following year. Smiths recent drafts have produced more busts than impact players. Spanos said Smiths drafts from 2007-09 "were not as good" as earlier drafts. The Chargers ended the season with only three of their last seven first-round draft picks on the active roster. Besides his tiff with Schottenheimer, Smiths iron-fisted dealings with players have turned off some people. He mocked LaDainian Tomlinson toward the end of the running backs time in San Diego and used hardball negotiating tactics against tight end Antonio Gates in 2005 and wide receiver Vincent Jackson and left tackle Marcus McNeill in 2010. Patrick Willis Jersey. Hamilton (groin) had missed the previous six games and his performance couldnt have come at a better time for the Pistons, who had lost six of seven to fall into a tie with Chicago for the final two spots in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Los Angeles Clippers Jersey. San Diego now trails the NL West-leading Giants by three games and fell two games behind the wild card-leading Braves, who were idle on Thursday. The Padres wrap up the regular season in San Francisco and must sweep the three- game set to force a one-game playoff for the division title. Manny Malhotra Jersey. - Luke Pither was the overtime hero as the Barrie Colts eked out a 3-2 win over the Brampton Battalion in Ontario Hockey League playoff action Sunday afternoon. Authentic Ron Artest Jersey. The word out of Phoenix was that the Derek Morris trade was likely to go down tonight, but now it looks as though it will carry over to tomorrow. Jason Pominville Jersey. A series of parodies containing clips from his films have received tens of thousands of clicks online, with 66,000 people viewing a fabricated video depicting a love affair between Zhang and renowned Chinese actress, and often heroine of Zhangs films, Gong Li.LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Jonathan Quick and the Los Angeles Kings shut down the San Jose Sharks vaunted power play with grit, determination and desperation that often frustrates opponents.Quick earned his NHL-leading fourth shutout in his 200th regular-season game, a 2-0 victory on Monday night. He made 33 saves, coming up big numerous times during two short-handed situations in the final 4 1/2 minutes of the second period en route to his 18th career shutout.That was a critical moment there for sure, Kings coach Terry Murray said. Thats the part of the game they wait on — the power play. Theyve got a group of guys that have been together for 10 years, and they know how to move the puck around. So we had to be good in those situations.You kill the penalties the best you can with your forwards. But when it comes down to it, your goaltender has to be good against the power play. And he was.The Sharks totalled nine shots on net during five power plays. The Kings have killed all 16 short-handed situations the last four games, after allowing at least one power-play goal in each of their previous eight.We had a little bit of a stretch there where we werent happy with the PK, Quick said. But its something that weve been great at the past couple of years and its something weve been really putting a big focus on these past few games.Mike Richards, in the fourth season of a US$69-million, 12-year contract extension, scored his ninth goal in 10 games and 12th overall being traded to the Kings by Philadelphia. Ethan Moreau ended a 58-game goal drought with his first since October 2009.The Sharks, who outshot Vancouver 45-27 in a 3-2 home loss on Saturday, were shut out for the third time this season. Antti Niemi made 31 saves.The first two periods there was not a lot of emotion, defenceman Dan Boyle said. We didnt really work to get our chances. Five-on-five we had nothing for the first two periods and werent working hard enough to win. There are 82 games, and you have got to find a way to get up for every one.Niemi stopped 15-of-16 shots in the first period. The only goal was scored on a wrist shot from a sharp angle to the left of the net by Moreau that caromed in off Niemis glove. The 16-year veteran, who had a career-high 20 goals in 2003-04 with Edmonton, signed a one-year contract with the Kings after spending last season with Columbus.It feels great. Its always nice to contribute, Moreau said. Ive been able to score goals from that spot all my career, and this was no exception. Dirk Nowitzki Swingman Jersey On good teams, the third and fourth lines need to produce, and I think we have that ability. Weve created a lot of chances the last three or four games, and it was only a matter of time.The teams were skating 4-on-4 when Richards made it 2-0 at 4:16 of the second. Simon Gagne, reunited on a line with his former Philadelphia teammate for this game, got the puck down low from defenceman Willie Mitchell and circled the net before setting up Richards at the edge of the crease.I know its early in the season, but were not happy with where we are in the standings and the losses that weve had, Moreau said. Weve lost to some good teams like Chicago and Detroit, and we just want to prove to ourselves that we belong as an elite team. We have to start proving that, and this was a good start.Kings captain Dustin Brown, who shifted from right wing to left wing on a line with Anze Kopitar and Trent Hunter, didnt have a shot on net through the first two periods before his apparent short-handed goal at 6:01 of the third was disallowed following a video review.Brown carried the puck through the neutral zone, stickhandled around Justin Braun in the left circle and moved into the slot for a shot that was stopped by Niemi. Teammate Slava Voynov took a whack at the rebound, then made a kicking motion at the same time Brown got his stick on the puck and put it past the sprawling goalie.That call, in my opinion, should have gone the other way, Murray said. It was called a goal on the ice by the official, and then the explanation to me after the replay was that it was inconclusive by the video replay judge, as to whether it was kicked in or was hit by a stick. So it should have been a goal.NOTES: Quicks other shutouts this season came in consecutive starts last month against St. Louis, Phoenix and Dallas. ... Sharks C Michal Handzus, back at Staples Center for the first time since leaving the Kings and signing a $5-million, two-year contract with San Jose in July 1, was scratched for the first time this season, due to illness. ... The Kings earned their 1,400th regular-season victory. ... Los Angeles is 1 for 18 on the power play over five games after scoring at least once with the man advantage in six straight games. That streak began in a 4-2 loss at San Jose on Nov. 7. ... Niemi was 5-0 with a 1.20 goals-against average in his previous five starts before back-to-back losses to the Canucks and Kings. ' ' '
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