Ladies and Gentlemen, God taught me a lesson today.  Frustrated with NFL football this year (you read my whiny column last week about how the Niners and Bolts are doing, right?) and hoping to witness history, I went to the LBSU Big West Championship today, assuming I’d see our soccer team win its first ever conference title.  Instead, I saw a demoralizing penalty kick loss, and missed a hefty chunk of the Bolts game to do so.  I’ve learned my lesson; forgive me, football?  As always, today’s column features uncredited and unappreciated wit and wisdom from Ryan “Leaky Pipes” Thies, JJ “Salty Salty” Fiddler, and Shar “My Wife” Higa. 

1. So I got to see the end of the game, and can I just say: wow.  I heard from people watching the game that there was a lot wrong with us, but how good did it feel to stop the Chiefs on that two point conversion?  That broken up pass was about one spit’s distance from where the Panthers stole the opening week victory—maybe this is a signal close games won’t universally fall in the other direction for the duration of the season.  Or maybe Tyler Thigpen just sucks.

2. I hate the 2PC call there.  Hindsight is 20/20 and all those other chestnuts, but seriously—extend the game.  I know you’re on the road, I know your defense is tired, but putting 60 minutes of football on one five second play seems almost as heartless and absurd as deciding a conference championship on penalty kicks.  Just saying.

3. In the last two weeks, the Chargers didn’t record a single sack, or force a single turnover.  I see that today we improved that, by notching…one sack.  I know management is happy with their decision to replace Cottrell with Ron Rivera at D. Co, but like I said last week: Ron can’t bring outside pressure himself.

4. Thigpen looks like a god against us.  Also, I think Thigpen is probably the name of a Norse god.

5. Just caught the highlights on my DVR and The Blitz, but it looks like both LT and Gates are continuing to come around on their injuries.  It also still looks like neither of them are 100%–I still don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad.  On the one hand, it’s good that they’re not playing to full potential right now.  On the other hand…if they haven’t healed now, when’s that going to happen?

6. If you watched the game, please answer this question: HOW WAS THIS GAME SO CLOSE?  We gained 400 yards of offense, but only put up 20 points?  We had three receivers over fifty yards, and we only scored two touchdowns? 

7. The fact that a muffed XP cost the Chiefs this game reminds me: the gap between high school and pro football is sometimes narrower than we think.

8. So far this season we’ve Lost, Lost, Won, Won, Lost, Won, Lost, Lost, Won.  At 4-5, with 7 games left, we need to get on a run here, something to help us compete with the Broncos for first in the division, or move up in the Wild Card chase.  Unfortunately we’ve got Steelers, Colts, and Falcons in our immediate future.  Pray for us, world—and pray that my football sacrilege today doesn’t have long term negative effects…