Bolts From The Blue Week In Review 5/26

Bolts From The Blue first major contest is still going on!  I posted about the possibility of joining me in East Rutherford, NJ to watch the Chargers take on the Giants in week 9 of the upcoming NFL season.  The deadline has officially been sent for this upcoming Thursday with voting for the winner going on throughout next weekend.  I never said anything about one FanPost per person, so feel free to write a second or third one (just don't get out of control). 

We did a rundown of all Chargers players and staff members that are currently on Twitter.  As more and more people sign up for Twitter accounts I'll do updated versions of this list.  The more I use it, the more I love Twitter.  It's reality TV on steroids.  It's everyones throughts with no censorship or editing.  Unless the NFL gets smart about it quickly, this is going to lead to a season where we find out that some players cannot spell the name of the team they're on.  On the bright side, Shawne Merriman's twitter is a goldmine of information.  At any given time I can tell you what city Shawne's in, what he's doing (probably working out) and what he's currently interested in (NBA playoffs, Verve energy drink, hanging with Diddy).  I can also tell you that his knee feels great, even after being tested when running through the airport. 

Best Tweet of the Week: "Kassim Osgood is hoping this season he gets a chance to contribute as a receiver or safety. He can be much more than a special teams player" - RosenhausSports (Drew Rosenhaus)

We started the Chargers by the (Jersey) Numbers series with #1, then looked at the best Chargers player to represent jersey numbers #2 and #3.  I've slowed on doing this in the last few days, mainly because the website I was using to see jersey numbers for old Chargers players seems to have crashed.  Also, I think doing 1-99 will result in a lot of numbers that people don't much care for (like #1) or are very uncompetitive (like #2 and #3).  From now on I'm going to skip ahead to some of the more competitive numbers and we're going to have a vote to decide the representive of each number.

shaynes41 did a rundown of all of the interviews and online chats being given recently by Mark Fabiani, who is the Chargers' man-in-charge of finding a location and proposal for a new Chargers stadium in San Diego.  It sounds like things are finally moving ahead the way the should've been years ago.  In 2-3 years we'll know for sure what's going on, right now it's all just searching for the right spot.  I know I come up with another idea of where to put the stadium every time the topic comes up.....but I'm gonne hit you with another one.  I think there should be one massive project to build a new airport in Miramar and build a new stadium in it's place.  They would have a lot of sought-after space to build residences and businesses to go with the stadium too.

shaynes41 also came through with his weekly look into the Chargers position battles and depth chart, this time focusing on the team's secondary.  It seems like more and more people are counting Clinton Hart out of the competition for SS.  I really cannot wait for training camp and the preseason so I can see what Oliver and Ellison look like on the field.  Also, I hear that Kassim Osgood is a hell-of-a-safety...

I laid out the 10 Chargers players that I think will improve the most from 2008 and impact the team the most.  I messed up by not including Antonio Cromartie on the list, when he should've been in the middle somewhere, but everyone else I agree with.  While LT is a big part of the offense, I don't think he's going to improve much over 2008 and therefore won't be bringing any huge impact from last season.  That's why he's not on the list.

In one of the most pointless posts ever on BFTB, and one of the most fun posts to ever write, was my reponse to Arthur Salm.  I completely agree with the commentors that NFL franchises get too much influence with the city and politicians considering their size, but their influence on a city can't really be measured.  One of the biggest things that I didn't mention in my responses is the sense of community that sports bring to a community.  When the Chargers were in the AFC Championship game I saw an unbelievable amount of Chargers jerseys being worn, flags flying from cars and it seemed every place I went I had discussions with strangers about the upcoming game.  Where does all of that go if the Chargers leave?  We'll end up like L.A., with the town split into so many different NFL fanbases that the topic of football is ignored in conversation.

Do you have any thoughts about Bolts From The Blue?  Any tips you want to send our way?  Whenever you have something to say, don't hesitate to e-mail me directly.