San Diego Chargers News of the Day: September 6, 2012

Welcome to San Diego Chargers News of the Day. This is a post idea I just came up with, to be used when a bunch of stuff happens with the Chargers but nothing meaningful enough to actually warrant a post of its own. Let's jump right into it.

• Jared Gaither missed practice - That's not the good part of this story. The good part is that Gaither is the only guy on the active roster who missed practice. Ryan Mathews and his broken clavicle? He was there doing stuff. Antonio Garay and his ankle that was in a boot a couple of weeks ago? There, walking on said ankle and pushing weights around. Somehow, Jared Gaither hasn't found the heart and Dr. David Chao still hasn't found the skills to heal a back that was hurt over a month ago.
• Captains were named - They were the most predictable Captains ever. Philip Rivers gets the "Quarterback is always a Captain" role. Antonio Gates is Captain of the receivers because of course he is. Nick Hardwick is Captain of the offensive line, obviously. Eric Weddle is the secondary Captain. Takeo Spikes is the Captain of the Linebackers and neck size. Darrell Stuckey takes Jacob Hester's spot as the Special Teams Captain.
• Chargers using artificial crowd noise at practice - Makes sense. Those Oakland fans won't lose hope until about week 6, so in Week 1 they'll be rather loud. Rivers needs to work on communicating with his new LT and his new WRs without them being able to hear him.
• Chargers not signing an Offensive Tackle yet - Word around the campfire is that the team will carry just 52 players into Monday night's game. They'll sign a tackle next week, therefore avoiding guaranteeing the contract for the entire year. This is a smart move. Anyone they signed this week wasn't going to supplant Mike Harris as the starter this week, and that person is probably going to get released as soon as Gaither gets healthy again.
• OT Kevin Haslam signed to practice squad - Entirely possible that this turns out to be the 53rd guy and the backup OT next week. Haslam was waived by the Raiders last week, so signing him provided some good strategy as well as filling a need.
• Vincent Brown put on IR - I guess this news is two days old, but it was so obvious that it was going to happen that it seemed pointless to report. Brown got the designation of "marquee player", meaning that he can return to practice after Week 6 and can return to the active roster after Week 8.