Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers Uniforms

So with last night’s Monday Night Football game in Los Angeles at Sofi Stadium being in a lightning delay (which is the only way a football game is ever delayed for those that don’t know), even though they were in a dome, which defeats the purpose when the sides are open. It really got me to thinking.

1. They’re in a dome which protects them from the elements, so that they can play the game no matter the weather. So why make the sides open like an outdoor stadium with no roof? It defeats the purpose right? The commentators were out on the field, the fans were told to shelter in place, but the players and coaches making thousands and millions of dollars are allowed to go back to the locker room for their safety. So if you’re making the big bucks, apparently you’re allowed to take cover right!? Everybody else is seen as expendable as far as I can tell. LOL.

2. Any sports, and especially football fan knows that the classic nineteen sixties powder blue and white Chargers uniforms are considered the best in football from an artistic standpoint. I always said that the Chargers should make a modern version of those sixties uniforms, and just continually wear those. And sure enough, all it took was for them to move back to Los Angeles in 2016 for them to permanently change their uniforms into a modern version of those classic powder blues that I mentioned before. They were the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960 which is the year they were founded. But starting in 1961 and continuing until 2015 they were the San Diego Chargers, with a darker navy blue, gold, and white color scheme, starting in the seventies.

I totally feel like they ripped off my idea, but I digress.

I also feel it important to make it clear that I’ve always felt that the Chargers should’ve stayed in San Diego, because that’s where they've been for most of their history, except for 1960 and 2016 to the present. I feel the same about the Rams, who share a stadium with the Chargers now. They were in Cleveland from 1937 to ‘45, and then LA from 1946 to ’94. ‘95 to 2015 they were in St. Louis. I feel like they should’ve always been the Los Angeles Rams. Even the great Eric Dickerson has backed me up on this. As far as the Raiders go, I’ve always felt they should’ve stayed in Oakland because from 1960 to '81, they were in Oakland. Next, they moved to LA from ‘82 to ‘94. Then back to Oakland from ‘95 to 2019. Now, they’ve moved to Vegas as of 2020. 2021 is the 1st year fans were allowed in the new stadium since COVID.

The Olympic Games

So being that the 2020 AD (CE) summer Olympic Games are actually taking place this summer of 2021 AD (CE) because of COVID. I felt it important to drop some Olympic knowledge on everyone being I’m such the sports fan and history whiz.

Our modern Western societies on the continents of Europe, North America, and South America are derived from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Carthage, and ancient Rome.

Out of all of these there is none more revered than ancient Greece. Every city functioned like its own nation. There wasn’t a unified Greece. Every city state had its own laws, culture, and unique way of doing things. While there were many city states (at least 1,000), Athens, Sparta, and Macedonia were the 3 most important. Sparta created the foundations of Western military culture. They literally ate, slept, and breathed martial arts, military strategy, and unadulterated ass kicking 24/7. Every day of the year. Their laws would not permit them to do anything else once so ever. Athens had an army just like Sparta did, except Athens was way more of a naval power. Spartan society thought fighting on land was more manly than the sea. But the main thing that separated Sparta, and Athens was the fact that Athenians had way more freedom than Spartans. So therefore, Athens is the birthplace of democracy, philosophy, science, etc.. All the great teachers of the ancient world were from a city within Greece, and/or traveled to Athens.

Now the only time that the various cities would not quarrel amongst themselves was when they traveled to the city of Olympia, which is named after the Olympian ancient Greek gods that reside on Mount Olympus. Why did they travel to Olympia every 4 years between 776 BC (BCE) and 393 AD (CE)? To help those non-historical people, we are in 2021 AD (CE). The original ancient Greek Olympics.

The ancient Greek Olympics were very different from our modern Olympics. All the events were open to any male of any social class over 5 days. Women could not compete, but the loophole was any rider who won a chariot race was not awarded victory, but the owner of the chariot was. And women could own a stable of horse chariots in ancient Greece. They competed naked. False start in a track and field race caused the men to be subject to capital punishment. These 2 are my own personal favorites being a martial arts historian. The Spartans were not allowed to compete in the Pankration events because they had no impulse control. They were brought up in a strictly kill, or be killed world. Pankration is the unarmed mixed martial art of the ancient Greek city states. It’s a combination of Boxing, and Freestyle Wrestling. My other favorite fact is that when the ancient Persians invaded Greece in 480 BC (BCE), the Olympics were so revered by the Greeks that they could not form the closest thing to a coalition to protect their land because all the soldiers were preparing for the Olympics. That’s the classic example everybody thinks of when discussing the history of the Olympics. And finally, there were no point systems, or medals. The victor of each event received an olive wreath.

The modern Olympics the way we think of them did not begin until 1896 AD (CE). The summer takes place every 4 years, while winter is every 2 years. They still continue to try to be a vehicle to bring peace amongst the sociopolitical squabbles of all 196 to 250 unified nations on this Earth, depending on your definition of a country. And before I forget, let me end with this important tidbit for everybody to take under consideration… From 1896 AD (CE) to the 1970s AD (CE) only amateur athletes could compete. It wasn’t until the 1980s AD (CE) that professional athletes began to compete.

In this day and age of technology, where you can program which events you want to watch, instead of having to watch whatever is live.

Here’s what I’ll be watching over the next 17 days:

Archery
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Fencing
Judo
Karate
Modern Pentathlon
Shooting
Soccer
Tae Kwon Do
Track and Field
Wrestling

The only Winter Olympic sport I watch:

Ice Hockey

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!

Christmas decorations up, chocolate covered pretzels, and Russian tea cakes bought and/or made, and eaten. Presents under the tree, Christmas cards sent, and Christmas specials watched. Now listening to my Heavy Metal Xmas... And Headbanging New Year CD. Some people like to listen to Mariah Carrey sing Christmas carols. I prefer Lemmy Kilmister, Ronnie James Dio, and Tim "Ripper" Owens. I don't listen to metal cause I'm mean and angry fine people. It's cause it rocks, hard! haha. 

 

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays everybody. PS. Christmas sweater pic...PULLING...IT...OFF! LOL.

2020 Sports and COVID?

So as a sports fan, with the way 2020’s going on, I have to ask myself a few questions.

1) If COVID is as bad as everyone says it is, then why are they playing games in the 1st place, if you care so much about player safety?

2) Since football coaching is 1 of my many possible “careers”, and I know a who’s who of KC North Metro coaches whose high school seasons have been canceled. As well as having every college conference start at different times within the duration of the season, how can you gauge a true national champion in college when teams aren’t even playing the same amount of games?

3) These are all honest questions that I’ve asked myself over the year. I knew I wasn’t being a hypochondriac about COVID when a high school buddy of mine who is a coach for a Major League Baseball franchise contracted it. I myself had an unofficial meeting with an NFL franchise axed because of it, so something is definitely going on.

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

On this day, in 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked, which led to the United States entering World War II.

With today being the 79^th anniversary of this horrific, and history making day. I’d like to give a big shout out and thank you to all those of “the greatest generation” who sacrificed their lives, and their mental and emotional well-being for the safety of this nation, and other freedom loving nations around the world.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those who didn’t make it home, as well as those still living who spent their golden years fighting evil incarnate.

If it wasn’t for all of you, people of color, people of Jewish descent, and any other type of people deemed not fit to live, especially people deemed disabled, such as myself would not exist if Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin as well as others like them, remained unopposed. There are not enough words in any language to be able to express my deepest gratitude for what you all endured on behalf of the rest of us.

Sports Stadium Music

So as many of you know, 1 of my aspirations is to be an NFL defensive coordinator. Those of you who know me, also know that I prefer hard rock, punk rock, and heavy metal music, and that it is very much my own thing. So in this age of the Covid pandemic, and no fans in stadiums. The teams are using hard rock, punk rock, and heavy metal songs to make it difficult for the road team’s offense to hear. Which allows the home team defense to feed off the energy, that they would otherwise get from a full stadium crowd. Not only could I hear the foreign-language code words that made up each play call, but I could hear each song through the public address announcer speakers. It made me giggle because people use to go “oh I can’t believe you like that.” And make the occasional snide comment. But yet sports stadiums across the country use it to pump up their athletes, when it’s much more acceptable to be a fan of rap, country and pop these days. After each play call, I started to pick up on which play was going to be ran by both teams, and then I recognized the 30 second snippets of songs being used in the stadium that I grew up listening to. Pantera, good Metallica, Anthrax, Alice in Chains, Danzig etc. so it cracks me up hysterically!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everybody. Even though I don’t walk around a lot and have to do things from home like people have been doing for a while now, instead of writing 87,000 messages because I’m highly sociable. I just simply wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving, especially with these awkward circumstances. :-)

Happy Veterans Day!

Thank you to all the veterans past and present of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and National Guard, who have sacrificed their physical and mental well being, as well as their lives in certain cases to protect our freedoms. This day I remember you.

Happy Election Day!

I thought this pic was perfect for today!...It's always important to make your voice heard America! 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everybody!

 For those of you trick-or-treating still, please stay safe. In this day and age of Covid, a lot of neighborhoods aren’t trick-or-treating. So whatever you’re doing to celebrate the holiday this year, please enjoy yourselves, and come back in one piece. :)

Happy Constitution and Citizenship Day!

Happy Constitution and Citizenship Day everybody! I commemorate this day because in the United States, this is the day that our Constitution was ratified as well as the day that we commemorate all freedom loving citizens around the world.

I hope that wherever you’re at in the world, and whoever’s reading this, does really appreciate the freedoms, and rights they have in any Democratic Republic around the world. So here’s to all the freedom loving individuals in the various 196 to 250 countries in the world.

Happy Patriots’ Day!

Happy Patriots’ Day everybody! Like everybody else, I remember exactly where I was on September 11, 2001. I was in my high school drama class junior year. Such a tragic day! We were all in total shock. Words can’t express the deep sadness, heartbreak, and agony we all feel on this day!

 If Patriots’ Day is an unofficial holiday, it really should be an official national holiday because it was unfortunately burned into all of our brains, and none of us will ever forget those images.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day! May you be rested from your constant struggles. Whether that’s work, or just the daily toils of life.

What you have to do is make the best of the situation, and find some joy in whatever you’re doing to make it seem less burdensome, and make the time go by easier, while being stress-free, and less life sucking!

2020 Projected NFL Standings, Playoff Results, and Super Bowl Matchup

Here’s my 2020 projected NFL standings, playoff results, and Super Bowl matchup, as well as the winner in my opinion.

 

NFL Standings

AFC East:
New England Patriots
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
New York Jets
 
AFC North:
Baltimore Ravens
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals
 
AFC South:
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Tennessee Titans
Jacksonville Jaguars
 
AFC West:
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Denver Broncos
Las Vegas Raiders
 
NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Football Team
New York Giants
 
NFC North:
Green Bay Packers
Chicago Bears (Nick Foles should be the starting QB)
Minnesota Vikings
Detroit Lions
 
NFC South:
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carolina Panthers
Atlanta Falcons
 
NFC West:
San Francisco 49ers
Los Angeles Rams
Seattle Seahawks
Arizona Cardinals

 

NFL Playoffs

AFC Playoff Picture:
1. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Baltimore Ravens
3. New England Patriots
4. Houston Texans
5. Buffalo Bills
6. Pittsburgh Steelers
7. Indianapolis Colts
 
NFC Playoff Picture:
1. New Orleans Saints
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Dallas Cowboys
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
6. Los Angeles Rams
7. Seattle Seahawks
 
AFC Wildcard Playoffs:
2. Baltimore Ravens defeat 7. Indianapolis Colts
3. New England Patriots defeat 6. Pittsburgh Steelers
5. Buffalo Bills defeat 4. Houston Texans
 
AFC Divisional Playoffs:
3. New England Patriots defeat 2. Baltimore Ravens
1. Kansas City Chiefs defeat 5. Buffalo Bills
 
AFC Championship Playoff:
1. Kansas City Chiefs defeat 3. New England Patriots
 
NFC Wildcard Playoffs:
2. San Francisco 49ers defeat 7. Seattle Seahawks
3. Green Bay Packers defeat 6. Los Angeles Rams
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat 4. Dallas Cowboys
 
NFC Divisional Playoffs:
1. New Orleans Saints defeat 5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2. San Francisco 49ers defeat 3. Green Bay Packers
 
NFC Championship Playoff:
1. New Orleans Saints defeat 2. San Francisco 49ers
 

Super Bowl

Kansas City Chiefs defeat New Orleans Saints
 
*1^st off, I realize this is the 3^rd year in a row I picked a Chiefs/Saints Super Bowl. But much like the elusive San Francisco 49ers/Buffalo Bills Super Bowl that never materialized in the nineties, these are the 2 best teams on paper, but then they start playing games, and other teams wither away, or show themselves to be better than projected by year’s end.
 
*Again on paper the Saints look like the obvious representative of the NFC. But will they be able to maintain their usual production, or have they started to decline, and show their deficiencies due to the last couple of fluky and miraculous collapses of the previous few years?

*Being that the 49ers lost last year’s Super Bowl, will they be able to repeat their success, or like most teams that lose the Super Bowl the previous year, will San Francisco have a drastic fall off and find it too difficult to return to the Super Bowl?

*In New England, now that the Brady/Belichick era is over, does that mean that the Patriots dynasty is over? The New England Patriots as of 2001 are considered 1 of the most successful teams of all time, but much like the 49ers dynasty of the eighties and nineties, is this the end of their winning ways? When will the dynasty collapse? I’m not implying that Cam Newton isn’t talented. His skill set just is totally different from Tom Brady. McDaniels and Belichick preferred style is a pocket passer. However, if anyone can get Cam Newton to a Super Bowl by playing within himself, it’s Bill Belichick. He is considered the modern Vince Lombardi after all.

2020 KC Chiefs Projected Depth Chart

2020 KC Chiefs Projected Depth Chart:

With that being said, there are 11 players on the field for each team at a time. So here’s how I think the roster will break down. The 1^st name is the starter, and the other names at each position, are his chronological backups. By the end, I wonder how close I get to who makes the roster.
 
There are 53 men on the football roster. At the beginning of training camp (July), and Pre-Season (August), the team starts out with 90. And by the beginning of the 1^st week of the Regular Season (which is usually the 1^st week of September), they cut the Pre-Season roster to 53.
 
Offense (25):
QB: Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne (2)
RB: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Le’von Bell, Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson (4)
FB: Anthony Sherman (1)
WR: Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, MeCole Hardman, DeMarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle, Gehrig Dieter (6)
TE: Travis Kelce, Ricky Seals-Jones, Deon Yelder (3)
LT: Eric Fisher, Martinas Rankin (2)
LG: Andrew Wylie, Stefen Wisniewski (2)
OC: Austin Reiter (1)                 
RG: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Nick Allegretti (2)
RT: Mitchell Schwartz, Mike Remmers (2)
 
Defense (25):
LDE: Alex Okafor, Tanoh KPassognon, Tim Ward (3)
LDT: Derrick Nnadi, Mike Pennel (2)

RDT: Chris Jones, Khalen Saunders (2)
RDE: Frank Clark, Mike Danna (2)
LOLB (SLB):  Damien Wilson, Willie Gay, Darius Harris (3)

MLB: Anthony Hitchens, Ben Niemann, Dorian O’Daniel (3)
CB: Bashaud Breeland, Charvarius Ward, L’Jarius Sneed, Rashard Fenton, Antonio Hamilton, BoPete Keyes (6)
SS: Tyrann Mathieu, Armani Watts (2)
FS: Daniel Sorensen, Juan Thornhill (2) 

Special Teams (3):
K: Harrison Butker
P: Tyler Newsome
LS: James Winchester
H: Tyler Newsome
KR: MeCole Hardman
PR: Tyreek Hill
 
The Punter Tyler Newsome is the Holder, MeCole Hardman is the Kick Returner, and Tyreek Hill is the Punt Returner to save roster spots.

Happy Fourth of July!

I just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July! This year’s quite strange with home quarantines, social distancing, and pandemics left and right. Normally I would be barbecuing with family, shooting off fireworks even though I have cerebral palsy, and listening to Jimi Hendrix’s version of the Star-Spangled Banner at some point, but my usual traditions have been put on hold like everybody else, so I’m trying to make the best of the situation on America’s 244th birthday! Hope everyone else is too.

Brad Freeman's All-Time Lifetime Hockey Team

My all-time hockey team during my lifetime.

Starting Lineup:

C: Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers/Los Angeles Kings) *favorite position player growing up

LW: Brendan Shanahan (St. Louis Blues/Detroit Red Wings)

RW: Brett Hull (St. Louis Blues/Dallas Stars/Detroit Red Wings)

LD: Ray Bourque (Boston Bruins/Colorado Avalanche)

RD: Paul Coffey (Edmonton Oilers/Pittsburgh Penguins/Los Angeles Kings/Detroit Red Wings)

G: Patrick Roy (Montréal Canadians/Colorado Avalanche) *favorite Goalie growing up

Bench:

C Steve Yzerman (Detroit Red Wings)

C Jeremy Roenick (Chicago Blackhawks)

C Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins)

LW/C: Mark Messier (Edmonton Oilers/New York Rangers)

LW: Vyacheslav Kozlov (Detroit Red Wings)

LW: Paul Kariya (Anaheim Ducks)

RW: Claude Lemieux (New Jersey Devils/Colorado Avalanche)

RW: Jaromír Jágr (Pittsburgh Penguins)

RW: Teemu Selanne (Anaheim Ducks)

LD: Nicklaus Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings)

LD: Scott Stevens (New Jersey Devils)

RD: Chris Chelios (Montréal Canadians/Chicago Blackhawks/Detroit Red Wings)

RD: Scott Niedermayer (New Jersey Devils/Anaheim Ducks)

G: Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils)

Non-Roster Players (in case someone gets injured since rosters have expanded from the traditional 20 players above to 23):

C Joe Sakic (Colorado Avalanche)

LD: Brian Leetch (New York Rangers)

RD: Al MacInnis (Calgary Flames/St. Louis Blues)

Honorable Mention:

C: Mike Modano (Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars)

LW/C: Peter Forsberg (Philadelphia Flyers/Colorado Avalanche)

G: Dominik Hasek (Buffalo Sabres)

G: Ed Belfour (Chicago Blackhawks/Dallas Stars)

G: Grant Fuhr (Edmonton Oilers)

*Being born in July 1984, much like basketball, I didn’t have a home team that was tied to one city’s market being from Kansas City, MO. So I got games from all over the country. A lot of my favorite players were guys from the eighties, nineties, and 1^st decade of the 2000s. I adopted the NHL’s San Jose Sharks as my “home team” because at the time I was growing up, the minor league hockey team we did have in Kansas City was called the Blades, and they were the Sharks minor league affiliate. People have asked me since you’re a Kansas City Mavericks fan, which is the new minor league team since the Blades don’t exist anymore, are you a New York Islanders fan because the Mavericks are the Islanders minor league affiliate now? To be honest, no I’m not. But I’m always happy for the players who played for the Blades, and the Mavericks now, when they make it to the NHL because it’s hard to make it to any of the major sports leagues for all 5 sports in general. However, like most Missourians I rooted for the Blues when they finally made and won the Stanley Cup Finals 2018-19.

*My favorite teams in the Western Conference were the Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks. That Western Conference Final between the Avalanche and the Red Wings during the 95-96 season was rather epic. My team in the East was the New Jersey Devils by the way.

*I wrote down 5 Goaltenders because even though my favorite player was Wayne Gretzky, when I participated in hockey games during PE class, or recess, I always made a great Goalie sitting in my power chair. It was my way to participate. So most of the time, I analyzed the Goalkeeper because that was the position I usually played.

Brad Freeman's All-Time Legends Hockey Team

My all-time legends hockey team:

Starting Lineup:

C: Jean Beliveau (Montréal Canadians)         

LW: Bobby Hull (Chicago Blackhawks)

RW: Gordie Howe (Detroit Red Wings)

LD: Bobby Orr (Boston Bruins)

RD: Eddie Shore (Boston Bruins)

G: Georges Vezina (Montréal Canadians)

Bench:

C: Elmer Lach (Montréal Canadians)

C: Stan Mikita (Chicago Blackhawks)

C: Phil Esposito (Boston Bruins)

LW: Toe Blake (Montréal Canadians)

LW: Bernie Geoffrion (Montréal Canadians)                         

LW: Frank Mahovlich (Toronto Maple Leafs)

RW: Maurice Richard (Montréal Canadians)

RW: Guy Lafleur (Montréal Canadians)

RW: Andy Bathgate (New York Rangers)

LD: Doug Harvey (Montréal Canadians)

LD: King Clancy (Toronto Maple Leafs)

RD: Tim Horton (Toronto Maple Leafs)

RD: Larry Robinson (Montréal Canadians)

G: Terry Sawchuk (Detroit Red Wings)

Non-Roster Players (in case someone gets injured since rosters have expanded from the traditional 20 players above to 23):

C: Henri Richard (Montréal Canadians)

LD: Red Kelly (Detroit Red Wings)

RD: Brad Park (Boston Bruins)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father’s Day to all the great dads out there! …And sometimes, those single moms that have to play the role of both parents. :)

Happy Flag Day!

Today we pay homage to 1 of our nation’s greatest symbols. The flag of the United States of America, itself. Where the red and white stripes represent the 13 colonies that began our country’s history and the 50 stars denote each of the individual states in our current union.

On a side note, I support any country around the world having a day to commemorate its own flag, and taking pride in its own history.

I’m looking at you other 195 to 249 countries around the world, depending on your definition of a country, to show your pride.