Going deep

Sporting News, The, August 18, 2003

The Chargers' plan to spice up their offense follows a blue-ribbon recipe: Have newcomer David Boston run deep, deep, deep and make defenders chase him. That, obviously, would give LaDainian Tomlinson more room to run. But here's the rub: Throwing deep, deep, deep isn't Drew Brees' specialty; he's more of a down-and-in kind of guy. He has been airing it out more in camp, and the results haven't been all that bad. But three very familiar faces--Kansas City, Oakland and Denver--pop up on the September slate, and you can bet they'll make Brees prove he can beat them deep before they even think about taking one eye off L.T.

The point is mute

When Lisa Guerrero was hired to be a sideline reporter for Monday Night Football, the term "eye candy" became commonplace in the world of sports broadcasting. Now that CBS has announced that Jerry Glanville will resurface as a game analyst on its NFL telecasts this fall, let Fly introduce you to this term: "eat lima beans."

They build him up; Fly tears him back down

Rookie QB Chris Simms looked good in his exhibition opener against the Jets in Tokyo, sparking talk that he was a draft-day steal for the Bucs. That, obviously, is clear. After all, nothing dispels a can't-win-the-big-one rap like shredding a fourth-string defense in the American Bowl.

Suspender animation

Journalist extraordanaire Larry King--he's here, he's there, he's everywhere!--weighs in regularly with his sports insights on SportsIllustrated.com. King never backs down from the big issues--"Isn't Tiger Woods consistently amazing?"--but he gains special notice for speaking loud and clear on a previously hush-hush subject when he opines, "I have never been a fan of preseason football," And if you think that's hard hitting, wait till his next topic: "Groin pulls. Boy, do they hurt!"

Finally, a foot note

The Giants received a scare last week when star defensive end Michael Strahan came up lame during practice. The injury turned out to be minor, just a broken pinkie toe. I guess the only piece of news from the whole thing was that Strahan broke something, and he didn't even need help from Brett Favre.

A cheap shot off the glass

The Bucks last week hired a replacement for George Karl, selecting Kings assistant Terry Porter over Hawks interim coach Terry Stotts. Apparently, a factor in Porter's favor was that he actually had experienced coaching NBA players last season.