Fires Threaten Bolts

I've been debating with myself all day whether to mention here the fires burning in San Diego County.

You follow the news. You know the story. However, there are a few side stories from the fires that relate to sports.

Among those who have been forced to leave their homes are members of the sporting world, LaDainian Tomlinson, Phillip Rivers and approximately 40 other San Diego Chargers players. Others forced out of their residences are current San Diego Padres pitcher Trevor Hoffman and former Padre Tony Gwynn, according to an Associated Press story.

Flames consumed hundreds homes across the Southern California region Tuesday and hundreds of thousands of residents were forced to leave the area. Qualcomm Stadium, the home of San Diego's NFL team, is being used as an evacuation center.

Poor air quality forced the Chargers to cancel practice Monday, and the team will spend the remainder of the week in Arizona.

There is talk the Chargers scheduled home game Sunday with Houston could be played in the Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.. The Cards have a bye week. Some are speculating the game could be moved to Sunday night or Monday night, but there has been no official word from the NFL about whether the game location or time will be changed. (Didn't I just say the other day I wasn't going to rewrite news stories?)

By the way, USA Today's The Weather Guys (Yes, I'm mentioning them again.) explained Santa Ana season on their blog yesterday. The season begins in October and can be a culprit in these autumn California wildfires.

(Qualcomm Stadium Photo: Stan Liu/Reuters)

Spawning Mud

The prevalence of artificial turf and superior field drainage systems these days have greatly diminished the sight of dirt and especially mud on NFL uniforms. But don’t tell that to Todd MacFarlane. His Spawn NFL figures almost always have at least a bit of dirt on them, creating a look on football uniforms that most of in our 30s and older became accustomed to seeing on TV during our youth. I don't know about you, but I hate the site of a clean football uniform. That's just another reason why it's tough being a Jets fan. I heard McFarlane on a sports radio program a few weeks ago talking about the research that goes into making his figures realistic. Sometimes I think there may be some embellishing in the mud department, but who cares? Check out the photo of the LaDainian Tomlinson figure. Awesome! Totally awesome!