The San Diego Chargers lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday 11-10. It was the first time in over 12,000 games that an NFL game ended with an 11-10 score.

Even though the score made NFL history the bigger story was the $100 million in legal bets riding on the game and the controversial scenario that transpired at the end. On 1st and 10 from San Diego’s 21 with only 5 seconds remaining Philip Rivers threw a short pass to LT over the middle for 3 yards. Tomlinson turned and made a lateral to wide receiver Chris Chambers, who attempted to pitch the ball to a teammate only to have safety Troy Polamalu deflect the lateral and score from the 12.

Both teams left the field on what looked to be a game deciding play, but were called back by the officials for the extra-point attempt. At that point, the replay official called for a review because any questionable calls under 2 minutes has to be reviewed.

After watching the play, Green initially announced the ruling on the field was upheld and the touchdown counted, but the officiating crew huddled again before the extra-point attempt and changed the call, deciding that an illegal forward pass should have ended the play. Well after the game was officially over Green admitted the touchdown should have counted. Not a real big deal in the end right? Well, that is when things get really interesting.

An estimated $100 million in legal bets was wagered worldwide on this game. Roughly 66% of that money was on the Steelers; with only 34% on the Chargers. If the touchdown was properly upheld, Steelers bettors would have won about $32 millions instead of losing big. This admittedly incorrect call resulted in a $64 million swing in favor of the bookies. How bout them apples?

* Andrew Bynum is out eight weeks after temporarily dislocating his kneecap yesterday in a 100-99 win over Memphis. The Lakers are currently 4th in the Western Conference, but with this loss you can count on LA being no better than 7th by the time the young kid returns. His DRAMATIC improvement this year is the main factor behind the Lakers improvement and Ronny Turiaf and Vladimir Radmanovic can’t cut the mustard in trying fill his shoes.

* Not only is Darren McFadden leaving Arkansas early for the NFL, but now comes word that junior tailback Felix Jones will also be going pro. That is over 230 yards rushing per game gone from the Hogs as they go into next season. Welcome Bobby Petrino! Thinking about moving on to another team already???

* The Bolts worked the Colts yesterday in Indy. The Chargers were able to orchestrate the huge upset without hardly any reps from Antonio Gates, a mere 28 yards from an injured LT, and without Philip Rivers for the final few minutes of the game. Players with names like Billy Volek, Legedu Naanee, Darren Sproles and Vincent Jackson were the real keys to the victory. I highly suggest there isn’t much celebrating after the victory against the defending SuperBowl champs because New England is waiting in the wings this coming weekend.

* The fires in California have calmed some so the Texans and Chargers will play in San Diego. I hope this is a sign of good things to come for the poor people in San Diego County who have been devastated by the wild fires.

* Vinny Testaverde will start again this weekend for the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers face a tough Colts defense in Indy this Sunday so I hope they protect him well. I truly would rather have Vinny starting than David Carr based on his play so far this year so GO VINNY and maybe the Panthers can shock the NFL this weekend.

* ESPN/USA Today released their preseason college basketball poll today and Carolina is numero uno, UCLA #2, Memphis #3, Kansas #4 and Georgetown #5. I don’t agree with Carolina at the top although it’s the cool pick right now and Georgetown without Jeff Green is not quite a top five team.

* Matt Ryan pulled one out of his A$$ last night and that back door in the final two minutes killed my wager. I know Matt Ryan will more than likely be the first quarterback drafted in the upcoming NFL draft, but he should not be discussed in the Heisman talk. His team is a paper tiger and Tim Tebow and Andre Woodson are way more important to their teams.

* The thug who shot and hurt five Duquesne University basketball players last year after a school dance pleaded guilty today and will get up to 40 years in prison. I think they should give the guy life for his blatant attack, but I guess it’s just because I have no patience for these antics.

It’s not often there is a big trade before the NFL trade deadline, but this one should have some impact. The San Diego Chargers traded a second round pick next year to the struggling Dolphins in order to acquire veteran wide receiver Chris Chambers. Chambers played for the Wisconsin Badgers and was drafted by Dolphins in 2001. Chamber’s best year was in 2005 when he caught 82 balls for over 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns. Chambers and Vincent Jackson along with Antonio Gates at tight end should give Rivers a solid receiving corps. Agree?

Detroit wins at Oakland +135
San Diego/Chicago cover over 42.5
Seattle covers -6 at home against Tampa Bay

Overall Record:

NFL 15-5-1
College Football: 13-13
MLB 1-0
College Basketball 48-37-2
NBA 6-4

The San Diego Chargers signed a new head coach today in Norv Turner.  I personally do not agree with this hiring at all, but what are you gonna do when it’s the middle of February and you are looking for a new head coach.  The bigger pick up in my opinion is former defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears Ron Rivera.  Rivera was rumored in all sorts of NFL head coach openings, but let go by the Bears for some odd reason.  The Chargers decided to pick him up as their linebackers coach. 

It was no less than a month ago we wrote that Marty Schottenheimer was going to stay put with the San Diego Chargers afer much speculation of him getting fired. Schottenheimer had been feuding with A.J. Smith and Dean Spanos for quite some time and it seems nothing deep down has really changed. Chris Mortensen of ESPN has announced the Chargers have changed their mind and fired Marty after all. I think this is a terrible move by Smith and Spanos given the timing of the decision and committing to him just a month ago. I am a huge fan of the Chargers and just wish Schottenheimer was given one last chance because he has done very well in San Diego.

After ten interviews by owner Jerry Jones the multi-millionaire finally selected his man.  The shocking thing is that it wasn’t Norv Turner as many speculated in recent weeks.  Wade Phillips is the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.  Wade has been the head coach previously of the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and also been the defensive coordinator for many successful teams most recently with the San Diego Chargers.  Wade I hope you have fun dealing with Terrell Owens.

Earlier in the week we reported Miami was in negotiations with Mike Shula as a possible new coach for the Dolphins. It seems those negotiations were nothing more than Huizenga showing Don Shula respect because the Dolphins have a new coach and his last name isn’t Shula. Cam Cameron the former offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers has accepted the job. He led the Chargers to the fourth best offense this season and a 14-2record which was tops in the NFL. San Diego’s offense was nearly two times the output of the 2006 Dolphins. Also, Cameron has either played for, worked with or studied under Bo Schembechler, Marty Schottenheimer, Lee Corso, Sam Wyche and Tom Landry. All in all this looks like a solid choice and hopefully he can rejuvenate one of the historic NFL franchises.

After tons of speculation and some basically writing him off the Chargers and Team president Dean Spanos have confirmed Schottenheimer will return for the final year of his contract. Marty was also offered a $4.5 million extension, but turned down this offer. It would have been a farce to fire a coach who took his team to a 14-2 record in the regular season so I’m glad to see Spanos and General Manager A.J. Smith came to their senses.