Let’s start with the Bolts, because it’s football season
and, although no one expected it to be this close, the Chargers are in a battle
to hold onto the AFC West lead. With a 24-10 win in Kansas City over their
division rivals, the Chargers have a two-game cushion between them and the
Broncos and a three-game lead over the Chiefs and Raiders. With four games left
to play, everyone in the AFC West is a contender and despite a good performance
in their latest Sunday showdown, if we have learned to hate anything about this
year’s Chargers, it’s their flare for inconsistent performances.

As I said in a recent column about the Chargers and their
lucky win over the Colts, this team needs Phillip Rivers and LaDainian
Tomlinson to work together to see consistent success. While the win over the
Chiefs wasn’t ideal for Rivers — he was just 10-of-21 for 157 yards with a
touchdown pass and a pick — Tomlinson ran wild for 177 yards on 23 carries and
reached the end zone twice in the second half on dashes of over 25 yards.

Though Rivers wasn’t impressive, to his credit he only threw
one pick and was able to spread the ball around to six different receivers. The
shocking thing is that his usual target, All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates, had
only one catch, on which he lost a yard.

Gates will never be limited to just one catch in successive
weeks. Norv Turner should focus on him early and often, unless he has no head
coaching skills — which is indeed a possibility.

At least the Chargers’ destiny is in their own hands, which
is more than many good football teams can say, but their remaining schedule
leaves many possibilities open.

Next week, the Lions’ high-powered passing attack will test
the recently recuperated Quentin Jammer and rest of the Charger secondary. The
Bolts will then host the Broncos on Monday night in Week 16 in a possible
division-deciding contest before making a journey to the Black Hole in Oakland
to battle the Raiders to close out the regular season.

Luckily for LT and the Chargers’ hopes, all three upcoming
teams have shoddy run defenses; and with Tomlinson finally looking like he was
during his MVP and record-setting season last year, he could carry the team
into the playoffs, where anything can happen.

On the baseball side of San Diego, the Padres made their
first splash into free agency, signing veteran southpaw Randy Wolf to a
one-year deal potentially worth $9 million including performance-based bonuses.

The Padres inked the deal with Wolf after seeing big free
agents go elsewhere to more lucrative markets — A-Rod went sniffling back to
the Big Buck Bronx Bombers and Torii Hunter went West to the Los Angeles team
that doesn’t really play in L.A. The Angels gave Hunter around $80 million to
spend five years patrolling center field, much more than the Padres could offer
to replace the departing — and now suspended — Mike Cameron in center field.

Signing Wolf finalizes a rotation that should again be one
of the best in the majors, along with Jake Peavy, who is reportedly set to
agree to a three-year extension, Chris Young, Greg Maddux and either Clay
Hensley or last-year’s impressive rookie Justin Germano. A stellar pitching
staff won’t lead to many wins if the Padres don’t add to their thin lineup.

Beyond Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Khalil Greene
in the infield and Brian Giles in rightfield, the rest of the Padres’ depth
chart is a huge question mark.

The Padres aren’t in the running to pull off a trade for
either Miguel — Cabrera or Tejada — or any other recognizable names being
tossed around with baseball’s Winter Meetings starting today.

With Hunter heading to the Halos, if Cameron does decide to
sign elsewhere, the Padres would be wise to target Andruw Jones, someone who
has the glove to patrol the spacious outfield of PETCO Park and the powerful
bat that can shoot balls off the face of the Western Metal Supply Co. building
in left field.