San Diego sports talk radio ain't happening

San Diego is way too small for two all-sports talk radio stations.

Is it even big enough for one?

It’s sad that XTRA Sports 1360 has gone by the wayside after just 14 months, but how does a town with only two pro teams (Chargers, Padres) have two such stations in the first place?

It was obviously a train wreck waiting to happen … just as is the Bleacher Bums show on Double-X 1090 Sports each day from 3-7 pm.

Speaking of, who knows if 1090 will even be able to keep its all-sports format?

After all, owner John Lynch cut his higher salaried people such as Bill Werndl and Joe Tutino (not to mention Mark Larson on 1700 AM) strictly due to finances.

And that of course led to the current afternoon show, which is about as popular as the plague right now.

Lynch excuses his new hires (a couple fans off the street) by saying he hired the likes of Jim Rome, the late Chet Forte and the brilliant coach John Kentera under similar conditions.

OK, using that logic, remember that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

Therefore, does it mean every guy cut by his high school basketball team is destined to be the next Michael Jordan?

Come on; you can’t fool the listening public. Sadly, San Diego sports talk radio is a perfect example.

Charger apologists will have tough time apologizing

Boy, isn’t A.J. Smith of the Chargers the best general manager in the NFL?

Reminds you of John Wayne, doesn’t he?

Boy, Norv Turner sure can coach; can’t he?

You know, he’s going to be the next Bill Belichick and win three Super Bowls in four years with the Chargers.

Pardon me for daydreaming and being among the apologists for the Chargers.

We’ll leave that to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Joe Tutino of 1090 AM Radio and Tom Shanahan of voiceofsandiego.org. (Thank goodness for Coach John Kentera, who went on 1090 this past week and said he wasn’t impressed with the Chargers because they had not beaten anybody this year.)

To put it more bluntly, they still haven’t. What an embarrassment Sunday’s 35-17 loss was to the Minnesota Vikings.

Did you see that awesome Chargers’ rush defense? All they did was allow rookie Adrian Peterson to rush for an NFL record 296 yards (including 253 in the second half.)

He only out-rushed LaDainian Tomlinson by 256 yards, meaning that perhaps he is about ready to surpass LT as the NFL’s most-feared runner.

Sure, Antonio Cromartie did a wonderful job for the Chargers by returning a missed field goal an NFL-record 109 yards for a touchdown before halftime. But that was supposed to give the Chargers momentum; not be their final highlight of the game.

At mid-season, the Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals may be the biggest underachievers in the NFL. Luckily for the Chargers, they are in a horrible division and are tied for first with Kansas City at 4-4.

Come next Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts come to town for a night game.

Don’t be surprised if Charger fans are again chanting "Mar-ty" for former coach Marty Schottenheimer before that game is done.