In week three David plays again compiling 96 yards in yet another loss, 24 to 10, against the offensive juggernaut the Ravens. Time to kiss and make up so all is well. Not yet! David is late to a meeting with Marty resulting in a suspension of yet another game which the Chargers lose in over time to the vaunted Oakland Raiders. Last we heard, Marty and Dave have finally made up. In a press conference lasting under one minute Boston stated, "I want to apologize to the fans for not being able in Sunday's game. I am anxious to get out on the field this week." There was no mention of the team or the organization. He has been seen talking to individuals on the team, but he did not stand up in front of the team and apologize. According to Schottenheimer, "David will make his own way with his teammates." The question is…do the Chargers really need him? With a cast of unknowns catching the ball the Chargers actually looked good and Breese looked sharp. It still remains to be seen who the real heel is for the Chargers, Boston or management. With the Chargers at 0 and 4, it might be time to give someone the boot.

Related to the Boston/San Diego silliness are the antics of Bronco coach Mike Shanahan. Instead of traveling with the dark jerseys for the game with the Chargers as the Broncos agreed to do, they traveled only with their light colored jerseys. This forced the Chargers into the dark home colors in nearly 100 degree heat. No big deal, just a little "light" lie. During the game Jake Plummer, who was not looking great goes down with a separated shoulder. Jake does not return from half time, here the fun begins. Instead of admitting Plummer has a separated shoulder, Shanahan declares "The Snake" has a concussion. After the game, it all hits the fan as the deception is discovered. When asked why he lied, Mike stated he did not want the defense to know the truth because Jake might have to re-enter the game. He claimed if the defense knew the nature of the injury they would attack his main quarterback possibly injuring him more.

Not saying there is no truth in what Shanahan said, but if the defense knew of any injury they would attack it too. When there is blood in the water, the sharks will attack. Is a concussion any worse than a separated shoulder? Not really. Both are injuries where the player could be down for a lengthy period of time with but one more blow, so why the lie? The league accepted the ruse with no fine, despite the fact it is against the league policy to lie, instead the NFL fined the team for their attire. I am going to bet the fine really showed the Bronco's head coach who was in charge. Go figure.

Speaking of head coaches, and I have been, the Niners went and hired Dennis Erickson during the off-season as theirs. The man he replaced was Steve Mariucci who had placed the team in the play-offs more times than most. Mooche's crime for his banishment? He did not get along with the great one, Bill Walsh, and the offense was too conservative. There were also questions regarding his relationship with the one and only Terrell Owens. Thanks goodness they did not get conservative with their coaching selection. Erickson, if I remember right, is the guy who left the University of Miami for Seattle. In his wake were a number of NCAA violations for which the Miami program paid dearly.

At Seattle he took a team on the rise reducing them to the cellar, time to move again. This time the destination is lowly Oregon State who has spent too many years on the bottom of the Pac Ten conference. He took this program to a certain level of prominence before the San Francisco call transported him to another state. Once again, in his wake on the run from Oregon are more NCAA violations leaving a team who is going to struggle again this year.

Since arriving in the Golden State the Niners have taken a nose dive to a 2 and 3 record. Along the way the offense has sputtered while Terrell Owens has muttered. The muttering finally stopped two weeks ago as Owens exploded verbally at coaches and players on the bench. Instead of being contrite after the game, like the organization requested, Owens sounded more like a Bud Light commercial. He had a point, Terrell can't do everything, I am sure the team takes full responsibility for the dropped balls along with his 55 yard total performance in their loss to Randy Moss and the Vikings. In recent interviews Quarterback Jeff Garcia has been referring to Owens as, "That Individual." How misguided, Owens is the team. Given the track record of Owens and Erickson, there should not be much of a team left by the time these two make for greener pastures. Just a reminder, Owens is in his last year of a contract with San Francisco.

It is bad enough when players are yelling at coaches or owners and coaches seem to be in conflict as are Herm Edwards and Jets owner Woody Johnson, but now the wives are entering the mix. For the second time in two seasons Brenda Warner, wife of two time League MVP Kurt, called a radio station to defend the performance of her husband. "Probably just from the stand point we want to play, he wants to play, plain and simple." I may be getting senile, but I can't remember Brenda being on the field of play at any time during Warner's career, including the Arena League. Martz has decided, after an opening performance of 63% passing for 342 yards with one TD and one interception for Warner, to go with Marc Bulger. There are also concerns regarding the number of concussions Warner has incurred. Martz has stated the change may not be permanent, translated; it is. "You just want to be wanted, like anybody…" continued Mrs. Warner. For his part, Kurt has not refuted the words of his wife. With regards to making a move away from St. Louis he said, "I'm starting to imagine it a little more every day, I think."

With Brenda as a mouth piece, as she was last year during the "hand injury" phase of his career, Warner does not have to think, just listen to his wife. I like Kurt Warner and wish him well, but is having your wife do the talking a sign of leadership? In this case the Rams may be better off with Bulger who is still young, appears to be in charge of himself and has been productive for the team.

If the rhetoric of the season had not reached a zenith yet, it did with the entry of Rush Limbaugh on ESPN's NFL Countdown. I have always found "El Rushbo" to be entertaining, if not accurate in his viewpoints. During the summer he is a constant companion on my car radio. Limbaugh's insistent, "unrelenting search of the truth" has provided hours of laughter on long rides. I may not always find him factual, but I do find him provocative; so did ESPN. I have always been amazed at his following to which I give a certain amount of respect.

In his first appearance on the program he railed against the NFL for their $200,000 fine against the Lions because they violated the recently enacted "diversity rule" requiring teams to interview minority coaches when considering an opening. According to the NFL, the Lions violated this rule in hiring Steve Mariucci after he was let go by the Forty-Niners. According to Rush, "The diversity rule requires elaborate charades to be played out in the public." What struck me as funny is that John Leo wrote an article called, "Playing Diversity Football" in the August 11 edition of U.S. News and World Report. I am not accusing Rush of stealing material, though much of it was the same, I just found it interesting they would both use the same phrases on the same subject. There was no comment made on the matter, but the point was taken; in the case of the Lions no black coach wanted to apply for the job of head coach of the Lions because the decision had already been made. The Lions said they had contacted five black coaches, but none of them wanted to apply for the position because they knew about Mariucci. Enough said; enter week three.

In his segment Rush stated, with regard to quarterback Donovan McNabb, "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well." He went on to say McNabb had received credit he did not deserve and that Donovan was not a bad player but the defense had carried the team. There was no comment on the set, but the fallout came later resulting in Rush's resignation from the program.

In his resignation he claimed the comments were not racial, but aimed at the liberal media. He also claimed the job as commentator for NFL Countdown was a, "dream job." In his unrelenting search for the truth Rush had stated he can win any argument regarding the liberal press with half his brain tied behind his back, he must have tied the other half to the commentator's chair on this day. In an unrelenting search for the truth, perhaps it would be good to take a close look at exactly what Rush has said, and what he is really saying by using a little bit of if/then logic he regularly employs to ferret out the true meaning of "liberal" statements.

If the job at NFL Countdown was indeed a "dream job" then Rush is a closet liberal. For years he has ranted against the likes of Peter Jennings of ABC News. ABC News is owned by the parent company Disney. In turn, Disney owns ESPN. This could only mean Rush has always had the dream to be a part of the liberal media and finally took it after being passed over for the Monday Night Football opening a few years ago. (ABC hired Dennis Miller, but that is another mistake for another time) This being the case, Rush has only been wearing the cloak of a conservative waiting for a chance to show his true liberal colors. With his vast knowledge of the liberal media, there is no way he can claim he did not know what team he was joining when he inked the contract.

In his resignation he clearly states the comments were well thought out and not racially motivated, he was merely commenting on the media's role in the NFL. Taking this at face value, the comments were not racial in nature, but they were not about the media. Instead the comments were directed towards the Philadelphia Eagles organization. What he was really saying is that the Eagles, who play in the city of brotherly love and the first stadium to have a court and jail for unruly fans, was willing to give into the media and play a quarterback who was of inferior quality. In short, the Eagles were willing to give in and be politically correct at the risk of having a losing season. Does any of this ring true?

Donovan McNabb has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league over the last few seasons. He was runner up for MVP in the year 2000 and rates among the top QB's in anybody's fantasy draft list. To his credit, Donovan has tried to let the whole thing go and get on with his season. I have to wish him success. I did not draft him this season; instead I drafted another politically correct quarterback, Steve McNair. According to "Rush Logic" it must have been the media that made me do it.

I would have to disagree with Mr. Limbaugh's assessment of the situation, "All this has become a tempest that it is because I must have been right about something." If Rush is right, it would be the first time in years, I sincerely doubt he is. The reason there is so much controversy is because he is recognized as a celebrity and failed to recognize the fact that celebrities are talked and written about. What he failed to do was think, but he has failed to do that for years.

So here we sit fantasy fans. It is only week five and a little less than three fourths of the season lies ahead of us. It is hard to say what is more entertaining the actions on the field or the folderol off of the playing surface. I watched the first few episodes of Playmakers on ESPN and decided the show was so unreal, so much like a soap opera it really did not warrant much more of my time. After all there were players scrambling for cocaine minutes before games, coaches being bullied by owners and players who were more head cases than real NFL players. I may have to give that assessment further review. With all of the silliness going on in the NFL, Playmakers may actually be the next reality show. What a shame for the NFL for a fantasy program to be truer than the reality of the game. The NFL arena appears to be a place where fools rush in, thank goodness we had a fool, Rush, out.