What do you wanna do, Marty?

"I don't know, Angie. What do you want to do?" You know, I think I'd really enjoy an update of Marty with Marty Schottenheimer assuming the title role in lieu of Ernest Borgnine.

At any rate, I'm no fan of Marty the coach and I'm the first to point out his playoff futility (and delight in it), but he wasn't the reason San Diego bombed out in the playoffs, this season. His players were. Tough break, I guess. But with that in mind, we once again see why the Chargers organization has been revered for so many seasons as one of the worst run in the NFL. Who knew things could go sour so quickly? Well, a lot of us. It's fairly obvious that Spanos had been digging for a reason to ditch MartyBall ever since the collapse against New England and it's this kind of pettiness that kept Eli Manning away on draft day. Now, with virtually the entire coaching staffbeing replaced, the Chargers look anything but a sure bet to repeat their 14-2 success. Still, whoever San Diego hires as a replacement -- doesn't matter who -- is guaranteed to be a more inspired choice than Wade freaking Phillips.

Couple college basketball notes.

1. I watched the West Virginia upset of UCLA on Saturday. First off, very good win for the Mountaineers. Finally, they have a W worth talking about. The Bruins looked completely disinterested until they fell behind by 18 in the second half (then they turned it up a notch). Secondly, let's not get carried away with any chants of "overrated" or talk that the Big East is "for real" (unless we're talking about G'town who whipped WVU's butt, last night). UCLA was without Darren Collison who, for my money, is the most effective point guard in college basketball today. His speed alone is enough to fluster and confuse defenses and I think it is more than fair to say that had Collison played, UCLA would've won by ten. I'd be stunned if a healthy UCLA didn't reach the Final Four. Stunned.

2. I said it in the Nerdicon post, but I really have to stress how much I dislike Alabama. Not from a personal standpoint, but from an objective standpoint. The SEC is very down, this year, and dropping games to the likes of Ole Miss isn't helping the Tide's cause, I don't care if they have Ronald Steele. Their next three games -- @ Florida, Kentucky, @ Tennessee -- are going to have 'Bama fans crying in their Cheerios as their bubble pops. Losing to these three wouldn't be unexpected, but I'm predicting they get mauled. Again, if Alabama somehow finds their way into the big dance, you'd do well to put your money elsewhere. And by "elsewhere" I mean "against them."

3. If Gonzaga remains without Josh Heytvelt, they are dead in the water.