FanHouse BobbyRoss

Ah, Barry Sanders, you left us too soon. Your retirement altered the future of the running back record book, robbed us of precious highlights, tormented a city, gave Ricky Williams a justifiable precedent for ditching Miami, and might have been the reason your coach, Bobby Ross, lost his job. Luckily, Ross isn't bitter. Right.

"I don't know if Barry really loved the game, but he worked hard at it," Ross said. "He did what he was supposed to do. I always wanted him to be a leader, but he didn't really want that role.

PFT explains quite thoroughly why Sanders was, in fact, a tremendous leader, and illustrates the absurdity in the designation. I can't quite pen it as well as Florio, so check out what he has to say (after you finish here, that is).

But even if Sanders wasn't a leader, as Ross said, so what? Barry Sanders wasn't paid to be a leader. He was paid grab a ball and bring it to a particular destination. And he did that quite well, no matter where on the field he was.

The idea that the most talented players should also be team leaders always seemed bizarre to me. You can't force guys into that role -- either they are or they aren't -- and putting pressure on Sanders to be more than he could be might have been the primary reason one of the greatest players in the game's history gave it up and never looked back, leaving a city clinging to hopes of a comeback years after the fact.

Here's the deal: after spending seven months waiting for the Saints' season to begin, I am not giving up hope in four games. No, not until the certainty of mathematics makes me confront another desolate offseason (as a Saints fan, I'm pretty used to them). Until that happens, I will search for reasons to keep hope alive.

So I'd like to thank Pro Football Reference and the 1992 San Diego Chargers, who, led by coach Bobby Ross, quarterback Stan Humphries, and Pro Bowl linebacker Junior Seau (geez, AARP eligibility has to be on Seau's horizon soon), began the season 0-4 and won 11 of their next 12 games to finish 11-5 and make the playoffs.

They were outscored 95-29 in those first four games, this year's Saints have been outscored 119-51. So while it's unlikely the Saints go on a run similar to those Chargers, it's not inconceivable to believe they can go 9-3, and 9-7 might just be enough to win the NFC South. Other than the Seahawks, the Jaguars, the Cardinals, and the Eagles, the rest of the schedule isn't daunting at all.

But it begins this week at Seattle who, coincidentally, were the team the '92 Chargers beat in Week 5 to turn their season around. Destiny, baby. Destiny.

Man, winning really has changed the San Diego Chargers. Or more specifically, their fans. In the five years between Bobby Ross and Marty Schottenheimer the Chargers were 23-57, with guys named Whelihan, Harbaugh and Leaf handing off to Brown, Means and Fazande, and throwing passes to Martin, Jones and Graham. Good times.

Now, six year later -- and a year after Martyball was relegated to the scrap heap -- San Diego fans aren't a happy bunch. Not winning playoff games under Schottenheimer was one thing -- he did manage to go 47-33 during the regular season -- but getting crushed early in the season, with the same guys that went 14-2 last year, well, that's just too much.

The San Diego Union-Tribune's Michael Stetz took a look around the internets and found some of the league's most despondent, dispirited fans. A sampling:

"In all sincerity, this is one of the lowest times to be a San Diego fan. Our city has seemingly endured worse (I remember the '03 season, when the Padres and Chargers were both laughingstocks), but this year was supposed to be different. . . . "

Yeah, the Padres aren't helping things. Psychologist Richard Lustberg has some advice on how to cope when your team stinks: To get over the "loser blues," Lustberg recommends that downcast fans begin following another team.

Oh, it's that easy, huh? Of course, that doesn't do much for you if you're into San Diego sports. Instead, I suspect fans will put all their energies into getting Norvell run out of time town. Misery loving company and all that.

That's the rumor, at least.

Army coach Bobby Ross has resigned and will make the announcement at a 3 p.m. news conference, the Times Herald-Record reports. Ross will leave the program after three years and a 9-25 record. He is expected to be replaced by offensive line coach Stan Brock.

Seeing as how these fact-checked newspapers sometimes get things wrong, we're calling this a rumor until we hear otherwise but since it's in print, we're here to let you know about it.

Ross came in with high hopes, having been a successful coach both in NFL and college stops. However, coaching at the low-talent, more rigidly academic service academy proved difficult. It didn't help that Ross went just 1-5 against rivals Navy and the Air Force.

Perhaps he should have been more innovative on offense, following the lead of both Navy and Air Force? It sure works for other low-talent upstars like Boise State and Houston. The whole disciplined approach thing is good, but you gotta find ways to move the ball and score when you don't have the horses.