Updated: Monday August 2, 2004 4:57PM 
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Postcards from Camp
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
Carson, Calif. | July 31
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Where's Peter?
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In Carson, Calif., at the Home Depot Center. I'd never been here before, but it's a cool place. There's a pretty complete Olympic training center, complete with velodrome. The Chargers have fenced-in, lush practice fields, even if San Diegans don't flock to the place. There were maybe 200 fans at the morning practice Saturday.
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Five Things I Think I Think
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LaDainian Tomlinson is the best thing the new-look Chargers have going for them.
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1. I think rookie Igor Olshansky doesn't know it yet, but there's going to be an awful lot of pressure on him when he gets here to win a starting defensive end job by Sept. 12.
2. I think Doug Flutie might be 41, but, except for graying at the temples, he still runs around like he's at BC.
3. I think it'll be interesting at camp next week to see how the Chargers co-exist with the X Games going on in the soccer stadium right next to the practice fields.
4. I think I can't see how this team wins more than five games.
5. I think, however, that the team won't move to Los Angeles. The Chargers just wrapped up a rewriting of their lease that shortened their time at Qualcomm from 2020 to 2008 and are getting along with the city of San Diego much better. Plus, I think the league wants to control who the new owner is in L.A., and they have no interest in the Spanos family taking the L.A. turf.
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Fantasy Geek Note
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Don't get too excited about any player the Chargers will have this year who isn't wearing No. 21. But you already knew that. LaDainian Tomlinson should be the first pick in every fantasy draft worldwide, even the soccer ones. He had 2,370 combined yards and 17 touchdowns last year, he's healthy, he's dedicated, he's truly a great kid, and he's going to touch the ball 425 times. What's not to like?
The only other guy I'd advise you to pick, in the late rounds, is tight end Antonio Gates, the converted basketball player who helped lead Kent State to the round of eight a couple of years ago. Good hands, and he'll be a target of Philip Rivers.
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Fun Roster Facts
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1. It's not often a team changes a kicker and punter in one year, but look for the new kicker to be Nate Kaeding, the third-rounder from Iowa, and the punter to be either Bill LaFleur or Mike Scifres. Darren Bennett, you will be missed.
2. Roman Oben's at left tackle. Good acquisition.
3. The Chargers have receivers in camp named Ruvell, Malcom, Kassim, Reche and Micah.
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On the Menu
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I got to the food room late after chatting at length with A.J. Smith about life, liberty and the pursuit of wins, and so the pickings were slim. Overcooked corn-on-the-cob (Drew Brees must have gotten the nicer pieces in front of me, because mine were mealy), OK pasta with red sauce, and a nice leafy salad with tough cherry tomatoes and the Home Depot house vinaigrette. I like shopping at Home Depot but not eating there. Grade: D.
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Factoid
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Olshansky, who is holding out (he should be in by Tuesday or Wednesday), is the first NFL draftee born in Russia.
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Dear NFL Junkie
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The Chargers are smart. They're not overselling the team this year. You'd have to be the most blind optimist in the world to think this team would contend this year, and so head coach Marty Schottenheimer and GM Smith are being extremely conservative in their public pronouncements about the team. Suffice it to say that when Tomlinson told me, "I think .500 is a good goal for this team," he was mouthing what the front office is hoping for dearly.
It's a strange team. I was telling one of the fans near the stands Saturday afternoon that I think it's probably the most anonymous team I've ever seen in my 21 years around the game. Take away Flutie (who, by the way, is hopping mad about the Nomar trade) and Tomlinson, and I challenge you to name five of the other 78 Chargers under contract. Name three, even. Donnie Edwards, Quentin Jammer, Rivers, uh, uh ... well, Ruvell.
See? I've got a roster in front of me and I can't even do it.
Quick observation: The Chargers never replaced the fire and zeal and team-buildingness of Junior Seau and Rodney Harrison, cut last offseason. That's one of the things that contributed to losses like the 37-8 job at Denver last year. They'll need Edwards and Seattle import Randall Godfrey to lead and yell a lot. And they'll need new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips (I now think Wade leads his father in coaching jobs had, 74-73) to come up with some version of his 3-4 that actually occasionally frightens the offense.
As you can tell, I'm not bullish on the Bolts this season.
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Up Next
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Dallas Cowboys, Oxnard, Calif.
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