Chargers : Players Stand Firmly Behind Line
In a vote so clear they didn’t need to count when they had a show of hands, the Chargers decided Tuesday to remain on strike indefinitely.
In a 1 1/2-hour meeting at Surfer Joe’s Cafe in Kearny Mesa, about 35 Chargers and many of their wives heard Wes Chandler, the team player representative, discuss Monday night’s proposal by the National Football League Players Assn. and Tuesday afternoon’s response by the owners.
Then they heard from Ron Mix, a former Charger, a member of the football Hall of Fame and a local lawyer heavily involved with the NFL alumni.
They decided they had heard enough.
“We voted to stay out,” said alternate player representative Gill Byrd, who said the team considered the more conventional secret ballot, then decided a show of hands would suffice. “It was a majority. It wasn’t close enough to count the hands. We didn’t even need to make sure none of those hands belonged to the wives.”
When asked if that meant they would strike for the duration of the season, as NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw had suggested Monday night, Byrd shook his head.
“Just say we voted to stay out--leave it at that,” he said. “The players are still optimistic that we’ll be back there soon. We’re still very hopeful. Things aren’t always as they seem.”
Earlier Tuesday, after the striking players’ daily practice, Byrd had said he didn’t believe that striking for the duration would make much sense.
“ Duration , that’s a big-time statement,” he said. “Personally, I don’t think the situation warrants asking guys to stay out the whole year. For a lot of guys, we’re talking about a lot of money.”
And for Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, we’re talking about a whole lot of continued frustration.
“I hoped that as a team, they would have voted to go back to work. I believe football players should play football,” said Ortmayer after learning of Tuesday night’s vote.
It was particularly bad news to Ortmayer, a former Raider official who must take his 3-1, all-replacement team into Los Angeles Sunday for a battle for the lead in the AFC West with the Raiders, who have 13 regulars who have crossed the line.
“I know these guys tonight were doing what they have to do, doing what they believe in. That’s their mandate,” Ortmayer said. “We, on the other hand, have an upcoming game in our division, a chance to maintain momentum, a chance to stay on top of things, and that’s our job. We have to do what we must do.”
Byrd said he and the other Chargers remain adamant that whatever they do, they will do as a team.
“Our players still have the unity that was there when this started,” he said.
The Chargers are one of the six National Football League teams that have yet to have an able-bodied regular player cross a picket line. Only Jeff Dale, on injured reserve with a career-threatening back injury, has crossed.
Another test of this unity will take place this morning, when a player must report by 10 a.m. or lose another week’s pay.
“I wouldn’t be surprised one way or another,” Ortmayer said of the possibility of players individually deciding to cross the line this morning. “After all we’ve been through, we just have to wait and see what happens.”
Said Chandler: “I would be very much surprised if any of our players crossed that line tomorrow. One thing this has made us is very, very strong.”
Not to mention a bit cautious. During Tuesday’s meeting, the players decided to do all their talking through Byrd and Chandler, and afterward no others would speak with the media.
“We would much rather be in playing. There’s a lot of guys making a lot of sacrifices, and my hat is off to them,” Byrd said.
Charger Notes
The Chargers completed their first deal involving replacement players Tuesday, acquiring former San Diego State linebacker James Johnson from San Francisco as a form of compensation for the 49ers’ signing of John L. Sullivan, a former Charger free agent safety. Johnson, the Aztecs’ senior defensive captain in 1984, was a third-round draft pick of the Detroit Lions in 1985. He was on injured reserve the entire 1985 season with a bad back, but he appeared in 11 games for the Lions in 1986. Because of the knee injury to Chuck Faucette, Johnson should compete for a starting spot. . . . Coach Al Saunders on Blaise Winter’s five-yard penalty for sack dancing Sunday at Tampa: “You know how long it’s been since he’s had a sack?” . . . Team statistics now include two games each from regular players and replacement players, and the replacements have taken several spots among the team’s leaders. Al Williams has passed Lionel James to become the team’s leading receiver with 183 yards on 10 catches (James has 127 yards on 9 catches). Rick Neuheisel has become the leader in pass rating with an 87.6, contrasted with Dan Fouts’ 70.9. Neuheisel has completed 68.3% of his passes contrasted with Fouts’ 58.6. . . . In statistics in which the quality of opposition means nothing, the replacement players are lacking. Take punt yardage. Regular punter Ralf Mojsiejenko and replacement Joe Prokop both have 10 punts, but Mojsiejenko has averaged six yards more per punt (43.5 to 37.5). . . . Nobody has played the Chargers or beaten the Chargers more often than have the Raiders, Sunday’s opponent. In 55 meetings, the Raiders have won 35, including 9 of the last 10. In the teams’ final meeting last season, the Chargers came back from a 31-10 deficit to tie the game with 1:01 left and send it into overtime. On the first overtime possession, the Raiders scored to win, 37-31.
