Among Other Things . . . Beathard Truly Is the Man in Charge

It seems to me . . .

There is no doubt Bobby Beathard, who discovered that the surfing is better on the Pacific than the Potomac, is firmly in control as the Chargers’ new general manager.

Dan Henning, the incumbent coach, seemed quite satisfied with Larry Beightol, his incumbent offensive line coach. Beightol, in fact, was listed in the media guide as offensive coordinator as well, though this seemed gratuitous in that Henning himself better fit the description.

But Beathard has dismissed Beightol as offensive line coach, the leading candidate to replace him being Alex Gibbs of the Raiders.

Maybe someone should tell him how things went with the last guy the Chargers brought in from the Raiders.

In the continuing Washingtonization of the Chargers, will Joe Theismann replace Pat Curran as a color commentator on the broadcasts?

Baseball fanatics have a theory that a team that loses an inordinate number of one-run games is a strong candidate to greatly improve in the following year. If a one-touchdown loss in football is comparable, the Chargers would seem to be excellent candidates for a similar turnaround.

Incredibly, the Chargers played 13 games decided by a touchdown or less in 1989 and lost nine of them. If those numbers reverse or even out, it will be playoff time in 1990.

(Since the reverse is also true, meaning teams with inordinately good one-run records will tend to decline, the Padres might not be quite so fortunate. They were 30-18 in one-run games in 1989, best in the National League.)

It’s too bad the National Football League owners have not been in San Diego for the past few days. They would have needed only to walk outside to see (and feel) Reason No. 1 why Super Bowl XXVII should be played here in 1993.

The Chargers and Padres have different ways of dealing with capable and loyal employes.

The Padres, for example, took their media relations director, Bill Beck, and appointed him assistant to the vice-president of baseball operations. The baseball ops veep is, of course, Jack McKeon.

The Chargers, in contrast, took their media relations director, Rick Smith, and fired him.

The only explanation for the Smith firing that makes any sense, if you want to call it that, was that owner Alex Spanos made him the fall guy for the fact that Spanos continues to lack in either popularity or acceptance hereabouts.

It would have made more sense if he had fired his mirror, because that is where the problem can be found.

A good friend of mine probably has the best idea on how to prepare for Super Sunday afternoon. He is renting a couple of videos just in case things get ugly in New Orleans.

Because he is from Denver, I presume he will get “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th.”

San Diego State’s athletic department might be wise to consult with the College of Business Administration before beating the drums about yet another ingenious money-making (or, in this case, debt-erasing) scheme.

The latest plan calls for the Aztec faithful to buy 30-day packages at a hot springs resort for $1,000 each, the athletic department getting a 25% kickback on each.

The target figure, as I understand it, is $750,000, which is mathematically unreachable because there are not enough rooms to sell that many packages if it is booked solid for 12 months a year.

Of course, the bottom line is that the SDSU athletic department can use whatever help it can get from wherever it can get it . . . at least until it can play football or basketball well enough to sell games rather than rooms.

My colleague Allan Malamud, in his eternal quest for look-alikes, has missed Jack McKeon and Super Mario.

A nationwide marketing survey released this week should probably be kept from the eyes of National Basketball Assn. and National Hockey League executives. It did not paint a rosy picture of San Diego’s interest in sports.

San Diegans rank first nationally in movie-going and compact disc players, second in cable television viewing, seventh in video cassettes and above the national average in attending the theater.

When it came to attending sporting events, San Diegans ranked below the national average.

Steve Garvey should have chosen his guests more carefully for his morning radio show. He scraped the bottom of the barrel on Monday morning and was fired Wednesday morning. I was surprised it took so long. Usually, The Distel Kiss of Death works faster than that.

No wonder Lee Hamilton has never called.