Phillips’ Problem a Mystery

Among the questions I am most likely to be asked regarding sports in San Diego . . .

What should the Padres do about Benito Santiago? (Try to sensibly sign him.)

What should the Padres do about Greg Riddoch? (Trade him for Roger Clemens.)

Do the Chargers have a shot at the playoffs? (In whose lifetime?)

Who will win the third race at Del Mar? (Getting a tip from me is very much like shoving your money into the trash compactor.)

Notice now that no one seems particularly curious or concerned about what is going on with the Chargers and Joe Phillips, their recalcitrant defensive linemen. The poor guy is holding a holdout and no one cares.

With the exhibition season a mere two days away, everyone is in camp. For heaven’s sake, all the draft choices are in camp . . . even the first. No one is missing but Joe.

And it’s a little bit puzzling.

It does not seem to be about money, though the Chargers’ offer of perhaps $600,000 is more than a few bucks away from the $1.12 million Phillips is reportedly asking. His price would make him the highest paid defensive player on the team, which is a bit far-fetched unless he thinks football players are paid by the pound. At 315 pounds, he is the largest defensive player.

The Chargers’ offer would seem to be more than reasonable, considering Phillips’ resume does not include any Pro Bowl appearances. What’s more, he has never even been the lineman of the year as voted by his own teammates.

Joe Phillips is a good player, period. You need players like Joe Phillips, but you don’t break the bank to keep them happy. You simply pay them a good wage for good work. At $600,000 to $650,000 a year, he won’t have to come to work with an empty lunch pail.

However, as I said, the understanding I have is that maybe this isn’t about money after all.

Phillips himself is not talking, so you really have to scratch your head and contemplate what else might be at issue here.

Does he not like the Chargers? Or the coaching staff? Or the uniforms? Or the community? Or the weather? Or the mayor? Or his next-door neighbor?

Maybe he’s antsy for a change of scenery. That’s one thing I’ve heard. He made it all the way through two years at Oregon State before he changed both the scenery and the weather and maybe even religions and transferred to Southern Methodist in Dallas.

Maybe Joe’s a closet nomad and five years in one place with one team is all he can stand. Maybe he should get a job driving a moving van.

If it’s scenery he wants, someone better tell him very quickly that there are no National Football League franchises in Yosemite or Yellowstone or Crater Lake. You get traded and you can end up in Green Bay or Cleveland or New Jersey.

I find it hard to imagine that he would find fault with the organization itself. It has been very forgiving on behalf of Phillips. He missed almost all of the 1990 season after being beaten up outside a Mission Beach restaurant at an hour when responsible football heroes should be all tucked in beddy-bye. All I heard from the club was sympathy for his misfortune.

What’s more, in the aftermath of this incident, I heard nary a whisper or snicker from either the community or the media. Let the same thing happen in a place such as New York or Philadelphia and the tabloids would have had at him with type the size of his uniform number.

Does he dislike the coaches? It’s hard to imagine how he could. They’re all new. He doesn’t know the coaches.

In essence, it appears that Joe Phillips should feel lucky to be where he is, all things considered.

He is being offered a good wage in a good town by an, OK, not-so-good team. Maybe he’s tired of losing. Maybe those 6-10 seasons and last year’s 4-12 wore on him, but he should have been used to that at Oregon State and SMU. Part of his problem is that good players from bad teams don’t have much leverage when it comes to negotiations.

And the enthusiasm at training camp is such that this team believes it can make the turnaround from 4-12 to playoff contention. One player won’t make or break such hopes and dreams. The Chargers would certainly like Joe Phillips in their defensive line, but he does not exactly represent the difference between yet more mediocrity and a breakthrough to long-awaited success.

Joe Phillips is no dummy. Far from it. He has a psychology degree from SMU and a law degree from USD. He passed the California Bar on his first try. Interestingly, he also found time to be a regular on the HBO series “First and Ten.” All of this while playing football.

Maybe his idea of a change of scenery involves sound stages or court rooms or both.

However, if the man wants to play football, this isn’t a bad place (or a bad time) to do it. You can be pretty popular hereabouts if your name isn’t Randy or Benito.