"I call him gamblor!"

For better or for worse, I've returned from my one-night craps outing at Mohegan Sun. I didn't make as much money as I thought I would; in fact, I didn't make any money at all. Yes, the perfect streak of me coming out smelling like roses from casinos has come to a drunken end.

Thankfully, I only came out down $270. It could have been a lot worse; most of my craps losses came in the first hour or so, while I spent most of the next 6 or 7 hours playing consistently mediocre. I'd play small-ball, the roller found their rhythm, I bet on them as a show of confidence, and they'd throw a 7.

My streak of good rolling crashed and burned as well. My first two or three turns at rolling ended up fantastic. Most of the money I made/kept for a while resulted from my tosses. Then, as a sign from the gambling gods that my luck had officially run out, I came upon a rather miserable routine; establish a point, 7-out on the first roll or two. I might as well have been wearing my Alex Rodriguez shirt. (Thanks for rubbing it in, Ozzie Guillen.)

One highlight of the weekend, or of any weekend with Chris for that matter, is the endless supply of Simpsons that we can go back and forth on. Since we happened to be at a casino, who can forget the classic gamblor episode?

If you're ever at Mohegan, I recommend the po' boys from Bubba's, which is upstairs in the casino. Great service, and incredible sandwiches.

Take it easy, Norv: In case you live under a rock, you've heard that the San Diego Chargers have hired former 49ers offensive coordinator Norv Turner to be their head coach. That's great for him. Norv is a terrific guy, and he has got a near all-star cast assembled on the south side of his home state. He's even got Ron Rivera as his linebackers coach. Even with all of the staff turnover they had this off-season, you've got to think that they've come out of this just about as good as they possibly could have. They're still in the discussion as the top team in the AFC, or the NFL, for that matter.

My good buddy, Matt Maiocco from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat pointed out today in his blog, that whoever replaces Turner will be the 49ers' fifth offensive coordinator in five years. Simply incredible. (As a side note, his blog is a must-read for any 49ers fan.)

Whaddya mean, Barq's has bite?: Anything you read about the San Diego Chargers these days talks about them as "having the most talent in the NFL." That doesn't just mean that they have good players at all of their positions. The Giants have good players at most of their positions; that didn't turn out so well. The Panthers have good players at pretty much all of their positions; they terribly underachieved.

"Having the most talent in the NFL," in this case, means that they have just got playmakers out of the wazoo. Almost every place you look where you need a playmaker, they're covered. LaDanian Tomlinson is already in the discussion as one of the best running backs ever. Antonio Gates fits the Chargers' offense perfectly and dominates as a pass-catching tight end. Receivers Vincent Jackson can flat out control the passing game at times (it's tough to cover a 6-5, 245 pound guy that can jump), and Eric Parker compliments him and Gates very well. Their offensive line is loaded with young talent.

Their front seven is straight-up sickening. One of the best unknown players in the NFL, nose tackle Jamal Williams, is the prototype interior lineman to build a 3-4 defense around. They can afford to play two good, young defensive tackles out at end (Igor Olshansky and Luis Castillo) because their linebackers are so darn good at pass rushing. Say what you will about Shawne Merriman: he's probably one of the best defensive players in the NFL. They just signed Shaun Phillips to a contract extension through 2012, who, by the way, had 11.5 sacks this year. (Merriman added 17 of his own, playing in only 12 games.) Donnie Edwards, considered an undersized guy for an interior 3-4 linebacker, had over 140 tackles (according to ESPN.com) and grabbed 3 interceptions.

Their weakness, you could argue, would be in their secondary, where they have spent a slew of first round picks over the years. A quick peek over at DraftHistory shows that 3 of the Chargers' last 6 picks in the first round have been defensive backs. (Their other three picks? Merriman, Castillo, and Eli Manning, who turned into Phillip Rivers.) They even used a second round pick in 2000 and two second round picks in 2003 on defensive backs as well. That's six picks in the first two rounds on defensive backs since 2000. In 2001, they picked Tay Cody in the third round. They really should be one draft pick or free agent from fielding two young, talented secondaries. Yet, it's still an area of concern.

Parting shots:

• The NFL Europa allocation draft is on Friday. While most of my team has been announced via roster allocations, there's still a bunch of player movement still yet to be determined. Once I've got the final official roster, I'll put it up. Stay tuned.
• Whatever happened to Linkin Park? Didn't their last CD come out my freshman year of college?
• Happy birthdays this week: Pete Monaldo and Chris Krosche.