Writing to a friend via Facebook, Joey Bosa's mom threw a jab at Team Spanos this past weekend when she riffed on the contractual stalemate between the Chargers and her son Joey.
"It bums me out for him so much. Wish we pulled an Eli Manning on draft day."
Cheryl Bosa's sentiments may not reflect her son's views, nor do they preclude Team Spanos and Team Bosa striking a deal between now and the season opener, Sept. 11.
Manning's father, Archie, a former NFL quarterback, steered Eli away from the Chargers after they drafted the former Ole Miss star first overall in 2004.
The calculated plan was to get Eli onto the New York Giants. And that's what happened, with Eli's agent, Tom Condon, playing a role in the outcome.
It's Condon who heads the agency that represents Bosa.
Not that this contractual impasse is personal for the agent, who isn't the point man in these talks and whose associates have a decent case to make, but rest assured that Condon was loathed by A.J. Smith, the man who dealt Manning for a package headed by Philip Rivers.
Smith no longer works for the Chargers.
The same steward of the Bolts in 2004 _ Dean Spanos _ is still top boss at Chargers Park.
If you get in a staredown with him, bring toothpicks to prop up your eyelids.
In this case, Team Spanos has refused to make an exception for Bosa in two of the few negotiable areas allowed by the NFL labor pact: offset language and the cash payout structure of his signing bonus.
The logic is easily grasped: if the Chargers break from their precedent, agents of other high-end draftees will insist on similar treatment.
However, the industry, by and large, has already gone there.
The Chargers have no precedent of drafting nearly this high under the current labor pact, agreed to in July 2011. It's pretty cheeky to go against the industry precedent attached with their draft position, and thus sacrifice their first-round draftee's developmental time. It's also unprecedented, with no draftee going unsigned this long under this collective bargaining agreement.
With other NFL clubs willing to bend _ at a time when league revenues continue to soar, serving up over $230 more million to each team this fiscal year above respective local revenues _ the Chargers are running a risk in perception.
Next to other NFL teams, they may come off as not as gung ho about winning a Super Bowl.
For with Bosa missing practice time, the Chargers are reducing their chances, if only out on the margins, of winning football games.
Their regard for Bosa's football prowess is clear: the defensive end could be of help this year, even as a rookie.
No other reason to make him the first non-quarterback taken in the draft four months ago.
The Bosas can fathom why Archie and Eli Manning crushed on the Giants, one of the NFL's historic franchises. When they had a choice about where Joey could play football, both times they chose a powerhouse.
Bosa prepped at a private school (St. Thomas Aquinas) in Ft. Lauderdale that regularly challenged for state championships. As a college recruit, he joined Urban Meyer's program at Ohio State.
He played a large role in both programs winning the top prize.
Bosa had no say on which NFL team would draft him, and the Chargers, despite Rivers being a better quarterback than Manning, are neither the St. Thomas Aquinas nor the Ohio State of the NFL.
When the Bosas walked through the lobby of Chargers Park, they saw no Lombardi Trophies in the display case, but Joey sounded eager to help get one.
"I've had that taste (of championships) in my mouth before, and I'm going to be able to bring guys along with me because I want to win," he said in late April, a day after Tom Telesco drafted him.
"A guy like Philip Rivers, a guy like Manti Te'o _ great players, (and they) seem like great guys that want to win. I think it's going to be kind of us and other guys on the team that want to bring everyone along with us and get that taste in their mouth of what it's like to win."
If Bosa now is coming off as stubborn, the Chargers should be the last team to be surprised.
Coach Mike McCoy raved about the toughness Bosa displayed over his three-year career. Double- and triple-teamed at Ohio State, he kept charging. He even spoke of squeezing the armpits of the 300-pounders who opposed him, a pressure-point tactic that he leveraged en route to the backfield.
Team Spanos cannot plead ignorance about the bent of Condon's agency, a big player in the NFL. Nor were the Chargers likely caught off guard by the other teams' increasing willingness to cede peripheral goodies to high-end draftees, as staying abreast of industry trends is standard practice.
No great harm has been done by Bosa's one-week absence from training camp. This week, with the important third preseason game still in play if this is resolved soon, would be a fine time to strike a deal.
The greater onus is on the Spanoses, headed by club chairman Dean, CEO A.G. and top football executive John.
