"It's Philip Rivers' locker room, so the quarterback has every right to speak in a loud, passionate tone to an intruder — in this case, yours truly. And who knows? Maybe his voice will be heard upstairs, where Chargers boss Dean Spanos has some deep decision-making to do.

"You guys are making the wrong assessment, Nick," Rivers, wrapped in a towel, yelled back at me over his shoulder as he headed for the training room, the very private domain. "Did you see that little guy (Darren Sproles) running in New Orleans today? He used to be on our team!"

A short time later the quarterback came up and said he was just kidding around, that he knew I could take it (he was right; I'm well past my thin-skinned era), coming down from his terrific afternoon in the Chargers' 38-26 victory here Sunday over the Raiders to mark the end of their terribly disappointing season."