""You've got spunk. I hate spunk."

Lou Grant to Mary Richards

Not Lou, not all football fans - not even a few million "experts" - are with me on this. Too bad. I like spunk. Moxie. Emotion. Daring. Especially in quarterbacks, whose livers are not supposed to be yellow, nor their hearts faint.

What kind of person do you want running your football team, Gen. Patton, or Joseph Ismay, who famously abandoned the women-and-children-first rule on the Titanic? If our forefathers were wimps, we'd all sound like King George III.

Which brings us to Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who wears his emotions as Astaire did a tux, there for all to see. It must have been terrible growing up for little Philip playing hide and go seek. He has trouble hiding many things, especially himself.

Thing is, he isn't out of control, although the perception is different for some who don't spend much time around him or watch him play every Sunday. He's vocal. He's gotten into it with fans. He yaps out there. He yaps in civilian clothes.

The most recent example stems from his perceived behavior during San Diego's Monday night loss in the wind, rain and noise that was Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. On three occasions the Chargers were called for delay of game. After one of those, Rivers had the ball slip from his hands and he kicked it toward the line of scrimmage.

It didn't play well, especially on the East Coast, prompting Sports Illustrated's Peter King to write: "I think Philip Rivers has to work on his anger issues on the field. He often looked like a 9 year old on national TV. That angrily-kicking-the-football-stuff doesn't help you win games."

I've known Peter for years. Few people work harder. In this case, he's not alone in being dead wrong.

"I kicked the ball back to the line of scrimmage so no one would dive on it and get somebody hurt," Rivers was saying after Thursday's practice, growing more animated by the minute. "That's how (center) Nick Hardwick got hurt last year (in Oakland). If it hadn't slipped out of my hand, I would have thrown it away.

"Was I happy at the time? No. I won't use the word frustrated. I was aggravated with myself - and us. It wasn't like we spiraled out of control. Shortly after that, we went on a roll.""