Fast Break
NFL
Chargers return to Qualcomm
Thousands of tailgaters packed into the parking lot at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on Sunday, replacing the cars and camping tents that housed wildfire evacuees all week with a field of blue-and-yellow Chargers sunshades.
Smoke from blazes still burning to the east stained the sky, but the rich meat-scented haze rising from hundreds of charcoal-briquet barbecues erased any lingering wildfire smell.
“Someone was probably living in this stall all week in a tent,” said Jarred Pellegrini, 20, as he unloaded an Igloo cooler from the back of his dad’s sport utility vehicle.
Nothing was left of those tents, which were carted away on Friday along with hundreds of cots and blankets used by more than 10,000 people who called the stadium home after fleeing their neighborhoods.
People who were still under evacuation orders or whose homes were destroyed were sent Friday to the Del Mar Fairgrounds 20 miles away after city officials decided to close relief operations at Qualcomm.
The disaster wasn’t forgotten by the team or its corporate sponsors, which arranged to have volunteers collect cash donations at each stadium entrance. Other workers wove between the elaborate tailgate parties.
Inside the stadium, state and local fire department logos were painted on the grass by both benches. “Can’t burn our spirit,” said a sign waved by one fan.
Sunday’s results
Giants 13, Dolphins 10
Lions 16, Bears 7
Titans 13, Raiders 9
Browns 27, Rams 20
Eagles 23, Vikings 16
Steelers 24, Bengals 13
Colts 31, Panthers 7
Bills 13, Jets 3
Chargers 35, Texans 10
Jaguars 24, Buccaneers 23
Saints 31, 49ers 10
Patriots 52, Redskins 7
Today’s game: Green Bay at Denver, 5:30 p.m. TV: ESPN
College football
15 laterals give Trinity victory
Picture the ending of the Stanford-California game in 1982, without the band and with three times as many laterals.
Trinity University used 15 laterals after a completed pass on the final play of the game for an unlikely touchdown and 28-24 victory Saturday at stunned Millsaps. Call it the “Mississippi Miracle” for the Tigers, an NCAA Division III team in San Antonio.
“Things have to go perfectly for that to work,” coach Steve Mohr told the Associated Press after the Tigers got home Sunday night from Jackson, Miss. “We couldn’t do that against air if we tried.”
TENNIS
Graf, Agassi back on court
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf may not be the best mixed doubles team around, but they still think they’re the best married one.
The two retired tennis stars lost 7-5, 6-2 to current world No. 1 Justine Henin and the retired Goran Ivanisevic during Graf’s charity fundraiser at Mannheim, Germany.
Agassi had to give up the spotlight to his wife, still a huge hero in Germany as they played near her hometown in front of 9,340 fans. A 22-time grand slam winner, Graf held the event to raise money for her charity, “Children for Tomorrow.”