Carlsbad’s NFL-kicker factory

It’s the Friday after the Super Bowl and the hardest-core fans might already find themselves missing football.

We’ll give you a fix by turning to Carlsbad. I’m a sucker for stories that show how big an influence locals have on the biggest stages, in this case, the NFL.

John Carney, a retired San Diego Charger, is behind the Carney Training Facility, which sits in the shadow of I-5 in a nondescript office park. There, over the last year, around 300 players from all levels, high school to the pros, stepped through the doors to focus tightly on one aspect of the game – kicking. As one of his trainers said, “People don’t come to John to be told to quit; they come to get better and pursue their dreams.” We’ll let contributor Noah Perkins tell you more.

Turning to a stage of a different kind, sirens heralded the arrival of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Thursday in Otay Mesa. No, really, even though she was dropping in for a news conference, not a live drug bust. She focused not on immigration, but fentanyl and politics in her remarks, all made with the recorded sirens still blaring, albeit more quietly. Our Lillian Perlmutter has more on Noem’s appearance, which a congressman called “political theater.”

Shortly beforehand, 30 or so miles to the north, a man allegedly grabbed a restaurant manager, called him an “illegal alien,” and proceeded to attempt to drag him from the premises while claiming to be arresting him. Big problem, as the real police determined – the suspect, a player on his own personal stage, is not a cop.

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