The Worst Part of Professional Football

Once more, as has been the case week after week, I was subjected to another terrible game of charger football. After watching this team yet again, thinking that they may win a game legitimately, or play the game with some respect, I was dead wrong. The san diego chargers of the last three years are the worst thing that has ever happened to the glorious game of football.

It all starts with the way this team handles itself out on the field, they simply do not. Every time the chargers have some form of success, whether it is a play in which their defense had a direct influence, or a lucky break, they seem to want to party like its 1999. This is ironic, because in 1999 they had nothing to party about. Back in 1999, I remember the Chargers as a respectable football team that did not have much success. They were a better team then than they are now because they played the game with respect, even though they did not fare well. The recent chargers have been quite the opposite, making fools of themselves week in and week out. When watching players like Chad Johnson celebrate, people will either applaud him for a creative idea or laugh at him because he is enjoying the game. Never, however, will they question his sanity, but for the chargers it is not the same. Their celebrations consist mostly of wild fist pumps, terrible dance moves, and horrifying displays of rage. They have crossed the line in a major way, and it is very difficult for any rational sports fan to admire this team. For example, an overthrow by Peyton Manning with little defensive pressure is not the type of play the requires a celebration, but eric weddle does not seem to think so. This rookie safety has already bought into the charger standard of going crazy after most plays, and will become yet another victim of the lack of self-control with which this team plays the game. There is a vast difference between a professional football player and a san diego charger. The former is a talented individual who plays to the best of his ability while exhibiting sportsmanship to the highest degree. The latter is a degenerate individual (the only exception is long snapper David Binn) playing on a team isolated from all the others in the NFL because of its commitment to celebration and ruining the game of football.

This lack of control is also evident in the people who cheer for the chargers, most of whom did not root for this team until 2 years ago. As a result of this, they do not know the game of football very well, which is reflected by their sporadic affection for the team (for more on this read the article my colleague wrote about their followers). The crowd at Qualcomm Stadium last night began booing when the chargers played conservatively on one of their many 3rd down and long plays. These people do not understand that 3rd down and 13+ yards is not converted the majority of the time, and therefore began booing when in all actuality the chargers made a good play call. They apparently forgot about last week against Minnesota, when philip rivers made many terrible passes downfield, as the chargers lost in a rout to Minnesota. This booing also took place when the chargers had a 16 point lead, probably the only time in history that a team with such a big lead had been booed. When the chargers looked to be going for the win in the third quarter, a group of their followers started singing "Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye." It turns out that this was a little premature, as the Colts had several chances to win the game at the end, and the result was them snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. About this time, I spoke to a person in attendance at the game who was seated in front of the big scoreboard near many Colts fans, and he told me that the chargers followers were trying to start a fight with them. They persisted, despite the fact that the Colts fans had kept to themselves, and did not show an interest to fight at any time in the game. This is the epitome of being degenerate, and is a sad reflection on the moral fiber of people living in "America's finest city." Every week, these people become more and more associable with the stereotype commonly held of Raiders fans, yet the majority of it goes unnoticed in the long run.

One possible cause of this celebration is that the chargers have a freak play go in their favor in the majority of their wins, especially tonight's game. First off was the opening kickoff return. It was confusing looking at the field and seeing all the smoke from the pregame fireworks, and it is hard to doubt that the Colts' special teams could not see downfield. After that was the interception in the second quarter. The ball was called dead in the endzone because of an inadvertent whistle that blew away from the play. The official closest to the play dropped the ball spot indicator, signaling that it was an interception and therefore the play should have stood as a return to the chargers 5 yard line. This kind of situation is one that sparked discussion about a rule change a few years ago in the NFL. The league decided that questionable plays should be played out so that in the event of an overturned call, the result of the play would be accurate. It should have taken care of the inadvertent whistle, but it did not, and this lucky break for the chargers changed the whole fortune of this game early on. Another unlikely occurrence was Adam Vinatieri missing a makeable field goal at the end of the first half, and then a missing a chip shot for the win. He is one of the most clutch kickers in league history, making field goals at critical moments throughout his career, including the deciding kick in all 3 of New England's World Championships. For him to miss twice was quite improbable, but then again, those kind of breaks are why the chargers win. As if that were not enough, Peyton Manning threw 6 interceptions in the game. Anytime a quarterback throws 6 INTs, it is because he is out of rhythm, and it is really not a coincidence that Manning chose to lay an egg against san diego, because every other star player in the league seems to follow suit when they play the chargers. Even when Manning made good throws, the refs kept their flags in their pockets when there was clear pass interference. Close to the game's end, Aaron Morehead dropped a pass from Manning because weddle pulled his arm back prior to the arrival of the ball. In the local newspaper North County Times, there is a great picture of weddle interefering prior to the arrival of the ball. A crew led my Mike Carey or Ed Hochuli would not have let that type of play go uncalled, and it is very suspect that in "the game of the week" there was not an experienced crew of referees. The Colts played that poorly with very few offensive players suited up, and their list of inactive players included many NFL icons. Even after all that, the chargers only won by 2 points, in a game when another team getting all those breaks would have won by at least 4 scores. It proves once and for all why this team is presently a disgrace to the NFL.

Looks Like Fair Weather!

I seem to hear all over the place that the San Diego Chargers are the best football team in the National Football League. I am absolutely sick of hearing it, especially because of who I hear it from. And I'm writing this, as a San Diegan myself, to tell you that no falser statement has been made in the football community this year.

Okay, so maybe I don't like Chargers...fine, I'll admit it, I root against them. Every week. I can't stand to see them succeed. They disgrace me. The team, I'm fine with. But the fans of San Diego epitomize what we call in the sporting world "fair weather fans". Which, said simply, means, they only root for the team when the team does well, and when that occurs, they act like they have been hardcore fans for their entire lives. Now, I may sound biased, considering I have no knowledge of any other sporting cities, yet I know San Diego sports quite well and I understand their fans even better.

The year, 2000, for instance helps drive my point home. San Diego's glorious Chargers went an abysmal 1-15 that year, almost placing them in the record books for the worst team season in the long and storied history of the NFL. I recall the people around me, most of them were naysayers and refused to support the Chargers because of their common last-place finishes (take 2001, 2002, and 2003 for example, yes four straight years as last place).

Many fans at that juncture supported the Oakland Raiders, when they dominated back in that era. I could almost guarantee that San Diego exhibited more Rich Gannon and Warren Sapp jerseys than Ryan Leaf or any other Chargers jerseys. Yet, it is interesting how settings change along with circumstances. Nowadays, I can't go anywhere without seeing Chargers apparel: Shawne Merriman jerseys, Philip Rivers T-shirts, LaDainian Tomlinson hats. Every time I see one of these, I ask myself what kind of fan (if a true fan at all) hides beneath them.

So I have henceforth characterized one typical Chargers fan: the ex-Raider fan. Yet another type of fan has become more abundant with the Chargers recent so-called successes: the average San Diegan. I understand that some of the die hard fans have remained close to the team even in the long-lasting despair of the Chargers' repetitive sub-.500 efforts. But, personally I know that these fans constitute a very thin number; certainly more "hardcore" Chargers fans have recently emerged than have always existed. For instance, one of my friends was primarily a Atlanta Falcons fan. Surely there was no coincidence then when he became a die-hard fan when the team went 12-4 in 2004 and put up a decent show in the playoffs, right? Another person I know had loved the St. Louis Rams. Then, after the 2004 season, remarkably he attached himself to the Chargers like he had always loved them, saying that he hadn't liked the Rams since they moved away from Los Angeles.

Maybe the reason why San Diego and the surrounding areas house so many fair weather fans is because of the lack of another team in hundreds of miles (in such a large population zone). Yet, I know this not to be the answer. San Diegans like to think that they are always right, thus they claim to support the home teams in times of success and they talk down on the teams when hard times come.

So I might be fine with the existence of fair weather fans lest they insist they know so much and pretend to be intense fans. Once I overheard someone with a Rivers jersey claim that Antonio Gates was the best wide receiver in the league. Only one problem. He's not a wide receiver, he's a tight end!!! Most self-acclaimed Chargers buffs that I know can't even name off half the team's starting roster. And they think they can live and die with the team when they don't even know who plays for it! I can cede this: being a fan is a right, but one must earn the privilege of being called a die-hard.

Thus, when a Chargers fan claims that "their team" is the best in league, I often ask why they consider that to be the case. Regardless of their rebuttal (and they always argue, remember that they always think they are right), I always reply that success can't be measured in two seasons of making the playoffs without a playoff win. Good teams win playoff games, or else they did not make it as close to the championship as at least 4 other teams (in the Chargers' case). Obviously, then, 4 teams must be better than the Chargers. I heard it last year, and I have already heard it this year. They are not, have never been, and will not be this year, the best team in the NFL. Only champions can claim that moniker. To win championships, a team must win playoff games. The Chargers have not done that in 13 years. From that perspective, which is the statistical, unbiased, and logical one, the team seems a far way off. Tell a Chargers fan that, however, and you will be wrong. Why? Because when there is fair weather in San Diego, as there is now, the self-deemed followers of the Chargers are always right.

I've given up trying to argue. They are simply ignorant. And in contrast, I am always the one that is actually right. So count on my opinion more than the fair weather. And when I am right once again, I have a feeling that rain or clouds might be in the not-so-distant future for San Diego.