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.