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Confessions Of A Dangerous Chargers Fan–May 10, 2008

When I see Charger fans and Patriot fans going back and forth with the trash talk, I know a new football season is coming. I also know it’s time to jump into the fray with my own thoughts and perspective. If you’ve read anything I’ve written over the last thirteen seasons, you know that no one had a tougher time with Eli Manning winning the Super Bowl than I did. However, when you hear people defending the possible taping of opponents, it’s hard not to join the majority of fans who were happy to see New England lose the Super Bowl in the most heartbreaking fashion. When this whole “Spygate” business broke, didn’t LaDainian Tomlinson suggest that for the Patriots, “If you’re not cheating you’re not trying?” When he said those words right before we got blown off the field in Foxboro, it was construed as sour grapes because the Chargers have lost to the Patriots the last three times out. I can accept that. If last season in the NFL taught us anything, it’s that you can say and do whatever you want as long as you win. Plaxico Burress would have been yet another self-promoting loudmouth if he didn’t catch the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. Until the Chargers can beat the Patriots when it matters, words won’t mean anything.Last season, the Patriots played at such an astonishingly high level (with a little luck on the officiating and injury front thrown in) that they never had to worry about what any of their opponents thought or felt. Now that they were exposed on the biggest stage of all, they have to take the same abuse as everyone else. I really wonder how much weight these accusations would have if they had held on to win. However, as a Chargers fan, I really don’t care to assess the validity of New England’s accomplishments since 2001. I was in the stands that day when a virtually unknown Tom Brady capitalized on a choke job by Marty’s boys and won in OT. I liken the Chargers’ need to get past the Pats to the Knicks’ struggles to beat the Bulls from ‘91-’96. Actually, I hope it’s different from that scenario since the Knicks were only able to beat Chicago the year that Michael Jordan played baseball. They needed a seven games and two fortuitous foul shots from Hubert Davis to do it and were unable to finish off the Rockets in the subsequent Finals.

The Bolts came into Foxboro last September as an all-talk, likely to choke bunch. They left in January as a gutty team leaving it all on the field. Right now, the popular perception is that things might have gone differently if not for the injuries to Rivers, Gates and Tomlinson. If the Chargers go back to believing too much of their own press, that perception can be dangerous. I’ve said on more than one occassion that those injuries may have allowed guys like Vincent Jackson, Chris Chambers and Darren Sproles to grow up in a hurry. The Bolts were relatively healthy in their two previous trips to the playoffs and imploded. The bumper sticker that appeared in the beginning of this post was on my car for the entire 2007 season. LaDainian Tomlinson was one of the few Chargers who could hold their heads up after that first-round flame out. Marlon McCree’s fumble was only the last of many plays that showed that the Bolts were not ready for the big stage. The Patriots were more than willing to take advantage of that and said as much.

However, McCree, Drayton Florence and Shane Olivea are all gone and hopefully so is their lack of poise in the postseason. McCree and Florence were able to acheive a modicum of redemption in last year’s playoffs and Olivea came off the bench to block on LT’s 4th-down leap against the Titans. Only Eric Parker remains from that fateful game of January 14, 2007. It remains to be seen if he can come back, both physically and mentally, from what will hopefully be an aberration. Working his way from undrafted free agent to dependable target, especially on 3rd downs, he made more mistakes that day than in all his previous games as a a Charger. To make matters worse, the error-prone player he replaced, Reche Caldwell, was there to capitalize. At least he didn’t get a ring like Terrance Shaw.

Where am I going with all this? Nowhere, specifically. However, the Bolts seem finally ready to take the next step this season. The Patriots are both a literal and metaphorical hurdle they absolutely need to successfully face. Until we do, any stated confidence will seem like hot air. Winning is the bottom line. However, New England fans should know that better than anyone. After letting the biggest prize of all prize get away and watching the dream of a perfect season disappearing with it in the process, they have to expect that other teams will feel a little more confident. After the season they had, the Giants proved that anything is possible. Even before the Super Bowl, I replaced the aforementioned bumper sticker on my car with something different:

Here’s hoping this is the year,

Ross Warner, www.justiceiscoming.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 3:33 pm and is filed under Column. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.