Charger Credentials

The fine folks at BoltYou.com have asked if they could post items from my blog on their site ... after confirming that they have indeed read my blog - I have been asked this request before and after I make sure the person has read my materials, I usually do not hear from them again - it does appear as if you will be able to read my Charger related blog entries on BoltYou.com.

But I need to make sure everyone that has read me in the past and will read my entries in the future can better understand my tact and angle with the Chargers and also, because many of my pieces are opinionated, validate my opinion based on my personal thoughts regarding the Chargers.  So I present "My Charger Credentials":

First, I am not a professional writer  - although I am fairly certain many wouldn't need me to point that out.  I do believe I have the record for most run-on sentences as well as the longest run-on sentence in the history of writing - which has yet to end for I am still in the process of writing it.  My use of punctuation is also a bit abnormal but once you can decipher the sentence and it's bizarre characteristics, I've been told, a point can be found. 

Now to the important part...my history with the Chargers ...

The year is 1980, I am 10 years old.  I live in North Dakota which is in Minnesota Viking territory.  My father, who has watched football since his youth, was a big Johnny Unitas fan and his favorite team (still to this day) is the Minnesota Vikings.  For a couple years now, each Sunday I would sit down and watch the Vikings with my father.  My father would often times turn the television off with disgust or merely just get up and stop watching.  After the Vikings were done, the television was all mine and I would stay tuned to watch more football.  The 2nd game each Sunday, during this particular season, often had the high-powered offense of the San Diego Chargers.  Now most everyone knows how that season ended ... with the Chargers winning a playoff game in Miami that many consider the greatest game of all time only to travel to Cincinnati and lose in a low-scoring, incredibly cold game and get ousted from the playoffs.  But the damage had been done.  I instantly fell in love with the Chargers and have been a Charger fan ever since.

For most of the beginning of my Charger 'fandom' watching Charger games were a bit difficult ... since (roughly) 1984 thru (again roughly) 1991 I was in my teens, the Chargers sucked so didn't get to many games on television.  This period of time was also before Thursday and Sunday night games ... you typically got the team in your region (the Vikes for me) and 2 other games on Sunday as well as a Monday night game ... But then 1991 came around, I had turned 21 and the NFL was available on satellite at several bars and I could watch the Chargers every Sunday.

Almost on cue, Bobby Beatherd - (at the time) former GM for the Washington Redskins - came to the Chargers, brought Stan Humphries with him and like a "bolt of lightning" the Chargers were in the Super Bowl in 1995 (after the '94 season).  The ride that season was incredible, especially with the AFC Championship win against the Pittsburgh Steelers being the pinnacle.  It was a game the Chargers weren't suppose to win.  No one, NO ONE, had the Chargers winning and even after it ended my roommate, and fellow Charger fan, were so excited that we hung a Charger blanket as a backdrop and took pictures of us celebrating in front of it.  It was an incredible season and year that season.

I can not say for certain, but I am fairly certain that I have watched almost every San Diego Charger football game for 18 years now.  I know there may have been 1 or 2 games here or there where something has prevented me from watching ... and that was agony, because regardless of what was so important enough to keep me from watching the game, my only thought and concern during that time was wondering what was going on in the game.

I have met one of my favorite and an All-Time Charger Great, Kellen Winslow.  I remember Tony Martin, Natrone Means, Marion Butts, John Friesz, Jim McMahon, Doug Flutie, the Micheal Vick trade, Eli Manning trade, Dan Fouts retiring, Bobby Ross and of course, from the man I have 'borrowed' his moniker, Junior Seau.

Because of this history I have had with the Chargers, I have become a very pessimistic person when it comes to the Chargers.  Oh sure, I love giving the Chargers credit when credit is due, but because I have been a Charger fan for close to 30 years now the number of times the Chargers have disappointed me greatly outweigh their successes.  Has this tempered my passion for them?  Absolutely not.  I would even subject myself to watch the Chargers during the Ryan Leaf era (and shortly after his departure) where the only thing on the agenda for those Sundays was going to be a Charger ass-kicking ... and the Chargers on the receiving end of said ass-kicking.

One only needs to read this past year's recap of the Chargers season that I posted to my blog to see my disbelief in the Chargers ... but anyone that followed the Chargers this past season had the same sentiment.

What I have is a passion for the Chargers.  I do not have 'homer' glasses on in which the Chargers can do no wrong.  I try to 'call them as I see them' when it comes to Charger related matters but of course with my own Charger biased.

I was not happy to see Rodney Harrison go.  I was not happy to see Junior Seau go.  And I will not be happy if LaDainian Tomlinson ends up finishing his career anywhere but with the Chargers.  I understand the circumstances and have already posted my thoughts on that matter.

I am a Charger fan first...a critic second with both positive and/or negative thoughts on any Charger related news.