Hey eight L.A. Chargers fans who still exist after the team abandoned you in San Diego, I want to offer you a heart felt recognition of your thanks and adoration.
Why should the Chargers fans be thanking me you might ask?
Well... I just so happen to be personally responsible for their 11 - 3 record as well as the fact that NFL experts are mentioning them as a Super Bowl contender and the most complete team in the AFC.
You're welcome.
How did I do it?
That's simple. After 40 years, I finally jumped off the Chargers' bandwagon. Clearly that is all this team was waiting for. They were laying in the weeds and losing year after year. They were biding their time until they were finally sure that hanshotfirst had given them up for dead. Then they sprung to life!
How did a guy from Chicago get on the bandwagon to begin with? Well I'm glad you asked.
Back in 1978, when I was 7, my mom took me to IHOP. They were running a promotion giving away small football helmet magnets. I could have my pick of any of them... and knew none of them. I remember watching some Bears games with my family. But back then, they super-sucked and were "blacked out" on local TV. Besides, they just had a boring "C" on their helmet. What fun is that.
No. I wanted the one with the freaking lightning bolt on it! That was awesome!
Thanks to eBay I found the exact magnet I got when I was 7!
This just so happened to coincide with a delightful little thing called "Air Coryell" which described the offense head coach Don Coryell designed to fit my favorite player of all time... Dan Fouts. It was revolutionary and they scored a million points. Sadly, they often gave up a million and 1.
Because they were such a novelty, and played most of their games after the Bears had already lost, the Chargers ended up being the late game on many Sundays in Chicago. I watched them all and fell in love. So did all my friends.
As we grew up, my friends all turned their backs on the hapless Chargers. But not I. I had an added incentive. I had made a promise. And I always keep my promises. One Christmas, I asked for all the Chargers paraphernalia I could find in the Sears catalogue. Before she ordered anything, my mom said "Now this isn't going to be like all that Pittsburgh Pirates crap I bought that you never wear anymore is it?"
I swore to her that "I was no fair weather fan and I would love them forever!"
That love lead me to tape the 1982 AFC playoff game between the Chargers and Dolphins on the same Betamax tape I had used to record Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park. In case you don't know, that happens to be the greatest football game in the history of time. I should know because I watched it so much that I wore out the tape worse than I did Fast Time at Ridgemont High (well actually only a bout a 30 second section when Phoebe Cates emerges from the pool ...).
This famous image is from that epic game.
In my 20's, I would walk to a bar in Lincoln Park in Chicago to watch the Chargers lose every week. When NFL Sunday Ticket was introduced, I nearly cried. I bought it every year and tortured myself by watching the Chargers every week.
"I will love them forever."
Well it turns out "forever" is about 40 years.
Finally this year, I gave up. I simply could not pay that money to cheer for a team from L.A. I'm from Chicago. We are so tough and gritty (insert sarcastic emoji here). How could I root for a team from glamour town (repeat sarcastic emoji)?
Sarcasm or not, I simply could not do it. I could not be an "Los Angeles Chargers" fan.
Clearly word made it to the team. Before I could even finish penning my apology and signing the check to my mother to reimburse her for that Charger gear... they got good.
Damn them! They got really good.
Now I have a lot of soul searching to do. I don't know if I can be "that guy" and jump back on the bandwagon.
But if I do, you will be the first to know.
How will you be able to tell?
The Chargers will start to suck the second I reclaim them as my own.
Then I will have to sing, "I'm sorry..."
I was one who never thought that rivers was any good. The guy throws from his hip
His release is shockingly fast. Strange motion but it works. My problem is that he seems like a stat compiler. He completes a ton of passes until he gets to the Redzone... then they kick a field goal. It is a little different this year but for many years it has been infuriating.
Kind of glad that i never became a chargers fan even growing up in San Diego.
LOL. How old are you? I'm guessing you are a bit younger than I am so you missed the whole "Air Coryell" experience. I was finally able to visit S.D. this past summer. Wow is it beautiful!
39 ... but we grew up baseball fans. So that explains a lot of it.
I wished that I could have learned to play football @hanshotfirst LOL and be one of those fat and big linebackers LOL.
With you determination I bet you would have been one heck of a football player!
I’ve been a chargers fan about the same amount of time. I spent a lot of time in Southern California, but I’ve never been a LA team fan.
I don’t watch a lot of professional sports, but I never watch LA teams play
Posted using Partiko iOS
I should have figured that since we are around the same age and you live in California you would know about Fouts, Winslow, Chandler... and Chuck Muncie of course!
As a guy from Boston, I'm hoping you jump on the bandwagon just prior to Sunday's 1pm kick-off!
This should be a good game. I hope you contnue to play saftey's and Dbacks as Linebackers so Sony Michel can take them on as he runs out of the backfield. That would be our saving grace a strong running game.
Best of luck but not too much luck!
Go Pats!!!!
LOL. Maybe I should accept payments in return for me putting my Chargers hat back on.
I do have to say the 7 DB gimmick was a nice counter to the BLT QB gimmick. But I think that was a one time only gimmick.
You had me laughing out loud reading this. I have read several of your articles. I am now following you. Keep them coming. It reminds of that Jackson 5 song, "Forever Came Today".
Thanks! I do like to laugh at myself quite a bit. I kind of have no choice.
Did you see the Solo movie? And if so what did you think of it?
I did. I thought it was very entertaining. Not great... but fun. And definitely better than The Last Jedi.
I enjoyed it as well. I would have like to have seen a sequel just to see them flesh out some of the plot lines.
Hi @hanshotfirst!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 6.415 which ranks you at #177 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has not changed in the last three days.
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 193 contributions, your post is ranked at #147.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server