HATERS!

Haters in LA

The Chargers just ruined a great game
Everyone with any kind of interest in football has been waiting all season for the defending Super Bowl champions to challenge perfection, and San Diego goes and goofs things up.
January 14, 2008


INDIANAPOLIS -- What a bunch of Goofs.

Everyone with any kind of interest in football has been waiting all season for the defending Super Bowl champions to challenge perfection, and the Chargers go and goof things up.

Who cares if Billy Volek's high school coach knew he had it in him all along?

This NFL season is all about New England and its quest to become the best team the NFL has ever produced. And to make history, it'd be nice if the Patriots had a challenge.

I don't know how many times I've said it, but the Chargers can't do anything right -- winning when they really didn't have the players to do so -- and now we've got LSU playing Ohio State.

The Chargers have already lost to New England this season, 38-14, and that was before Antonio Gates, Philip Rivers, LaDainian Tomlinson and Nate Kaeding began limping.

The Patriots opened in Las Vegas as a 15 1/2 -point favorite over the Chargers -- New England's biggest task trying to get over the letdown of not preparing to play the Colts.

Shame on the Goofs for ruining everyone's fun, like Cinderella making an appearance at this time of the football season is all that novel.

Any other year, OK, but next Sunday's AFC championship game was going to be something special, a high-stakes drama featuring the game's two best quarterbacks and three hours of TV that could not be missed.

But instead of a week of anticipation, football fans will get daily medical updates and the real prospect of watching an exhibition game with Michael Turner trying to prove he belongs in the same league as Tom Brady.

Bill Belichick matching wits with Norv Turner? Yeah, that's fair.

"I have never been around a more gutsy performance than this one," said Turner after the game -- as if he has that many positive football experiences to fall back on.

Hey, all the credit in the world goes to the Chargers for making Sunday's divisional playoff game in the RCA Dome competitive and entertaining.

But instead of leaving with a nice parting gift, such as a solid moral victory, the Chargers played as if they think we really care how much it means to them to overcome adversity.

"There's a mind-set in our league that our guys kind of play good when they're ahead and are front-runners, but when the going gets tough they don't rise to the occasion," Turner said. "I think we've put that to rest."

Does it really matter if the Washington Generals are loaded with intestinal fortitude?

"You come in looking forward to play next week," said a disheartened Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy, and no reason why he should be any different from anyone else.

Before the game NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spent a good deal of time on the Colts' sideline, and I thought it was pretty cool we were pulling for the same team.

Just imagine the TV ratings for next week's Indianapolis-New England game, and what it might mean in advertising rates for the league down the road. A mini-Super Bowl to hype the season-ender in Arizona.

I was surprised Goodell hadn't appointed himself replay official in the press box just to make sure nothing went wrong.