This one's been a long time coming, FAITHFUL READER. This was one shitty season to suffer through. I think I really lost faith after the Detroit loss, even though I was at Green Bay the following week. Of course, the Packers and Jordan Love weren't seen as a real strong team at that point. I didn't really have a "take" on Love, but I definitely thought that we hadn't beaten a good opponent all season (and wouldn't all year) and that beating the Packers that week wouldn't change anything. As it turned out, they were a good team and we absolutely were not.
This was from the last game I went to before meeting my wife in December, 1999. More on that later. The Green Bay game was perfect example of how a season can really unfold over time. You couldn't have convinced me, for instance, that the Ravens team that barely beat us with the 4th and 29 would actually win that year's Super Bowl. But each year's campaign can turn on a single play and can propel teams to the ultimate glory. If anything, the Chargers' inability to recover the forced fumble by Mack or Asante Samuel's penalty on 3rd and 20 helped give the Packers life and they kept building. They beat the Lions the next week in Detroit and were off and running.
The Chargers never had a winning record the entire season. I have no doubt that Staley was on the hot seat after the Ravens loss, as Adam Schefter later reported. I also believe, which he confirmed, that Staley was close to being fired earlier in the season. Of course, this makes us all wonder if we was on that short a leash why he was retained to begin with. We have a lot of assumptions about the Spanos family. I've made no secret that I understand why San Diegans view them as the ultimate villains. All NFL owners are unlikable by nature. They usually make their money and buy (or inherit) a franchise. They are all about profit and are the only ones who can really make the changes we all wish for our teams.
It was beyond counterintuitive to root for the Chargers to get blown out by the Raiders, but sadly needed to happen. The "Chargering" graphic, the euphoria of Mark Davis with his Buster Brown cut and tight white jeans, and the subsequent calls to finally can Staley were needed. It took the Raiders eventually out of the race for Harbaugh, though Vic Tafur said they did reach out to Harbaugh's agent. The pictures of Antonio Pierce with Tom Telesco are hilarious. Pierce literally looks like is thinking about asking Crosby to use his obvious sway to get a new GM already.
I was at this game. We went 1-15 and the Ravens won the fucking Super Bowl. I revealed on Twitter this year that I went to a card show in NJ in 1998 to get my Ryan Leaf poster signed. Leaf has turned his life around and is sober which is great. That doesn't exonerate him from being a smug asshole, which he still is. He's rebranded himself as the Joan Rivers to Rich Eisen's Johnny Carson but I noticed that every time he is joked with he has incredibly thin skin. When I Tweeted out the picture of him signing autographs, I didn't even tag him since he has a Joe Roganesque following of acolytes who see him as some straight talking success story. Again, it's great that he rehabilitated himself, both literally and figuratively. However, he's still a dick. Within minutes someone Tweeted him my link and made some lame barb. Then I got a flood of Tweets like "he straight murdered you bro" and "you wanted a player to sign your poster as a grown ass man." Meanwhile, I was probably the same age these idiots are now. I also got a ton of messages telling me that my point that he was a phony seemed true since he was so triggered by my saying his sobriety didn't leave him with a new personality.
But even that experience shows how irrelevant the Chargers have become. Leaf has had no issues identifying as a former Charger, even after the move to LA. I took Sam to this game in the rain, and her experience with Ravens fans decked out in purple camo didn't make her eager to go to another game with me. Of course, I got her to come to Philly the following season. She really must have loved me because looking back, those sound like horrible ideas for weekend getaways. What's funny is that we also have to thank Ryan Leaf for sucking an entire second time in 2000. That gave Jim Harbaugh more starts in a season that was a win against the Warren Moon-led Chiefs from being entirely winless.
Another show from the Cleveland game in '99. I think that's Aaron Taylor, before McNeill got #73 and Mike "Smiley" Riley. I also went to the game in Detroit that season against a Charlie Batch-led Lions team. It's crazy that we are a rare John Carney miss in Miami away from making the playoffs that year.
But, as Ron Livingston said in Swingers, "Don't tell me we didn't make it. We made it! We are here and everything that is past is prologue to this. All the shit that didn't kill us only...you know, all that shit."
We needed to go through that back then all the awful humiliations this year. It was not easy to root for losses against Buffalo, Denver, and KC. I know the players wanted to win for themselves. However, it's amazing that the same losses some fans were hesitant to root for now resulted in the fifth pick in the draft. Oh no, Blaine Gabbert is running on us! Wait, we now have a more desirable job opening!
And that's what so much of the Hunt for Harbaugh has been about. Especially since the move to LA, all Chargers fans are told is that they don't exist. I've spent my entire life as the visiting fan and I know that's bullshit. Go to any road game and you'll see tons of Boltheads. Even Staley after the Jets game pointed out the presence of the "Powder Blues" at the Meadowlands and the players seemed to agree. Most of his speeches didn't seem to be that interesting to them as his tenure progressed. I can only imagine all the lost "All In" footage that will stay in the vault shows guys eyerolling as he rambles on about "staying connected at a premium position."
The move from San Diego is certainly a line of demarcation for many. Living my entire life in New York, I never knew about the connection between the town and team. I never understood the hatred for Los Angeles. I've given my take as an "outsider," which is only place I like to be. San Diego didn't want to be held hostage to build another billionaire's stadium. I don't think they expected the team to leave. For them to go to LA was especially heartbreaking. Since that time, the joke has been about how opposing fans fill Sofi Stadium. That happened in San Diego, too and not just because the team was threatening to move. You want to know why? It's fucking California. Long before it became fashionable to say that a fanbase "traveled" well, people would pick a game to attended and Detroit, Philly, Cleveland, Foxboro, and New Jersey weren't exactly inviting. I know because I've attended multiple games in those places to see the Chargers.
The other perception that really crystallized after the move was that the Spanos are cheap and that Dean installed his incompetent son to control things. It's interesting that some of those same people who scream nepotism have no problem when someone of inherited wealth installs their idiot kids to help run an organization they do claim to support, but that's another matter.
Clearly, Jim Harbaugh's time with the Chargers meant something to him. The very same Spanos family that people hate and say are tenants in their own stadium were a big part of why Harbaugh close the Bolts. For the record, I have never read a single verified report that John Dean Spanos actually does the intrusive and unqualified shit we all accuse him of. I know when Kevin Acee wrote the first piece in the Union-Tribune in 2013 on how John Dean would make fans "rethink Spanos leadership," he talked about how this kid was qualified to run things eventually. Of course, Acee also wrote piece the day after the move in 2017 that began with the words
Dean Spanos did it.
He created a lasting legacy.
He is the most hated man in San Diego. Ever.
Both of Acee's points can be true at once. He was a really good beat reporter, as was Jim Trotter, Jay Paris, and Kevin Kernan. Once the team moved, his life was turned upside down. But there are many people who weren't professionally affected who will never get off of their "sell the team Dean" stance.
But, as I heard Mike Florio say this week about the Panthers ownership, fans can't get the owners to give up. We certainly can't get the wrong ones to do the right things.
Or can we?
There was an interview with Daniel Popper and Randy Mueller on the Athletic podcast where Mueller mentioned his time with Chargers for ten seasons. He talked about the absence of a winning culture so I assumed like most fans that "fucking Spanos and his shithead son" were hiring inexpensive coaches so they could use them as puppets, blah, blah.
We know that doesn't work. As Quint said at the Amity emergency town meeting:
You got to make up your minds. Gonna stay alive and ante up, gonna play it cheap and be on welfare the whole winter.
But then I read an article recently by Mueller where he described the Spanos' as not being able or willing to have the tough conversations about how to run a successful franchise. They prefer individuals who aren't confrontational and with whom they can have congenial relationships with. Winners aren't always those types of people. Football is a results business. When Colin Cowherd was leaking out there was dissention amongst "ownership" whether Harbaugh was the guy, I naturally assumed, as Michael says in Godfather II, that it was "between the brothers." However, after Harbaugh was hired Cowherd admitted that the older guys closer to Dean were telling him to go after a "Ben Johnson type" and all the young kids were one hundred percent for Harbaugh. "Coach Jim" is an eccentric guy and I believe he may have coached one or both of Dean's sons at Stanford.
Kay Adams, who has been "riding with the Chargers" for a few years until we would let her down and she'd spurn her Chicago roots and pull for the Bengals, made a good point. Cincy was also a "mom and pop" ownership group with a second generation running it. The Bengals were a joke for years. Marvin Lewis, bad stadium, Burfict, guys getting in trouble off field...They had a good draft and suddenly Zac Taylor has them in contention. If Aaron Donald doesn't get to Burrow, they may very well have won their first Super Bowl two years ago.
In the end, that's all that matters. I know first hand the ecstasy of watching your team defy all the odds to reach your first Super Bowl and the agony of witnessing them first hand get blown out in it. The perception of the Chargers, in the owners box, on the field, and in the stands may be skewed, but is well known. "Chargering" existed before there was a name for it. We aren't cursed by the move or by the owners. It's funny that many who talk about the Spanos Curse also cite their firing of Marty after going 14-2 as an eternally damning moment. He wasn't a playoff winner and the only reason people refer to that team rather than the events of January 14, 2007 is because it's another easy and lazy narrative they can keep bringing up. Marty was the reason that team (and the 2004 one) lost, not the reason they won 14 games.
I do believe the Harbaugh deal was settled before it was announced. I do believe that the NFL reporters leak stuff out only when the league says its ok. They don't get this intel if they are going to put it out there before the NFL wants. I am not saying that it was iron clad but I am sure it wasn't as in limbo as we feared. The Chargers didn't have a second interview for a coach lined up. Again, we want to think "DEAN'S GONNA LET HIM LEAVE THE BUILDING!" That's all we've known. The NFL loved all this coaching carousel stuff. Look at the names and teams they had. Even Diana Russini tweeted something about whether the Chargers would let Harbaugh get to Atlanta. Ian Rapoport did too. I don't think even the Chargers would allow themselves to have no options beyond Harbaugh if his going back to Michigan was possible at any given moment. I do believe, when Daniel Popper tweeted over the weekend that it was going to be ok that he was telling the fanbase that they were zeroed in on Harbaugh and that it was going to happen or maybe had already. It doesn't matter now.
What does matter is that Jim Harbaugh, with all his weird and contradictory habits, beliefs, and mannerisms chose US. It was right for him and I have no doubt he was indeed investigating this (through intermediaries) as he was leading his team to a National Title. People who see the Charger fans celebrating joke that we haven't won anything. They are right but that's why we are happy. We know that more than anyone. We haven't hired a real winning coach who changes cultures in my opinion since Bobby Ross came from Georgia Tech with a shared National Title. Bobby Beathard, and his drafting of Junior Seau, preceded that. Sadly, those men eventually couldn't coexist. Marty and AJ were a different story. If Marty could have won in January his beef with Smith wouldn't have gotten him canned. Norv was AJ's guy and as much as I hated him he won 3 playoff games in his first two seasons and the team didn't implode in the postseason. That changed after the last division title and a home game after a bye.
Enough with the history, but we'd talk more about the present if there was more to discuss and be happy about. Now there is. Harbaugh is self-serving and doesn't stay in one place too long. This job works for his personal aims as well. But his absolute goal intersects with ours right now--to win the Super Bowl. I am not saying it will happen but at least we have a coach that will try to make it happen and isn't a laughingstock. When was the last time you saw a matchup involving the Chargers where they'd list all the categories (qb, defense, intangibles, etc.) and the coaching check was on our side? Harbaugh's whole persona is getting the most out of what he has, getting guys to buy in, players being disciplined and not shooting themselves in the foot. These are the opposite of the things the Chargers are known for.
That is why Jim Harbaugh matters to the Bolt Fam. The social media team kept everyone's Tweets because they know people still care. They knew what the fans wanted with this hire. Daniel Popper wrote right after the KC game that the players craved discipline and leadership. Now they have it, though not all those players will be there next year. That's all for now. There will be a lot to talk about over the next few months and a lot to be hopeful about.
Until then...
JIC,
RLW
As a wise Subway spokesperson says, it's a big deal.
Swingers quote needs an “ to cap it off