BOLTING THRU TIME
My favorite team is the San Diego Chargers. When I was in the 3rd grade, I was taken to Los Angeles to visit my mother’s side of the family. I’ve been in love with Southern California ever since. The shops, the cars, the food, the lifestyle. This was around the time I began to pay attention to football. We lived in a small town in New York called Warwick. My best friend’s dad took my best friend and I to my first ever football game. We sat in the skybox at the Meadowlands as the New York Jets hosted the Cincinnati Bengals. I remember falling in love with the game of football. It was so different from my favorite sport, basketball, but I found myself falling for it the same way I did watching the NBA. Since Los Angeles didn’t have a football team at the time, I decided my favorite team would be the San Diego Chargers as they were the closest team geographically to Los Angeles. I’ve been rooting for them ever since.
Fast forward two years to 2003. My sister moves to San Diego. Fast forward 4 more years and my sister has her first child. She is born in San Diego. My mother goes to visit to see her first grandchild and she brings me back a souvenier from America’s Finest City. It is a red crewneck sweater with San Diego written in baby-blue script. From that point on, it has become ritual for me to wear this sweater every time the Chargers suit up.
Fast forward 9 years to last month. It’s Sunday October 23rd and the Chargers are in Atlanta playing the Falcons. It is my first opportunity to see them play, and an opportunist I am, therefore I’m one of the few in Georgia Dome cheering for the away team. I’m with the biggest Falcons fan I know, A$. We’re a bit late to the game due to traffic. We pay $40 to park and we’re off to our section. I’ve been holding in my bladder for a few hours, so I decide to use the restroom before we go to our seats. The restroom is a bit packed due to its size, but the wait wasn’t bad. As I finish at the urinal and walk to wash my hands, my eyes are on the television above the sinks. As I’m watching, I see Rivers throw an interception. That’s the first play I saw.
We make our way to our seats and I get heckled a few times. It’s a part of the experience, it comes with the territory. I had accepted it. I see old men with radio headsets and binoculars. I see fans in the stands with Vikings, Jets, and Texans jerseys, which makes no sense at all, but hey, who am I to judge? I’m enjoying every aspect to be honest. Let me tell you, this is one of the greatest football games I have ever seen. By half-time we’re down 27-17. It’s not looking good as the Falcons are clicking on all cylinders. Mind you, I am wearing the San Diego sweater. The whole time I’m thinking, this is really a test of the sweater. It’s hot, it’s humid, and the crowd is going nuts. Still, I refuse to take it off.
2nd half begins and the Chargers begin to catch fire. By the last minute of the 4th quarter, San Diego has somehow managed to tie the game. They tie the game by forcing an interception with the score 30-27 Atlanta up. They get a field goal out of it. With about 20-something seconds left, Atlanta receives the ball and gets into field goal range. The clock had expired, but they put 1 second left for them to attempt a field goal. I’m standing up losing my fucking mind. The last play of regulation, is a 58 yard field goal attempt to win it by Atlanta. As the kick goes up, it looks to me like it goes through. My heart drops because I really wanted to see the Chargers win. When the kick went past the goal posts, I began to put my coat on, but the referees had signaled it as no good. They replayed it on the jumbo-tron, and it went wide left, barely.
As fate would have it, the game goes into overtime. Falcons win the toss and choose to receive the ball first. If you don’t know the rules of OT football, this is of importance because the first team to score a TD in OT wins. A few plays later they are faced with a 4th and 1. They go for it and they do not get it. The Chargers take over and would eventually win OT with a 42 yard field goal.
That was it. My first ever Chargers game 15 years after I became a fan. What an experience. The sweater had brought the team back. (At least that is what I believe!)
-RATHA DAVID
Highlights
Look how close the kick is to ending the game!
Highlights disabled by request, but click here to watch
The play at :25 seconds was the first play I saw as I was washing my hands in the restroom.