Welcome Aboard!

At this point you must be ready to jump on the bandwagon. It's a little bit different than the one that you've been riding on for the past several years, but I think once you really give in to the charm and the ambience, you'll find the ride very smooth. My bandwagon is called The Reality Freight Train, and let me tell you how it works.

First you must admit to yourself that this Chargers team is tragically flawed. It lacks depth and the talent in trench positions to compete at a high level. Really, even on a low level apparently. It has no offensive identity and the defense lacks balls. The coach is a marshmallow, the defensive coordinator is in over his head and the GM is a monster. Got it? Okay, you're halfway on the bus.

This next part is the hardest part of all. You must admit to yourself that the organization doesn't care at all about you, the fan. It is not even in their best interest to provide you with a championship product. They may not have expected the team to fall this far, but they certainly did not do enough to expect the team to challenge for a Superbowl. And why is this, you ask? It's because if this team won it all, this town would never let it leave. The people of our bankrupt city would gladly throw away money we don't have on a state-of-the-art stadium for a Superbowl winner. But not for this team. This team will turn this town against them and the people will say good riddance upon their departure. The NFL might even have to help them build in L.A. They'll say that the Chargers were a team whose town had given up on them and that they had no choice. And they will punish our city by deeming us unfit to house another NFL team for all eternity.

To this all you are probably thinking that the right thing to do here would be to stand by your team. Force the owner to realize that you are not fickle and that you will love the Chargers warts and all. You'll want to tell them that they'll have to pry your fandom out of your cold dead hands. And while that is admirable, I beg of you brothers and sisters, don't do it. Don't give them the satisfaction. You see, this team will leave anyway. They'd prefer to make it look as though it was out of their hands. That they had no choice. But, believe me, they'll go the other way if they have to. They'll pack up the Mayflowers in the middle of the night if that's what it takes.And you fans,-you die hards-they know that you'll root for the L.A. Chargers. They know they'll still get your dollars, and that's all they care about. This is a business way before it is sports. Or entertainment.

So, you ask, How will jumping your 'Reality Freight Train' save my Chargers? Sadly, fan, it won't. It will only spare you the disappointment. The sadness. The frustration of it all. Find another team. Bury yourself in fantasy football. Spend more time with your family if you have to, but leave this team. They have already left you, I promise.

If you do decide to stick with it. If you do decide to ignore reason and continue on this thankless path of Chargers fandom, then I at least have one small nugget of good news for you. And here it is. This team-the one on the field-is focused on the here and the now. They are not looking ahead, they are playing the game at hand, and most people will tell you that that is the best way to approach the game of football. And how do I know that this is not the sort of team that looks ahead? Because if they had looked at the next several weeks of their schedule before yesterday, they would have known they absolutely had to beat the Rams and maybe they would have played like it.