The team with the best record in professional football will not be going to the Superbowl this year. The San Diego Chargers were upset by the New England Patriots last night, 24-to-21. Charger fans are also upset. San Diegans don't get winning pro sports teams very often. But KPBS Radio's Andrew Phelps tells us the community might not take it too hard.
It's The Big Sunday at McP's Irish Pub in Coronado. For all the Charger fans here, half past one in the afternoon is a good time to start to drinking. It's kickoff time and Greg McPartlin is cautiously optimistic. He opened this pub 25 years ago, and he sees Charger fans come and go with the seasons. Fair-weather friends, he calls them. It's hard to find the die-hards in San Diego.
Greg McPartlin: I don't live or die by my sports team. We got diversification out here. You know, "OK, so my team lost. So I'll go surfing this afternoon. Oh, my team lost, so I guess I'll go play a round of golf." Instead of, you know, you live in Chicago, "Oh, my team lost. I think I'll go down to the basement and hang myself. It's too snowy to go outside."
It's true, you don't see sofas on fire in the streets of San Diego. The Chargers made it to the Superbowl exactly once, in 1995, and lost. The Patriots have won three Superbowls in six years.
Sherrie Staveley:
It's easy to be a Patriots fan…
This is Sherrie Staveley, a lifelong Patriots lover who lives in Los Angeles.
Sherrie Staveley: …especially if you're from New England. I mean you're born and raised in a really small area with a tight community. You just root for your team. It's just a smaller mentality, there's more community in New England than there is in California.
Staveley's friend Brian Ogden is also a Patriots fan.
Brian Ogden: I think in all my years in New England, I don't remember ever meeting a Chargers fan. In all my years of living anywhere else, I don't ever remember really meeting a Chargers fan. But I mean, now that they're the only Southern California team, I mean, there's a ton of Charger fans where we are now in LA.
Pub owner Greg McPartlin says San Diego is a more of a destination town than a point of origin.
Greg McPartlin: Nobody's from San Diego. Everybody's from somewhere else.
A lot of out-of-towners are here at the pub. New England fans are a vocal minority. Most people are sporting the Chargers blue and gold. Ladies are wearing pink jerseys with the Number 21 - for superstar running back LaDainian Tomlinson. With the best record in pro football and league's Most Valuable Player, a Superbowl victory felt so close this year. Incidentally, the team's owners are pushing for a new stadium - but it's not certain they'll stay in San Diego. Fair-weather support from taxpayers may not be enough to keep the team in town. Craig Humphrey calls himself a true Charger fan, but he uses a definition unique to this city.
Craig Humphrey: Well, I'll tell you when they were 1 and 15, I'm not going to call myself a fan, but when they have pretty good years you know the Ryan Leaf years - no, you know, that was just a stupid mistake even getting him on the team. But when you got a team like this anybody who's even a little bit of a fan becomes "die-hard."
Humphrey grew anxious as both sides made a lot of mistakes. New England Quarterback Tom Brady gave away three interceptions. The Chargers suffered four turnovers. The score was tied in the final moments of the game. A minute 10 seconds to go, the Patriots run 72 yards to set up a game-winning field goal. Three seconds to go, the Chargers fight back with a field-goal attempt that would bring the game to overtime.
The ball sails through the air. Can the Chargers win this? For once, can San Diegans have bragging rights about their football team? Will the Chargers stay in San Diego?
The kick is bad. The Chargers lose. Most people refuse to speak; there is nothing left to say. Within minutes, the pub is near empty. Esther Westbrook slips out of her Chargers jersey, but she insists:
Esther Westbrook: I am not a fair-weather fan. I live and breathe San Diego, whether they're good, they're bad, they're ugly - it doesn't matter. It's a game. It is a football game. Yeah, I wish they would have won, but they didn't.
Oh, well. Maybe next year. For KPBS, I'm Andrew Phelps.
