Sports fans are funny. We attach ourselves to organizations, teams, and players. If "we" don't win, we are devastaed. If "we" do, we are elated. We make up excuses as to why "we" lost, sometimes hanging on to those excuses for years. We always want "our" team to win.
Junior Seau was a great football player. Growing up as a Charger fan, he embodied the lightning bolt. He seemed to have twice as much energy as everyone else on the field. He was fun to watch. When news of his death hit, my mom sent me a text message that read, "Brings back so many memories of when you were young worshipping the Chargers."
I really did, man. I would set up a shrine every game in our living room. Clothing, cards, memorabilia, even my trashcan. I don't know if I thought it brought them good luck, but I did it every week.
That year the Chargers made it to the Superbowl, where the 49ers destroyed them 49-26. It's funny, because I will always remember the score. I guess it was burned into my brain right alongside anger, sadness, frustration and wonderings of why. Why did they have to lose? Why did they have to lose so badly? Why did the Niners have to be so stinking good with their Steve Young and their Jerry Rice? Why were we so overmatched?
My mom's text message made me realize that your team doesn't always have to win. She didn't say that Junior brought back memories of them losing the Superbowl. He brought back memories of me. That made me step back and realize that even though that team lost big time, there were some awesome times that year. Natrone Means bowling people over. Tony Martin sprinting down the sideline after catching a bomb from Stan Humphries. Andre Coleman returning kicks for touchdowns. Junior Seau perfectly timing the snap count and sacking the quarteback before he even knew what happened. Kurt Gouveia slapping the ball away in Pittsburgh to send "us" to the Superbowl. Driving to The Murph to welcome the team home from Pittsburgh with blue towels hanging out the car windows to mock those terrible Terrible Towels. The hope that "we" might win the biggerst game in football.
We lost. It really seemed to matter then. It doesn't anymore. Long after we are gone, people will forget what we have done. No matter our profession, no one will really remember. They will remember the kind of people we were and the impact we had on others. My mom didn't remember the Superbowl blowout. She remembered her son's ridculous shrine to "his" team. She remembered the effect that team had on others.
Your team doesn't always have to win.
1 comment:
I can still see your jacket laid out on the family room floor with your trash can set off to the side. All sorts of other Chargers memorabilia would surround it. You did it every.single.game! I loved watching you love your team. I remember one year that I put in a Christmas letter, something to the effect..."We are pretty sure he bleeds blue and gold." Win or lose, Junior was amazing! Would love to go back and watch one more game with Junior playing and 'little' Jon setting up his shrine.
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