The Los Angeles Chargers: A Guaranteed Heartbreak

    One of my earliest childhood memories is falling in love with the San Diego Chargers. The lightning bolts on the helmets and uniforms were so intriguing as a kid because what 8-year-old boy doesn't think animated lightning bolts and fires weren't cool? I am now 21 years old, and I can assure you that once December kicks around, the Chargers will break my heart again. 

    The most toxic relationship I've ever had is with the Chargers. How can you return to something that has hurt you every year for nearly a decade and a half? Once April and May kick around, I always fall into the trap of "this year will be different," but it never is and probably never will be. 

     I want to think of myself as a winner and someone who does not want to lose. If you follow football, or even if you don't, let me tell you something: the new Los Angeles Chargers are everything except winning. The team does not have the "winning" gene in them, and every time you think things are turning around for them, they will ultimately "Charger" themselves out of a win. 

    What does it mean to "Charge" a game? It's pretty simple in sports terms: you choked the game away or did everything not to win. It's just what the Chargers do; whether it's missed field goals, coaching blunders, or untimely mistakes, the Bolts always find a way to lose. They are just that one team that can't get out of their way.

    What keeps me around if all the team does is lose? The iconic players always trap me in this Chargers love every year. What Taylor Swift is to all the Swifties, Justin Herbert is to all his Herbies! I don't know if that is a term Chargers fans use, but I will use it. Before Herbert was Phillip Rivers and Antonio Gates. You know that one person that you feel so bad for because they are just stuck in a situation they can't get out of? Well, that's Justin Herbert and Keenan Allen, and before that was Phillip Rivers and Antonio Gates. 

I rooted for these players because they give their all to the Chargers. If coaching and organizational competency were ever a thing in the Chargers dictionary, then in an alternate world, the Chargers are winners. 

    Working in sports media over the last two years has allowed me to cover competent organizations in Los Angeles, like the Lakers, the Rams, and the Dodgers; I yearn for the day the Chargers become an elite organization like their city counterparts. 

    I wonder if they will ever become that in my lifetime, and the Chargers will likely waste their young, great quarterback talent in Justin Herbert as they did with all great Chargers teams before. The Los Angeles Chargers can never guarantee a win, but they can always ensure an inevitable heartbreak.