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If I'm giving reviews on everything else, I might as well review the fanbase this season, right? Right.
I honestly can't remember a year where I've had more fun being a fan of the San Diego Chargers. There were so many good/silly things for us to talk about!
- Mike McCoy always making the wrong decision and somehow having it work out in his favor
- Bolo ties!
- Ryan Mathews turning from heel to fan favorite
- Eric Weddle's beard, which now has it's own twitter account and line of apparel
- LaMOARius
- Thomas Keiser as Steve Lattimer
- Baby Giraffe, a nightmare for opposing defenses
- The (probable) rookie of the year found in Tom Telesco's first draft!
- D.J. Fluker is the Undertaker and Jeromey Clary is Kane, Sio Moore is D'Lo Brown
The fans seriously had fun this year. The bolo tie thing was nuts. The crowd waiting for the team when they returned from Cincinnati and Denver was even crazier.
I kept waiting for a time where fans were allowed to run the stadium steps with Mike McCoy before a game, because this was the first year since I started following the team (16 years ago) that the fans seemed to a part of the franchise instead of just an afterthought. Part of the credit for that should go to the Spanos family, Tom Telesco, and Mike McCoy, but I'm also going to reserve a large bit of credit to the fanbase itself.
For years, Chargers fans have spent their time being bitter ("Fire Norv", "Cut Kaeding", "Get rid of MartyBall", "These players are more concerned with partying than doing their jobs", etc.) instead of having fun. This year, even when Thomas Keiser was arrested prior to the Bengals playoff game, and even when Mike McCoy went ultra-conservative, and even when the team was losing games they should have won, the fans had fun.
Good job, Chargers fans. This is how we build our identity. This is how we fill the stadium (there was only 1 blackout this season, right?). This is how we prove to the team, and its owners, that they should stay in San Diego instead of trying to build a new fanbase elsewhere.