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I've always wanted a thread like this, where we could post past Chargers memories. If this isn't worth a thread, please merge into an existing one.
I've been a fan since 1979, and this is the game that made a Chargers fan. I grew up in Nor Cal, in the shadow of San Francisco, and the 49ers were my team as a youth. But the 49ers were really bad in latter half of the '70s, and the franchise seemed hopeless.
In 1978 on my 21st birthday I moved from Lake Tahoe to San Diego, my older sis had lived in San Diego for a couple of years and I had visited her a few times and was intrigued. Back then moving around was easier, you could just pack everything you owned in your car and drive to a new city and find a place to rent, no problem, affordable.
I had not planned on becoming a Chargers fan. But I got caught up in Air Coryell. The Steelers, QB'd by Terry Bradshaw, dominated the NFL in the mid to late 1970s. They were the defending Super Bowl Champs in 1979, having won three of the past five Super Bowls.
The Chargers were an up and coming team. Coryell had taken over the Chargers the previous season and his system elevated Dan Fouts to an elite QB. They barely missed the playoffs in the '78 season. When the '79 season started I still was not planning to be a Chargers fan. But this was the first time I had actually lived in the city where an NFL team played.
The Chargers picked up where they had left off in 1978. They were legit. They played a new brand of football. The NFL had never seen a passing team like this. They were taking the league by storm, changing the game. The San Diego Super Chargers song was playing everywhere.
Then the vaunted Steelers, a team I did not like, the defending Super Bowl champs, came to town late in the '79 season. The Chargers were 9-3 or something like that, and were the underdog to the Steelers at home. But the Chargers smoked the Steelers 35-7 in this game, and I was hooked.
There were 12 turnovers in this game, the Chargers got 8. Linebacker Woody Lowe had two INTs, one returned for a long TD, one of the most exciting defensive plays in Chargers history.
I've been a fan since 1979, and this is the game that made a Chargers fan. I grew up in Nor Cal, in the shadow of San Francisco, and the 49ers were my team as a youth. But the 49ers were really bad in latter half of the '70s, and the franchise seemed hopeless.
In 1978 on my 21st birthday I moved from Lake Tahoe to San Diego, my older sis had lived in San Diego for a couple of years and I had visited her a few times and was intrigued. Back then moving around was easier, you could just pack everything you owned in your car and drive to a new city and find a place to rent, no problem, affordable.
I had not planned on becoming a Chargers fan. But I got caught up in Air Coryell. The Steelers, QB'd by Terry Bradshaw, dominated the NFL in the mid to late 1970s. They were the defending Super Bowl Champs in 1979, having won three of the past five Super Bowls.
The Chargers were an up and coming team. Coryell had taken over the Chargers the previous season and his system elevated Dan Fouts to an elite QB. They barely missed the playoffs in the '78 season. When the '79 season started I still was not planning to be a Chargers fan. But this was the first time I had actually lived in the city where an NFL team played.
The Chargers picked up where they had left off in 1978. They were legit. They played a new brand of football. The NFL had never seen a passing team like this. They were taking the league by storm, changing the game. The San Diego Super Chargers song was playing everywhere.
Then the vaunted Steelers, a team I did not like, the defending Super Bowl champs, came to town late in the '79 season. The Chargers were 9-3 or something like that, and were the underdog to the Steelers at home. But the Chargers smoked the Steelers 35-7 in this game, and I was hooked.
There were 12 turnovers in this game, the Chargers got 8. Linebacker Woody Lowe had two INTs, one returned for a long TD, one of the most exciting defensive plays in Chargers history.