A week in the life of a San Diego Charger

Blake Trimble / Guest Writer / The USD Vista

The following is from the perspective of a student who traveled with the Chargers for their game against the Raiders on Sept. 28:

The past 48 hours has been a packed, rigorous and tiring schedule for the San Diego Chargers. They are traveling to Oakland to play their huge division rival, the Raiders. At noon on Saturday, about 24 hours before kickoff in Oakland, the team has a walk-through with all of the plays they are going to run. Just two hours later, all 130 people who traveled, the players, coaches, staff and Charger’s media, are at Chargers Park in Mission Valley getting ready to board four huge stagecoaches that take them to the airport at 2:45 p.m.

Once the team arrives at the airport, the buses drive straight out to the tarmac to a Delta 757 plane. Everyone then gets off the buses and boards the plane from both the front door and the rear service door. Each person on the plane has a nametag on the seat which they are supposed to sit in for the duration of the flight. The players are assigned seating towards the front of the plane, then the coaches are placed behind them, and then in the back are staff and media.

When the plane gets up to the cruising altitude for the short one-hour flight to Oakland, the flight attendants begin to offer food. At just about every five minutes, a flight attendant goes through the isle handing out huge portioned meals. It’s hard for the average person to get through one, however, some players eat as many as four.
At about 4 p.m., the plane lands in Oakland. The media, players, staff and coaches get their luggage and board four buses at the airport. The only thing that is different about this bus ride from the one earlier is that there is a police escort that clears the way for the buses from the Oakland airport to the Marriot Hotel, where the team will be staying for the night.

Two hours later, the team arrives at the hotel. The group of 130 once again get off the buses, grab their luggage and proceed to walk inside. Everyone has already been given a room assignment, so they head to the front desk, grab their keys and head to their rooms.

At this point coaches tell the players that they have four hours to rest and get dinner before meetings start at 8:30 p.m. and end at 9:45 p.m. The players have been assigned the entire sixth floor in order?for the coaches to make sure that the players are in their rooms by the curfew at 11 p.m. If players do not abide by the rule they will be fined or can possibly even be suspended a game for violating team regulations.

Finally, the day everybody had been waiting for has arrived: game day. Some players get up as early as 8 a.m. for the organization to conduct team mass before breakfast begins at 8:45 a.m. Most of the media and staff get up a little later. They get down to the first level of the hotel where breakfast is at around 9:15 a.m. Some of the stragglers included guys such as Quentin Jammer, the Chargers all pro cornerback and Luis Castillo, the all pro defensive end. These two players, like all of the others, go to breakfast with their Bose headsets on in order to get psyched up for the game. No matter what team the Chargers play, they always expect a close game.

At 10:30 a.m., the buses leave to go to McAfee Stadium where the battle is getting ready to take place. As soon as the players get there, they begin their respective preparation routines. They go through numerous stretches and warm-up drills until 12:55 p.m., just 20 minutes before kickoff.?

After kickoff ensued, the game did not start out well for the Chargers. They were facing a deficit of 15 points at the half. Yet, the potent offense of the Chargers couldn’t be stopped for long. In the second half, they outscored the Raiders 28-3. The Chargers ended up with a hard fought 28-18 win. This win improves their record to 2-2, and at the end of the game, the team is ecstatic because of the huge deficit that they had overcome.

Within one hour after the game the players take showers, board buses, and the group of 130 people are on their way to the airport. The four buses again drive straight up to the plane, which everyone boards for the short flight back to San Diego.

The players are tired from the game. However, most can’t even sleep because of the emotional high they experience from their win. The team arrives back to Chargers Park at 9 p.m. on Sunday with fans again waving Chargers flags as the buses enter the facility. Once the players are off the bus, head coach Norv Turner tells the team to get some rest and that they will be hitting the film room at 1 p.m. on Monday.