Sympathy for the longsuffering fan.

Yesterday, I saw my beloved Chargers once again fall short of winning it all. It’s nothing new as they have never ended the post-season winning. My friend Marilyn, at whose house we watched the game, is a longtime Steelers fan. She turned to me afterward and said, “I know how you feel.” I had to correct her and say, “No, you don’t, because your team has won the Super Bowl.” Unless you are a Titans, Panthers, Falcons, or Seahawks fan you don’t know how I feel. Each of these teams have made one appearance in the Super Bowl and lost. On the other hand, I have no idea how fans of the Bills, Vikings, Bengals, or Eagles feel as they have been multiple times without winning it all. Then there are the fans of the Browns, Jaguars, Texans, Lions, Saints, and Cardinals that have never even been to the Super Bowl. Besides being a Steelers fan, she also roots for the 49ers which hardly seems fair since they have 10 Super Bowls wins between them. Every team in the AFC West has won a Super Bowl and a couple have won it twice while my Chargers have yet to win the big one. I appreciate the sympathy, but to be a fan of the Chargers is to know what it means to never win it all. I remember in the 90s hoping I would live long enough to see them make it there. They did and were smashed by the 49ers. Now I hope that before I draw my last, I will see the Lombardi trophy hoisted by my team since the days of Dan Fouts and Air Coryell, the San Diego Chargers.