Be like that
Life without Chargers football is a strange, hollow season. Sundays arrive with all the enthusiasm of a Tuesday staff meeting. The couch still remembers my shape, the TV still turns on automatically, but there’s no purpose. No fourth-quarter stress. No heart-rate spikes. Just the echoing realization that it’s the offseason and the calendar is moving way too slowly.
To cope, I’ve taken on the most demanding coaching job available: training two puppies named Mac and Rocky. Mac believes every drill is optional and that chewing shoelaces builds character. Rocky is pure effort, zero discipline—basically a rookie who goes 110% in the wrong direction. I run routes in the backyard, they run chaos patterns. I throw imaginary passes, they sack each other. Somewhere in there, I’m pretty sure I’m rebuilding a franchise.
During these long, football-less days, I find myself thinking about what real toughness actually looks like. That’s where my massive respect for Sam Monson comes in. One lone MVP vote for Herbert. Just one—but it wasn’t noise, it was signal. That vote spoke volumes. It said: this is what playing through pain looks like, this is what elevating a team looks like, this is what the award is supposed to mean. Not perfect conditions. Not narrative convenience. Just balling when everything hurts and the stakes are real. Our dude embodied that.
Music fills the gaps when film study turns into puppy training and the offseason blues get heavy. Brad Arnold’s voice has been in the background for years—road trips, late nights, those quiet moments when you’re thinking a little too much. Forty-seven is way too young. That kind of loss hits differently. There’s real appreciation for artists whose work sticks with you, who soundtrack parts of your life without ever knowing it.
So here I am: no Chargers football, two uncoachable puppies, deep respect for people who recognize greatness the right way, and a playlist doing emotional heavy lifting. It’s not ideal—but like every long offseason, you survive it, you wait it out, and you believe that eventually, Sundays will matter again.
It seems only fitting to make my question about 3 doors down. Do you have a song of theirs that takes you back to good ol’ 2000? My son a newbie to the special 10 rock out to kryptonite.
FTB, FTR, FTC, I hope both teams lose the superbowl this weekend, woohoo offseason boobies, k love you byeeeee
