Quarterback Philip Rivers reflects on last day of practice in San Diego for the Chargers, set to head north to L.A. for next chapter
Philip Rivers walked out onto the second-story deck that extends from management’s offices at Chargers Park in San Diego and looked out at the field where he’d spend the next 13-plus years.
He’d just been drafted by the New York Giants and traded to the Chargers, and was awestruck at what was in front of him. A pair of green football fields sat at the base of a hill, the San Diego sky overhead. It reminded him of being a young child, going to Atlanta Braves games early enough to see the diamond get lined.
“I remember standing up there after first getting drafted and thinking, ‘Gosh, this is awesome,’ ” the quarterback said. “There’s something about a freshly painted practice field that’s empty that you know is kind of your new home.”
Thursday, he and the rest of the Chargers walked off that same practice field for the last time, as the team’s formal offseason program wrapped up. Rivers, it seemed, didn’t want to leave.
When the day ended with a whistle, coach Anthony Lynn addressed the team with owner Dean Spanos standing silently on the perimeter. Lynn reminded his players to stay in shape and out of trouble until training camp in July.
Position by position, the team walked off the field in groups.
The offensive linemen caught up with Nick Hardwick, the Chargers’ longtime center who’s an analyst for the team’s radio broadcasts and also co-hosts a talk show in town. The linebackers posed for a group photo after recording something for a Mexican television station.
Lynn spoke at the podium, praising his team’s focus during the offseason program that began back on April 3 with rigorous conditioning drills.
“I thought that was a productive offseason,” Lynn said after. “I thought the guys did a very good job, doing some team-building, learning the system, competing well on the field against each other, taking care of one another. It was a highly productive offseason.”
While he spoke and players started boxing up their lockers, Rivers kept tossing passes.
He and the rest of the quarterbacks had floated to the far corner of the field for a final throwing competition. Backup quarterback Kellen Clemens joked that the group would have to let Rivers win because it was his final day at Chargers Park.
Of course, they didn’t — and, of course, Rivers won. Then, under a cloudless sky, he started to walk. His steps slowed, making certain that on his last day at Chargers Park he’d literally be the last player on the field.
“Sad, to me, is probably too strong a word,” he told the local media, who pressed him for emotion and even requested tears.
Rivers reiterated the complex emotions he’s felt since January — the grieving that comes with leaving a place he loved to the anxiety and excitement about something new, and to the gratitude toward San Diego for welcoming him. Most of this, he said, he began processing when the team announced its move to Los Angeles in January.
Since then, he tried to not dwell on the finality of it all, he said, with the work on the football field overtaking his emotions. But after pulling into the parking lot just after 6 a.m. Thursday, Rivers started thinking again.
It was the last time he’d be up that early at that gate. It’d be the last time he’d get dressed at that locker in that room. It’d be the last time he’d grab that helmet and walk through those doors.
“I had sweaty hands,” he said. “I was nervous before practice. I was like, ‘What is wrong with me?’ I’m going into the last minicamp practice in year 14 and here I am nervous going out there. It’s a little bit ridiculous. But, it was because of that.”
But endings never have been Rivers’ focus.
He’s often worn a shirt with the Latin phrase “nunc coepi,” which translates to, “Now I begin.” It’s become a motto within the organization and a creed in Rivers’ life.
“You just begin again,” he said. “… It’s only right for me to be fired up.”
Eighty or so miles north, recently imported palm trees lined the perimeter of the Los Angeles Chargers’ future home on Susan Street in Costa Mesa.
It’s still under construction, the fence mostly finished and the landscaping still being planted. But in between the workers and the tree trunks and fence posts, green grass sparkled as it was being watered.
Eventually, the lines and hash marks will be freshly painted, the lightning bolts will be added, and Rivers will take his first look at his new home.
And, if he likes what he sees, his hands might just start sweating again.
Twitter: @DanWoikeSports
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
