Flutie Was Shortsighted When Joining Chargers
I tried asking Doug Flutie a question at the Chargers’ training camp Monday, and it went right over his head.
“I’m not going to answer that,” he said, and you’d think if anybody could stoop to my level it would be the Mission Bay Shrimp--especially after I told him I’d covered his brother, Darren, when he played for the Chargers 13 years ago, and all I wanted to know was whether Darren had warned him about signing with such a crummy franchise.
“I don’t like your attitude,” he said, and I believe every quarterback who has played for the Chargers since 1986 has now said that.
The Chargers spent the off-season putting together the worst offensive line in football, and by all accounts were very successful, which necessitated getting a quarterback with the ability to run for his life.
“I’m going to play at least three more years,” said Flutie, who will be 39 in October. “I’d love to play into my 40s.”
I’d like to say I’m bigger than this, but I couldn’t help myself: “Then you should have found a team,” I told him, “with an offensive line that could protect you if you want to play into your 40s.”
As you might have guessed--it was a short interview.
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I TURNED to Junior Seau, and thought about telling him UCLA would probably win as many games as the Chargers and Trojans combined--for the second-straight year--but I’ve never heard of any of these other guys playing for the Chargers, so I couldn’t afford another short interview.
“Fight on,” I think I said, and Seau invited me to sit down and join him for lunch. Beats having to eat Flutie Flakes with the Mission Bay Shrimp.
Twelve years ago, when Seau joined the Chargers, I was covering the team daily for The Times. I was here in training camp, and Seau was off in Cancun, infuriating the Chargers’ brass and enraging the fans, who were expecting great things from the fifth player selected in the draft.
In fact, it was a Ryan Leaf-like beginning for Seau, missing the entire training camp, signing a $4.525-million contract in a pout, unhappy with the way the Chargers had dealt with him, then getting ejected on the second play in his first preseason game and booed by the hometown fans the first time he was introduced.
“All of a sudden I’m on the field, 20 years old and I’m playing against men who do this for a living. I’ve missed the entire training camp and I don’t know Cover 1 from Cover 8 and I’m running around with my head cut off.”
Right then, of course, I knew he was perfect for the Chargers.
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THERE IS something satisfying, almost rewarding in being there for the debut of a young athlete, monitoring his progress and then returning one day to find the pro’s pro.
Sentenced to play for the Chargers, Seau has risen above the tradition of mediocrity, the 18-46 record over the last four seasons and 75-101 mark during his career to join the Padres’ Tony Gwynn as the most popular athletes in San Diego. While it all has the feel of a very nice joy ride, in truth it has been challenge after challenge for Seau--beginning at USC.
“I was a Prop 48 player and didn’t play football my first year with everyone thinking I was just a dumb jock,” he recalled. “I was injured my second year, third-string the next season and people were talking like I was a bust. Then two guys get hurt, and I’m suddenly starting.”
He finished the season with 19 sacks, became Pac-10 player of the year, and joined the Chargers--just down the road from his hometown of Oceanside.
First impressions are tough to overcome, and Seau was hearing the boos and talk that he was lost on defense.
Negative talk overwhelmed Leaf, who never recovered, the cycle of disaster continuing with misstep after misstep.
Seau, however, practices harder than any other player I have ever seen in a football uniform, and while his team struggled to turn things around after a poor start, his remarkable athletic ability began to stand out.
But as soon as the boos turned to cheers, there were more challenges to overcome. His brother went to prison after shooting and missing a rival gang member, about the same time his daughter, Sydney, was born two months premature, requiring a life-or-death hospital vigil.
“Here I have this foundation to help kids and different charities and I hear people saying, ‘How can you talk about our kids when you couldn’t even keep your brother from shooting at people?” ’
A short time later, his business partner in Seau’s Restaurant went to jail for mishandling the money of several athletes--Seau not only being left to run a business without any expertise, but losing a small fortune as well.
His brother is now out of jail, his daughter--one of three children--is doing fine, and his restaurant continues to draw big crowds.
“It’s a simple philosophy,” he said. “It’s like food and service in a restaurant, or the work ethic in football--if you’re consistent, that’s enough for people. I look at the lopsided win-loss record here, and I’ve still come out on top because I never allowed that situation to determine the player I was going to be. It’s all about effort--consistently giving everything you can.”
Before sitting down with him Monday, I had forgotten just how hard it has been for Seau to be as good as he is.
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WE WERE standing on a bridge high over the road here on the UC San Diego campus and some kid went whizzing down the street on one of those motorized scooters, and I was telling the guy next to me, “One rock on the road or bad turn and that pipsqueak’s a goner.”
The guy next to me said, “That’s Flutie.”
Offensive line, motorized scooter--now I understand why the Chargers signed Drew Brees on Monday night. I was hoping to ask the kid why he would want to sign with such a crummy franchise, but the team said he wouldn’t be arriving in camp until after I left--whenever that was. Imagine that.
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TODAY’S LAST word comes in an e-mail from Steven:
“I hope you find some illumination toward the cowardly writing you have produced for little value to society.”
I guess I’m not the only one waiting for the light bulb to come on.
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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com