The San Diego Chargers are the only football team to have been on RIMAC field in recent years, but they will soon be gone, leaving UCSD with no football in sight. The team, which holds its annual training camp at RIMAC, will be closing camp at UCSD for the final time Aug. 21 because they plan to hold next year’s pre-season practices in Carson, Calif.
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After reaching the Super Bowl in 1995, the Chargers have experienced everything but success. In their last five seasons, the team has had a dismal record of 23-57.
However, the Chargers did give San Diego some hope early last season. The team began the season winning five of its first seven games, but San Diego closed the year with a nine-game losing streak.
After last year’s 5-11 record, head coach Mike Riley lost his job and the franchise hired Marty Schottenheimer, “”Mr. Discipline,”” to take the helm this year. The Chargers hope that his solid resume and hard work ethic will bring success.
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“”There is more of a sense of urgency in everything we do,”” 39-year-old quarterback Doug Flutie said at training camp. “”Guys are a little more intense about meetings, taking notes, stretching. There is more attention to detail.””
Flutie — whose days in the National Football League might be numbered due to his age — and the young Drew Brees are competing for the starting quarterback position. Flutie showed San Diego that he may still have some magic left, since he usually finds a way to give the Chargers a chance in the fourth quarter, while Brees’ arm has always been impressive.
Throughout training camp, the two have attempted to outdo each other. During a two-minute drill workout, Flutie ran out of the pocket and dove into the middle of the field, risking injury. Then Brees got the football and delivered a crisp pass to a receiver over the middle.
Flutie remembers another similar situation.
“”One day in practice protection broke down, I drifted to the right with a guy chasing me and threw a side-arm, falling-down shot on the money down the sidelines for 20 yards,”” Flutie said to interviewers. “”I was pretty happy with it. The next day, Drew did the same damn thing.””
Schottenheimer will decide who will start the season as quarterback Aug. 22 after the Chargers’ exhibition game against the St. Louis Rams.
With two more weeks of training camp left, the Chargers will continue to learn about their new coach, who has already proven himself. He already has the players’ trust and, in their final days at UCSD, their discipline will grow to hopefully bring fans a winning season.
