Monday Morning Cheerleader: Casie of the San Diego Charger Girls
By Steve Mazzucchi
Esquire
A third-year Charger Girl (and occasional superhero vixen) savors a dicey win over the Raiders, regrets when athletes tweet, and explains how San Diego can catch Denver in the standings
Against a team that had lost five of its first seven games by an average of twenty-four points under the guidance of a coach who allegedly hits men and women, the Chargers faced the possibility of overtime in the final minutes. But thanks to two LaDainian Tomlinson scores, a stalwart D, and — it must be said — the fact they were playing the Raiders, the Bolts pulled out a 24-16 win to run their record to 4-3.
While the action on the field wasn’t pretty, the sidelines stayed classy thanks to Charger Girls like San Diego native Casie. The University of San Diego business-marketing grad opened up about her thing for action sports (“I’m a total tomboy”), volunteering with special-needs kids (“My heart goes out to them”), and why we shouldn’t be surprised to see Philip Rivers, Tomlinson, and Co. streaking toward a fourth straight postseason.
ESQUIRE: The Raiders aren’t what you’d call “good,” but they hung around until the end. Were you sweating this one?
CASIE: Honestly, I really wasn’t. I was definitely frustrated at the end when we were in the red zone and had to kick a field goal. I was like, “Oh, shoot — they’re still in the game.” But this is our thirteenth straight win against Oakland. The last game we played against them — yuck. But I had faith in the team today… combined with a lack of faith in the Raiders. I would have been really mad if we lost.
ESQ: Starting with a beautiful fifty-three-yard pass play, the Chargers looked like they might air it out, yet they went on to rush more than they threw, for a whopping three yards per carry. What was Norv Turner going for there?
C: Sometimes the running slowed things down, but our first game against the Raiders was scary — we barely won — so there was probably a bit of pride there, proving we are a tough team. And especially with LT, we need to get him back up to full speed. Maybe they were trying things we need to get in place for rest of the season.
ESQ: What were the keys to victory?
C: The defense really stepped up. Shawne Merriman got his first two sacks since 2007, and we sacked JaMarcus Russell five times. Antonio Cromartie had an interception, and the secondary as a whole was great. Offensively, Rivers had good protection and connected with Vincent Jackson, Antonio Gates, Malcolm Floyd, and Chris Chambers for about 250 yards. And LT had two TDs. I was really happy for him.
ESQ: Speaking of Cromartie, he was fined $2,500 for tweeting about the food at training camp. Now we’re seeing a much uglier situation with the Chiefs’ Larry Johnson gay-baiting his coach. What are your thoughts on athletes and tweets?
C: I don’t have Twitter, but I learned a lot about it when I did marketing for a software development company. I understand that in the moment, athletes are upset and want to vent, but there’s a better way to do it that won’t come back to bite you in the butt. If you have a problem, approach someone on a personal basis. Also, Twitter’s kind of creepy. I don’t get it.
ESQ: TDs for LT, sacks for Merriman. Are these struggling stars back, or did they just benefit from the awfulness that is the Oakland Raiders?
C: Good question. I think it’s a stepping-stone that will give them some confidence. Obviously they weren’t playing one of the greatest teams in the NFL. It’s nothing to be cocky about, but they can be proud that they played well, and next week do even better.
ESQ: Was there any booing today?
C: The Chargers fans booed the Raiders — “Raiders suck! Raiders suck!” — but this was definitely the least crazy game we’ve had with the Raider Nation. Raider fans are known to be very passionate. I don’t know if it was that we were pretty dominant throughout the game, but I swear the Raider fans were actually nice. I think they really loved our Halloween costumes.
ESQ: What did you dress up as?
C: I was Catwoman. I model full-time and, randomly, do a bunch of work with costume companies. It was funny because one of the girls was Silk Spectre from The Watchmen, and it was me on her costume bag. A lot of times they won’t let you keep the costumes from the shoots, but I do have my fair share. My favorite is this black Spidergirl one. It’s really fun.
ESQ: In what area does the team most need to improve?
C: We need to get our consistency down. We can be phenomenal at times, and other times, it’s like, “What the heck? What just happened?” We need to be able to come out from week to week and just prove that we’re awesome.
ESQ: What’s it going to take for the 4-3 Chargers to overtake the 6-1 Broncos and break their Rocky Mountain hearts at the end of the season like last year?
C: Denver has looked really good, but they got killed today. Baltimore beat us as well, but not as badly. We need to stay strong and consistent. We’re at the Giants next week, then we have the Eagles, and then we play Denver in Denver. That game will be huge. We just gotta fight and hope Denver loses their games. You never know, teams can fall apart. We did it last year and got into the playoffs at 8-8. We can do it again.
