Monday Night Football – The Chargers Buck the Broncos

The San Diego Chargers have a rivalry of sorts with the Denver Broncos. There’s a lot of history between the two clubs and the past few years, the Broncos were the Chargers main competition for an AFC West Division title. And to make matters worse, there was bad blood between the two team’s signal callers, until Jay Cutler whined his way out of Denver last year.

One week ago, the Broncos defeated the AFC West leading Kansas City Chiefs in convincing fashion, so on paper this week’s game looked like a good one…an important one if you have aspirations for the post season. It has been typical of the Chargers to start the season out slowly, losing to teams that they should have easily beaten.  So this game was a must win. And with a Monday Night Football audience, it was a chance to prove the Chargers belonged on the list of contenders for post season honors.

So on a cold California evening, the Broncos took the opening kickoff and drove the length of the field to score a touchdown and then they promptly gave up the next 35 points to the Chargers before scoring a meaningless touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Chargers bucked the Broncos, 35 – 14.

As I mentioned previously,  it was a cold night in San Diego.  It had rained the previous two days, so the stadium had a cold and damp feeling to it. By the time the game kicked off, the temperatures had dipped to 55 degrees.  Needless to say I was a little worried for our beloved Charger Girls because as a long time season ticket holder, I know that they have only one uniform…the venerable Charger Girl uniform…the skimpy Charger Girl uniform.  No dance pants. No jackets. No nothing. So, I want to give some praise to the Charger Girls from braving the cold and performing so enthusiastically for the fans.

But I must share a little secret with you.  While in the Bud Light Power Party, I asked Katie and Natalie what they were going to do to keep warm. Natalie quipped, “Jump up and down a lot”, which I am sure would please more than a few of the male fans in the attendance.  But Katie shared with me a little secret that the girls would be using to keep warm…chemical warmers.

Now, I’ll leave it up to your imagination where they put them…but the packaging indicates hand and foot warmers. I have to admit, I brought some of my own and used those myself to keep warm. It gets cold in your seats and I wasn’t able to jump up and down like Natalie. So, I can heartily recommend the Heat Factory chemical warmers.  But I digress.

Let’s begin this week’s coverage of the absolutely fabulous Charger Girls with the Line Captains: Tiffany, Katie, Giselle, and Ashlie.

This week’s Charger Girl of the Day is a former Clippers Spirit Dancer, introducing…Jessie.

Jessie comes from an athletic family. Her father played college football and her grandfather and uncle played in the NFL. And her mother was a former NBA and NFL cheerleader…hmmm, just like Jessie.

Okay, let’s continue with our coverage of the AB FAB CGs with Tiffany’s line: Kimberly, Michelle, Kylie, Emily, Hannah and Lauren P.

Next up, Katie’s line: Courtney, Natalie, Marissa, Starkesha, Culture, and Melissa.

Giselle’s Line is: Amy, Emma, Nicole, Stephanie, Lauren O. and Maria.

And we conclude this weeks coverage with Ashlie’s line: Jessie, Hayley, Anjelica, Brianna, Amanda and Jennifer.

It must have been former Charger Girl day at Qualcomm because I saw several of them. I ran into Ashley M. in the Bud Light Power Party and we chatted for a few minutes. I told her that I was disappointed that she was not on the squad this year. Ashley M. was a six year veteran and I was hoping she would go for the record, which is held by Kathy Perez who was a Charger Girl for nine years.

Ashley M. didn’t make the cut this year, but she said it was time for her to move on and she’s been focusing on her personal training business. She said she had no regrets about her time on the squad and that she met her boyfriend while being a Charger Girl. Her story reminded me that we should appreciate their time on the squad because their time in the uniform is a short one.

Well here’s a photograph of Ashley M. from 2008.

And I saw another one of my favorite Charger Girls from last year…Brittany W. She was on the sidelines serving as one of the Charger Girl coordinators and if I must say, looking quite attractive.  She was rather elegantly dressed.  If I am not mistaken, she’s wearing those expensive Christian Louboutin shoes…the ones with the red soles. Now I only bring this up because it was muddy along the sidelines due to all the rain and I couldn’t help but notice the contradiction.

Here’s a photo of Brittany W. with Lacy Harrison, a Charger Girl Pro Bowl representative in 2006.

And another one of the coordinators was Jacquelyn, who was on the squad last year. Now if you’ve been to my personal web site, you know that Jacquelyn is one of my top ten favorite Charger Girls to photograph.  Here’s one of my favorite photographs of Jacquelyn…never took a bad photo of her.

Once a Charger Girl, always a Charger Girl.  Well, I see my time is coming to an end, so I’ll just summarize my Monday night trip to San Diego…the weather was cold, but the Charger Girls were HOT!

*          *         *          *          *

For more Charger Girl articles and photos, please visit my web site: thehottestdanceteam.wordpress.com.