Christmas time is here again.  The air is cool and crisp.  Children eagerly await the arrival of Santa Claus.  And for NFL fans, the end of the season is near.  For some teams, the playoffs await…the reward for a year of hard work and dedication.  For others…it’s just the end of the season.   And for the Chargers, Santa came early and left them a lump of coal in their stockings.  Apparently he checked his list twice and discovered the Chargers were neither naughty or nice…they were just plain bad.   How bad, you ask?  They were thrashed by the visiting Carolina Panthers, 31 – 7.  And to rub salt in the wounds, the Panthers ran ex-Charger Mike Tolbert right at his former team and he responded by scoring two touchdowns.

So with the loss, the Chargers fall to 5 – 9 on the season.  Any hopes of the playoffs were long gone and it seemed like the team has given up on coach Norv Turner and his staff.  And as if to emphasize this point, the Chargers gained a paltry 164 total net yards on the day.  To quote Charles Barkley, “Bad team, man.  Bad *expletive* team, man.”  There is no other way to say it.

Well, the highlight of the day was the return of the Charger Girls in their Blue Velvet Christmas uniforms!

So you want to know what my favorite stocking stuffer is?  Legs!  BAM! Okay it’s a stupid quip, but…hey…I like dumb quips.  Actually I wanted try this material out on the Chargers Girls in the Bud Light Power Party last Sunday, but I forgot…so I get to torture you readers instead.   It’s the price for looking at these photos.

But on a serious note, I really do like these Blue Velvet uniforms that the Charger Girls wear every year.  They’re sexy and flattering to the feminine form, but they are a tad short in the back…but I’m not complaining mind you because the Charger Girls were the highlight of the day.  Really.

But the bad thing about the Chargers only scoring once (and late in the fourth quarter at that) is that the Charger Girls really didn’t dance all that much.  And that was a disappointment.  I mean they have a couple of sideline routines for time outs, but some of my best shots come when the girls are performing after a score…and, unfortunately, the Chargers only scored that one time.

I think the Panthers fumbled on purpose and let them score just to keep the Chargers engaged in the game.  Because as god only knows, many of us in the stands were already disengaged.  By the time the Chargers finally scored, the stadium must have be a quarter full…by the time the game ended and I got to my car, I drove straight out of the stadium, the parking lot being bereft of cars.  That’s how bad it was.

Oh well…let’s get on to the good stuff…THE CHARGER GIRLS! So we begin with the Captains: Kara, Lauren O., Natalie, and Marissa.

This week’s Charger Girl of the Day has always been a fan favorite since her first day in the uniform.  She’s a fiery red head who happens to be a three year veteran Charger Girl…introducing Anjelica.

(more…)

Sunday, bloody Sunday.  Yep…the Chargers lost again.  This time to the Cincinnati Bengals.

It was a dull game, a sleepy game, if I am quite honest.  Even though the score in the first half swung back and forth, the game lack a bit of excitement in the second half as both teams found it difficult to move the ball with any consistency.  The whole third quarter was an exercise in mistakes and incomplete passes.  But when the fourth quarter arrived, Bengal quarterback Andy Dalton engineered a 14 play touchdown drive that consumed 7:42 minutes.  With the score, the Bengals led 17 – 13.  The ensuing Charger possession ended inauspiciously with a Philip Rivers fumble that was recovered by the Bengals, who would score a field goal four plays later.  Down seven points and with less than three minutes left in the game, Rivers drove the Chargers down the field to the Bengal 17 yard line.  And wouldn’t you know it, on fourth down Rivers threw an interception that ended the game.

Final Score: Bengals – 20  Chargers – 13.

What more can you say.  The Bengals are a good team.  The Chargers…not so much.

Since the beginning of last season, no player has turned the ball over more than Philip Rivers.  That’s it in a nutshell.   With the loss, the Chargers fall to 4 – 8 and fans are desperately looking for something to cling on to, but all hope is lost for this season.  Only the prospects of a new coaching staff and a new general manager can breathe new life into this organization. Change that you can believe in.  Yeah right…that didn’t work out so well…but I digress.

Well…there is one thing I believe in…THE HOTTEST DANCE TEAM IN THE NFL, YOUR CHARGER GIRLS!

Okay…let’s focus on something positive.  Let’s begin this week’s coverage of the AB FAB Charger Girls with the Captains:  Marissa, Natalie, Lauren O., and Kara.

(more…)

The struggling Chargers hoped to end a two game losing streak, but their efforts were hampered by the arrival of the Baltimore Ravens.  Over the past six weeks, the Chargers had lost five games.  Their only victory was against the lowly Chiefs, who were breaking in a new QB, if memory serves correct.  So Sunday’s game was a chance at redemption.  And for three and a half quarters, the Chargers stifled the Ravens offense and held a small lead.  But as was the case for most of the season, they found a way to lose.

The Ravens scored 10 points over the last seven minutes to tie the game and then the Chargers gave up the winning field goal with less than two minutes to play in overtime.  Particularly indicative of the Chargers’ ineptitude was the fourth and 29 yards to go play, where a short pass to Raven’s RB Ray Rice turned into a momentum changing first down.  It was an exercise in bad tackling.  Forget the fact that the referees missed an obvious block in the back on Chargers safety Eric Weddle, which sent him to the sidelines for the remainder of the day.  That play was a back breaker.  With new life, the Ravens proceeded to march down the field to score a game tying field goal with three seconds left on the clock in regulation.  The rest was history.

Edgar Allen Poes – 16  Chargers – 13

With the loss, the Chargers continued a free fall into oblivion.  A new coach and a new general manager are on the horizon and Charger fans are already looking forward to new leadership…Andy Reid, Bill Cowher, or perhaps Oregon coach Chip Kelly.  Anything.  Anyone.  Someone.  HELP!

Well, if the Chargers are in a free fall, the Charger Girls are riding high.

These late November games are a challenge to shoot, at least from where I sit.  Qualcomm stadium is an old baseball ballpark with high lighting stanchions that produce harsh shadows when the sun begins to set.  So with high contrast lighting conditions you get some difficult shooting.  At least the field security staff left me alone, but then again I was using different equipment, but as an able photographer with 30+ years of experience, I was able to adapt.

So here we go.  Kicking off this week’s coverage are the Line Captains, four talented and beautiful Charger Girls: Lauren O., Kara, Natalie and Marissa.

Notice the symmetry…not a coincidence.

I don’t what’s going on, but I got this mojo going on with this week’s Charger Girl of the Day.  It seems like every week I get some exceptional shots of this girl and to get a good shot of a cheerleader, you have to have some sort of connection…between photographer and subject.  And for whatever reason, I always get great results from her…I am not complaining, mind you.  It’s a beautiful thing.  So…for the second time this season, our Charger Girl of the Day is…Angela.

But enough of my musing on a muse.

(more…)