Comments (0)

By Jon Shellhammer, May 14, 2012 6:00 am

11-year-old Jon and his Chargers shrine

Junior Seau was a great football player. Growing up in San Diego as a Charger fan himself, Seau embodied the lightning bolt. He seemed to have twice as much energy as everyone else on the field. He was exhilarating to watch.

When news of his death hit last week, my mom sent me a text message that read, “Brings back so many memories of when you were young worshipping the Chargers.”

I really did worship them. Before every game, I would set up a shrine in our living room. Clothing, cards, memorabilia, even my trash can. I don’t know if it brought them good luck, but I did it every week.

In 1994, the Chargers made it to the Super Bowl. They were underdogs throughout the playoffs, especially in the AFC Championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That game came down to the final seconds. I was on the edge of my seat. Would my shrine fail me now? My heart was pounding. I just wanted the clock to tick faster. Come on, guys. You can’t let the stupid Steelers beat you.

The Charger defense prevailed, and we were Super Bowl-bound! My family and I were screaming and running around the house.

“We’re going to the Super Bowl!” There may have been dancing involved. I can remember my mom answering a phone call from her sister with, “Super Bowl headquarters, how may I help you?”

Super Bowl headquarters, indeed.

That night, we drove to Jack Murphy Stadium to welcome the team home from Pittsburgh. It was a Sunday night, a school night. My parents could have kept us home and made us go to bed. But this was so much bigger than school. Bigger than doing the responsible thing. This was the first time the Chargers were ever going to the Super Bowl. Forget about school, get in the car, we’re going to The Murph!

Continue reading 'Your Team Doesn’t Always Have To Win'»

Comments (10)

By Jon Shellhammer, December 25, 2011 6:00 am

It’s another Sunday in the National Football League. With just over a minute left in the game, the home team is down by three points. The ball is on the 20-yard line. 60 feet from the goal line. 60 feet from victory and glory. At this point, most coaches wouldn’t call for the quarterback to take off running with the football. Quarterbacks, after all, are hired to throw the football, not scramble around with it. Then again, most quarterbacks don’t have the ability to weave through an entire defense and cross the goal line almost untouched to score the winning touchdown.

But that’s exactly what this quarterback does.

So how does this quarterback celebrate his game-winning scamper? We might assume that he, like many NFL players, would do some ridiculous dance, thump his chest, or yell obscenities at the defenders he just ran around.

But most NFL players aren’t this quarterback. This quarterback, after being mobbed by his teammates, points two fingers to the sky and drops to one knee to say a prayer. In a league filled with egotism and celebrations of selfish pride, this man credits all of his abilities to God.

Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos is often criticized and rarely praised. Is it because of his unorthodox throwing motion? Because he runs too much and throws too little? No, it is none of those things.

Tim Tebow is criticized because he is a born-again Christian and not afraid to talk about it. People are quick to say that Christianity doesn’t belong in the NFL. People are quick to say that his faith flows out of his football, and the two should be separated. People say God doesn’t care about sports, and to believe that He does is ludicrous.

Continue reading 'Does Christianity Have A Place In Professional Football?'»

Comments (3)

By Jon Shellhammer, December 15, 2009 8:00 am

There are many suggestions of things one should never do while honeymooning. Guys, never ditch your new wife. I do not care that you just so happen to be in Honolulu the weekend of the Pro Bowl. Unless your wife wants to go with you (which she won’t), skip it. Ladies, never ditch your new husband. I do not care about the awesome craft fair where you can do all your Christmas shopping early. Unless he wants to go with you (which he won’t), skip it.

*Yes, I realize that these are gross generalizations, but I am merely using them as a transition into my personal story.*

Do not, under any circumstances, lose your spouse’s wedding ring! You wouldn’t think this would need to be said, but trust me, it does. Continue reading 'What Not To Do On Your Honeymoon'»

Comments (1)

By Jon Shellhammer, November 27, 2009 10:05 am

Image by Clipart.com

This post should illustrate a big difference between men and women. In general, women are much more sentimental. This is why moms save every art project their children have ever done. Even the drawing from preschool. Sure, she’ll say it’s supposed to be a horse. But we all know it looks like what came out of the horse a few hours after it ate. Women like all the warm-and-fuzzy, let’s-keep-all-the-keepsakes, walk-down-memory-lane stuff. Not that I find this invaluable by any means. Women are just better at it. What are men better at? Well, in general, random stupidity. Or, if you prefer, stupid randomness.

Case in point: coasters.

Stay with me on this.

My wife Heather bought us some photo coasters. In layman’s terms, these are coasters that you can put photos into. Man, I’m great at clearing up ambiguity. There were four coasters in the pack. She let me take two of them. One of hers has a picture of us and all of our friends from work at our wedding. It’s quite nice, and a great picture considering how many people were in it. Her other one has a picture of the two of us from our wedding. Very nice and sentimental.

Now for mine. I didn’t need pictures. All I needed was Microsoft Word and a printer. That’s right. To me, photo coasters are really random quote coasters. Not quite as catchy of a name. Anyway, in no particular order, here are my coasters: Continue reading 'The One With Coasters'»