Irresistable

"Not any discredit to the New England Patriots because they know how to win, but everybody to us has the same record in the playoffs. All your stats and my 17 sacks go away. You have to start all over again. That's what it's all about, reestablishing yourself as that team in the playoffs." - Shawne Merriman, San Diego Chargers 'roid-head linebacker.

So let's review this comment. When an athlete says something like, "Not any discredit..." (which of course makes no grammatical sense...) it usually means, "I'm basically trying to discredit them without ending up on a bulletin board." Well at least he tried. I'll let that slide. What is really laughable here Merriman's idea that, "...everybody to us has the same record in the playoffs."

Ah, Shawne, at last check your name shouldn't have an "e" at the end of it and a 5-12 playoff record is not in the same universe as an 11-1 mark. I assure you, Marty Shottenheimer and his propensity to choke on the grandest stage is aware of those numbers and knows they don't add up to the same conclusion.

Nice work mentioning your own sack total by the way. There might not be an "I" in team but there is one in "steroid".

The Chargers should know by now that if they want to be "that team" in the playoffs they have to beat the group that has been "that team" for the better part of this decade, and perhaps it would be best to leave your own regular (or as it should be known in San Diego, "Marty") season stats and your not so veiled shots at the three time Super Bowl Champion Patriots right where they are in your locker room until sometime Sunday night when your season may or may not be over.

Here are some more "records" that aren't the same.

Phillip Rivers playoff record: 0-0
Tom Brady's playoff record: 11-1

The unstoppable Ladanian Tomlinson's Super Bowl appearances: 0
Corey Dillon's Super Bowl rings: 1

In their last four games against the top seed the Patriots are 4-0
The Chargers haven't played four playoff games in my lifetime.

Bill Bellichick's defensive schemes have befuddled far greater quarterbacks than Rivers in January, i.e. Manning, McNair, McNabb, Delhomme, and Warner. Ok, that's not a number it's a statement, and it's also a fact.

Don't get me wrong, it's by no means a foregone conclusion that the Patriots will emerge from Sunday's game with a victory but the last thing in the world Shawne Merriman should be doing is adding fuel to a fire that, for his interests, needs no further stoking. Merriman has never played in a playoff game, he knows naught of what he speaks, and if he thinks gliding through the AFC West over the course of a steriod suspension shortened season gives him any credibility to attack the greatest sports franchise of the past 10 years he is sorely mistaken.

And if he's not worried about the Patriots, maybe he should take a cue from his fans. The Chargers and their fans are doing everything possible to keep Pats fans from invading their space this weekend. Tickets cannot be purchased by anyone with a mailing address outside of California or a proven track record of Chargers support. What kind of paranoid bull-shit is that? To me it says two things:

1. Your fans are so lame that they won't sell out a playoff game fast enough to keep Patriot fans from even having the opportunity to buy tickets first hand.

2. Your fans are so vanilla that, even in the stadium, they will not make enough noise to drown out a vastly outnumbered minority of Patriot fans willing to make the trip across the country.

Sounds scared to me, and they should be.

Given my recent track record of sports predictions I am not going on record with anything at this time (let's just say I had Ohio State over Florida 35-10...) but even the thick skulled Sean Salisbury has finally learned not to pick agains the Pats in the playoffs...

PS: If you're craving a little nausea check out the Chargers theme song at www.myspace.com/pod.