Three weeks ago, San Diego Chargers’ superstar running back LaDanian Tomlinson had the world at his immensely talented feet. His team had just finished off an impeccable 14-2 season and was steamrolling toward a first-round bye in the NFL playoffs. In the weeks prior, and throughout the course of his career, Tomlinson had been the definition of class. Not once did he appear on SportsCenter for busting a gun, shooting his mouth off, or pulling some hokey stunt after a march into the end zone. He also remained gracious in defeat, never placing blame anywhere it didn’t belong.
Flash-forward to Sunday and we see an entirely different picture of Tomlinson: standing at a podium following the Chargers’ unceremonious ousting at home in San Diego’s cushy Qualcomm Stadium complaining about how mean the big, bad (did I mention underdog?) Patriots were while celebrating their hard-earned victory.
A word of advice, LaDanian: Keep it to yourself.
The celebration in question occurred when several New England players imitated Chargers’ linebacker Shawne Merriman’s sack dance at midfield, the ultimate sign of disrespect in the NFL.
During the next day’s news conference, Tomlinson expressed hurt and surprise at the way the normally stoic Patriots had acted.
“When you go to the middle of our field, when you start doing the dance that Shawne Merriman is known for, that’s very disrespectful to me. And I can’t sit there and watch that. And so, yeah, I was very upset. And just the fact that they showed no class at all. Absolutely no class. And maybe that comes from their head coach. So you know, there you have it.”
The very fact that the Patriots had a dance to imitate should be a clue to Tomlinson that maybe, just maybe, the Chargers had it coming.
Every time Merriman recorded a sack (he had 17 this year) or tackled a player for a loss, out came the dance. He flailed his arms, stomped his feet and basically did everything he could to let the opponent that, for the moment, he was king. So why should it come as any surprise to Tomlinson that after a season of dancing, someone was eventually going to dance back?
To the notion that the Patriots had won countless big games during their dynasty years and should, at the very least, act as if they had been there before, baloney.
Sure, they have been in many big games before, but not for a very long time have the Patriots been in a playoff game where they were expected to lose by everyone outside of New England. Before the contest, each of CBS’s three analysts picked New England to go down and go down hard. That hasn’t happened since the beginning of the Tom Brady era way back in 2001.
There they were, dead to the world and in front of the angry masses staring squarely down the barrel of an early return trip home. And they had the gall to shock the world and win? Damn right they were gonna dance.
Maybe they took it a little too far by taking their act onto the sacred Chargers’ Bolt, but not by much. For Tomlinson to take such public offense to a relatively minor infraction is beneath him. He should simply have taken it all in and used it for fuel for when the Chargers next invade Gillette. Then, when he next glides through the Pats’ defensive line and into the end zone, he should simply hand the ball to the official and show the world how a real winner celebrates.
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