CHARGERS BABY!!!

This blog is going to be a little bit long and I apologize for that, but I promise you it's worth reading! Especially if:

A. You are a CHARGERS fan

B. You have watched the first couple of seasons of 24

C. You watch the TV show The Unit (and if you don't... YOU REALLY SHOULD START!)

So this little adventure all started on Tuesday at the office at about 3:05pm. Melissa asked me if I had bought my Chargers tickets yet... wait I need to back up even more! Ben was REALLY excited that the Chargers by pure luck made it into the playoffs. We had plans to go to our friend Tim's house to watch the game (we canceled our cable and we HAD to watch it!!!) Ben was really excited about going to Tim's and talked about it literally NON-STOP all week long. Ok... So back to Tuesday... Melissa asked me if I had bought my tickets and I didn't have a clue what she was talking about so she informed me that the playoff tickets went on sale at 3pm. We both thought that they were probably sold out at this point, but I was curious. So I went to Chargers.com and check it out. Their site directed me to Ticketmaster where I searched for tickets... I was sure that they were sold out, but low and behold there were tickets available on the FIELD LEVEL!!! I was soooo stoked, but I didn't know if I should buy them... They were kind of expensive and we don't have a lot of money. But then I thought - This is a freaking PLAYOFF game that is here at home on a SATURDAY! We have to go! So I bought the tickets!

Now I need to explain to you how it was growing up in my family. I grew up in a house that LOVED surprises! When I was about 10 my Dad took my mom to San Fransisco for the weekend for their anniversary... When my mom thought they were driving home, they drove to their airport instead and he flew her to Reno for a huge anniversary party! I still remember the surprised look on my mom's face. This was a common occurrence in my family to do surprises for each other. I have not been so good at surprises for Ben. I get so excited that I just end up telling him :) But I was determined this time that that was NOT going to happen!!!

I had it all planned out. Only 4 people knew that I bought the tickets - Melissa (because she was there at the time of purchase), My mom and dad (because I had to tell someone!) and Tim (because I needed help with my plan). We were supposed to leave for Tim's party at 3:45, but I knew that we needed to leave earlier to get down to the stadium. So I had Tim call Ben and tell him that he (Tim) was going to have a Tailgate party at 3pm. Ben was really excited about this - Ben doesn't get excited about much, but he was REALLY excited about Tim's party! So now we were going to leave at 2pm - PERFECT TIME! So yesterday at 2pm we dropped Ryan off at my parents house and Ben just happened to be talking to Brettley - which also just worked out perfectly. So after Ben was done talking to him I asked to talk on the phone (to pretend I was distracted :)) We needed to get on the 15 North to go to Tim's and the 15 South to go to the Stadium... So I was talking on the phone to Brettley and got on the 15 South... Ben didn't say anything... So I said - "Oh dang it! Where am I going???" I made it sound like I was so dumb dumb :) Then I asked Ben - "Hey can you open the glove box and get the..." I trailed off and Ben opened the glove box and found this... Apparently the first thing he saw was the Cheetos and then he saw the tickets and was kind of confused for a second. He took out the tickets and asked What is this? I said CHARGERS BABY! He was shocked - He told me later that for a split second he was bummed that we were going to Tim's but then it sunk in that we were going to the game and he was SOOOO EXCITED!!! It was great! Best surprise I've EVER done!!!

So we took the Trolley into the game and watched warm-ups which is always exciting.
Then we decided to go to our seats! They were great seats! About 2 sections over from the goal posts - we were right at the end zone. As our usher was showing us our seats he pointed out a man to me. I STARTED FREAKING OUT! I couldn't speak - I just started hitting Ben and whispered LOOK! LOOK! LOOOK!!! One of Ben and my FAVORITE show is The Unit on CBS. The main character on that show Dennis Haysbert plays a guy named Jonas Blaine. And it just so happened that he was standing 2 feet away from us! I was so star-struck. He was talking to someone, but could tell that 2 people were totally staring at him so he turned around and looked at us. Ben shook his hand and said "Hi, I know you came to watch a football game, but we're huge fans and we don't want to harass you." Jonas "Snake-Doctor" Blaine then told Ben "Bless you!" He has a really rich voice in real life that was mesmerizing. I shook his hand next and said something really stupid... "I'm usually not this star-struck, but we are huge fans!" What a dumb thing to say to someone! He was a very nice man though with huge hands and a very friendly firm handshake! Did I mention how attractive he is? Very :) We didn't want to be annoying to him so we didn't ask to take a picture with him, but I did get one of the back of his head :)Notice how his jacket says "The Unit" on it! SO cool! And one of him in his seat! He seemed to be a super cool guy and that was one of the best parts of the night!

The place was PACKED! There was even a line to get into the Men's bathroom - that is virtually unheard of!To make a long story short - the game was GREAT! LT made a touchdown RIGHT in front of us and that was super exciting. Since it was so pack the crowd was going crazy! It was great! We definitely messed with the Colts offense a few time because we were so loud! Scifres our punter did such an amazing job! He would kick the ball perfectly EVERY SINGLE TIME! Amazing! We were behind by 3 in the 4th quarter and Nate Kaeding had to make a field goal. This usually doesn't make me nervous, but Nate has a record of chocking in the post season! But luckily he made it and we tied the game pushing us into Over Time! I was a nervous wreak! I had to force myself to watch! It was a GREAT OT! The Chargers seemed to be doing everything right! When Sproles got the touchdown to win the game the stadium erupted! It was AMAZING and something I will never forget! Ben almost passed out from cheering so much and my throat is super sore today, but it was totally worth it!

Here we are after the incredible win!

Me with some fans after the game :) The cool thing about football games is that all the fans are cool - Everyone was high fiving each other after we won! It was great - the only annoying fans there were these 2 dumb drunk girls who sat right in front of us... I don't want to talk about it...

After the game we went and found Dennis Haysbert's seat... Pathetic I know, but he is sooooo freaking RAD!Yes, Ben is holding Snake-Docs leftovers :)

CHARGERS BABY!!! ROUND ONE IS OVER AND WE WON!!! Let's get ready for ROUND 2!!! WHOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!