Playoffs? PLAYOFFS?

The San Diego Chargers have shut out New England fans from purchasing tickets for Sunday’s game, limiting sales to Southern California residents only.

Apparently this is all legal, because there are no laws against geographical discrimination. If they said, say, no women could purchase tickets, that would be illegal because there are clear laws against discriminating against women.

What if you’re a Charger fan in, say, Nebraska, and you wanted to make the trip out? Are you shut out? And what if your ticket goes to a transplanted Pats fan who lives in SoCal? Are they really expecting Pats fans to flock from around the country and fill up Jack Murphy Stadium (do the Bolts still play there, or is it something like Diet Pepsi With Lime Stadium now?)? And if they did, isn’t that the San Diego fanbase’s fault for not scooping up tickets ASAP?

Anyway, The Chargers seem to be the consensus pick. They had the best regular season record in the League (14-2), they were 8-0 at home, they’re coming off a bye, they have the league MVP in LDT and probably the best defensive player in Shawn Merriman.

But I keep looking back to the coaches and QB’s.

San Diego
Marty Schottenheimer
Phillip Rivers

New England
Bill Belicheck
Tom Brady

Holy crap is that lopsided. That’s a Mike Tyson vs. Glass Joe level mismatch. If the Pats can point some points on the board and neutralize LDT (a pretty huge if) the Chargers will be forced to put the game on Rivers’ shoulders. I like our odds then. Plus you know Marty will screw this up somehow.

So the Pats win a close game. But if the Chargers win, I would not be surprised. If it’s a blowout either way, that would surprise me.

Pats 31, Chargers 28