GROWING UP IN TIJUANA, I DREAMT OF FOOTBALL, TOO

I can say I was part of it, part of the NFL for a while, a Mexican kid from Tijuana part of the San Diego Chargers broadcast team, my team. Dreams do come true.

With the Super Bowl being played and the end of the football season upon us, it is inevitable to remember what could’ve been here in San Diego. From hosting more championship games to having a local team play in another one, just to mention a couple of things.

I can become somewhat nostalgic and many people will say I haven’t really gotten over it, but you always remember moments when you look back at the good times and think about how even better they could’ve turned out.

Can you imagine being a young kid living in Tijuana, crossing the border every weekend to enjoy the beauty of America’s finest city and convincing your mom to take you out for lunch to a place where they’d show the San Diego Chargers game on TV so you wouldn’t miss a play? Even if I stayed home on Sundays, the game was on my TV. When I was older, I had season tickets pretty much every year of my young adult life.

That 1994 “Super Bolts” team sure stole my heart, like every heart in the region. I was 6 years old and the only thing I could think about from that point on was sports.

My dream was to be like Junior Seau and have sack celebrations, but I was never a tall person. So since I always did my own play-by-play imitating the great Dick Enberg, Pat Summerall and Ted Leitner in my living room while watching the games with my number 55 jersey, I thought I’d give announcing a try.

While my San Diego Chargers sadly never made it back to a Super Bowl, many special moments helped me conquer my dream.

The close finish between the Denver Broncos and the Green Bay Packers made the 1998 Super Bowl in San Diego — the city’s second time hosting the title game — unique. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders Super Bowl in 2003 was also very exciting. After all, the team in silver and black lost. But having all the festivities around the main game, having all the focus here in the San Diego region, and just being part of the experience, made a youngster from across the border chase his dream of

being an NFL broadcaster.

With my communications degree and mediafocused education at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, the academic preparation was in place. Studying the game of football, as well as other sports, became a priority for me.

Just after graduation, I started as a sports correspondent in Tijuana for a national TV station, then I joined a local TV station. One thing led to another, and, with a recommendation from a dear friend, I became the San Diego Chargers color commentator in 2016 for the binational radio corporation Uniradio, doing all the analysis of each play and highlighting every detail of the game.

Broadcaster Jorge Villanueva, who had more than two decades of experience as the Chargers’ official voice in Spanish, was the main guy; he was on point on every call and very helpful from the start.

I was so nervous in my first season because, come on people, stay with me here, we are talking about a little kid’s dream. I was part of the team, in essence, right?

What can be more binational and more border-life than a Mexican kid who used to cross the border just to watch this team in person crossing the border to call its games and travel with the players? I even suggested Philip Rivers have some ice cream on my first trip with the team in the preseason. We were in Nashville during dinner the night before the first game; I couldn’t believe I actually dared to do that. A few minutes later, he said, “You were right, it is good.” And that made my night.

Being with the team was a great experience — even though it was the team’s last season in San Diego. Good old Qualcomm Stadium was rocking, sometimes with more fans from the other team, but it was home. Don’t you miss that old place? I do. Arriving early to the stadium and preparing for the pregame show — one that I did by myself — and getting ready for each game in the booth, setting up my microphone and roster flip cards, it was incredible. Then, after the game, running down to the locker room to interview the players for the postgame show, I built relationships with the players. They were my idols, and I had the chance to speak with them frequently.

Even during the road trips for visiting games, it was great having meals with them and chatting about other things aside from football. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they are human beings just like you and me.

I had the opportunity to be with the team in 2017 in Los Angeles, and that was a very hard year for me, as you can imagine. I was only part of the Chargers team for those two years, but, oh boy, it still is the most important and fulfilling experience of my professional life so far.

And every Super Bowl Sunday, I can’t stop thinking of what could’ve been if they stayed here, from a professional and personal point of view. Maybe I would still be working with them. Maybe they would’ve already won a championship. Maybe San Diego would’ve hosted its fourth Super Bowl.

Who knows, but at least I can say I was part of it, part of the NFL for a while, a Mexican kid from Tijuana part of the San Diego Chargers broadcast team, my team. Dreams do come true.

This year’s Super Bowl champions probably dreamed of winning it all one day as well.