The New New England -- Patriots fans find refuge in hostile Chargers territory

By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Saturday, January 19, 2008 8:28 PM PST ∞

It's not easy being red and blue. Not in a blue and gold town, anyway. Especially today. San Diego Chargers fans are especially proud and boisterous as their team faces the New England Patriots today in a game that decides who represents the American Football Conference in the Super Bowl.

Fans of the Patriots are every bit as boisterous, if not more so, at the tail end of an undefeated season. But 3,000 miles away from their team's home field, local New England fans wearing their team's colors have been open targets this week.

"All my friends have been razzing me, big-time," said Vista resident Burt Sherring, 47, a Rhode Island native and lifelong Patriots fan.

While the animosity between the Chargers and Patriots is nowhere near that of the Chargers and the Raiders (or the Patriots and the New York Jets), New England fans aren't feeling particularly welcome in these parts lately, according to Sherring.

"I watched the Jaguars-Patriot game last week at Rookies, and that was a little much for me," he said. "A lot of people were getting rude and stuff, because a lot of Chargers fans were rooting for the Jaguars."

After that experience, Sherring plans to watch the game at home, away from jeering Chargers fans. But he does know of at least one place where he would be welcome.

Last year while driving through Oceanside in his pickup truck, which has bumper stickers supporting the Patriots and Boston Red Sox, Sherring said Ricky Bergeron ran up to tell him about Hooligans, the New England-friendly bar he owns.

Bergeron and his wife, Kathleen Lindsay, opened the bar at 560 Greenbrier Drive in Oceanside two years ago. A former Marine, Bergeron made the front of the bar a tribute to the U.S. Marine Corps. Most of his tavern's two rooms, however, are reserved for the Patriots, Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins, with a little square footage left over to ridicule the New York Yankees.

"The Chargers are my second team," Bergeron said. "If they were playing anybody else, I'd be rooting for the Chargers. It's a win-win, but I'd rather the Patriots win."

That sentiment hasn't won him many friends when he's been out and about this week, though.

"I gotta tell you, it's been ugly," he said about wearing his Patriots pullover this week. "I went to the bank and people started hollering at me for no reason: 'Go back home!' I said, 'This is my home! Come on, now.'"

Bergeron, who owns a stucco company as well as the bar, said he got an earful from a Chargers fan when picking up a check this week.

"The guy said, 'You ain't getting no check wearing that shirt,'" he said.

Overall, Bergeron said the comments have been in good fun. But last year, when he attended the Chargers/Patriots playoff game in his Patriots gear, some fans threw beer on him, he said.

"It was horrible," he said. Then again, Bergeron said he knows what some Chargers fans will be facing at today's game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Inside Hooligans, however, things should be much more civil. Bergeron said the regulars who watch there each Sunday are friends, whether they're rooting for the Chargers or the Patriots. He predicts about 70 percent of his patrons today will be pulling for the Patriots.

Among those who will be rooting for the Chargers will be bartender Lauren Rubidoux of Escondido.

"We argue back and forth, but it's all fun and games," she said.

Travis Staker of Oceanside also will be pulling for the Chargers, his favorite team. He also likes whoever is playing the Patriots, just to get Bergeron's goat.

"I don't even like (New York Giants quarterback) Eli Manning, and I rooted for the Giants when they played the Patriots," he said. "I always root against the Patriots. It's what I do."

Linda Ward, a Massachusetts native who has lived in Vista for eight years, is one of 66 people who have joined the San Diego New England Patriots Meetup Group in hopes of finding other fans.

Ward joined after a bad experience last year at a San Diego sports bar, where she watched the Chargers lose a playoff game to the Patriots. The Chargers had entered the second half with an 8-point lead before the bitter 24-21 loss.

"People weren't very nice," she said. "It was hard to watch."

At work, Ward shows off a picture of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, a ceramic Patriots helmet and other items promoting her team. When she watches games with friends, it's usually at somebody's house, where she is the only Patriots fan. Ward said she probably will watch today's game at Hooligans, where she said she would feel more comfortable.

Another Hooligans regular, Oceanside resident Ray Johnson, was born in Hamden, Conn., which he said was halfway between New York and Boston. His father raised him to be a Red Sox fan, and his mother raised his brother to be a Yankees fan.

"We had some internal strife," he said.

Knowing something about split alliances, Johnson, a North County resident since 1966, is a Chargers fan but said he still likes the Patriots.

Johnson writes a column for the Hamden Daily News Web site, and is catching grief from hometown pals about his devotion to the Chargers. He predicts a 21-20 victory for the Chargers.

"Sunday, these guys are going to get their comeuppance," he said of his friends at Hooligans.

Oceanside resident Shawn Niederhauser, who decorated the interior of Hooligans with sports memorabilia, expects at least 100 people at the bar today.

Since the Patriots beat the Chargers in week two of this season, Niederhauser said San Diego fans have had some bitterness against New England.

"It was already brewing from last year's playoff game," he said. "It's kind of brutal listening to the talk radio shows, but everybody can say what they want. They're not the ones being paid to be on the field."

Like Niederhauser, Patriots fan and Hooligans patron David McCormick, a native of Lynn, Mass., said he gets stares and comments when he wears his team's colors and logo.

"People stop me everywhere," he said. "They have something to say. People love winners."

Niederhauser said he also likes the Chargers, and after San Diego's win over the Colts last week, he believes today's game is between the two best teams in the NFL.

"Whoever wins this is going to win the Super Bowl," said Niederhauser, who is picking the Patriots by 6 points.

Bergeron's wife, Kathleen Lindsay, is a native of Scotland who has been in the United States for 17 years. Before marrying her husband nine years ago, she knew nothing about football.

"I actually do like it now that I understand it," said Lindsay, now a Patriots fan by marriage.

"My best friend is rooting for the Chargers," she said. "We would never fight, but it's going to be interesting. One of us is going to be disappointed."

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.