Ex-Chargers O-lineman gets his hearts desire
In 2006, chargers running back LaDanian Tomlinson set the single season record for scoring more touchdowns than any running back ever had before. Since no running back can set a record like that alone, I went into the Chargers locker room to talk to the offensive linemen who made it possible for LDT to score all those touchdowns. When I interviewed then-starting right tackle Shane Olivea, he was clearly pissed about something that had happened on the practice field that day. Maybe it was because he was peeved, or maybe it was the sign of deeper discontent, but Olivea, a native New Yorker, told me, “I’m still a Giants fan—San Diego only employees me.”
That’s usually a no-no in professional sports. No matter what team a player loved growing up, they’re always supposed to say they root for the team that’s paying you. But Olivea had been a strong starter for an excellent unit, so management presumably looked the other way. In the off-season that year, the Chargers fired Coach Marty Schottenheimer and brought in Norv Turner. Olivea clearly didn’t like playing for Norv any more than he liked playing for Marty. In the middle of a November game against Baltimore, Turner benched him for second-year man Jerome Clary. Olivea never played another game for the Chargers, and he was cut in February.
Now we learn that Olivea is actually in rehab for drug and alcohol abuse. We only know this because the league nearly suspended him for missing a drug test, but it rescinded the suspension when he revealed that he missed the test because he was actually in rehab at the time.
On July 10, Olivea’s efforts to pull himself together paid off: He signed as a back up tackle for his hometown, and now Super Bowl champion, New York Giants.
