There are things you can’t script. Moments you can’t manufacture. Tricky intersections between level head and heavy heart, where the true core of a person is laid bare for all to see.
In just 3 minutes, 45 seconds Thursday during the Salute to Champions dinner at the La Jolla Marriott, Philip Rivers did what the Chargers’ front office couldn’t do. Maddeningly, what it didn’t and stubbornly wouldn’t do.
Rivers said thanks, through halting sentences, through moist eyes, through an honest and genuine connection. Lumps in the throats of Breitbard Hall of Famers stretched from one side of the ballroom to the other.