Junior Seau's Finest Pro Season Still Unsatisfying -- Charger Standout Has Unfinished Business

SAN DIEGO - His position coach compares him to the greats in NFL history. He's so popular that he'll soon become the cyber linebacker, with his own Internet home page.

Junior Seau merely wants to take care of unfinished business. For a guy who's used to winning, his finest pro season ended with a devastating loss in the Super Bowl.

Seau, the fist-pumping, emotional leader of the defending AFC champion San Diego Chargers, made it through last season even though his left arm hung at his side in several games because of a pinched nerve in his neck.

His senses were really deadened by the time the San Francisco 49ers finished their super rout, 49-26.

"I was numb. Losing the Super Bowl was a different type of loss than I've ever felt in my life," said Seau, who had little chance to dominate because Steve Young hit the Chargers hard and fast with deep passes.

"It's definitely something that if you have any competitive edge in you, it's going to get you to work harder and it's going to get you to get back there and try to do this again."

Trying to see the dream

Seau was a big reason the Chargers made it to the Super Bowl. He had a career-high 155 tackles, including 124 solo stops, and 5 1/2 sacks.

And he had super games. In the opener at Denver, he came up with John Elway's freak fumble to preserve a wild 37-34 win. In perhaps the best game of his pro career, he was literally all over the field as the Chargers stunned Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game. Despite his injury, he spread out his 16 tackles from the first play to the second-to-last.

"You have an opportunity to go to the big show, and with that opportunity alone it overshadows the pain and you try to see that dream which you always had as a kid," Seau said.

It was through sports that Seau was able to avoid gangs and drugs while growing up in Oceanside, 35 miles north of San Diego. His little brother, Antonio, wasn't as fortunate. He ended up in the California Youth Authority after pleading guilty to attempted murder for participating in a gang-related shooting in 1993.

"I found a high in winning," Seau said. "I was involved in sports, and winning was a drug to me. When I received the MVP trophy in seventh grade for sports boy of the year, I felt I was the best in the world that one day. I got a high off that. I drive for that feeling every day. I think we all do in some way."

A biased opinion

When Seau reported to camp this year, he seemed bigger and stronger. When he made his first exhibition start, his presence seemed to fire up his teammates.

"I think he can still take it a little bit higher than he did" last year, linebackers coach Dale Lindsey said.

"Of course, I have a biased opinion, but if he hadn't gotten an injury he should have been the NFL defensive player of the year," Lindsey said. "He was every bit as good at his position as Deion (Sanders) was at his. Then he got hurt and had that five-game spell where he couldn't really use arm, and it hurt him."

One area where Seau hasn't been hurt is his popularity. His commercial pursuits include his clothing line, Say Ow Gear, and bottled water.

And the Junior Seau Foundation, headed into its third season of operation, plans a new twist. By November, it hopes to be have a site on the Internet and weekly chat sessions between Seau and his fans.

Foundation executive director Diana Hudson said Seau receives an estimated 50,000 pieces of fan mail a year, among the most by any NFL player, including numerous requests for appearances.

"We get letters from Germany, South America, Idaho," Hudson said. "We get letters from everywhere. I'm amazed that kids are so into Junior. They know everything about him. And they're not just kids in his own community who he has an opportunity to impact."

Reaching the kids

The foundation raises money to fight child abuse; supports programs that help steer kids away from gangs, drugs and alcohol; and awards college scholarships to students who otherwise might not be able to afford them.

Going on-line is another way for Seau to reach more kids, particularly during the season when his time is limited.

"The potential is tremendous," Hudson said. "We see it as a way to use that technology to reach kids that maybe otherwise would not have an opportunity to talk to Junior."

Seau was named the NFL Man of the Year for his community service last year. And for the fourth straight year, he was a unanimous pick to start in the Pro Bowl.

"He's not just a great player, he's a rare player," said Lindsey. "There are not 30 like him in the NFL."

Lindsey goes a step further, comparing Seau with Dick Butkus and Lawrence Taylor. "They don't come along but once in a lifetime," Lindsey said.

Seau's arm is healthy and he expects the Charger defense to be more aggressive this season, his sixth in the NFL.

And, unlike many others, he thinks the Chargers are good enough to get back to the Super Bowl.

"You tell me a person that says we aren't, then I'll talk to him," Seau said. "Until then, we've got a season to play."