The Darkest, Saddest Place in Sports: A Los Angeles Chargers

ivotuk · Sep 21, 2017

The Darkest, Saddest Place in Sports: A Los Angeles Chargers Home Game

We ventured into the StubHub Center for the Chargers home opener in Los Angeles this weekend. It was not for the fainthearted. Or really for anybody.

The Chargers are the saddest franchise in the history of sports. We don't give them enough credit. Maybe because San Diego was too sunny, or maybe because they never quite sink to the depths of the Cleveland Browns or the Philadelphia 76ers, but if you ask any Chargers fan they will immediately rattle off a litany of heartbreak that I would challenge anyone outside Buffalo to adequately match.

Last Sunday, the Chargers played their first regular season game in a city that doesn't want them to a tiny stadium half-full of opposing fans. Even in the parking lot at StubHub Center, the 27,000 seat home of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy, the gap was obvious. Visiting Miami Dolphins jerseys dominated.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/d ... cesportsfb

Foghawk · Sep 22, 2017

I think the Chargers are headed to the end of the road as franchise unless they can someway find their back to SD, soon. It's not going to end well for them in LA.

Vesuve · Sep 22, 2017

Foghawk":3oqt1o3n said:
I think the Chargers are headed to the end of the road as franchise unless they can someway find their back to SD, soon. It's not going to end well for them in LA.

I see it the same way.

Is this one of those situations, where the team is earning a profit?

If the team is making money they just stay and.....exist....or.....linger.

Like the old days of the Clippers years ago.

WmHBonney · Sep 22, 2017

Could they become the St Louis Chargers?

Sox-n-Hawks · Sep 22, 2017

Portland Chargers?

homerun1970 · Sep 22, 2017

http://theredzone.org/Blog-Descript...lking-about-Chargers-moving-back-to-San-Diego

This may be the best thing for them. It was a poor decision hopefully will get rectified.

Erebus · Sep 23, 2017

At this rate, I can't see how the Chargers will be more profitable in LA if nobody gives a shit about them. There is a reason that LA lost two teams the first time around. I hated to see the Chargers move at the time it was announced and I like that the league might already be talking about them moving back. I hope it's more than just a rumor.

GeekHawk · Sep 23, 2017

I'm not sure why the people of San Diego voted down their stadium proposal. I was TDY down there at the time, and listened to the ads from both sides with no bias. The antis weren't hammering on the 'no public money' theme very hard, mostly it was about the location.

But, the location where Spanos wanted to build it is right in the worst part of town where it always smells of urine and I've literally seen a guy leaned up against a building (on the main thoroughfare side), pants around his ankles, and I believe he was taking a dump. This is the area where San Diego is presently bleaching the streets due to a Hep A outbreak (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... a-outbreak). This is the same area where the last 'decent' building was where they had arranged for me to stay in a "luxury loft style apartment" for my 3 month TDY, and I called them back after parking and walking around the building and refused to stay there (I went out of the city of San Diego to Kearny Mesa instead, which was way more inconvenient for work but didn't have the ambiance of a prison cell in a homeless camp).

And as far as the public money goes, it was supposed to be financed with a hotel tax of a few bucks/day. There are a gazillion hotel rooms there, and I really don't think anybody who wants to visit San Diego is going to be put off by a few extra $ per day...

So like I said, I don't understand why the people of San Diego voted it down. Maybe they should try again in light of the street bleaching, since it's not like it failed by a huge majority or anything. I think one of the main reasons it failed was probably a half-hearted campaign by the Chargers to stay, kind of like when Clay-Clay was "attempting to work with Seattle to keep the Sonics from moving" when it was really the exact opposite. Maybe the people recognized that happening and got PO'd about it? I wonder if the NFL came in and did a full-court press for a new stadium and the Chargers moving back if it would change?

Seahawkfan80 · Sep 23, 2017

GeekHawk":2xgs9lx9 said:
I'm not sure why the people of San Diego voted down their stadium proposal. I was TDY down there at the time, and listened to the ads from both sides with no bias. The antis weren't hammering on the 'no public money' theme very hard, mostly it was about the location.

But, the location where Spanos wanted to build it is right in the worst part of town where it always smells of urine and I've literally seen a guy leaned up against a building (on the main thoroughfare side), pants around his ankles, and I believe he was taking a dump. This is the area where San Diego is presently bleaching the streets due to a Hep A outbreak (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... a-outbreak). This is the same area where the last 'decent' building was where they had arranged for me to stay in a "luxury loft style apartment" for my 3 month TDY, and I called them back after parking and walking around the building and refused to stay there (I went out of the city of San Diego to Kearny Mesa instead, which was way more inconvenient for work but didn't have the ambiance of a prison cell in a homeless camp).

And as far as the public money goes, it was supposed to be financed with a hotel tax of a few bucks/day. There are a gazillion hotel rooms there, and I really don't think anybody who wants to visit San Diego is going to be put off by a few extra $ per day...

So like I said, I don't understand why the people of San Diego voted it down. Maybe they should try again in light of the street bleaching, since it's not like it failed by a huge majority or anything. I think one of the main reasons it failed was probably a half-hearted campaign by the Chargers to stay, kind of like when Clay-Clay was "attempting to work with Seattle to keep the Sonics from moving" when it was really the exact opposite. Maybe the people recognized that happening and got PO'd about it? I wonder if the NFL came in and did a full-court press for a new stadium and the Chargers moving back if it would change?

With the transportation infrastructure already in place, could they put the new stadium where the old one is now? Would that work in your opinion? I went to the game a few years back.

GeekHawk · Sep 23, 2017

Yeah, that would work as well. There's already a big-ass stadium surrounded by a huge parking lot, right where like 4 freeways pass close by. The proposal that was voted down would have given the old stadium to San Diego State or SDSU or one of those colleges (maybe more than one?) for their football program(s). The parking lot was pretty good for tailgating, or at least it was when I went to a Chargers-cowpoops preseason game back in the 80s. (Don't judge, it was free tickets and I was living down there at the time... Mostly it was free tickets. That was the game where one of the tailgaters stashed their still-lit hibachi under the gas tank, and several cars burned up)

MrThortan · Sep 23, 2017

Sox-n-Hawks":efp9fb6x said:
Portland Chargers?

I like that more than the Portland Raiders

BigBill1945 · Sep 23, 2017

They cannot even fill up the 25K seating in Carson, CA. The two L.A. teams cannot together get the attendance that USC had last week. L.A. did not miss the NFL. It has now become real evident. The owners have no loyalty. That appears to be pretty evident. Ken Behring almost took our team to California until Paul Allen rescued us. I know a bunch of Charger fans and feel for them. Now even if Spanos moved his team back I am not sure they would want them. They hate Spanos. It is funny that there are more Raider fans in L.A. than these two teams. I lived in L.A. back in the day. When Georgia Frontieri took the team to St. Louis I was done with them. I now thoroughly hate them.

The Darkest, Saddest Place in Sports: A Los Angeles Chargers

ivotuk

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Foghawk

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Vesuve

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WmHBonney

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Sox-n-Hawks

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homerun1970

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Erebus

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GeekHawk

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Seahawkfan80

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GeekHawk

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MrThortan

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