I have lived in San Diego for the last 17 years and have become a San Diego Chargers fan. I know pro football is a business first and a sport second but it is fun to get together with friends on a Sunday and root for a team representing your city. Well yesterday the Chargers took the fun out of it by showing their fans the business side of the game. In so doing they teamed up with a bitter rival and showed Charger fans just whose side they are really on! More after the orange goal post.
Ask any Chargers fan who the most hated, bitter rival is and without hesitation they will say the Oakland. Raiders. Yet , you wouldn't know it by the Chargers actions yesterday. They issued a joint statement with none other than the Oakland Raiders!! The statement is here...http://espn.go.com/...
If ever you wanted to know where you stand as a Chargers fan ( or an NFL fan for that matter) this letter should put things straight once and for all! The billionaire owner of the Chargers, Mr. Spanos, wants the average San Diego tax payer to spend their hard earned dollars to build him a stadium for free! He doesn't want to invest his own money into his buisness. He wants us to do it for him or else he will take his team to another city, most likely Los Angeles where he will share a stadium with the Raiders! This hostage taking is a familiar scenario that has been played out in many NFL cities. You see Qualcomm stadium is one of the oldest structures in the NFL. It doesn't have all the amenities that the more modern stadiums do. Spanos wants those luxury boxes that he can sell to his fellow one per centers. I don't know about you but I am getting tired of bailing out billion dollar corporations. First Wall Street and too big to fail banks and now NFL franchises. Here's the thing that is most galling, when we don't go along with it they feel hurt and insulted! You won't subsidize us, we'll take our team to another city or our company to another country. Jesus, how entitled are these A-holes? If us tax payers are going to build you a stadium, Mr. Spanos, why don't you give us a stake in the team and make us part owners. Oh wait I forgot, that's not the capitalistic way!
I am throwing a penalty flag on this one. This is a personal foul and the penalty is going to be a lot more than fifteen yards. The penalty should be a lack of interest in the NFL. It really is silly for Charger fans to root against the Raiders when the real game is the Chargers and the Raiders against us. It's the 1% against the 99%. I know which team I am rooting for in that one!