Don’t Bolt!

It's probably going to take a Super Bowl appearance, perhaps even a Super Bowl victory, to convince San Diego's mayor and city council that this team is worth keeping. The Chargers, who have been here since 1961, are as beloved in this town as any of the league's storied franchises are in their cities. We don't wear cheese on our heads, bur we love the Bolts, and the idea that they might leave is unthinkable for fans like me who live and die with Charger football.

Of course, owners taking their professional sports teams to other cities and leaving hapless fans behind is not new, and not limited to the NFL. It's been happening in the money-above-all-else sports world for years, the most famous example of which was the move by the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958. It even happened in Cleveland, which possibly has the most loyal sports fans of them all. Former Browns owner Art Modell, who took his team and bugged out for Baltimore in 1996 (The same city which, to be fair, saw its beloved Colts decamp for Indianapolis under the cover of darkness in 1984) much to the dismay and anger of Browns fans, still can't comfortably walk the streets of Cleveland. The Browns franchise was happily resurrected with new ownership - and the same ugly old uniforms - three years later. But the resentment toward Modell persists.

Georgia Frontiere, the late owner of the Los Angeles Rams, took her team to St. Louis in 1995. The same year Los Angeles lost its other pro football franchise when the Raiders returned to Oakland. But the City of Angels, which is the second largest city in the nation, barely seemed to notice the loss of the pro game. Still, San Diego isn't L.A. We call this America's Finest City for a reason. Even with our wildfires, sewage spills, border violence, laughably amateurish local newscasters ("stay classy, San Diego"), and sometimes-corrupt city officials, this is still to my mind the best place in the country to live. There's a strong sense of community here, and we take some smug satisfaction in the knowledge that we have an NFL team and Los Angeles doesn't.

But I digress. The point is, if the Bolts bolt, especially if they opt for Los Angeles County, where Spanos family friend Ed Roski reportedly wants to build a new stadium, a good chunk of our quietly superior attitude toward that gargantuan mess of a metropolis a couple hours north or us will go with it. The Chargers actually started out in L.A.; they were once known as the Los Angeles Chargers, but soon wised up and moved south. A return of the Los Angeles Chargers would be too much to bear. But there isn't much a hapless fan like me can do to stop this. I'm not too proud to beg, but I'm not sure who'd listen.

Meantime, the disconnect has already begun. In the parking lot at the 'Q' last night I chatted with dozens of Charger faithful and asked each one of them about the possibility of the team leaving. Most of them said they really don't believe it will happen. But they all know the issues; they read the sports pages and listen to sports talk radio just like me. They're in denial. And I'm right there with them.

This season may or may not be the Chargers' swan song in San Diego. But I'm not going to let it ruin what promises to be a great year for this football team. I'll enjoy every minute with my fellow fans in Section 39 as we watch LaDainian Tomlinson, Phillip Rivers, Antonio Gates, Antonio Cromartie, Jamal Williams, Chris Chambers, Sean Phillips, Nate Kaeding and the rest of this team strive to make it to the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay next February. But I do have one question for anyone reading this: Are there 12-step programs for football fans?

© 2008