Okay, let’s attack the major criticism this post is gonna get right away, which most likely will be: If you hate the Chargers so much then why won’t you just let it go? They moved and you need to get on with your life? Get over it!
Okay, so first off – fuck you.
Secondly, I don’t have to get over anything. There’s no rule in sports that says you have to get over something. In fact, the majority of sports media runs on NOT getting over shit. We never let anything go, and fans are worse, and the media knows this, which is why they go hard about everything that happens all the time.
So, take your criticism and shove it right up Dean Spanos’ rotten ol’ asshole.
The fact that Spanos packed up the Chargers and moved to LA is something I’ll never get over. It’s something I’ll never forgive him for. It’s something I’ll be bitter and angry about probably till the day I die. And, the only thing that makes it feel better is when they lose.
And, boy do they keep losing!
And always when it matters most. Every time. Most San Diegans who watched this franchise growing up know that what they do best is let you down. It’s comforting to know that’s never changed, and even more so watching that constant losing from afar.
I thought by now it might actually hurt me to see the team I grew up loving just do the same old thing, but it doesn’t. It’s freeing. I continue to get joy from it. And, by all accounts that joy will only grow. And, grow. Like the opposite of Spanos’ hairline. Yes, I’m bald, and I don’t care. That dick refuses to accept his hair loss like I refuse to ever stop hating him.
You may think my hatred is misplaced, or overboard, and I really don’t care. I don’t represent anything other than my own feelings here and am happy to do so. You see, we’ve been doing The Kept Faith since 2008. Podcasting since 2009/10 (actual first episode is lost and debated). Wrote about sports in various forms BEFORE 2008. I’ve been “covering” this team for decades. And, when you’re a local blogger or podcaster or writer covering local sports only, which until recently was a completely unpaid effort, you don’t cover a team like a normal outlet. You are doing it because you love it. You love the teams. You love the city. Nothing is more important to you in the world of sports than what is in your own backyard.
And, when you spend so much effort and time and love and sadness and energy on doing something really just for your own enjoyment, then you feel like you have a stake in it all. And, you do! Hell, when you spend $300 to take a family of four to a Padres game you have a stake in it! You had a stake when you spent hundreds by yourself to sit in shitty seats to watch Philip Rivers noodle arm an interception in crunch time.
Then during that time of “covering” the Chargers you get access to the same information that most major media outlets get, and you choose to talk about instead of ignore, because unlike those outlets you don’t care about having a relationship with ownership you care about fans and being a fan, you start to get very pissed. We’ve talked about all this at length years ago, and it doesn’t matter. But, the truth is and was that Dean was ALWAYS going to move the team. He knew he wouldn’t get the votes to keep them here, and he funded a smear campaign against the city and Mayor at the time to pass the blame so he could leave saying ‘he did all he could’. When the exact opposite is true.
Regardless, they left. They’ve been gone for years and have been just as pathetic as they were when they were here in San Diego. I don’t blame the players cause the franchise is cursed.
They have the Spanos curse.
They will never win a Super Bowl as long as he’s alive. It’s just how it is. Sorry. I didn’t invent curses, but I know one when I see one. This team, this franchise will sputter out of gas every single time. They’ll always break your heart. Because he broke the hearts of a million people.
And, listen I’ve heard it all before: Dean Spanos is a good guy, he loved San Diego, blah blah blah. Sadly, most NFL owners would disagree with your assessment. Most of San Diego would too.
I know there are hundreds, if not thousands, of San Diegans who still root for the Bolts. I spent a good two years fighting them on Twitter. Mainly because they didn’t know shit about the situation except for the what the propaganda machine paid for by Spanos & Co told them. There’s hundreds of fans that do know and just don’t care cause they were raised on this team and will never abandon them the way Dean abandoned the fans.
They need this and want this. Yes, Daddy Dean, whatever you want.
I get it. Despite how ridiculous I think San Diego Chargers fans are, I do get it. I’ll continue to make fun of you and shit all over your team, but I understand the need to feel familiar.
And, you will. You’ll feel that familiarity of a team that just can’t ever get over the hump. A team that can’t ever compile a good staff, and are now led by one of the most corrupt college coaches of the last 20 years.
You will feel all the familiarity of that Spanos curse weighing down your blue and gold overpriced jerseys.
Not counting the Super Bowl, since the Chargers left, I haven’t watched one full NFL game. Today, I started to watch the Chargers game. I just wanted to see a sad Spanos and a sad Harbaugh. It’d be like Christmas. I made it about ten minutes in and then turned it off. Because I realized I didn’t need to see them lose. I knew they would. Just knowing they would was so satisfying. (Of course I watched the ending of the game so I could see Harbaugh be upset cause man there is nothing better than that.)
If you read this and it makes you mad, I don’t care. I’m mad. I’ve been betrayed by a low rent Christopher Lambert. It will always sting. It will always make me upset.
Dean Spanos fucked over this city, and because of it he will never get a ring. But, I get to watch them lose just when another Chargers fan with a bolt tattoo calls me a piece of shit and assures me that this season is different. No, it isn’t. The only difference is the team you love is in a different city.
Oh, and did you know that Antonio Gates played basketball and not football in college?
Same way with them. I didn’t follow them to LA. I hope they never win a super bowl. They’d never come back because they’d be worth less in San Diego but even if they did, I wouldn’t root for them if the spanos family owned them still. Haven’t watched a football game since.