Saying Goodbye to the San Diego Chargers

You know, I haven't been a San Diego Chargers fan since Drew Brees left down. Even though the Ravens are my #1 team, by choice, I have love for the Seattle Seahawks because I was born in the Northwest, and similarly had love for the Chargers for years because I spent the first few years of my life in San Diego, before moving up to Northern California.

In fact, two of my favorite NFL quarterbacks of all time, Doug Flutie, and a man you could very well call his protege for their time spent together in SD, Drew Brees, played for the Chargers in the early to mid 2000s. When Brees left, I essentially "followed him" to to New Orleans, and started rooting for the Saints instead of the chargers, because I've never really cared of Phillip Rivers, and I was angry at the Chargers front office for cutting ties with Brees just because of a shoulder injury. An injury he obviously overcame, by the way, and went on to win a Super Bowl with the Saints, become of the greatest QBs to ever play football, with the Saints. Good move on San Diego's part, right?

But still, the Chargers have a long and proud history in San Diego, a town that once also used to have the San Diego Clippers, before they too, needlessly moved to Los Angeles. The Chargers were arguably the most successful team of the 1960s AFL era, and it was largely due to their success, and their exciting brand of football, that the NFL was intimidating by rising AFL ratings and attendance, and decided to go for the merger that would see them absorb the AFL teams into the NFL in the 1970s, creating what is now known as the AFC.

I still have an old navy blue Chargers shirt, with a faded yellow lightning bolt on the front, and now that the team is moving out of town, having an old San Diego shirt like that means even more. San Diego is a decent city, crime aside, and the fanbase there deserves to keep their team. But, as we're constantly reminded "The NFL is a Business", which roughly translates to "Rich people don't give a fuck about your fanhood or passion for the game and it's players, they just want to make even more money". And that goes for players AND owners.

So to all the San Diego Chargers fans, I'm sorry you're losing your team. I know it isn't AS bad as the Las Vegas Raiders debacle. At least the Chargers are staying in Southern California. But I know it still sucks. Here's to the memories.