Spanos can kiss my ass

19 September 2004 @ lunch time | Comments (0)

It is 1942 in my apartment and the Chargers are losing.

And while I know that if I were 65, still holding memories of The Shadow and Amos & Andy, I might experience nostalgia sitting in front of my radio listening to today’s San Diego Chargers game. But after listening to (rather than watching) Tim Dwight’s 87-yard TD kickoff return and the Chargers near-comeback, all I can think of is Alex Spanos.

When I was young, growing up in San Carlos, there was a large community pool (with the standard tennis/raquetball/etc) near Lake Murray where neighboring communities would congregate to escape the intense East County heat. It was an integral hub of activity, friendship, and community.

Alex Spanos also shared an interest in our oasis. He purchased it, demolished it, and replaced it with condos. He single-handedly stripped San Carlos of its most unifying feature, the community watering hole.

Present day, Alex & Dean Spanos are busy conducting a reverse marketing campaign for the Chargers, doing everything in their power to do as little for the good of San Diegans as possible. After the past year of dirty politics and lawsuits, it’s now clear that Chargers ownership cares nothing about San Diego’s own watering hole. Sure, the new lease looks good by dropping the city’s ticket guarantee (a huge taxpayer drain), but this also effectively reinstates the NFL’s blackout policy for local games because of the very slight chance that 56,500 seats could be sold for any home game.

This is not a way to shore up support for a struggling team. Contrarily, it causes frustration and ultimately less interest by stripping San Diegans of the right to watch up to half of this season’s games. We become alienated unable to see the team we love play and Spanos passes the blame to the NFL.

If this continues until 2006, without a stellar season we’re going to care so little as a community about the fate of the Chargers that we won’t care what the hell happens, so long as the constant uncertainty ends (this is most likely Spanos’ goal).

So I’m sitting here listening to the game on the radio, exercising my imagination to visualize every play, and all I can see is Spanos.