So, the first weekend of the pre-season ends tonight, with the Seahawks going down I-5 & then onto I-10 to visit some team called the “Los Angeles Chargers” in a stadium named after a business with less credibility than the University of Phoenix.

As has been my standard in covering these Week-1 tilts, I have ventured lightly into respective fan bases by utilizing the tools found at various SB Nation blogs. I’m not insane enough to go trolling through Reddit or Yahoo! sports. For tonight, I’m indebted to Bolts From The Blue and the Field Gulls for material to glean.

Again, as I found during the course of the week, you can tell a lot about the state of a franchise by what the fans choose to write about. “Bolts From The Blue” still seems to be living in the past. They devoted a lot of words to two stories that totes prove the fan base has moved on. “What If Jerry Jones Bought The Chargers?“, reads like the NFL equivalent of the old story about George Steinbrenner wanting to buy his hometown Cleveland Indians but having to settle for the Yankees. The worse of the two is “Farewell, San Diego Chargers“, a story about how the act of merely attending an open practice in their new, temporary home puts an end to the team’s legacy in San Diego, and the creation of a new one in Carson:

However, to me, it was hard to beat the feeling of being a San Diego Chargers fan for the last 20 years. I have been through the ups and downs with this team, so remaining a Chargers fan (now that they are in Los Angeles) is just another chapter. While I sat at the light in front of the new home of the Los Angeles Chargers, I think that is when I accepted that this was just a part of the journey as a Chargers fan.

I can see the Chargers finally selling out a game at StubHub, which shouldn’t be hard given that they now have about 2/3 less seating than they did at Qualcomm (27,000 compared to 70, 561). [snip] I can see the StubHub Center being a fun time for the next few years and at least StubHub has up-to-date jumbotrons that actually display visible video.

I can say I am a Los Angeles Chargers fan and admittedly it’s a bit exciting to see how things will end up; however, I am a San Diego Chargers fan at heart. Nothing will replace that feeling.

Peter King admires this transparency. It’s more “Meh, Meh…Whatever.” than “STOMP STOMP CLAP!”, and has all the consistency of Gollum talking to himself.

In comparison, the Seahawks seem a model of consistency. The biggest story is about Kam Chancellor‘s extension and how it’s both team-friendly and a roster-stability guarantee for another 4 years. A highlight on their site is the addition of John Clayton to the KIRO 710 radio broadcast team which, frankly, is actually good news. Otherwise, the site is filled with puff pieces and photos from training camp. They will go either 4-0 or 0-4 in pre-season and the fan expectations will be the same regardless. SUPER BOWL, BAY-BAY!

Game Preview: Seahawks vs. Chargers

• The Seahawks will be trying out approximately 75 Offensive linemen, and with Russell (probably) not playing expect Trevone Boykin & Austin Davis to run around a lot while former Jai alai & polo players try to figure out blocking schemes on Joey Bosa.

• The Chargers will start strong, because Philip Rivers chose not to attend LaDanian Tomlinson’s Hall of Fame induction for the specific reason of being ABSOLUTELY FUCKING READY for a Week-1 pre-season game. He will likely play six downs and leave after a 65-yard TD or INT. Only then will he watch highlights of LT’s ceremony, in-between breaking down tape of each pass he threw during those 2 minutes on the field. COMMITMENT! DRIVE!

Tonight’s sports:

• NFL:
  • Seahawks at Chargers – 8:00PM | NFL Network
• CFL:
  • BC at Saskatchewan – 8:00PM | ESPN2 / TSN
• Baseball:
  • Red Sox at Yankees – 8:00PM | ESPN / TSN2