As i’m writing this, the Fox crew is still showing highlights of the Patriots’ convincing win over the Chargers in the Divisional Round. No one in LA except the players, the coaches, and their families is particularly upset about it.
You may ask yourself why.
It’s actually a pretty easy and self-evident answer for anyone that has lived in LA for any amount of time. And it shows just how out of touch and greedy the Spanos family is that they decided to move the team despite the things I’m about to explain to you.
Let’s talk some sociology, anthropology, and geography.
People living in LA, like all cities, can be classified as belonging to two different groups:
- People born in LA
- People born somewhere else
***
The Natives
The people born in LA can be further subdivided into two groups for NFL fandom classification purposes:
- Rams fans
- Raiders fans
Both of these subcategories are easily explained.
The older segment of the native population still remembers when the Rams were here and were good in the 50s. They followed the team to Anaheim and kept following the team from afar when it moved to St. Louis.
There are not many of these folks and they are dying off. Luckily for the Rams, they instilled Rams fandom in their children and so there are a healthy number of native Angeleno Rams fans.
The younger natives were here during the 80s when Al Davis moved the Raiders from Oakland and promptly won a Super Bowl here. They adopted the Raiders and have remained fans even though the team moved back to Oakland. They routinely go on road trips for Raiders home games and are super excited about the upcoming move to Las Vegas. They too, have passed on Raiders fandom to their kids.
One interesting sociological side note: Rams fans tend to be white and rich while Raiders fans tend to be brown/black and poor.
***
The Outsiders
I’m not sure if official statistics are kept, but you ask a person living in LA where they were born and there is a VERY good chance it is somewhere else. Just ask Rikki Tikki Deadly, Yeah Right, Brick Meathook, Brett Favres Colonoscopy, and me. I think Son of Spam may be a Native and grew up as a Rams fan, which supports my hypothesis.
As it pertains to NFL fandom, the people born somewhere else nearly always arrive to Los Angeles as adults or teenagers. Young children will most often follow the team their parents follow. Thus, rooting interests are already set and will rarely waver. This accounts for a large percentage of the Los Angeles population and severely limits the Chargers’ potential fanbase.
But wait, you say, what about the people born in San Diego that have moved to LA?
The people that say that have never been to San Diego.
Are you fucking kidding me? San Diego, specially North County with the beach cities west of the 5 and the golf communities between the 5 and 15, is heaven on earth.
People in Los Angeles ASPIRE to move to or retire in San Diego!
Trust me, there is no one in LA coming from San Diego. Just ask our very own Low Commander. At one point, he had the opportunity and decided, very smartly, to stay put and live in the American Riviera.
So, yeah, there are no Chargers fans from San Diego in LA. On the other hand, there ARE Raiders fans in LA that arrived from somewhere else BESIDES Oakland! How is that?
For that, let me take you back to the 1970s. That was the decade in which the NFL started airing games in Mexico. The three most successful and popular teams at the time were the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Oakland Raiders.
Times grew hard and many people started to leave Mexico for the US in hopes of a better life. They brought their fandom with them. Thus, you will find many Mexicans in LA that are Raiders fans yet have never stepped foot in Oakland.
I have a theory, and some serious academic study should be undertaken to prove me right or wrong, but I firmly believe that the pattern of Mexican migration in the United States can be directly attributed to NFL fandom preferences.
Plainly put, I think Mexican Cowboys fans left Mexico to go to Texas while Mexican Raiders fans left Mexico to go to California.
Mexican Steelers fans probably wanted to go to Pittsburgh but decided it was too fucking cold and ended up somewhere in the South and Mid-west.
***
So, where does that leave the Chargers? Up shit creek, I say.
There are no people born in LA that will give up either the Rams or Raiders as their team.
There are no people born elsewhere that will give up their childhood team.
The way the team left San Diego burned so many bridges that almost all the former fans in San Diego gleefully delighted in Sunday’s destruction by the Pats and will not travel north to support the team. Just re-read Low Commander’s comments in that open thread.
The Chargers can barely fill the soccer stadium in Carson and that’s thanks to all the fans from the visiting teams. Can you imagine what it will be like when they move to Inglewood with the Rams?
It will be embarrassing.
The only hope the Chargers have is for young children either born in LA or coming to LA with their parents to break away from their parents’ preferences and choose the Chargers. The thing is, that’s a long-term solution and we live in short-term thinking times.
The best thing that can happen is for the league to force the Spanos to sell their team and move it somewhere else like London or some dipshit American city willing to build a stadium for free.
I hear Portland has a really nice soccer stadium they can use!
Plus, Old School Zero lives around that area. That’s at least ONE fan!
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I’ve got nothing to add except I loved vacationing to San Diego and I can’t believe I haven’t been in about 15 years. Time flies.
There’s so much gushing over SoCal here, Cytherea thinks it’s too much…
My only experience with San Diego living was the 13 weeks I spent at the Recruit Depot, followed by 3 months at the School of Infantry at Camp Pendelton.
Ah, so you know Oceanside pretty well then!
Definitely close enough to have heard the femur drum solos.
The comment section deteriorated into ‘Desperate Housewives of California’ so quickly I barely had time to change the channel!
Yes… Please bring the Spanoi to Portland… There’s certainly no way that could go wrong. DJAMBI! PREPARE THE BLOOD THRONE AND WARM UP THE WOOD CHIPPER!
Plus, there’s nothing more Portland than a bunch of fucking Californians moving in and ruining the neighborhood.
I’d much rather have the more diverse California populations move into town than the current infestation of tech bros. We can always use more authentic soul food or good Mexican joints than the overpriced gussied up comfort food spots that keep opening. Instead of mommy they get trained chefs to cut up hot dogs into their mac and cheese, and call it fried chicken when it’s really just fancy chicken strips. Fuck that.
Jesus, it sounds like North Brooklyn, but without anyone of any color, besides alabaster.
Accurate.
How delightfully decadent!
HTFYD, BOYS???
I’ve been calling them the London Chargers since before they left. I think the league and Spanos personally and deliberately moved them there to
1. Cock block the Raiders.
2. Get out of San Diego quick and clean with a “plan” they could defend in court.
3. Put the Bolts in a major market and up the dollar and supposed “big city” value of the team.
4. Expanding on #1–cementing the “fact” that L.A. can’t support two teams so that pig Kroenke can have that region all to himself.
London Chargers will happen. Porky sez.
How you doing, my friend?
I’m decent. I should be working, but once in a while your decision to post updates on Facebook bears fruit. Anyway, back to it.
Porky!!
I do believe you are correct.
I’m even willing to believe that this is the reason Spanos pulled the powder blues. He’s saving them for later.
You’re giving this nepotistic family farrrrrrr too much credit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p13yZAjhU0M
Now this? This is fine….
Look how happy his fat ass is!!!!!!
That’s for safety!
I was just walking through downstairs. Mom is watching the stupid assed local news again.
Long story short, apparently today is “National Dress Up Your Pet Day”. It was apparently started by someone 10 years ago who is/was a “Celebrity Pet Stylist”. That’s not a career.
I beg all of you, please don’t do this to your pets.
Does this look like they’re having fun?
Borderline animal abuse.
Sorry if it sounded like I was bashing San Diego. I guess I was. It’s just that I have no desire to move or retire down there. My sole ambition is to stay exactly where I am for the rest of my life.
Now here’s my theory on the Chargers.
We simply didn’t want them.
Look at it like this.
The Rams coming back was like getting back together with an old girlfriend. It’s probably a bad idea but you did it anyway hoping that it could work out.
The Chargers were NEVER your girlfriend. They’re like your buddy’s girlfriend. They broke up and she moved into your apartment building because she always kind of liked you. It’s awkward as fuck, especially since you just got back together with your old girlfriend and it feels weird even acknowledging that she’s moved into the same building as you.
The asshole owners of the Chargers should be imprisoned for moving that team and breaking the hearts of a lot of good people in San Diego.
Sorry if it sounded like I was promoting San Diego. It’s a terrible place and no one should ever move here to further contribute to the traffic or somehow keep Chipotle locations in the county open.
And fish tacos? Fucking gross. Give me chili on spaghetti any day.
LCSS took me to a great place for fish tacos in SD. Seriously, not a euphemism.
But don’t use a fork. He’ll cut you.
I mean…who the fuck would fork a taco???
LOL
One thing I noticed when there was that ALL women on the beach were hideous.
Shit, can’t even type that with a straight keyboard.
The Chargers are more like the chick that is stalking you and moves into your building to be as close as possible to you without actually living with you and your rekindled ex-girlfriend.
Agreed; your post below sounds like the LA asshole. You didn’t mention any of the bad crap about LA, bad, air crowded, traffic, outrageous cost of living to have a decent place, etc. If you love the place, fine, great for you, you don’t have to bash another place which has a lot of similar benefits.
Very good observations in this piece. But I’ll have you know that just because I’m an OC native, and white, and a Rams fan, it doesn’t mean I’m a Communist. Wait…what was the third thing?
Also, I gotta agree with Yeah Right’s comments below. Love San Diego to visit, but I would lean toward LA as a permanent home (if the OC ever went full white-supremacist instead of the 35% it is now).
Proposed solution to make the NFL 1% better: Give the Browns the Chargers uniforms.
Hear me out. The Chargers, while having no fans, have some dope ass uniforms. I think we can all agree on that much. Meanwhile every iteration of the Browns uniform is a goddamn disgrace. I’m convinced it’s at least part of the reason that they were so consistently terrible. Who would willfully sign up to wear that? But they have a relatively fun team. So why not just give them the name/uniform/logo? You don’t have to swap players or ownership or anything like that. Do it in the winking way the NBA decided it was stupid to have the Hornets in New Orleans, and gave Charlotte their old identity back. The Cleveland Browns (or Pauls as you guys like to call them) aren’t even the franchise Paul Brown founded. And their helmet isn’t Brown. It’s just a horrible failure. So give Baker Mayfield the cool looking lightning bolt uniform. I bet they win 10 games next year.
Meanwhile, as for LA’s B team, just give them those shitty Browns uniforms and name them The Orphans, after the band of pussies in the 1979 classic The Warriors. Don’t worry, with those hideous uniforms in Los Angeles, they’ll become a perennial 2 win team in no time. Hopefully they get contracted.
I like this idea. Too bad the City of Cleveland wil never go for it.
Fun fact: When the Spanoi clan bought the Chargers, they changed the home uniforms from the classic powder blue to the s’alright navy ones used today as a dig at the previous owner. Of course, the powder blues are a fan favorite and the most bought jersey style for the team, so it’s not like that family has any idea of what a good business venture would actually ever be.
That is a fun fact! A fun fact about not-fun stupid owners.
It is unbelievable how little anyone here cares about the Chargers. I have seen 10x the Bears paraphernalia ad Chargers hats, jerseys, etc.
My parents moved us to Sacramento because of their respective jobs in the late 80s. I maintained my Chargers fandom even though the 49ers and Raiders were what I was given week in and week out to watch. I was even called a bandwagon fan during the Chargers Super Bowl run. (Which given that I was in 49er country just meant I knew some really stupid people.
My parents made the decision to drive down to San Diego to watch the Super Bowl. I had never seen a city so galvanized. It was incredible. There was a lightning bolt on doors, windows, roofs, lawns and cars. Fast forward another 20 or so years to where I’m more aware of how the Spanos clan is screwing the city, it made the loss of fandom easier to stomach.
A typical day when I was twenty-five years old and living in Del Mar:
1. Wake up.
2. Have sleepy sex with hapa girlfriend.
3. Go surfing, followed by nice warm outdoor shower.
4. Go to work at moderately fulfilling job making angioplasty devices.
5. Come home and maybe go surfing again if it’s nice.
6. Drink.
The nice thing is I did, in fact, appreciate how good I had it at the time.
Hapa?
Never mind. Google is my friend.
LOL….ditto.
Also, you, my friend, have lived a hell of a life.
He really has. I’ve had a white girl, an asian girl (sort of), a black girl, and a jewish girl in the past two years and I still feel way inferior.
He da man.
Something something I hope it wasn’t golden something something.
Call for you on line one from R. Kelley.
Outdoor showers are the best. Especially with showerbeer
You know, I don’t think I ever had a shower beer in the outdoor shower. Which is really baffling because I only used it after surfing, and it would have been PERFECT to have a beer out there after an afternoon session.
When I lived on the Jersey Shore we had an outdoor shower and it was awesome. I even set the grill in there and grilled during Hurricane Gloria. Power went out and we had just bought half a side of beef you see.
If only I’d struck some kind of bargain to keep everything exactly the same forever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z55epHjjjlI
You could double my salary today on the one condition I move to LA and it would be a firm and laughable no. San Diego is home and I love my city, problems and all. Well, we could do with a severe drop in the cyclist population, but otherwise…
Also, fuuuuuuuck That Team That Left and the entire family that owns it. The Angels won a World Series in 2002 (thank you David Eckstein!) and the Ducks won The Cup in 2007, and barely anyone in LA cares about either of those two teams. That will be the Spanoi fate even if they manage to win before Rivers retires in 2 years.
As a native Baltimoron who still actively roots against the Clots, and sometimes wishes for career ending injuries for their players and the Irsays, I endorse this anger.
I’ve never been to San Diego. This makes me want to go immediately.
?w=640&ssl=1
I wanted to move there immediately…then picked up a local real estate brochure.
Seems like the market reflects the glory.
Having shopped for some real estate in California recently, I can confirm this.
Whenever anyone criticizes the people in LA and calls them fake or phony I point them towards San Diego. San Diego is a tourists town. There’s no history, no culture although they have a solid craft beer scene. It’s pretty, there’s plenty of touristy things to do but fuck man.
LA is home.
I watched a sunset similar to this last night from my balcony while drinking a 4 day old IPA, relishing the Spanoi beat down. It was a good evening.
you didn’t even have to use your AK?
/but a little femur drum solo never hurts
Showoff!!!!
/secretly wish a golf ball had strayed your way
//no not really
I lived in San Diego for 5 years before moving to LA. LA is about a billion times better than San Diego. In every way possible. If my youngest and the little grand baby didn’t live there I would never go back.
That is all.
Eh, I enjoyed my visit and will likely go back again for a weekend at some point.
BRAVO! I like the Mexican Migration theory. Also agree that the clock is ticking on Clippers du Merde, they have 10-15 years left in LA, tops.
Though perhaps it becomes a contrarian/hipster thing? I know first-hand that my Dad was a big Redacteds fan, but I became (for reasons unknown) a Donks WOO!!! fan at age 2, and never wavered. My younger brother loved all the Cincinnati teams (I think idol-worship of the Reds’ Eric Davis might have contributed). Somehow, my folks managed to get him a Bengals jersey and helmet for Xmas one year – a notable feat before online commerce came to be.
I actively hated the Redacteds for being on teevee every week, despite being located 7 hours away from CLT.
Guess maybe my daughters “sort of” support Donks WOO!! – but only because they want m,e to be marginally less unhappy. I’m sure none of them could name a single player, if pressed they would MAYBE come up with Elway.
My dad handed down his Steelers fandom to me. On the other hand, my brother chose to root for the Cowboys to spite us. Nowadays he doesn’t even follow the sport.
I think contrarians do it for a while and then stop when it stops being fun to annoy their parents.
The best theory I have is that I liked the unique colour scheme. My first childhood memory is listening to a Donks game on the am radio in my Dad’s truck (oh the magic of am radio broadcasts), and I do remember being vaguely upset at the Superb Owl loss to Non-Gendered Cowpersons (in their pre-woke era, when still Boiz). But I was used to them being fairly shitty, so not super upset.
My brother is kind of a front-runner as an adult, and lost his “super fan” zest that I raised him to share. He mostly counts the Panthers and (spits on ground) Small Bears as his preferred sides now, though retains some affection for Cincinnati. I’m sure if they ever got good…
His son did pick up on the Bengals thing, and is an intense kid, borderline psycho. He told me a few Christmases ago that he hated the Steelers, because they were cheaters like the P*triots.
That boy is wise beyond his years.
That’s perrty….
is it Coronado? I spent a weekend there like 12-15 years ago (I went to a dinner/alcohol event with my then-clinical trials manager wife, and successfully pretended to be an eye doctor because it was not a “plus spouses” event).
Heaven on Earth, no doubt. My body clock stayed on EST, and I woke up one morning, walked out to the Pacific and stayed there for the sunrise. Just amazing.
That’s actually the Oceanside pier. The funny part is that Oceanside is considered the shitty part of North County.
It’s funny because it’s true, although coastal Oceanside is very much in the early gentrification stages.
I actually went on a date on Saturday night not far from there. The view was spectacular.
yuuuuugggggge…tracts of land?