Our Chargers Coverage is About to Change

We have heard your opinions, the author is listening, and the team will not like it

NBC 7’s Derek Togerson looks at the dilemma facing San Diego football fans in this commentary

The NFL Draft is this week.

For the last five and a half decades this was a time of excitement. Who will the Chargers take? What positions do they target? Will he be another Junior Seau? Or another Ryan Leaf? So many questions, all with one underlying theme:

HOPE.

With every pick comes the potential for stardom. What if this is the guy, the missing link, the one who starts his Canton-worthy career and finally leads the Chargers to Super Bowl glory?

At least that’s how it used to be.

This year the buildup to the Draft has been … well, different. And by different I mean more bitter, angry and full of vitriol, and folks I cannot blame you.

Since the Chargers made that truly moronic decision to move to Los Angeles there has been a civil war amongst San Diego football fans. The line of delineation is a matter of pride.

On one side are the fans who will stick with the team no matter what because they love the players on it. We will always cheer for Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates and the guys because no matter where they play they’ll always be OUR guys.

On the other side are the fans who hope a sinkhole opens up under StubHub Center and swallows the franchise whole.

This is the week where the proverbial rubber hits the road for those folks. The NFL Draft is the unofficial start of the next football season. It’s when fans start to get back in to football mode because there are new players coming and rookie training camps get going. So for all the people who vowed to never pay attention to the Chargers again … this is the first test of their resolve.

Honestly, I get both sides but the detractors have certainly been more vocal. I asked a question on Twitter to try and gauge San Diegans’ interest in the Chargers. The results were telling.

[[415933443,C]]

OK we get it. People are upset. But it didn’t really sink in how thoroughly bitter the masses are until this weekend when I wrote a piece predicting the entire Chargers 16-game schedule. When that thing hit the NBC 7 Facebook the hounds were unleashed in the comments section.

[[420271683,C]]

You can read through all of that if you’d like but here are a few responses that show the general vibe. It was enough to make people stop following the page and delete the NBC 7 app.

[[420272983,C]]

This is the vast majority of the response but every now and again the minority opinion would make itself known

[[420272823,C]]

That, my friends, is why this situation is so difficult for, not just us in the San Diego sports media, but for any San Diegan who has ever had even a passing interest in Chargers football.

It would be easy to simply stop covering the Chargers. Pretend they don’t exist. Move on blissfully ignorant of the worst ownership in North American professional sports sitting 100 miles up the interstate. But there are still people who care and will make the trip so that’s simply not an option. We are going to continue to cover the Chargers because there is still an interest in San Diego.

Technically the stadium is reachable on a tank of gas and several fans have said they are going to travel from San Diego to Carson to see the team play in person. We cannot simply ignore the folks that want Chargers news.

HOWEVER … the tone of that coverage can certainly change.

Admittedly, I was one of the biggest Chargers homers out there. I’m a fan, just like all of you are (or were) so I praised them when they did well and ripped them when they didn’t. I am hurt by their betrayal, just like you are. But with a few exceptions I tried to stay as close to the middle of the road as I could. Journalistic integrity and all.

But this is a different situation so what do you say we take off the gloves off?

That is what my friend and colleague Frank Cusumano did in St. Louis. When the Rams left last year he really let them have it, as often as possible, and earned legions of new fans for telling it like it is, stopping just short of calling Rams COO Kevin Demoff a scumbag. He spoke for St. Louis and people connected with that. There will be a lot of hate watching going on this year and I’ll be a part of it.

For the 2017 season I will be covering the Chargers. Given the response of the good people of America’s Finest City, it will not be with a lack of bias. This Thursday when the NFL Draft starts and the Chargers make their first pick we will be telling you all about it; and how Dean Spanos will probably mess up the season again by tightening his purse strings instead of paying for premium talent.

Y’all are upset. Me, too. Let’s all together let the franchise leaders know just how stupid they were to leave this wonderful town. Who’s with me?

Contact Us