Chargers Get Something to Cheer About

The San Diego Chargers have sold enough tickets to lift the local television blackout of their home opener on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.
     
The Chargers were in danger of their first regular-season blackout since 2004. Both of their exhibition openers were blacked out, and the team has warned fans that there could be regular-season blackouts.
     
A team spokesman said that the fans bought the tickets -- in past years, blocks of tickets were bought by various corporations in San Diego to help lift the blackout.

The team said 4,000 tickets remain for their game against Miami a week from Sunday.
     
On Thursday, the team received a 24-hour extension on from the NFL because it still had 1,100 tickets unsold.

In other Chargers news on Friday, the team announced that LaDainian Tomlinson was one of three Chargers ruled out of Sunday's home opener against the Baltimore Ravens.
     
The star running back, who sprained his right ankle in Monday night's 24-20 win at Oakland, will miss just the second game of his brilliant career due to injury. The first was in January when a groin injury kept him out of San Diego's playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.
     
Also out are center Nick Hardwick (ankle) and defensive end Travis Johnson (groin). Right guard Louis Vasquez (knee) could also be sidelined, along with linebacker Antwan Applewhite (hamstring) and defensive tackle Jamal Williams (elbow). All three are listed as questionable for Sunday.