Well, different cities give their heart and soul to certain sports and teams, where one city might be totally support their football team while another city might totally support their baseball team. In St. Louis, its all about the Cardinals and in Indiana, its all about basketball. SD has always been more of a football city, so I wouldn't use the fact that NBA teams left as indication that SD has no fan base for football. The reason SD Chargers have had friction with the City is because they want a new stadium, but the city feels burned after a earlier deal with the Chargers where the city guaranteed to buy any seats unsold. And, after that deal, the Chargers struggled so there was more unsold seats that the city needed to buy. Like all teams, when the team is doing extremely well, then everybody jumps on that bandwagon. Under that deal where the city bought up any unsold tickets, SD also invested tens of millions of dollars to Qualcom Stadium for the Chargers but now the Chargers want their own football stadium where it could have more revenue from luxury boxes. Not that that's unresonable for the Chargers to want that since NFL teams really need that revenue from luxury boxes to compete. From the Chargers POV, the best financial move would be to move north and fill up the football vacum in LA. Having said all that, its not a good sign that the Chargers had to restrict tickets to only Southern California residents. If there was a real groundswell of support for the team, then that shouldn't have been a issue.
I actually saw it on an Auburn board posted as a serious post. It's interesting. I think Saban would take it if they went after him had he not just signed at Alabama. But who knows, if he's not statisfied with the staff he's had to settle with and the recruiting is not going well I guess anything is possible. His reputation has really taken some hits as we know. I don't rule anything else these days.
Sure, Marty didn't drop the passes or fumble the ball. His job is to coach and put his players in a position to win the game, and he clearly got outcoached. He made several horrendous calls, which could have decided the game. The Chargers had 9 Pro Bowl players, and were clearly the more talented team. There was the decision to forego a field goal, and instead try to go for it on fourth and eleven. I could see going for it when its fourth and one or two, and there's a good chance you'll pick up the yards. But, fourth and eleven! If the Chargers went for the field goal and made it, that would have been three points in a game where the Chargers lost by three points. And, then there was the decision to challenge that play that cost the Chargers a timeout even though it was obvious that there was no way that play would get overturned. That lost timeout was crucial on the Charger's final drive, when they were trying to tie or win the game. In the playoffs, Marty is a loser. It took the greatness of Joe Montana, QB for ND, to be able to overcome Marty and actually win a game in the playoffs. In this game, Marty was so conscious of the poor reputation of Martyball that he overcompensated and proved too anxious with the calls he made. And, this anxiety filtered down to his players as they made uncharacteristic plays they hadn't made all season. You saw this anxiety in some of Marty's poor decisions to go for it on fourth and eleven and to challenge that call. And, you saw it when player tried to return Brady's interception for a TD instead of just falling down on it. Or, how that other player fumbled the punt instead of just falling on it. The players were all too aware of what this game meant to their coach, and tried to do too much. With a lead, how many times did the Chargers hand the ball off to LT, the MVP, in the second half? The guy was unstoppable, and yet the Chargers stopped feeding LT the ball on a consistent basis.
As funny as it would be, this is a rediculous topic. So now we post obvious BS rumors from aubarn boards here for discussion? sheesh...:dis:
I don't have a link, but AJ Smith was spotted at the Birmingham airport late last night...no word on departure time.
bitter ND, You seem to know more about the Chargers than most. After living in San Diego for 10+ years and being a Charger fan for a short time (but not when they played the Saints), I'm well aware of their situation and the overall fan support in the city. There are tons of sports fans in San Diego. The problem is that most are fans of other teams and don't fully support (bleed) the Chargers. (That's why I believe it's not a great sports town.) Remember how many seats (full sections) were covered at the Q during Padres games because they couldn't sell seats. I remember sitting in great seats on the third base line and having a foul ball hit my hand. I couldn't catch it without dropping my drink so I just got up, walked up a few rows and retrieved the ball. There were maybe 4,000 in attendance. The former mayor (the one that reminds me of Blanco) is the one that guaranteed ticket sales for the Chargers. The city eventually paid millions over several years buying unsold tickets. For a city that is currently in the top ten in population, that's pretty lame. It's just strange walking around San Diego and seeing more Cowboys, Yankees, Cubs, Raiders, Patriots, Packers, Astros, etc., etc. attire than Chargers and Padres. Had the Chargers not restricted ticket sales, I'm sure you would've seen many more people pulling for the other team. Regarding your other post...I agree, Marty's an idiot. (at least in post season) Just keep in mind that that he's not coaching junior high football. If the players would've done their job it wouldn't have come down to his mistakes. Also, I'm not sure because I wasn't watching the game religiously but wasn't the FG that he passed on going to be very long and against the wind? I didn't realize this post would attract so much attention. It sounds like there are more people here willing to defend the Chargers than in San Diego! :hihi:
Saban just called me and asked my opinion on the SD job. He is only slightly considering it, I told him SD would be a much better fit than Bama
But, I also think some of the mistakes the players made were influenced by Marty. To combat the perception about MartyBall, Marty was too aggressive and anxious and I think we saw some players played too anxiously, where they tried to do more than they should have. They knew Marty's job was on the line, and they tried to do too much. I think you have to get rid of Marty at this point. Even if you bring him back next season, he'll just be a lame duck coach. SD is a strange city. Its one of the major cities in the US, yet it has a small town inferiority complex. The Padres consider the LA Dodgers to be their main rivals, but I don't think the Dodgers are aware of that. From what I remember, SD is more of a football town, but its more into high school football. (Its always struck me as an incredible waste that SD doesn't have more of a college football presence given all the football talent in SD). I agree that most of the population in SD aren't hardcore fans, who'll stick by the team throught the good times and the bad. But, I was in SD in the late 90s, and I remember when SD was obsessed with the Chargers that year they went to the SB. You couldn't escape it. That's what everybody was talking about. You'd turn on the radio to listein to music, and the DJs were also babbling about the Chargers. If the Chargers do well, they could own that city. The one thing that prevents the city from totally embracing the Chargers again is the feeling that the Chargers are going to leave. Why invest your soul into a team when you know that it's going to move to LA.
