This Team Makes Me Drink

W ell, all is right with the world: despite going an impressive 9-3 after starting the season losing 4 consecutive games, the Chargers will miss the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.  The Chargers became the laughingstock of the NFL after the team got off to that miserable 0-4 start, highlighted by rookie kicker Younghoe Koo missing two straight game-winning field goals. Poor Koo was promptly savaged by social media as a result, and his football career is likely already over . But that was just the beginning:  Announcers, referees, commentators (mostly just Tony Romo), and even their head coach kept referring to them as the San Diego Chargers.  Every single game at the StubHub Center was invaded by opposing fans, leading Keenan Allen to remark that every home game there felt like "a road game" .  In a Veterans Day tweet, a poor social media intern attempted to crop out the words "San Diego" from a picture, but inadvertently cropped out the...

So the Japansese Babe Ruth, Shoehi Ohtani, collectively disappointed the Padres and the city of San Diego and picked the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim . A lot of fans are rightfully disappointed, bemoaning that in a year where the Chargers lost their soul and chased the money all the way to LA, SDSU basketball missed postseason play for the first time in seemingly forever, Steve Fisher retired, and All-American Rashaad Penny was horrendously ignored in Heisman voting, a snub from Ohtani- one of the most coveted Japanese imports in recent memory- especially feels like another kick to our collective groin. But guys... relax . The calculus for next year doesn't change that much. Ohtani or no Ohtani, the Padres probably still would have endured another losing season. Ohtani would've been a luxury that certainly would have at least somewhat accelerated the rebuild process, but losing out on him to the Angels does not change the fact that we have a promising young core that...