Stories
Of Ball and Bus
By Noel Gallego | Published Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009
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The Chargers’ 31-23 win over the Philadelphia Eagles led National City police to close off some streets on Sunday, November 16, at about 5 p.m. Fans cruising the streets had Chargers flags waving and horns honking. Police cars with flashing lights blocked off Highland Avenue. Several bus routes were diverted and many riders were upset.
“Why did you have to shut the street down? I needed to catch that bus — 929!” shouted Maria Santiago while confronting one of the National City police officers.
“Too much cruising is going on, so we shut the streets down,” responded the officer. “That bus could have gone through our blockade.”
“Don’t feel too bad,” said Aziz Jabbar who was on the corner of Plaza and Highland. “On certain weekends [some people] gather over there at the Walmart parking lot and have all kinds of fighting. Tonight the cops didn’t want anything like that to happen. I normally take the route 962 or the 955. Those had to get diverted too!”
Drivers of cruising cars were eventually told to move on to avoid getting arrested. After an hour, the streets were reopened at around 6 p.m.
I see the homoerotic Powder Blue Chargeless are out of the closet early this year. It's ok. They'll be back in about this time in two months and all the queer Chargeless fans will be drowning their sorrows at neighborhood dive bars like they do every year.
Sandy Eggo has only won 13 games out of 49 played in Denver if it's any consolation on Sunday. ;-D That's less than 25% for you windowlickers who still think they got a snowball's chance in Hell of winning.
By PistolPete 12:41 p.m., Nov 19, 2009 > Report it
Charger fans are happy because of the recent string of wins recently, but they can have parties where the streets don't get blocked off. People have to be able to get around.
By Microsoft92114 12:47 p.m., Nov 19, 2009 > Report it
Well it's great that the Chargers have another chance at getting to the playoffs. My hubbie has been praying a lot lately and maybe his prayers will get answered this year. You never know. Keep up the good work.
By mh91945 2:48 p.m., Nov 21, 2009 > Report it
That's less than 25% for you windowlickers who still think they got a snowball's chance in Hell of winning.
By PistolPete
============================
Windowlickers-I like it!
The Chargers have had the most incredible run of good luck, combined with the bad luck of the Bronco's, over the last 2 seasons that it amazes me.
What were the chances last year of the Chargers getting into the playoffs with 4 games to go and down by 3 games??? Same goes for the last 5 weeks of this season.
Amazing.
By SurfPuppy619 3:20 p.m., Nov 21, 2009 > Report it
The joke's on the Chargeless and their fans though. 1963 was a VERY long time ago.
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j184/carlsbadboltfan/threadfail.jpg
By PistolPete 3:29 p.m., Nov 21, 2009 > Report it
...once again, how is it that hosting a professional football team makes our city a BETTER place?
Can we get the Chargers to reimburse National City police for their wasted time that was solely caused by this sports entertainment company...maybe there's a criminal or civil suit available under "attractive nuisance" so National City can sue the Spanos family for their expenses?
Any lawyers out there, or just football fanatics?
By Fred_Williams 7 p.m., Nov 21, 2009 > Report it
Well, the Chargers won again. Did they close down the streets?
By Foster75 8:56 a.m., Nov 23, 2009 > Report it
Another win by the Chargers makes my day! Hope they have a chance at the SuperBowl this season.
By Foster75 8:32 a.m., Nov 30, 2009 > Report it
I search your entire site for Charger article updates for November 29 and didn't find any. Maybe you can go to the games, Noah, and send in a report after the game. It seems like SDReader doesn't have an up to date sport writer!
By Foster75 8:38 a.m., Nov 30, 2009 > Report it
Uh, Foster, maybe the Reader doesn't emphasize sports because it's both well-covered elsewhere and it's just NOT important.
What is it with alleged adults obsessed with watching athletic young men playing with their oddly deformed balls and patting each other on the butt? Is there anything more homoerotic than watching professional football?
By Fred_Williams 7:59 p.m., Nov 30, 2009 > Report it
Ah, Fred, come on, there isn't anything inherently wrong with sports, in general. When I was younger, I loved playing baseball, football, and basketball. Heck, I played in organized baseball well into my thirties. It's great fun.
Professional sports gives amateurs something to shoot for. Plus, it's entertaining, and entertainment makes people happy. Some people enjoy the opera, others like to follow sports. I listen to sports on the radio all of the time, it's great background noise and mostly innocuous.
The problem with adequately "covering" sports in the Reader is that the articles have to be turned in so far ahead of the publication date. It limits the writer's ability to be current, which is apparently quite important to sports fans. They want to read about yesterday's game, not something two weeks old. It's certainly understandable.
This could easily be remedied in the staff blogs section of the online version of the Reader.
By refriedgringo 8:45 p.m., Nov 30, 2009 > Report it
Never heard of a single riot after an opera, Refried. Or a chess match...or a ballet.
Culture doesn't tend to attract violence.
Professional sports, as can be seen in the above article where streets were closed, routinely produce public disorder...and worse.
There's no comparison.
The contrast goes further. Investments in arts tend to make cities wealthier. Investments in sports don't.
So who gets the fattest public subsidies today in San Diego? Not the opera or ballet...but professional sports.
I think historically the influence of political and religious patronage on the arts has been negative. So I'd like the government out of opera and museums too, even though there's a return on the investment.
Government has absolutely NO business wasting public money on sports where the true long term outcomes are mostly negative. The shameful intertwining of the sports and politics scam is a corrupt ploy to win support from the hoi polloi (bread and circuses) while benefiting campaign benefactors.
Just keep people distracted with sports and religion. Maybe it helps take away the pain of seeing our country raped.
Best,
Fred
By Fred_Williams 2:13 a.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
Why Fred, you've yet to go to a good chess match! Hell, we torch parked cars and everything! Q - E7 : Checkmate! Oh holy crap, the crowd goes wild!!!
"Investments in arts tend to make cities wealthier. Investments in sports don't."
Actually, I would disagree with that statement. I'm not telling you that professional sports aren't often subsidised, but the arts are more subsidised, as a percentage of revenue to expense. Don't get me wrong, I really love the symphony. Shostakovich is my fav, apparently I missed his work recently in San Diego, very disappointing.
About sports, you're the traveller. Let's say you're in Italy. You just try taking soccer away from those guys. You wanna see violence? Holy hell. Fred, people love these diversions, these other reasons to live. Why take it away from them?
By refriedgringo 2:28 a.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
"On 25 August 1830, after a special performance at the Brussels opera in celebration of William's birthday, there was a riot, quickly followed by risings elsewhere in the country."
Read more: Belgian Revolution - Causes of the Revolution, Opera riot, Ten Days Campaign, European Powers, Independent Belgium http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.c...>
"New sport combines boxing and chess"
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91V3HBO1&show_article=1
By Duhbya 4:45 a.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
This just in:
"The ballet performance that sparked a riot"
http://www.utexas.edu/opa/blogs/culturalcompass/2009/11/10/the-ballet-performance-that-sparked-a-riot/
;>)
By Duhbya 4:49 a.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
You beat me to it, Duhbya! I think Hugo's Hernani, or something by Alfred de Musset might have started tomato riots in theatre too, upon first performance ;)
By SDaniels 8:23 a.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
It's that 3 hour time thing, SD.
By Duhbya 8:37 a.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
Political manipulation of arts provokes outraged citizens to revolt...not the sole reason for the revolt, just the last symbolic straw on the camel's back. Don't blame it on the opera.
If the opera itself were that shocking to the audiences' sensibilities, it would have gotten the reaction of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, with the sacrificial ballerina dancing herself to death on stage.
Seems like Stravinsky was the Johnny Rotten of his day. His music was described as a "nightmare of noise and eccentricity". Conservative audiences hated it. Today he's revered. Conservatives do tend to oppress culture they dislike. San Diego punk shows in the 80's were frequently shut down by fearful police, nervous the fans might be violent. It's one of the reasons San Diego has never truly developed its potential as a musical scene.
So, yes it's true. Even the arts can, very rarely, provoke or serve as an excuse for violence. But we all know that sports provokes this kind of reaction so frequently that most of the time it's not even news.
Look at this story. If a rock concert ended with streets blocked, fans blocking the road, half of them wearing black t-shirts with the band's logo...it would be national news. The promoters would be arrested and charged. The band would be banned from playing in neighboring cities. It's tour might be cancelled.
But when it's a sports team, which is a travelling entertainment and merchandizing business not unlike U2 or Madonna, the rules are somehow different. They get a free pass.
Imagine rioting Madonna fans trashing the city after a winning concert...or, after the big show, Bono thanking Jesus for his victory, while out of control U2 fans overturn police cars.
Why the double standard?
There's no need to Google "sports riots" because all of us can name a half dozen famous incidents from the top of our heads.
Why don't the ones who make a profit selling sports entertainment ever seem to be held responsible for damage their rioting fans cause? If Madonna's fans regularly engaged in drunken fistfights in the stands, battled Brittney's fans in the streets, and demanded public subsidies for her shows...well, we'd all be a bit angry at Madonna, huh?
Why aren't we the slightest bit annoyed at the owners of the sports teams?
This is public policy, not a question of enjoying music or football. There is an obvious government policy of unequal application of the laws...isn't there?
Best,
Fred
By Fred_Williams 8:16 p.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
"But when it's a sports team, which is a travelling entertainment and merchandizing business not unlike U2 or Madonna, the rules are somehow different. They get a free pass."
Didn't seem to affect these guys too adversely.
http://www.crowdsafe.com/cafe/who20.html
Look, I'm in total agreement with you on the obscene behavior of, and catering to, most sports owners. It will be one of our most embarrassing and offensive legacies. But where would one go to even begin to address these issues? The Reader? City Council? PSA's? Tailgate protests? (Talk about riots!) I believe there are many more folks than we might realize who are indeed annoyed by the costly antics of these power-crazed charlatans. Refer to the time-honored "elephant in the room" idiom at this point.
By Duhbya 5 a.m., Dec 2, 2009 > Report it
"Didn't seem to affect these guys too adversely." Which guys?
By russl 11:32 a.m., Dec 2, 2009 > Report it
I agree. That was clumsy editing on my part. I meant to paste this comment:
" If a rock concert ended with streets blocked, fans blocking the road, half of them wearing black t-shirts with the band's logo...it would be national news. The promoters would be arrested and charged. The band would be banned from playing in neighboring cities. It's tour might be cancelled."
These guys: The Who. They played the following night in Buffalo, by the way.
http://www.crowdsafe.com/taskrpt/
By Duhbya 3:30 p.m., Dec 2, 2009 > Report it
Not a like comparison. People getting trampled due to atrocious and outdated crowd-control methods don't equate with fans and hooligans flooding the streets after a game and willfully causing trouble.
By russl 4:05 p.m., Dec 2, 2009 > Report it
You are correct, of course, russl. While intended to be tongue-in-cheek, it was a very poor choice on my part. The sub-text of my original message (#19) conveys the actual point I was attempting to make.
By Duhbya 3:29 a.m., Dec 3, 2009 > Report it
We can see that there are riots or some other crazy activities in all types of events. It's not only football. My hubbie can attest to that because he gets rowdy at football games but he gets rowdy at parties, the beach and even at the library. You never know, there is a first time for everything under the sun.
By mh91945 3:23 p.m., Dec 5, 2009 > Report it
People can get rowdy no matter where they are but fortunately there are ways to try to make sure they don't affect anyone else with the crazy activities. We get rowdy when we are out in nature and no one else is around.
By JFoster 3:47 p.m., Dec 6, 2009 > Report it