Fellow fans,
San Diego is a sports town mired in losing.
As a 20-plus year fan of both the Chargers and Padres, I can officially say I am done with both teams. And while sports are a different animal these days, unfortunately both teams are stuck in the same, tired, myopic cycles.
First, a brief note on the Chargers.
Teams have windows. The window for this team is now closed. For good. The team just doesn't have the personnel, despite what the coach and GM will tell you. It did, I repeat did, have the personnel two or three years ago. But not anymore.
Speaking of the coach, Norv Turner is not a leader of men. There are certain things that are a given in life, and one of them is that Norv Turner is not a coach that will lead a team to a Super Bowl. That's just a fact. In that sense, it's not really about the players. The Chargers have a group of fine players, but there is no personality to take control and mold them into a winning unit. And now, the Chargers are likely off to Los Angeles.
I know many fans thought it would be the same in recent years, flip the switch and run off 8 or so wins in a row. But not this year. And it's actually a good thing. It should be a lesson. But it won't do any good.
From Air Coryell and Dan Fouts to Boss Ross, Seau and Humphries, now up to Rivers, Gates and the now-gone LT, many a year have the Chargers been good, but not good enough to take home the Lombardi trophy. And what do we do with winning quarterbacks? We ship them out, so they can go to New Orleans and win their own title. I say god for Brees. And I actually hope LT follows suit and gets his ring.
The Padres?
Where can one start?
While there are older fans than me, I can remember the days of Sixto Lescano, Mario Ramirez, 1984, Marvell Wynne in CF, Greg Harris and Jimmy Jones, Dan Walters, trading for Mike Pagliarulo, Dennis Rasmussen, the great Gwynn, Tempy, Jack Clark, Shane Mack, Benito Santiago, Adam Peterson, Miguel Dilone, the Garv, Bevacqua, Mark Davis, Gary Sheffield, Andy Benes, Lance McCullers, Gene Walter, Timmery Flanster, Bryce Florie, Eddie Williams, James Steele, the Crime Dog, Leon "Bip" Roberts, Joey Hamilton, radio broadcasts with Coleman and Campbell, and Leitner and Chandler, and later, terrible additions such as Rick Monday and Ken Levine, palm trees in the outfield, the orange and blue blueprint for '90s...on and on. (Sorry for being all over the map.)
In came Bruce Bochy and Kevin Towers in the mid-'90s. They brought respectability and semi-consistent winning baseball to San Diego. You could feel in 1995 that the team was on the edge. Sweeping the Dodgers on the last three days of 1996 was awesome. 1997 was disappointing. 1998 was an amazing ride. (And that 2-2 pitch to Tino Martinez was a strike.) The next five years were difficult. And then came the promise of Petco Park.
What's happened since? We've had a handful of decent-enough clubs to get to the playoffs and lose the Cardinals. (Thank heaven for Chris Young, who actually won a game.)
All along, Towers had his hands tied. He put together rosters and pitching staffs, it seems, with duct tape. He didn't have the money to spend to make this team competitive in the current climate of baseball. And make no mistake, it is about payroll and having a decent enough amount to spend on a team to make them competitive, both in terms of free agents and a farm system. Sure, teams like the Devil Rays come along once in a while and get to the dance, but they are the exception.
Meanwhile, unfortunately the Padres did not have a grade-A farm system. I guess this was KT's one flaw. I can remember countless radio interviews with Towers talking about how the farm system was a priority. It was all a bunch of talk. Where were the blue-chip prospects? Sean Burroughs? Matt Bush? Are you kidding me? But, look for yourself. This wasn't just a coincidence, the Padres' picks have equaled a collective of forgettable players for nearly three decades:
espn.go.com/mlb/draft/history/_/team/sdg
But I digress.
Bochy was a victim of all this. I like his style and his demeanor, always have. The guy knows baseball, he knows how to deal with personalities. He has a size-8 head. I think Bruce is a winner. And low and behold, look what he did in San Francisco. He got his ring. Good for him. Good for him. (And good for Flan too.) That could have been the Padres, with some competitive spending, position player prospects and a bit of that elusive baseball magic. Bruce could have steered the Padres to a title, I really believe that.
Bud Black? I don't think so. Bud was a fine pitcher in his day, and is a solid baseball guy. But he doesn't have that mental toughness, the personality to lead a team to the World Series. You can tell by his voice. I am sorry, he's like a current version of Greg Riddoch.
And Jed Hoyer. Sorry for you, Jed. Trading Adrian Gonzalez could not have been easy. But plugging up that gap with Orlando Hudson, Jason Bartlett and Brad Hawpe? Come on, now. Are you fans really going to fall for this? Sure, the Padres have some promising pitching, but this is almost all like the fire sale of 1993 all over again. McGriff and Sheffield gone. Now, Gonzalez gone. Bell will be next too. And in a few years, it will be Latos. This team just cannot keep talented players on its payroll. And It's not fair to the fans either.
How many more years do you want to take of our team being put together with magic dust, band-aids and chewing gum? Garfinkel and Moorad? It's like their answers to questions are scripted. These guys don't want to win a World Series. They want to tread water, and be "competitive."
Through it all, there have been two crown jewels in Padres history. Thank goodness for Tony Gwynn. Gwynn made the last-place teams in years like 1987 and 1994, for example, all well worth it. A consummate pro who played the game in the manner it was meant to be played. I remember listening to the game in 1999 when T got his 3,000 hit in Montreal, and I felt a chill as I thought abut all the great games he had in his career and all the joy he brought me as a fan. Tony, please get healthy. You're the best.
Trevor Hoffman. A man. Though he blew two of the biggest games in Padres history (game 4, 1998; game 163, 2007), he was a beacon of consistency and mental toughness. He saved some big games, and he pretty much owned the hated Dodgers. Trevor should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
San Diego fans, are you okay with just spinning around in this cycle? 2010 was one of those years that was a fluke. The Padres had no business being in the race, but somehow they were. That happens once every decade, if you're lucky. Can you honestly say that 2011 looks bright? And I actually don't blame fans for not showing up to support the Padres in September last year. If you haven't noticed, there's a recession out there. People are out of work. There isn't a lot of disposable income going around.
San Diego is just never going to have a championship team. It's a curse, it's a jinx. It's _________ (you fill in the blank).
I'm done. I've lived through enough with both of these teams. Getting trounced in the Super Bowl. Getting swept by the Yankees. Last-place teams, high expectations and low results. The constant sea of disappointment. We have deserved much better.
There are other things in life, thankfully. Read a book. Play an instrument. Listen to music. Go on a walk. Go to a museum. Learn something new. Put your stock in something that you can control. Because we can't control anything having to do with sports, and it will be more of the same for years to come. (Or perhaps the Chargers will finally win once they go to L.A.)
Is this fun? At times it can be. But being a fan of San Diego sports is like always being a bridesmaid, or worse, getting your heart broken, over and over and over again. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the heartbreak.
Sorry...I just had to get this out of my system.
P.S. Anyone want my Compadres Club card?
