This post sponsored by Prilosec
I'm starting to get concerned, Chargers fans. I'm starting to wonder if we're going to let the Bolts be blacked out at home more often than they aren't.
I was at the Padres game on Saturday, as well as the game last night, and I'm going again tonight. The recurring theme in almost every game I've been to this year is that around the bottom of the 1st you hear whispers through the crowd of "Look at all of those empty seats. Isn't this team in playoff contention?"
(Rant continued after the jump, look for the link below the poll)
Last night I was somewhat heartbroken when Miguel Tejada, after fouling a ball off his leg and seeming legitimately hurt, stepped back into the batter's box and there were only a few people clapping or cheering. The entire stadium should've erupted off of that, or at least a moment later when he got a base hit. I think the crowd was almost too small for a "mob mentality" to kick in, and nobody seemed to want to cheer until the bottom of the 9th.
The Chargers aren't helping themselves to sell tickets. They haven't been a part of the "Victory of the Week" Poll yet. In Week 1 they looked disappointing, so they didn't sell out Week 2. In Week 3 they looked disappointing, and I expect I'll be buying a ticket to see the game this week because it will probably be blacked out again. This is turning into a big, ugly cloud over the Chargers season and seems like it's starting to effect other teams around the league as well.
This leads me to questions I'm not sure I want answers to. Were sports like the housing market? Did we let them build too many stadiums, with too many pricey seats, for it to be sustainable in a down economy? If the Padres are getting 50% attendance during a pennant race against a big-name team like the Cubs, what makes the Chargers think any increase in attendance downtown would last? It seems like the only way to be a recession-proof NFL team is by being in a Top 5 market, so will teams (like the Chargers) be fighting for a chance to move to Los Angeles now?