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Ugh, can't read any of the Union/Trib links, they want me to sign up for a subscription. -
Just use private browsing. Every time you close and reload the cookies clear and you're good for about another 15 articles.Originally posted by Savage Lizard View PostComment
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The Chargers are moving to Los Angeles without radio broadcaster and former longtime center Nick Hardwick, who said Wednesday he lost interest in the job once the Spanos family pulled the team from San Diego last week.
“I have no interest in the Los Angeles Chargers,” Hardwick said. “It’s not a job that I have and am turning down. It’s just a job that I’m not interested in.”
Hardwick last year joined the Chargers’ radio broadcast team on a one-year contract as the partner to play-by-play man Josh Lewin.
The former center, a Chargers draftee in 2004 and starter on six of San Diego’s playoff teams, said he has had no discussions with the team about returning, but considers it a moot point due to the team’s relocation after 56 years in San Diego.
“I was doing the job because of my passion about the ball club and my passion about being the conduit to San Diego and the San Diegans who followed the Chargers,” he said. “As a former San Diego Charger turned into the biggest San Diego Chargers fan, it was a very special opportunity. But, the moment they left town, I’m no longer a Chargers fan.”
Another sign he is not returning: Hardwick has criticized how the Spanoses handled the team’s departure from San Diego.
He said Wednesday he also has hard feelings about a lack of support he received from team operatives when he campaigned for the team’s stadium initiative, Measure C, in 2015-16.
Popular with Chargers players and fans, Hardwick had transitioned into multiple pro-Chargers roles following his retirement after the 2014 season.
Back then, in a show of support with the team’s top bosses, he posted a pro-Spanos “wallpaper” photograph on his Twitter page.
Posing for the photo on a balcony at Chargers Park were Hardwick, his wife, Jayme, Chargers Owner-Chairman Dean Spanos, President of Football Operations John Spanos and President of Business Operations A.G. Spanos.
Hardwick would join not only the Chargers broadcast team but the franchise’s digital-media operation and the talk-show lineup with the franchise’s flagship radio station, 1360-AM, where he still works.
On behalf of Measure C, an initiative that sought $1.15 billion in tax money toward a downtown stadium, Hardwick lobbied in public appearances at the targeted East Village site and elsewhere.
Afforded hindsight, he said Wednesday that he doubted the Spanoses’ enthusiasm for the project matched his own.
“I was essentially the mascot to try to get a stadium done here,” he said. “Every time they wanted somebody to speak, because they weren’t willing to do it themselves, I was the guy they paraded out there to speak and try to rally their support.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “I felt like a used item. For one, I would go out there and talk on their behalf and pump up the ballot measure and how it was such a good thing for San Diego; but, on the back end of that, there was never any information given to me about where we are along the way.
“Looking back on it,” he said, “I was almost their guise, almost their cover on the way out of town. I’m embarrassed almost that I was part of it. I’m not embarrassed that I tried to keep the Chargers in San Diego, but to participate in that ballyhoo, it rubs me wrong now.
“I felt like I was preaching more on behalf of Measure C than they were, the family that was going to get the most benefit from this,” he said. “I was not getting a dollar from this.”
Hardwick said a similar dearth of clear, forthright communication from the Spanoses and the team’s stadium consultants was also evident in the team’s announced departure from San Diego last week.
“There was no communication (to Chargers fans) on the exit process,” he said of a decision that was made known by an ESPN report quoting unidentified sources. “It was like the last 56 years never happened. And, for me, that’s really unfortunate, that they forgot who built their business, who has sustained their family, who has turned their ($48.3 million, original investment in the team) into well over ($2 billion), who has allowed family member after family member to come in and have jobs that they may not have had in any other (NFL) organization. To me, the entitlement is staggering.”
As Hardwick saw it, Chargers fans deserved a better farewell than an L.A.-centric statement from Dean Spanos posted on the team web site the morning after the ESPN report came out.
The Spanos family accrued wealth, he said, “on the back of blue-collar San Diegans, and they weren’t even shown the common decency of a press conference. (The Spanoses) wouldn’t even stand up and answer tough questions of why you’re going to leave, like people wouldn’t understand the economics.”
Reasoning that “a paycheck is not good enough for me to give up my time” with his family that includes two boys, Hardwick, 35, said he will pursue other interests.
Yet, he will continue to root for Chargers players, notably longtime friend Philip Rivers.
“I really want Rivers to go out the way he should go out,” he said. “I care about the guys on that ball club. They are all really good guys and they play so hard.
“I hope they go up there, and (ownership) gives them as much money as they can so they can provide the guys who play for the team the proper resources to help them win. Because, other organizations are doing that.”Comment
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"The entitlement is staggering"Forget it Donny you're out of your element
Shut the fuck up DonnyComment
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I have even more respect now for Nick Hardwick. IMO, he is one of the few personalities associated with the Chargers who could have become popular in LA. He was the best radio color commentator I remember in San Diego and I think one of the TV networks will snap him up. Good on ya Nick.Comment
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A man with principles. Kudos to Nick.Comment
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Truth:
Last night I had a talk with a long time friend/mentor and fellow San Diego Charger fan. This is after I wrote a post proclaiming that rooting for the LA Chargers is what Dean wants and justifies the move. Last week, I also changed my handle to proclaim my anti-LA stance...
After writing my aforementioned post and then reading Blazing Bolt and Richs response in that thread, I spoke with my long time friend.
I started to step off my soap box and see it from a different angle... Then I read this post w/Hardwick taking a stance and my outlook trends towards the anti fan again...
Could there be a spot for a fan that has no idea what to do? A spot for a person who in the end really wants Rivers and Gates to finish on top, but wants no success for the ownership group? I know but one way to be a fan and that is ALL-IN.
Torn to say the least and feel a lil hypocritical as well.
In the scheme of life this should mean nothing...but somehow it really does!
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Wish they would have gone full SoCal...its not too late!
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkLast edited by TABF; 01-19-2017, 09:23 AM.Comment
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Nick is the man.Comment
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WE all are fans of players, especially PR and Gates. But these guys are getting paid by the millions as professionals so don't cry for them. No need to root against them personally, but they made their decision and it's based on the almighty $, which is ok because that's the business they are in.Originally posted by TABF View Post
Us fans have a right to be disgruntled and take it out on the team. Sorry PR, I won't root against you personally but if you throw that pick 6 to lose I will be happy. Not for your stumble but because that's the seat I sit in now.Comment
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That spot is this board here that Fleet and the rrst of our friends have built. thepowderblues.com Visit both sides, it's good for us.Dean Spanos Should Get Ass Cancer Of The Ass!
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That spot is this board here that Fleet and the rest of our friends have built. thepowderblues.com Visit both sides, it's good for us.Originally posted by TABF View PostDean Spanos Should Get Ass Cancer Of The Ass!
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