Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
NFL supposedly upset with Chargers' move
Thanks Ponzi So it doesn't sound like the move to LA affects any of the taxes? Certainly the Trump presidency could have an effect.— January 22, 2017 6:49 p.m.
NFL supposedly upset with Chargers' move
Well, we all know what 2 things in life are certain (according to Mr. Twain anyway). I was wondering if someone can give me a brief rundown on how all the taxes and the transfer of ownership will occur upon the passing of Alex Spanos and a potential future sale 1) Alex Spanos' death 2) Sale of the Chargers My understanding would be the following - but a lot of you are more knowledgeable so please correct me if I'm wrong. Alex Spanos owns 97% of the Chargers. Upon his death his 4 kids will inherit the team. - Is this correct? - What percentage does each kid get? Is it split 4 ways evenly? - They would each owe 40% of that to Uncle Sam - right? Is that due right away or only upon a sale of the team? If it's due right away how do they estimate the value? - If it is due right away doesn't that basically mean that the Spanos kid HAVE to sell the Chargers as soon as Alex dies? It sounds like they would probably owe close to $1B in total inheritence tax (say the team is 2.5B so 40% is 1B) and I don't think they have anywhere near that much in liquid assets. - Upon a sale of the team there would have to pay income tax on the long term capital gain, right? - How does all of this play into the plan to move to LA? Do they somehow get the cost basis readjusted or some other tax advantage? Are there some tax advantages to the move? Sorry, a whole lot of questions there but I'm curious. I appreciate any insight you guys can provide.— January 22, 2017 4:32 p.m.
NFL supposedly upset with Chargers' move
Maybe we just have different tastes - and I've been known to be biassed and not always rational when it comes to UCLA sports - so take my opinions with a grain of salt.— January 22, 2017 10:39 a.m.
NFL supposedly upset with Chargers' move
I attended one of the UCLA / Wisconsin Rose Bowls. Wisconsin fans were great fans - big supporters of their team but respectful and classy towards their opponents. Hope you had fun!— January 22, 2017 10:12 a.m.
NFL supposedly upset with Chargers' move
The ingress / egress to the Rose Bowl is a bit difficult but Pasadena PD does a great job with traffic control. The seats aren't as comfortable as the modern ones but the scoreboard is great and tailgating at the Rose Bowl is unquestionably excellent - certainly by far the best of any stadium on the West Coast. I doubt if many UCLA fans would want to leave the Rose Bowl.— January 22, 2017 8:21 a.m.
NFL supposedly upset with Chargers' move
Through many of the great articles and insightful comments on this blog I've always pondered what Dean Spanos' strategy was. Spanos' actions often made little sense to me but I've usually thought that there must be some underlying sense to them. I've always believed that any (close to) billionaire would either be really shrewd or at least have some really shrewd and smart people advising him / her. I no longer believe that about Spanos. He is neither shrewd, nor well organized, nor disciplined, nor smart, nor good at dealing with people. He has no management skills at all. He is wealthy because his dad built an empire. If Dean Spanos was not born into wealth he wouldn't have amounted to anything. Set aside ethical issues - what sense do any of Spanos' recent actions make from a business perspective? If he was going to move to LA he should have done it last year. It would have been much less painful for Charger fans and he could have at least made a marketing campaign to get SOME of the SD Charger fans to follow the team in LA. And he could have had an earlier start on competing with the Rams, SC, UCLA for the LA football market. What was the point of the measure C campaign? Did he actually think it had any chance of passing? Did he feel that would make the other NFL owners feel sorry for him and give him money? Did he feel that it would allow him to place all the blame of not getting a stadium built on Faulconer and the hotel industry? He failed completely on all of those. What was the point of waiting until the NFL owners meeting on Jan 11 to announce his decision? Did he really think the other NFL owners were just going to give him $150M because he's such a great guy? Did he not realize how bad the PR of his timing was? He would have been much better off just announcing his intentions after measure C was voted down - at least the pro-stadium subsidy crowd and many Charger fans would have still supported him. I know we only have a fraction of the true stories and behind-the-scenes details and there can always be more to the story than any of us will ever know. But at this point I just can't see any possible explanation for Dean Spanos' strategy and actions of the past year other than Dean is either an idiot or makes decisions based on flawed emotional reasoning or he is horrible at working with people. Probably all 3.— January 21, 2017 3:35 p.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
Thanks JW - I've heard JR use the term many times but I never knew the origin.— January 18, 2017 8:46 a.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
I they'll sell tickets if the price drops enough - just not to Charger fans. I think the recent Steeler and Raider games in San Diego (in which Charger fans were clearly outnumbered) will be the norm for EVERY game in LA.— January 17, 2017 3:29 p.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
It's Jim Rome's slang for "That was really well stated". For some reason - I can't remember all the history - Jim Rome would say "RACK HIM" after a good phone call, then at the end of the show they took the best of the "RACK'd" calls and replay that as the "huge call of the day". I'm saying Jim Rome's piece was really well stated.— January 17, 2017 1:57 p.m.
Today the saddest day ever for Chargers fans
Yes - I think that is how you and I feel.— January 17, 2017 11 a.m.