San Diego Chargers Retain Norv Turner, A.J. Smith and Mediocrity

In a mildly stunning move, Chargers owner Dean Spanos has announced that he will retain both head coach, Norv Turner, and general manager, A.J. Smith for the 2012 season, according to USA Today.

Recent speculation involved talk that both would be fired and replaced in an all-out rebuilding effort for a franchise that has missed the playoffs in the last two years.

Now, the Chargers will go into the 2012 season with the same front office and will probably achieve the same results.

This, however, is nothing new or different or surprising for the San Diego Chargers.  The Chargers have suffered for the same problem they always have:  They’re a small market team with mediocre goals.

This Chargers franchise that doesn’t know how to win consistently and at a high level.  Every few years they‘ll make a run, but at the end of the day they‘re just a few steps above the lowly Arizona Cardinals—both have been to and lost the same amount of Super Bowls.  

The Chargers have had a rich history as an AFL team.  A mild list of Hall of Famers include Dan Fouts and Charlie Joyner.  Eventually that list will include LaDainian Tomlinson and Junior Seau.

However, the San Diego Chargers have never been known as champions, winners or true blue contenders—other than for a few fleeting moments in the 1970s and 2000s.  Even their appearance in Super Bowl XXIX wound up a proverbial flash in the pan: The team seemed to have lucked their way into the big dance only to be slaughtered by San Francisco 49ers.

The Chargers always seem to be off a beat.  Whether it’s missing a defense in the Fouts era, coaching blunders during the Schottenheimer regime or debilitating injuries to top talent in the first year of Norv Turner’s tenure, the San Diego Chargers always seem to be one step behind.

San Diego is a sparkling outpost at the end of California.  It’s a military town full of bright shinning faces, dazzling views and famous beaches.  It’s a town that’s permanently on vacation.  Paradise on earth.  Shorts and flip-flops all year round.  

It is also a city that has never had a professional sports championship.  Both the Padres and the Chargers have no rings, and the Clippers moved to Los Angeles to become virtually useless (until this season).

Yet, the fans still pour out in droves to watch their beloved Chargers play on Sunday.  They hardly complain beyond a mild whimper and they seem to be easily duped into believing their team is well-equipped with a championship roster.

In short, San Diego Charger fans don’t “boo”.  Instead, they hang onto that most dastardly ally of bad ownership: hope.

But where will that hope and loyalty be if and when the San Diego Chargers become the Los Angeles Chargers?

Will the fans still make excuses for their misplaced fanaticism in the same manner that the Chargers ownership makes excuses for the franchise’s long-term fundamental lack of success?

Or will both sides be too busy picking out the sand from between their toes to notice or care?