# San Diego "Chargers"? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 24, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179 "2008-11-24T02:36:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/1 "2008-11-24T02:36:38Z")
Okay, I’m not a sports fan, and I can be a little slow on the uptake. But all these years being marginally aware of the Chargers, I’ve thought (assumed) their name referred to a stallion. Now I finally become aware of the lightning bolt on their helmets. 😕 So how the hell (it’s okay to say “hell” in a sports thread) did they get the name? What’s football git to do with electricity? I know I could look it up, but I prefer to have my igrorance fought by hairy-chested fans. 😃 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/2 "2008-11-24T02:42:15Z")
You are more correct than you know, grasshopper. [Behold enlightenment!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ChargersAFLLogo.PNG) ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/3 "2008-11-24T03:06:28Z")
Hey, it beats being named after a[small non-carnivorous bird](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Cardinals). ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/4 "2008-11-24T03:37:54Z")
> [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](#): > > You are more correct than you know, grasshopper. > > [Behold enlightenment!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ChargersAFLLogo.PNG) Probably because you’ve already got the Broncos and the Colts, I can see why they’d emphasize the lightning bolt rather than the horse to stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/5 "2008-11-24T04:04:22Z")
From the [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_Chargers) article on the San Diego Chargers > [@](#): > > The Chargers’ original owner was hotel heir Barron Hilton, son of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton…Hilton sold the Chargers to a group headed by Eugene Klein and Sam Schulman in August 1966. In his book [First Down and a Billion](http://www.amazon.com/First-Down-Billion-Business-Football/dp/0312909292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227499252&sr=8-1) to go Klein stated that Hilton was launching The Diner’s Club credit card at about the same time as he bought into the fledgling football team. Diner’s Club was/is a charge card, hence the Chargers. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/6 "2008-11-24T04:16:05Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > Hey, it beats being named after a[small non-carnivorous bird](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Cardinals). The Cardinals are actually named after their uniform color. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/7 "2008-11-24T11:44:36Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The Cardinals are actually named after their uniform color. The football Cardinals? or the baseball Cardinals? ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/8 "2008-11-24T13:17:30Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > Hey, it beats being named after a[small non-carnivorous bird](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Cardinals). And the Baltimore Ravens are named after a [poem](http://www.profootballhof.com/history/team.jsp?franchise_id=3). I’d love to root for the New Jersey Howl. Or the Red Wheelbarrows! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/9 "2008-11-24T13:57:37Z")
> **[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_Wednesday_F.C.#Name_origins_and_nicknames)** > > Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, that will compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football, following promotion from the 2022–23 EFL League One. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of The Wednesday Cricket Club (itself formed in 1820), they were known as The Wednesday Football Club until 1929. > Wednesday is one of the oldest football clubs in the world of any code, and the second-oldest p... Sheffield Wednesday are the only English (Football) League club with a day of the week in their name. The club was initially a cricket club named The Wednesday Cricket Club after the day of the week when they played their matches. The footballing side of the club was established to keep the team together and fit during the winter months. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/10 "2008-11-24T14:58:45Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > The football Cardinals? or the baseball Cardinals? Both, actually. It’s sad, though, that the football Cardinals took the name because they bought second-hand uniforms from the University of Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/11 "2008-11-24T15:36:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The Cardinals are actually named after their uniform color. You think if they did that, they’d use a tree as a mascot. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/12 "2008-11-24T15:44:07Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > Hey, it beats being named after a[small non-carnivorous bird](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Cardinals). When the franchise relocated, they should have renamed themselves the Arizona [Pyrrhuloxias](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhuloxia)… > [@RickJay](#): > > The Cardinals are actually named after their uniform color. That would be the Stanford Cardinal. [Yes singular not plural] ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/13 "2008-11-24T16:20:14Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > From the [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_Chargers) article on the San Diego Chargers In his book [First Down and a Billion](http://www.amazon.com/First-Down-Billion-Business-Football/dp/0312909292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227499252&sr=8-1) to go Klein stated that Hilton was launching The Diner’s Club credit card at about the same time as he bought into the fledgling football team. Diner’s Club was/is a charge card, hence the Chargers. Hmmm. According to the wiki article on the history of The Chargers: > [@](#): > > Gerald Courtney of Hollywood, CA won an expenses-paid trip to Mexico City and Acapulco for submitting “Chargers” in name-the-team contest. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/14 "2008-11-24T20:23:38Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > It’s sad, though, that the football Cardinals took the name because they bought second-hand uniforms from the University of Chicago. What a bunch of [Maroons!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Maroons) ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/15 "2008-11-24T20:50:33Z")
Hm, being non-native-English-speaking, I’m surprise you write “the Cardinals _ **are** _…”, as in the Wiki article: \*The Cardinals \*\*are \*_the oldest professional American football club in the United States._ I would have thought that “The Cardinals” is a team, not a bunch of birds, or at least some guys in a team, but then again, what the hell do I know? Or, as we say in Sweden: _Vafan vet jag?_ (The OP said it was OK to say “hell” in a sports thread.) ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/16 "2008-11-24T21:26:10Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > Hm, being non-native-English-speaking, I’m surprise you write “the Cardinals _ **are** _…”, as in the Wiki article: \*The Cardinals \*\*are \*_the oldest professional American football club in the United States._ I would have thought that “The Cardinals” is a team, not a bunch of birds, or at least some guys in a team, but then again, what the hell do I know? [Collective nouns](http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/collectivenoun.htm) can go either way depending on context. ETA: [Here](http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/english/2005/07/team_names_plur.html) is a short explanation of handling team names in particular. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/17 "2008-11-24T21:35:08Z")
Shoot, missed the edit window. According to [this](http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/plurals.htm), team names have their very own rule. > [@](#): > > The names of sports teams, on the other hand, are treated as plurals, regardless of the form of that name. We would write that “The Yankees have signed a new third baseman” and “The Yankees are a great organization” (even if we’re Red Sox fans) and that “For two years in a row, the Utah Jazz have attempted to draft a big man.” When we refer to a team by the city in which it resides, however, we use the singular, as in “Dallas has attempted to secure the services of two assistant coaches that Green Bay hopes to keep.” (This is decidedly not a British practice. In the UK, the city or country names by which British newspapers refer to soccer teams, for example, are used as plurals — a practice that seems odd and inconsistent to American ears: “A minute’s silence will precede the game at Le Stadium today, when Toulouse play Munster, and tomorrow at Lansdowne Road, when Leinster attempt to reach their first European final by beating Perpignan” [report in the online London Times].) > > In a rare dictum-making mood, William Safire (in No Uncertain Terms, 2003) declares that pluralized names like Packers and Yankees should take plural verbs (obviously), but that team names like the Jazz, the Heat, the Lightning, the Connecticut Sun should take singular verbs. This dictum seems to prevail in Safire’s own New York Times: "The [Miami] Heat, typical of its resilience at home, was far from through. " But just about everywhere else in the world of sports reporting, this is not the case. Even in the Times, an AP report asserts that “The Heat, down 2-0 in the East Conference semifinal series, have won 16 straight home games.” The Boston Globe says that “the [New England] Revolution are reestablishing their reputation for resourcefulness and spirited play.” and “the Heat were in it in the first half.” The Hartford Courant writes that “When the Connecticut Sun play an exhibition game tonight in Houston, coach Mike Thibault will have two more players.” Finally, NBA Media Ventures writes that “The Utah Jazz were expected to follow the rebuilding mode… .” [All quotations are from May 10th and 20th, 2004, online sources.) ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/18 "2008-11-24T22:25:18Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Both, actually. > > It’s sad, though, that the football Cardinals took the name because they bought second-hand uniforms from the University of Chicago. The Bears also owe their Orange and Blue to the University of Illinois, though there’s a bit of debate as to whether the first uniforms were secondhand Illini unis or if there were on homage to Halas’s alma mater. The popular rumor is that Halas was famously cheap and got the original uniforms for free when the U of I upgraded theirs in the late teens, however the surviving Halas family who own the Bears don’t publicly admit this and claim he just “liked Orange and Blue”. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-diego-chargers/474179/19 "2008-11-24T23:05:06Z")
I really think Arizona should consider changing their mascot. Perhaps call themselves the Arizona Phoenix and have uniforms that are red, orange, and yellow?