Super Bowl LII between the NFL defending champions New England Patriots and the NFC champions Philadelphia Eagles will be played this Sunday in Minneapolis.
While San Diego no longer has a professional football team, some football fans in the South Bay still plan to watch the big game.
Bonita resident Walter Smith ,78, was a lifelong Chargers fan, until he said they bailed on him for Los Angeles.
He admits he still watches National Football League games, but no longer pays attention to what the Chargers are doing.
Despite no longer having a team, he said he will continue to watch the Super Bowl because he has not missed one broadcast of the game since its beginnings.
“Of course, I am watching the Super Bowl,” he said. “I’ve seen every Super Bowl since Super Bowl I and I want to keep that streak going.”
Smith said he would like to see the Eagles defeat the Patriots.
Xavier Puente,43, a Washington Redskins fan, said every Super Bowl he gets together with friends and family for a carne asada barbecue.
“For the Super Bowl, we like to turn on the grill and throw whatever meats (they buy) on there,” he said.
Puente, originally from Texas but now resides in Chula Vista, said he is rooting for the underdog Eagles to upset the Patriots.
“I don’t want to see the Patriots win another Super Bowl,” he said. “They have to spread the love.”
Puente said he does not care much for Super Bowl halftime shows or Super Bowl commercials.
He just wants to have a nice time hanging out with friends and family.
Being that Puente is a Redskins fan, he said, he is not upset at the Chargers leaving San Diego and the Chargers moving has no influence on whether or not he watches the Super Bowl.
Puente’s friend Obed ZintZun, 38, said he is not watching the Super Bowl at all because his Kansas City Chiefs are not playing in it.
In fact, he said, he is not even going to Puente’s Super Bowl party.
Others like Ed Springer, of Chula Vista, do not care for football anymore since his home team Chargers left town.
“The NFL left me,” he said. “As a result, I am leaving the NFL.”
His anger towards the Spanos family extends to the NFL players who are taking a knee during the national anthem in protest of police brutality.
“To top it all off, I don’t want to watch these guys who are making millions of dollars to play a game to kneel down to protest during the National Anthem, I don’t need to watch that,” he said,
When asked if he knew who was playing in the Super Bowl he thought it was Patriots and Vikings, not the Eagles.
Springer,69, said that is just an example of how much he has paid attention to the NFL this year.
Springer said he has turned down multiple invitations to Super Bowl parties and said he will find something else to do instead of watching the game on Sunday.
Cynthia Amerson, 27 of Eastlake, also has been boycotting the NFL this year because of the football players’ protest the National Anthem.
Her husband Paul is in the military and she finds the protest to be “disrespectful to those fighting for our country.”
Although she has no plans in watching the Super Bowl, she said she may catch the halftime show which features one of her favorite pop artists Justin Timberlake.
