The San Diego Chargers appear to be the front-runner to relocate to Los Angeles this offseason, and the team will leave behind a lot of unhappy fans if that happens. Many of those fans have tattoos showing their support for the franchise that has called San Diego home since 1961.
If the Chargers move, some fans with team-inspired ink are going to want to treat their artwork as though it pays tribute to an ex-lover. Michael Speaker, the manager of Tattoo Laser Removal Clinic in San Diego, is bracing himself for that.
“There are so many things that people want off of them: exes’ names, fairies, skulls, job-stopper tattoos, which are in the neck and hands,” Speaker told Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “There’s plenty of regret out there. … Whether it’s an ex-wife or an ex-team, we take it off. That’s the patient’s desire.”
As Speaker explained to Gehlken, the yellow and powder blue colors on many Chargers-inspired tattoos make them difficult to remove. Laser removal requires many treatments over a long span of time. Legendary Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson (whose ink is shown above) can safely keep his tattoo, but others like 29-year-old Carlos Rodriguez are planning to have their tattoos altered if the Chargers skip town.
“I’ll add the year they got to San Diego and the year they left,” Rodriguez said. “It’ll have those two dates on it. My uncle Rudy Ortega has two big lightning bolts on his forearms. He’s going to do the same.”
Most people will likely make adjustments to their tattoos or keep them as throwback tributes. But if there are Chargers fans out there who are as rabid as this guy, the move to L.A. is going to require some serious thought.
