By Vincent Bonsignore
ANAHEIM – You would have thought the search expedition involved finding Bigfoot, the way people have been carrying on about the actual existence of Chargers fans in and around their new home in Los Angeles.
A Chargers fan base north of San Diego, you say? Might as well go look for D.B. Cooper.
This is Rams country.
Heck, even the Raiders have a foothold that stretches all the way from Santa Barbara to Riverside.
All true. All valid.
As for the Chargers?
If you listen to the talk on Twitter, the Van Nuys freshman football team has a bigger fan base. A scary reality that was about to slap the Chargers upside their head upon leaving their San Diego home of 56 years for disinterested L.A., which doesn’t give a rip about the new kid in town and never will.
Or so the narrative goes.
So imagine the surprise upon stepping foot into Downtown Disney on Thursday and walking face-first into a wall of fans decked out in powder blue Chargers jerseys and hats and hoodies and T-shirts.
Real live season-ticket holders, no less. And beyond excited to usher in the Chargers’ new era in Los Angeles.
There had to be a mistake, right?
Maybe they bused them in from San Diego, I initially thought.
Or did I get so caught up monitoring the NFL draft that I blew right past my Anaheim freeway exit and ended up in Escondido?
Nope, I confirmed, taking a long looking around. Disneyland was to my right. And a few feet to my left was the ESPN Zone.
I was in Downtown Disney, all right.
But … but …
Actual Chargers fans?
Seriously
“We’ve been here the whole time,” laughed David Michael, a 33-year-old lifelong Chargers fan from Long Beach. “We’re here and we’re strong. People will see that.”
Imagine that.