Convenient Rewording

Published: Friday, November 2, 2007 10:31 AM PDT

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Earlier this week, I wrote about how the Chargers' game on Sunday, attended by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to honor firefigthers, was a valued diversion for San Diegans from a week of devastating wildfires.

I compared the Monday morning paper of the Los Angeles Times, covering a region also hit by wildfires but without a pro football franchise, to the tone of coverage in San Diego newspapers and our on-line newspaper, voiceofsandiego.org. The Chargers' game served as a symbol of turning the page and rebuilidng after the wildfires.

I didn't know Monday's LA Times would also include a column suggesting the game shouldn't have been played. Later it was pointed out to me by a reader that the column by Helene Elliott changed the order of a statement from San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders about the stadium being readied for Sunday's game after serving as an evacuation center.

Elliot flip-flopped the order of quotes in Mayor Jerry Sanders' released statement on the topic, which was also posted on Chargers.com.

Oct. 26 release from Mayor Sanders:

Qualcomm Stadium will be ready for NFL football by this weekend. The City will be able to provide sufficient public safety personnel to manage a professional football game without impeding ongoing wildfire recovery efforts. I informed the Chargers late Thursday that should they decide to play their game at Qualcomm this weekend, the Stadium will be ready.

Early Friday morning the Chargers informed me that the NFL has decided to play Sunday’s game as scheduled at Qualcomm Stadium. The Chargers and the Houston Texans will kick off at Qualcomm on Sunday, October 28th at 1:05 pm.

Excerpt from Elliot's column:

The NFL wanted this game to be played here as scheduled, not moved or postponed. Note the phrasing of a news release issued Friday by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders:

"Early Friday morning the Chargers informed me that the NFL has decided to play Sunday's game as scheduled at Qualcomm Stadium. The city will be able to provide sufficient public safety personnel to manage a professional football game without impeding ongoing wildfire recovery efforts."

-- TOM SHANAHAN

2 Comments so far on this story...

Actually, the woman wrote her column before the game was played, as I believe it appeared online last Saturday. I was surprised somebody didn't pull it after it became obvious that the decision to play was an overwhelming success. A columnist is entitled to an opinion, but this had to be one of the most pointless, mean spirited, and flat out wrong columns ever printed. I emailed her words to that effect. Her response was to state, rightly and irrelevantly, that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Posted by JAD | reply to this comment
November 3, 2007 8:06 am

The decisions to evacuate fire refugees on Friday from Qualcomm, to hose down with scarce water into storm drains the areas where people had sheltered, and to say "it became obvious that the decision to play (NFL Chargers football on Sunday) was an overwhelming success" are, in my opinion, shocking and disgraceful. But this is San Diego, so what else can one expect?

Posted by Fed Up | reply to this comment
November 3, 2007 10:29 am

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