It's Time for San Diego to Finally Get Some Respect

Any San Diego State Aztec fan who remembers actor and comedian Rodney Dangerfield, might be thinking of that line about getting no respect.

That’s what a lot of Aztec fans were twittering and Facebooking about after San Diego State defeated Creighton University and advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament.

Instead of congratulating the Aztecs on making school history by making it to the pinnacle of college basketball, many of the commentators and so-called expert analysts were suggesting that the Aztecs were just lucky…and only won because of a last second foul by their opponent and a mistake with the game clock…and that the better team should have won. 

In case they weren’t noticing, the better team did. In other words, no respect for a San Diego State men’s basketball team that could be the national champions a week from today. 

For San Diego, this is a big deal. We’ve never had a professional championship in any major sport, and San Diego has a reputation as a poor sports town, with teams that lose and teams that we lose, like those two NBA teams decades ago and that NFL team that left us for L-A just a few years ago.

But this week, things are changing.

Not only are the San Diego State Aztecs on the national stage for a shot to win a national championship, but the San Diego Padres open the new season Thursday with the eyes of the baseball world upon them with experts already saying a World Series title for San Diego is very possible.

So, no better time than this week for all of us in San Diego to remember the Aztecs' battle cry, “I believe that we will win.”

(Photo Getty Images)