Sports in San Diego
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San Diego has several sports venues. The National Football League's San Diego Chargers plays in Qualcomm Stadium, which also houses the NCAA Division I San Diego State Aztecs, as well as local high school football championships. International soccer games and Supercross events take place at Qualcomm where Major League Baseball was once played. Three NFL Super Bowl championships have been held there. Two of college football's annual bowl games are held there: the Holiday Bowl which features a Pac-10 team against a Big-12 team and the Poinsettia Bowl. Balboa Stadium was the city's first stadium, constructed in 1914, where the San Diego Chargers once played. Currently soccer, American football, and track and field are played in Balboa Stadium.
Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres play in Petco Park. The semi-final and final games of the inaugural World Baseball Classic were played there in 2006, and an earlier round of the second WBC was held there in 2009. Some soccer and rugby events occasionally take place in the ballpark. The USA Sevens, an event in the annual IRB Sevens World Series for international teams in rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union with seven players per side instead of 15, was held in the stadium from 2007 through 2009 before moving to Las Vegas for 2010.
Rugby union is a developing sport in the city. The multiple clubs, ranging from men's and women's clubs to collegiate and high school, are part of the Southern California Rugby Football Union.[1] Currently San Diego is one of only 16 cities in the United States included in the Rugby Super League[2] represented by Old Mission Beach Athletic Club RFC. OMBAC, for short, can boast being the home club of USA Rugby's Captain Todd Clever[3] who plays rugby professionally abroad for the Japanese Top League team Suntory Sungoliath.
Basketball is played in the San Diego Sports Arena, where ice hockey, indoor soccer and boxing have taken place. NCAA Division I San Diego State Aztecs men's and women's basketball games are played at Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl on the campus of San Diego State University. College football and soccer, basketball and volleyball are played at the Torero Stadium and the Jenny Craig Pavilion at USD.
The San Diego State Aztecs (MWC) and the University of San Diego Toreros (WCC) are NCAA Division I teams. The UCSD Tritons (CCAA) are members of NCAA Division II while the Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions and San Diego Christian College (GSAC) are members of the NAIA.
The San Diego Surf of the American Basketball Association is located in the city. San Diego has had two NBA franchises, the San Diego Rockets and the Buffalo Braves. The Rockets represented the city of San Diego from 1967 until 1971. After the conclusion of the 1970–1971 season, they moved to Texas where they became the Houston Rockets. Seven years later, a relocated NBA franchise (the Buffalo Braves) moved to town and was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The Clippers played in the San Diego Sports Arena from 1978 until 1984. Prior to the start of the 1984–1985 season, the team was moved to Los Angeles, and is now called the Los Angeles Clippers.
Other sports franchises that represented San Diego include the San Diego Conquistadors of the American Basketball Association, the San Diego Sockers (which played in various indoor and outdoor soccer leagues during their existence), the San Diego Flash and the San Diego Gauchos, both playing in different divisions of the United Soccer League, the San Diego Spirit of the Women's United Soccer Association, the San Diego Mariners of the World Hockey Association, and three different San Diego Gulls ice hockey teams. The San Diego Riptide and the San Diego Shockwave were indoor football teams that played at the Sports Arena and Cox Arena, respectively. San Diego has been a candidate for a Major League Soccer franchise, especially due to the city recording FIFA World Cup television audiences which are double the national average.[citation needed] The city has pursued a franchise. Some observers believe that the city may get one of three franchises to be offered before 2010.[citation needed] The city had an active men's team playing in the fourth level of American soccer, the San Diego Pumitas.
San Diego has the largest championship drought in the nation with at least two major-league sports franchises; dating back to 1963 (47 Years as of 2010), as well as being the largest United States city to have not won a Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, NBA Finals or any other Major League sports championship. Some fans believe that there is a curse on the major league teams in the city.[4]
The annual Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament (formerly the Buick Invitational) on the PGA Tour occurs at the municipally-owned Torrey Pines Golf Course. This course was also the site of the 2008 U.S. Open Golf Championship.
San Diego is home to several premier amateur sports events, such as the San Diego Crew Classic, held in Mission Bay every spring and featuring 100 or more college and amateur crews. The amateur beach sport Over-the-line was invented in San Diego, and the annual world Over-the-line championships are held at Mission Bay every year. The San Diego Yacht Club hosted the America's Cup yacht races three times during the period 1988 to 1995.
San Diego is also host to the Bayfair Cup, a hydroplane boat race in the H1 Unlimited season. The race is typically held during the Bayfair Festival on Mission Bay in San Diego.
San Diego have been named as a team in the WAMNRL which will begin in summer 2011.[5]
There are several road races including the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in June, the America's Finest City Half Marathon[6] in August, the La Jolla Half Marathon[7] in April, and several triathlons.[8]
See also
- San Diego Hall of Champions
- Breitbard Hall of Fame
- Quentin Breese the boxer lived here.
- VAVI Sport & Social Club
Notes
- ^ "Southern California Rugby Football Union". Scrfu.org. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ "OMBAC Rugby Home". Ombac.org. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ "About". Todd Clever. 1983-01-16. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ "Are San Diego Sports Teams Cursed?". San Diego 6. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ AmericanRugbyNews.com RL Hopes to Move West
- ^ "America’s Finest City Half Marathon website". Afchalf.com. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ La Jolla Half Marathon website
- ^ "Triathlon website". Kozenterprises.com. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
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