could do it, but with the eye, t

SAN DIEGO -- Voters have called the San Diego Chargers bluff, leaving the NFL team to decide whether to try one more time to get a new stadium built here or pack the moving vans for the trip up Interstate 5 to Los Angeles.Measure C, which would have raised $1.15 billion from increased hotel occupancy taxes to help pay for a $1.8 billion stadium and convention center annex downtown, was defeated 57 percent to 43 percent. It needed 66.7 percent yes to pass.The 110-page plan was written by the Chargers without input from City Hall, the powerful tourism industry, their would-be neighbors the Padres or other stakeholders.Team chairman Dean Spanos, who angered fans last year with a failed attempt to join with the rival Oakland Raiders to build a stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, conceded defeat early Wednesday morning with half of the votes still to be counted. He released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying he wanted to give the stadium debate a rest and enjoy some Chargers football.So Im going to put aside any discussion of our possible next steps until after the season, to allow everyone to focus on football and to give my family and me time to think carefully about what is best for the future of our franchise, Spanos said. Over the coming weeks you may hear news about steps that we must take to preserve all of our options. But please know that I dont intend to make any decisions until after the regular season ends.That means fans could be put in the same position as they were last year, when they thought that the last game of the season might be the Chargers final game in San Diego. The Chargers (4-5) have four home games left, including the finale on Jan. 1 against Kansas City.Spanos has until mid-January to exercise his option to move to L.A. and join the Rams in a stadium in Inglewood set to open in 2019. If the Chargers moved, theyd have to find a temporary home.Or Spanos could negotiate with Mayor Kevin Faulconer and other stakeholders on a new plan in San Diego. The Chargers have been trying since 2000 to replace aging Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley.While Spanos has said hed like to make it work in San Diego, his surrogates have repeatedly reminded people that the team could move to L.A.Faulconer said that while the vote showed there wasnt support for this particular plan, that a coalition was built during the campaign.San Diegans love the Bolts. They want them to stay, Faulconer said. Theres a foundation that Im confident can be built up.Faulconer, who endorsed the project only a month ago, said he planned to speak by phone with Spanos later Wednesday or on Thursday.The mayor declined to say whether he prefers a new stadium at the Qualcomm site, which he pushed last year, or downtown.Figuring out how to pay for a new stadium will be one of the significant topics of collaboration, he said. You saw that achieving two-thirds is extremely difficult.City Councilman Chris Cate, who was called out by the Chargers because he opposed the measure, said he hopes Spanos comes to the table sooner rather than later.I understand the value of the Chargers. I was born and raised here, Cate said. I dont want them to leave. But it cant be a one sided affair. People have to be at the table to hammer out a deal that works.County Supervisor Ron Roberts agreed, saying there needs to be a lot of soul-searching in coming up with a stadium solution that benefits everyone, not just the team.I think this was doomed to failure from Day One and its unfortunate because if we had been developing a solution everyone agreed on in Mission Valley, wed likely be under construction by now.After rebuffing Spanos Carson project, his fellow owners offered him an extra $100 million to be coupled with a $200 million NFL loan to try to get something done in San Diego.Theres been speculation that Spanos, who long has said he needs a major public subsidy for a new stadium in San Diego, could ask the NFL for more money, or that he could try to negotiate down the L.A. relocation fee.An NFL spokesman said the league had no comment.Quarterback Philip Rivers said hes trying to stay optimistic.I cant see us not here, Rivers said after practice Wednesday.Maybe Im naive, I dont know that the actual vote is a direct reflection of what the city thinks of the Chargers, Rivers said. I think its more about all the ins and outs and exactly what the measure exactly meant and how people felt like it affected them. I didnt see it as, `Hey, heres a vote; would you like the Chargers in San Diego or not? I didnt see it as that simple. I would like to think if thats the case, we could have gotten two-thirds or more.------Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson---more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Swell Water Bottle Clearance . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before. Swell Water Bottle Sale 17 Oz . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. http://www.swellbottlesclearance.com/swell-bottles-liberty.html . Nine days before the opening ceremony, organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Wednesday that Sochi is "fully ready" and will deliver safe, friendly and well-run games that defy the grim reports that have overshadowed preparations. Swell Drink Bottles Liberty . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. Swell Water Bottle Sale .In my heart and mind Im competing for India, luge competitor Shiva Keshavan told The Associated Press in an email interview. Every day Im flooded with messages from Indians all over the world telling me they are supporting me. It was not easy to watch the last minute or so of Kell Brooks bold attempt to beat Gennady Golovkin in the final episode of the hot summer of boxing at the O2 on Saturday night.The fight was stopped in the fifth round when Dominic Ingle, the man that has trained Brook for nearly 20 years, tossed a towel in the ring at the feet of referee Marlon Wright. It was not surrender, it was mercy, and Brooks complaints were swallowed as he was embraced.Golovkin had chopped away at Brooks resistance from the opening bell, starting the fight a lot faster and with far more intent than most people expected. Brook had sustained an injury to his right eye by the end of the furious opening round, and it was that eye which limited his vision and left him vulnerable and ultimately forced Ingle to call it off.At the end of the fourth round, Ingle placed a blood-smeared towel over Brooks head and then ducked his own head inside the desperate tepee, a move designed to avoid the corner microphones, to warn his fighter it was his last round. Brook was helpless on the ropes, but still wanting to fight when it was called off and his career was saved. Many boxers have taken less punishment and failed to ever reach their previous heights, and Golovkin is a man that ruins careers. Ingles gesture might just have salvaged Brooks hopes of getting back to this level.There was a sea of praise in the aftermath with Golovkin and his trainer, Abel Sanchez, insisting that Brook had been a great opponent. Brook returned the compliment before a trip to hospital and a scan that revealed a broken right eye socket. He will have surgery on Monday and will not fight again this year.We knew it was going to be hard and it was, Brook said. To beat somebody that good you need two eyes and I was in trouble from the second. I couldnt see, and I knew then it was bad.In round two, Brook caught Golovkin repeatedly with quick combinations and one particular right uppercut landed flush. The action delighted the crowd, but made no sense and now that we know Brooks vision from the right eye was fading the grandstanding effort makes a little more sense. It was, in reality, his last stand, a move made painfully necessary by his impaired vision and not part of some carefully maintained strategy.Golovkin was accused of being sloppy by some purists, which seems harsh on Brook, and faiils to capture the effort Golovkin had to put in.dddddddddddd It is true that he was never hurt, never wobbled and never in trouble, but he had to fight in every round and in the second, for all the wrong reasons, he had to dig deeper than at any point in his professional career. Brook, meanwhile, displayed the guts that some fools believed he lacked.There is no doubt that Brooks speed, heart and resistance shocked the Kazakh maestro, who talked after the fight of having to have a war and not a boxing match to win. Brook, by the way, took the type of punches that few of Golovkins previous 35 victims have managed to absorb. However, his bravery failed to keep him from the list and he was added to the 23 consecutive stoppage wins, including the 18th in a world title fight by Golovkin.Im still struggling to take it all in, said Eddie Hearn, the promoter, at the end of the fight as he stood in the empty ringside pit surrounded by the junk left behind after a big night of boxing. I truly believed he could do it, but with the eye, there was no way that it could have gone longer. Kell took everything, my respect for him has increased. Hearn was visibly shaken by what he had seen from his seat, just five-feet of safety away, at ringside and that is because up close you can hear Golovkins punches and it is both impressive and frightening.As the respective camps left the ring, walking from the ringside to the mixed receptions in their dressing rooms there were other stunned faces left behind, veterans of previous nights when great boxers have shown up in British rings and delivered sobering beatings to our best fighters.?Golovkin left the most emphatic of messages and will deservedly never be forgotten by those present.In the subdued aftermath I grabbed a few moments with Sanchez, the quiet man that has shaped Golovkin into such a damaging fighter, and he looked relieved that the fight and the week had come to an end.You know, he said, Kell never knew how to lose and that made him a danger. Gennady is methodical and he was starting to hurt him. Im glad Dominic stopped it. It saved him.It was a raw night, the type of boxing night that is both a celebration of the brutal sport and a warning of its dangers. ' ' '