Best of what South County offers

It’s time to start voting for the Best in South County.

Every year this newspaper  asks readers to vote in its readers poll, sharing their thoughts about the best Chula Vista and National City have to offer.

Categories, as you might expect, include best eateries, best service providers, best medical professionals and best places to walk dogs.

Most people think they have the inside scoop on the best place to grab a meal and a show. Or the best place to golf.

Or the best place for a romantic evening. This is the opportunity for locals to share with neighbors and insiders their choice for Best of…

Not all of the choices will be published or discussed. But the poll will be an opportunity for people to make a case for their favorite businesses and restaurants — and generate lively discussions among neighbors who have opposing points of view about the best place to grab a cocktail, for example.

The poll will be available during the next few months. Readers are encouraged to vote.

•••

Now that there is no longer a professional football league in the county will local sports fans find another NFL team to cheer for in the upcoming season, sit this season out while they weigh their options or choose another kind of futbol altogether?

Chargers fans who switch to football with a “u” and start following relatively local team, Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente in Liga MX, may feel a sense of familiarity if they make the Xolos the object their affection.

Bolts fans were accustomed to the frustrations of cheering for the blue and gold. The team that Dean Spanos moved was, in its recent history, consistently mediocre and managed to make only one trip to the national championship. No Chargers fans’ hopes were so high that the club could not reach up and grab them, crushing them in their massive paws before hurling them to the ground.

The Chargers were as familiar with the playoffs and victories as POTUS is with social media restraint.
The Xolos, on the other hand, finished their two most recent seasons in the playoffs — albeit losing both times before getting to the national title game. (They also, in their short time in the first division, managed to win a league championship which is something the Chargers never did.)

But after two promising seasons the Xolos have started the 2017 campaign sputtering, looking as lost as Vatican City altar boys in Amsterdam. They shed a number of key players from last year and their new manager, Eduardo “Chacho” Coudet, is still trying to find a way to motivate the team to score, much less improve upon their current 0-3 record.

Local football fans who have a lingering craving for that familiar frustration and angst they grew accustomed to over the years need look no further than a few miles south. This is the perfect season to satisfy that  painful hunger with a new kind of futbol.