SAN DIEGO _ Philip Rivers is caught in between two cities and two emotions.
"I want to make sure San Diego fans know how much we love San Diego, how grateful we are and how many great memories we have," the Chargers quarterback said Friday morning. "... In the very next breath, I have to express I am going up the road and those folks are going to get the very same guy the people in San Diego got for 13 years."
Rivers became a Charger in 2004. He and his wife, Tiffany, had a one-year-old daughter at the time. They have added seven children since, all born in San Diego. They are San Diegans.
"I'm going to give (Los Angeles) everything I have left," Rivers said. "But when the dust settles I'm going to look back and think about my time as a San Diego Charger.
"... We should feel sadness as a community. I am sad."
The Rivers family lives in North County and they own property in Rancho Santa Fe on which they have plans to build a home where they would live after Rivers retires. Those plans may change now. Maybe they'll end up back closer to their Alabama roots.
It is too soon for them to have digested what this move means for their long-term future.
For now, quickly and earnestly, if reluctantly, Rivers is ready to head to a city he has only ever visited "a handful of times."
He expressed regret he couldn't win a championship for San Diego but left no doubt he'll continue the quest in L.A.
"I know that we are against a long history of professional sports teams there, with a lot of championships," Rivers said. "We understand that we have to win. I know only going one way. I am going to go try to help the Los Angeles Chargers, which I can't get used to saying, but we gotta go win.
"I know it's too early, but I hope people in San Diego understand that."
