When the Chargers made the decision to move from San Diego to Los Angeles earlier this year, the team was probably expecting every player to make the move with them.
However, that's not going to happen because at least one player has decided not to move: Philip Rivers.
The Chargers quarterback has decided he's going to stay in San Diego and commute to work. Every day. Through Southern California traffic.
As Americans, we don't agree on much, but we can probably all agree that commutes are horrible, and now that Rivers will be making one, he's basically one of us.
If you're wondering why anyone, especially an NFL player, would willingly put themselves through this type of commute, Rivers actually has a pretty good reason. In a recent interview, the Chargers quarterback told The Mighty 1090 that he's staying in San Diego because he doesn't want to relocate his family of 10, which includes eight children and his wife, Tiffany.
"We just thought it was best for me and my family to go this route -- that it was at least worth a try this first season, being that it wasn't too far," Rivers said, via ESPN.com. "There's two things I didn't want to compromise: I didn't want to compromise my preparation/being a teammate. I love being a teammate, so I didn't want to compromise that because I'm going back and forth. And I wasn't going to compromise my time spent away from my family."
The upside for Rivers is that he won't actually be driving on his commute. The quarterback plans to hire a driver and turn the backseat of his car into a mobile quarterback room.
Staying in San Diego will give Rivers' children a sense of normalcy.
"Really, ultimately, at the end of the day I just felt like not only time with my family, but what gave them when I am working daily put them in the best environment and kept things as normal as possible," Rivers said. "So that's what we came to, and we'll find out if we're right or not."
Even though he'll have a driver, going from San Diego to Los Angeles is a still painful commute. Rivers is still going to have sit in the car for a ride that could take up to three hours on days where traffic is bad.
Rivers actually lives in Northern San Diego, which is about 75 miles from the Chargers practice facility in Costa Mesa.
In perfect driving conditions, the drive can be done in about 80 minutes, however, as someone who lived in San Diego for two years, I can tell you that perfect driving conditions don't actually exist in Southern California. On my last drive from San Diego to L.A. I'm pretty sure I saw at least three wrecks, dozens of traffic barrels, a police chase and a tourist who almost ran someone over.
This is basically L.A. traffic in a nutshell.
Good luck, Philip.
Even if you're not a Chargers fan, we can all cheer for Rivers as he makes his daily commute.