wn habitat...Unless big cats are kept on tranquilisers

This story is part of ESPN The Magazines Oct. 31 NBA Preview Issue. Subscribe today!San Diego ChargersOverall: 117 Title track: 109 Ownership: 120 Coaching: T106 Players: 89 Fan relations: 107 Affordability: 96 Stadium experience: 121 Bang for the buck: 98 Change from last year: -2Quarterback Philip Rivers and his bolo tie remain the best thing going for this franchise, which has reached the playoffs just once since 2010. Threats of the team moving have pushed fans away locally, while the product on the field has produced shoulder shrugs on a national scale. At least the Chargers still have those iconic, powder-blue uniforms!Whats goodWell, theyre still here. With the very real possibility of the Chargers moving to Los Angeles last season, team chairman Dean Spanos kept them in San Diego, at least for the time being. Aside from that, this roster got some love from fans -- the 89th-place ranking is the teams highest -- much of which is likely directed to Rivers and cornerback Jason Verrett, one of the teams most promising players. If all goes right, the Chargers should be better on the field this year. After going 4-12 a year ago, theres a chance this team could compete for a postseason berth.Whats badThe Spanos family should thank their California neighbors for keeping them from being the most-disliked ownership group in the NFL -- only the 49ers and Rams rank worse. Turns out fans still hold a grudge against the family, who attempted to move the team north to hated L.A. Chargers head coach Mike McCoy was also dropped all the way to 106th (down 23 spots), likely due to a somewhat milquetoast approach to managing a game. Meanwhile, the stadium experience in antiquated Qualcomm Stadium, which includes video boards that harken back to the days of Tecmo Bowl, is considered the worst in the NFL.Whats newThough San Diego offers one of the better ticket values in the NFL -- their pricing is slightly below the league average -- the Chargers are actually down 40 spots in bang for your buck, thanks to that four-win season after two straight winning records. That does not bode well for a team looking to woo fans to the stadium in order to create a home-field advantage. The Chargers announced attendance of 52,165 for the teams home opener (in a stadium that seats 72,000) against the Jaguars was the lowest number for a home opener in over a decade.Next: Cleveland Browns?| Full rankings Mark Duper Womens Jersey . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. Nat Moore Youth Jersey .Y. - New Orleans forward Anthony Davis was chosen Friday to replace the injured Kobe Bryant in the NBA All-Star game that will be played in his home city. http://www.dolphinsrookiestore.com/Dolphins-Christian-Wilkins-Jersey/ . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Minkah Fitzpatrick Youth Jersey . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. Cameron Wake Womens Jersey . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Lewis Hamilton is F1s most marketable driver, but also the sports most polarising. The three-time world champion has attracted as much attention away from the circuit as he has for his masterful and controversial drives on it, and has once again found himself at odds with portions of the media during this weekends Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.ESPN looks at some of the reigning world champions most notable off-track controversies since his debut in 2007.Licence suspendedA month after narrowly missing out on winning the world championship in his stunning rookie season, Hamilton was clocked travelling 121 mp/h in the north of France. Having pulled him over, police reported Hamilton being very polite and co-operative. The Englishman had his licence suspended for a month.Misleading the stewards in Australia?Hamiltons first title defence started on a sour note in 2009. He had seemingly managed to haul McLarens uncompetitive challenger to a podium at the season-opener in Melbourne, but became embroiled in controversy for what happened in the final laps. Running fourth under a late Safety Car, Jarno Trulli slid off the road and was passed (legally) by Hamilton for third. Hamilton duly slowed on the following lap to let Trulli back past under the Safety Car to reclaim third position, something McLaren had advised him to do.However, when speaking to the media after the race, he told them he had received no instruction to let Trulli past, insinuating the Italian had passed him illegally. The Toyota driver was duly demoted to 12th. The case was reopened at the next race in Malaysia where Hamilton, under the advice of team manager Dave Ryan, continued to insist he had not been told to let Trulli past. McLarens radio communications proved otherwise.Hamilton was disqualified from the race, Ryan was sacked and McLaren was handed a suspended three-race ban for being deliberately misleading. Hamilton felt obliged to face the media and apologise to his fans for being misled by Ryan.Hooning in 2010Again in Australia, Hamilton was pulled over for doing burnouts in his Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 in Melbourne as he left the circuit. His driving contravened Victorias anti-hoon laws and he was eventually fined ￡288.The paltry fine angered local road safety campaigners, with one local politician, Tim Pallas, calling Hamilton a d---head. Hamilton later apologised, saying his driving had been silly and over-exuberant.Ali G joke backfiresIf ever there was a season Hamilton will want to forget, its 2011. Erratic and apparently driving a car with a magnetic attraction to Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado, his McLaren never seemed far away from drama. After incidents with both at Monaco -- which led to two different time penalties -- Hamilton vented his anger about the stewards post-race.However, the manner he chose to do so was clumsy, invoking the catchphrase of Ali G, the original spoof character of Borat creator Sascha Baron Cohen. Asked why he felt the stewards had called him to see them five times in six races, Hamilton laughed awkwardly and told the BBC: Maybe its because Im black, I dont know. Thats what Ali G says...It was clearly a joke, but an ill-advised one, and one which was further lost in translation once reported or written down. It led to another trip to the stewards to explain his actions, though he avoided further punishment.Releasing telemetryHamilton is a keen social media advocate these days, but his Twitter account got him into big trouble during the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix weekend. Having qualified eighth while Jenson Button claimed pole, Hamilton blamed his decision to use a different rear wing to his teammate. Tweeting a picture of the telemetry comparing their lap times, Hamilton was attempting to show that his rear wing was costing him too much time on the straights.Though he soon took down the tweet at the request of the team, the telemetry also revealed sensitive McLaren data, such as ride heights as well as braking and acceleration rates. McLaren did not discipline Hamilton. Meanwhile, a disappointed Button pointed out the rear wing should have helped Hamilton make up for the straight-line deficit through Spas corners...Spraying grid girl?One of the sillier controversies Hamilton has been embroiled in, but one which still gainedd media attention.dddddddddddd Having won the 2015 Chinese Grand Prix Hamilton, like many other winners before him, sprayed all those around him on the podium -- including Liu Siying, a grid girl standing to his right.The move led to criticism from anti-sexism group Object, even though Siyung later told local media she had no problem with Hamiltons actions. It was a storm in a teacup. Hamilton later said: I would never ever intend to disrespect or try to embarrass someone like that.Monaco car crash, 2015Hamilton claimed the title with three races to spare in October 2015 by winning the U.S Grand Prix. A week and a half later, in the early hours of the Tuesday before that weekends Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton lost control of his ￡1.5 million Pagani Zonda and crashed it into three parked cars. Alcohol was not involved -- Hamilton was breathalysed and tested negative -- and a police spokesperson said Hamiltons foot slipped on the brake and clutch pedals.Upon arrival in Brazil two days later for its grand prix, Hamilton said a lack of sleep after heavy partying and a fever had led to the light contact with the parked cars. He also posted to social media: Whilst ultimately, it is nobodys business, there are people knowing my position that will try to take advantage of the situation and make a quick buck. NO problem.Hamilton may have brushed the incident off at the time, but the distracted world champion lost the next race to Nico Rosberg -- the second of Rosbergs run of seven in a row. Hamilton, by contrast, did not win again until the following Mays Monaco Grand Prix.Motorbike selfieJust days before the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, Hamilton was investigated by New Zealand police for recording himself while riding a Harley Davidson on the motorway. The video was posted to his Snapchat app and seemed to contravene New Zealand law prohibiting the use of a mobile phone while driving, which had existed since 2009.Though Hamilton escaped further action due to lack of sufficient evidence, local police warned him about the dangers of using a phone while driving a vehicle.Criticism from PETAHamilton, a self-confessed animal lover, spent his summer a little differently to the average driver -- posting pictures of himself with endangered tigers on social media. He had been visiting the Black Jaguar White Tiger Foundation in Mexico, and his pictures included posing next to a white tiger and a video of a tiger sneaking up on him and play fighting, nibbling his hat.The video caught the attention of animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA), whose director Elisa Allen released a statement saying: Seeing big cats used for photo ops promotes the idea that wild animals are here for human amusement and to do with as humans please, rather than to be left in peace in their own habitat...Unless big cats are kept on tranquilisers, theyre quite capable of becoming annoyed with him and taking a chunk out of more than his cap. Ask any victim of a tiger or lion mauling or the relatives of those who didnt survive one, theyll assure Lewis that cuddling exotic animals is a far more foolish move than tangling with Nico Rosberg.?From Snapchat to no chatHamiltons latest controversy started pretty innocuously -- the world champion earning the ire of some of the UKs Fleet Street media for playing on his phone during the Thursday press conference ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix. During the conference he had posted photos of himself and the unsuspecting Carlos Sainz to Snapchat with the caption This s--- is killing me -- though he later explained he had been having fun and that is problem was with the format of the press conference, rather than the media.The incident would likely have passed by without much further attention had Hamilton not raised the subject again two days later. On Saturday, having seen Nico Rosberg beat him to pole position by just 0.013s, Hamilton made a statement about in his media print session -- which included the journalists who, he felt, had been disrespectful in their criticism of his Snapchat use -- and said he would not be answering any questions, before calmly walking out.? ' ' '