Chargers upset after team played Steelers' pump-up song as a prank

Chris Cwik
·Staff writer
Updated

The Los Angeles Chargers pranked the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, but it came at a price. Some Chargers players weren’t too happy that the team played the Steelers’ pump-up song in the Chargers’ stadium.

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What happened exactly? Well, the Chargers decided it would be funny to Rick Roll the Steelers fans attending the game. You remember Rick Rolling, right? It’s when you trick someone into listening to “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley.

To pull off the prank, the Chargers started playing “Renegade” by Styx. The Steelers have used that song as their anthem. Steelers fans in attendance got excited to hear the song on the road, and then the Chargers quickly switched the tune to “Never Gonna Give You Up” to trick all the Steelers fans.

Here’s what it looked like at the stadium:

Problem was, some Chargers players weren’t happy about that. Running back Melvin Gordon questioned the decision, saying there was no need for the Chargers to rile up opposing fans, even if it was a joke, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“It was crazy,” running back Melvin Gordon said. “They started playing their theme music. I don’t know what we were doing — that little soundtrack, what they do on their home games. I don’t know why we played that.

“I don’t know what that was. Don’t do that at our own stadium … It already felt like it was their stadium … I don’t understand that.”

Offensive lineman Forrest Lamp took it a further, saying the employee who played that video should be fired.

Said offensive lineman Forrest Lamp: “We’re used to not having any fans here. It does suck, though, when they’re playing their music in the fourth quarter. We’re the ones at home. I don’t know who’s in charge of that, but they probably should be fired.”

The Chargers are not the first team to pull off this prank. The San Diego Padres did the exact same thing in August. The Padres played “Sweet Caroline” with the Boston Red Sox in town, and then switched it to “Never Gonna Give You Up” right as Red Sox fans were about to chant, “So good. So good. So good.”

That wasn’t as big of a deal, likely because the Chargers have had ongoing issues with opposing fans in recent years. Gordon made note of that in another article at the Los Angeles Times, saying there was “more black than anything with yellow towels,” in the stands for Sunday’s game.

Those Steelers fans may have made the difference Sunday night, as the Chargers lost at home 24-17.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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