One point of view from a East Bay Raiders' fan

[TheShadow]

This is an editorial that was originally posted on the Oakland Raiders' Usenet newsgroup...


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----- Original Message -----
From: <[e-mail]>
Newsgroups: alt.sports.football.pro.oak-raiders



There are no trust fund babies here in Oakland. There are self-made
blue collar guys who have done OK.

Back in 1964 , the Frisco press ran us down something fierce. They
said Oakland was a foolish city for building an arena and the
Coliseum. We had about 43K season ticket holders in 1966. We were sold
out forever by 1968. You could not have gotten a ticket for love nor
money in those days. There might have been 1K tickets in the hands of
scalpers or corporations. It was all season ticket holders in those
days. There was no violence in the stands or the parking lot. We let
men like Big Ben Davidson kick ass on the field in those days. It was
unheard of for Raider fans to get into fights at the Coliseum.

The Raiders return in 1995 ushered in a new breed of Raider fan. Many
of them are more interested in the Raider image than the team itself.
This crap started in LA. I don't think it is all because of the LA
fans. I guess it is a sign of the times. Old fools like me thought
that if they came back to Oakland we would have our old fan base back.

I get tired of hearing things like; I went to a Raider game and there
were so many fights I would never go to a Raider game again. I get
tired of people saying ; I go to a few Raider games but I would never
bring my kids.

I have heard variations of that a thousand times over the years. The
local papers even had a story about how Tyler Brayton's agent got his
car trashed a couple of years ago. The Raiders used to be Oakland's
greatest asset. Al could have accepted 65 luxury boxes and 10K new
seats in 1979. LA offered him the moon but never delivered. He never
got what he wanted in LA. With the exception of lower East Oakland and
a couple of other isolated areas , Oakland has become a fairly upscale
city. The new Raider image is no asset to this town. Nobody who lives
here wants a team that attracts a small ( but vocal ) group of "
criminal element " fans. Don't tell me this goes on at every stadium
at almost evey game. Every stadium has isolated incidents. The owners
of the teams quickly step in and put a stop to it. Rember when the NY
giants fans threw snowballs ? They lost their season tickets and the
Giants put a full page ad in the San Diego papers apologizing for what
happened.

Al and the city of Oakland are at odds. Al should have had something
to say after the Dallas ( fan violence ) fiasco in 1995. He does not
care because he is not sastisfied with the deal he has in Oakland /
Alameda county. I guess he expected that he could leave for 13 years
and expect sell-out crowds and 125 luxury boxes sold. You would have
to be an East Bay resident to understand the magnitude of this
situation. We cried when the Raiders left after the 1981 season.
Nobody is going to shed any tears if Al leaves again.