Post by TheShadow on Nov 29, 2003 19:32:46 GMT -5
Article first posted on 11-02-2002
---------------------------------
makeashorterlink.com/?V15832252 for the pictures.
www.sfgate.com
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer
They are two of the most unusual football tailgate parties in Northern
California -- riding the rails from the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento to
the Oakland Raiders home games.
The Raider trains -- special cars decked out in silver and black on the
regular Capitol and San Joaquin Amtrak trains -- are packed with some of the
most devoted fans in football, citizens of what they are pleased to call
Raider Nation. The trains run on Sundays of home games. The next one is
coming in for Sunday's game with the 49ers.
Riding along on the Raider cars from Sacramento the other morning -- through
Davis, past the lush farmland of Solano County, along the bay shore of
western Contra Costa, past Richmond and Berkeley and Jack London Square in
Oakland -- gives a glimpse into a kind of separate universe where the world
is silver and black and the only thing that really counts is Raider
football.
It was like going along on a pilgrimage; to these people, Oakland football
is the true religion.
"I love them to death," said Jon Thornberry, who builds swimming pools in
Loomis, near Sacramento.
"It's the mystique, the image, the bad guys, the real tough guys," said Joe
Kersh, 33, who manages a Lodi restaurant. "It's a family legacy. I'm not a
football fan at all," he said. "Just the Raiders."
"I'm a Raider fan born and bred," said Alex Payne, a night disc jockey on
Sacramento radio station KRXQ. Born and bred? A real Raider fan can beat
that: "I was conceived with the Raiders," said Tony Taber, a PG&E lineman
from Lodi. "A Raider fan before I was born."
The Raider fans on the train the other Sunday seemed to be all members of
what some people call "the working class" -- firefighters, construction
workers, lumber mill hands. Most were men, but there were a lot of women
along.
Some wore shirts that said, "Real Women Wear Black."
"I've been an underdog all my life," said Randy Cames, a working guy from
Shingle Springs. "That's why I'm a Raider."
Other fans, he said, drink wine and nibble on cheese. He looked suspiciously
at the reporter, "You're not a Whiner fan, are you?"
"Whiners" is what Raider people call the 49ers and their followers.
"If you are a Raider fan, you hate everybody else," said Greg Newlan of
Reno. "Especially San Diego, especially Denver.
"Especially San Francisco," he said evenly. "You hate 'em."
The train, the fans said, was an ideal way to go to a Raider game from the
fringes of the Raider Nation in Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley.
"You can drink all you want and not worry about driving," said Taber. "You
know us Raider fans like our beer."
LEGENDS ON BOARD
Amtrak has signed up old Raider players -- they call them "Raider
Legends" - - to ride along both ways with the fans. The old Raiders sign
autographs and talk football with the passengers. This time, it was Clarence
Davis on the Sacramento train and Charlie Smith on the San Joaquin train.
They were treated by the fans like icons, like religious relics carried into
battle.
Davis, who is now 51, is a living piece of Raider folklore. A running back
on teams coached by John Madden, and with Kenny Stabler, the fabled "Snake",
at quarterback, Davis ran for 137 yards Super Bowl XI in the 1977 Super
Bowl.
The fans on the train came by Davis' seat in a steady procession. Some knelt
in the aisle. Davis had a word for each of them. He showed his huge
diamond-studded Super Bowl ring to anyone who asked. He signed a poster
slowly and carefully, "Clarence Davis #28."
"A very nice gentleman and soft-spoken," said Cames. Davis is not what he
used to be: after a stroke a while back, he speaks slowly and carefully. "I
live in Houston now," he said, "doing nothing at all. Living the life of
Riley. "
He enjoyed the train ride a great deal, said his wife, Elaine, who is former
Raider receiver Cliff Branch's sister. He was pleased the fans remembered
him; it touched his heart, she said.
Smith, a back who caught the winning pass against the New York Jets in 1968,
rode the San Joaquin train from Stockton to see the Raiders crush the
Tennessee Titans 52-25 on the last Sunday in September.
No one watching television saw Smith catch that pass 34 years ago; the
networks cut away from the end of the Raiders game to show the movie
"Heidi." The incident is part of Raider lore, passed down through football
generations.
Smith and Davis embraced at the Oakland rail station and boarded a bus for a
15-minute ride to the Coliseum. The last mile or two of the journey is by
bus; though the railroad tracks run past the Coliseum, there's no station
there.
Smith, who is 56, tall and slim, is now an executive with the Gap. The
Raider train, he said, "is a lot of fun." Both he and Davis seem the exact
opposite of the swashbuckling Raider image. Smith said one of his sons,
Kevin, played football for UCLA and the Raiders. Another son, Mike, played
for the Cal Bears. "He's a doctor now," Charlie Smith said.
HELP FROM THE FANS
Smith looked out the window as the bus made its way past the Coliseum
parking lots, past the tailgate parties, past the tents flying black pirate
flags, past the fans in black heading to the game. It looked like the
capital of Raider Nation.
"Does any of this cheering, this pulling for the team really help?" someone
asked Smith. "Yes," the old halfback said. "Yes."
The fans got their wish: the Raiders smashed the Titans. There were 58,719
fans who paid at least $57 a ticket. By contrast, a week later, the Oakland
Athletics drew just over 32,000 fans at a minimum of $35 a ticket for their
final baseball playoff game of the season.
On the Raider train, the ride back home after the Titans game rolled along
in a kind of beery good cheer.
Just west of Martinez, one of the Raider supporters started a chant on the
train: "Ray-DERS! Ray-DERS!" A couple of regular passengers looked on,
baffled.
"What's the matter with you?" the cheerleader said. "Are you 49er fans?"
For information on the trains, call Amtrak at (800) USA Rail or look on the Web at www.amtrak.com
---------------------------------
makeashorterlink.com/?V15832252 for the pictures.
www.sfgate.com
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer
They are two of the most unusual football tailgate parties in Northern
California -- riding the rails from the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento to
the Oakland Raiders home games.
The Raider trains -- special cars decked out in silver and black on the
regular Capitol and San Joaquin Amtrak trains -- are packed with some of the
most devoted fans in football, citizens of what they are pleased to call
Raider Nation. The trains run on Sundays of home games. The next one is
coming in for Sunday's game with the 49ers.
Riding along on the Raider cars from Sacramento the other morning -- through
Davis, past the lush farmland of Solano County, along the bay shore of
western Contra Costa, past Richmond and Berkeley and Jack London Square in
Oakland -- gives a glimpse into a kind of separate universe where the world
is silver and black and the only thing that really counts is Raider
football.
It was like going along on a pilgrimage; to these people, Oakland football
is the true religion.
"I love them to death," said Jon Thornberry, who builds swimming pools in
Loomis, near Sacramento.
"It's the mystique, the image, the bad guys, the real tough guys," said Joe
Kersh, 33, who manages a Lodi restaurant. "It's a family legacy. I'm not a
football fan at all," he said. "Just the Raiders."
"I'm a Raider fan born and bred," said Alex Payne, a night disc jockey on
Sacramento radio station KRXQ. Born and bred? A real Raider fan can beat
that: "I was conceived with the Raiders," said Tony Taber, a PG&E lineman
from Lodi. "A Raider fan before I was born."
The Raider fans on the train the other Sunday seemed to be all members of
what some people call "the working class" -- firefighters, construction
workers, lumber mill hands. Most were men, but there were a lot of women
along.
Some wore shirts that said, "Real Women Wear Black."
"I've been an underdog all my life," said Randy Cames, a working guy from
Shingle Springs. "That's why I'm a Raider."
Other fans, he said, drink wine and nibble on cheese. He looked suspiciously
at the reporter, "You're not a Whiner fan, are you?"
"Whiners" is what Raider people call the 49ers and their followers.
"If you are a Raider fan, you hate everybody else," said Greg Newlan of
Reno. "Especially San Diego, especially Denver.
"Especially San Francisco," he said evenly. "You hate 'em."
The train, the fans said, was an ideal way to go to a Raider game from the
fringes of the Raider Nation in Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley.
"You can drink all you want and not worry about driving," said Taber. "You
know us Raider fans like our beer."
LEGENDS ON BOARD
Amtrak has signed up old Raider players -- they call them "Raider
Legends" - - to ride along both ways with the fans. The old Raiders sign
autographs and talk football with the passengers. This time, it was Clarence
Davis on the Sacramento train and Charlie Smith on the San Joaquin train.
They were treated by the fans like icons, like religious relics carried into
battle.
Davis, who is now 51, is a living piece of Raider folklore. A running back
on teams coached by John Madden, and with Kenny Stabler, the fabled "Snake",
at quarterback, Davis ran for 137 yards Super Bowl XI in the 1977 Super
Bowl.
The fans on the train came by Davis' seat in a steady procession. Some knelt
in the aisle. Davis had a word for each of them. He showed his huge
diamond-studded Super Bowl ring to anyone who asked. He signed a poster
slowly and carefully, "Clarence Davis #28."
"A very nice gentleman and soft-spoken," said Cames. Davis is not what he
used to be: after a stroke a while back, he speaks slowly and carefully. "I
live in Houston now," he said, "doing nothing at all. Living the life of
Riley. "
He enjoyed the train ride a great deal, said his wife, Elaine, who is former
Raider receiver Cliff Branch's sister. He was pleased the fans remembered
him; it touched his heart, she said.
Smith, a back who caught the winning pass against the New York Jets in 1968,
rode the San Joaquin train from Stockton to see the Raiders crush the
Tennessee Titans 52-25 on the last Sunday in September.
No one watching television saw Smith catch that pass 34 years ago; the
networks cut away from the end of the Raiders game to show the movie
"Heidi." The incident is part of Raider lore, passed down through football
generations.
Smith and Davis embraced at the Oakland rail station and boarded a bus for a
15-minute ride to the Coliseum. The last mile or two of the journey is by
bus; though the railroad tracks run past the Coliseum, there's no station
there.
Smith, who is 56, tall and slim, is now an executive with the Gap. The
Raider train, he said, "is a lot of fun." Both he and Davis seem the exact
opposite of the swashbuckling Raider image. Smith said one of his sons,
Kevin, played football for UCLA and the Raiders. Another son, Mike, played
for the Cal Bears. "He's a doctor now," Charlie Smith said.
HELP FROM THE FANS
Smith looked out the window as the bus made its way past the Coliseum
parking lots, past the tailgate parties, past the tents flying black pirate
flags, past the fans in black heading to the game. It looked like the
capital of Raider Nation.
"Does any of this cheering, this pulling for the team really help?" someone
asked Smith. "Yes," the old halfback said. "Yes."
The fans got their wish: the Raiders smashed the Titans. There were 58,719
fans who paid at least $57 a ticket. By contrast, a week later, the Oakland
Athletics drew just over 32,000 fans at a minimum of $35 a ticket for their
final baseball playoff game of the season.
On the Raider train, the ride back home after the Titans game rolled along
in a kind of beery good cheer.
Just west of Martinez, one of the Raider supporters started a chant on the
train: "Ray-DERS! Ray-DERS!" A couple of regular passengers looked on,
baffled.
"What's the matter with you?" the cheerleader said. "Are you 49er fans?"
For information on the trains, call Amtrak at (800) USA Rail or look on the Web at www.amtrak.com