Post by TheShadow on Nov 29, 2003 20:35:11 GMT -5
www.sacbee.com
Bee Sports Staff
According to Rob Morgan (Fanfare, Sept. 22), Raiders fans have low IQs,
drink too much beer and paint their faces for machismo.
Well, Rob, I am a Raiders fan, I don't like beer, and if makeup is
considered "paint," then, yes, I paint my face daily.
My father is a Raiders fan, graduated from Stanford with honors, does not
drink beer and does not paint his face.
However, fans all over the country do paint their faces, drink too much beer
and don't have college educations. Even 49ers fans.
In this country, we have the freedom of choice and the freedom of
expression. It is not the fault of the players when a team is relocated or
ticket prices are raised; it's the management's, and I am pretty sure I
don't know anyone who goes to a game to see the management.
Sports fans are passionate about the teams they support, so who are you to
decide "California's team" and appropriate behavior? Was it the 49ers'
"class and dignity" you speak of that made Terrell Owens celebrate at the
50-yard line in Dallas?
My guess is that you also have probably drunk too much beer at a game or
two. But really, it's none of my business, as long as you are having a good
time and not causing anyone harm. The world of sports is based on rivalry.
So let the games continue and just try to enjoy them without passing
judgment on the rest of us who might not be die-hard 49ers fans.
Wendy Tjaden
Sacramento
Hard-core vs. whining
Who cares if the Raiders don't sell out? Would you rather have 50,000
hard-core fans or a sellout of the wine-sipping wannabes who show up at
3Comdlestick knowing nothing about the game or team, can't name a
quarterback who played for the 49ers before Joe Montana and attend just so
they can tell their friends on Monday (only if the 49ers won, of course).
And what's more of a legitimate fan indicator, ticket sales or the no-show
rate? The fact that many Raiders fans can't afford the high ticket prices,
resulting in the game not selling out, is much more excusable than the rich
49ers bandwagoners who buy the tickets and then don't show up at the games.
All the whining about the lack of Raiders sellouts is to deflect the truth
about their own sorry fans. Ask NFL players, like the Broncos' Trevor Price,
about playing at 3Comdlestick: "There was no excitement. It's like they lull
you to sleep. I was going, like, What's happening here? What kind of stadium
is this?"
As for Al Davis moving the team, yeah, that stinks. Of course, Eddie
DeBartolo threatened the same thing.
So the 49ers have no more class than the Raiders, and last we checked, suing
the NFL is not illegal. But placing bribes to get riverboat casinos was
enough to slap a couple felonies on the "classy" Eddie D.
As for "winning with class," that is typical media fiction and whiner fans'
pipe dream. Fact is, no other team cries and whines and makes more excuses
when it loses. And the 49ers' winning is defined by "heroes" like Terrell
Owens, who is not only a punk to his own coach, but, as Chicago Bears safety
Mike Brown said, "He's the most arrogant player in the NFL."
Michael Sepulveda
Folsom
A true comedy act
Morgan's letter referring to the 49ers as a team of "class" and "dignity"
should have been published in the comics section.
I don't consider a team whose recent past includes punishment for cheating
the NFL salary cap, the suspension of DeBartolo for his fraudulent financial
dealings with Louisiana Gov. Eddie Edwards, the signing of convicted felon
Lawrence Phillips or the ongoing voter and financial debacle known as the
49ers' new stadium as an organization of "class" or "dignity."
How does the old saying go about people who live in glass houses?
Scott Schmolke
Sacramento
Bee Sports Staff
According to Rob Morgan (Fanfare, Sept. 22), Raiders fans have low IQs,
drink too much beer and paint their faces for machismo.
Well, Rob, I am a Raiders fan, I don't like beer, and if makeup is
considered "paint," then, yes, I paint my face daily.
My father is a Raiders fan, graduated from Stanford with honors, does not
drink beer and does not paint his face.
However, fans all over the country do paint their faces, drink too much beer
and don't have college educations. Even 49ers fans.
In this country, we have the freedom of choice and the freedom of
expression. It is not the fault of the players when a team is relocated or
ticket prices are raised; it's the management's, and I am pretty sure I
don't know anyone who goes to a game to see the management.
Sports fans are passionate about the teams they support, so who are you to
decide "California's team" and appropriate behavior? Was it the 49ers'
"class and dignity" you speak of that made Terrell Owens celebrate at the
50-yard line in Dallas?
My guess is that you also have probably drunk too much beer at a game or
two. But really, it's none of my business, as long as you are having a good
time and not causing anyone harm. The world of sports is based on rivalry.
So let the games continue and just try to enjoy them without passing
judgment on the rest of us who might not be die-hard 49ers fans.
Wendy Tjaden
Sacramento
Hard-core vs. whining
Who cares if the Raiders don't sell out? Would you rather have 50,000
hard-core fans or a sellout of the wine-sipping wannabes who show up at
3Comdlestick knowing nothing about the game or team, can't name a
quarterback who played for the 49ers before Joe Montana and attend just so
they can tell their friends on Monday (only if the 49ers won, of course).
And what's more of a legitimate fan indicator, ticket sales or the no-show
rate? The fact that many Raiders fans can't afford the high ticket prices,
resulting in the game not selling out, is much more excusable than the rich
49ers bandwagoners who buy the tickets and then don't show up at the games.
All the whining about the lack of Raiders sellouts is to deflect the truth
about their own sorry fans. Ask NFL players, like the Broncos' Trevor Price,
about playing at 3Comdlestick: "There was no excitement. It's like they lull
you to sleep. I was going, like, What's happening here? What kind of stadium
is this?"
As for Al Davis moving the team, yeah, that stinks. Of course, Eddie
DeBartolo threatened the same thing.
So the 49ers have no more class than the Raiders, and last we checked, suing
the NFL is not illegal. But placing bribes to get riverboat casinos was
enough to slap a couple felonies on the "classy" Eddie D.
As for "winning with class," that is typical media fiction and whiner fans'
pipe dream. Fact is, no other team cries and whines and makes more excuses
when it loses. And the 49ers' winning is defined by "heroes" like Terrell
Owens, who is not only a punk to his own coach, but, as Chicago Bears safety
Mike Brown said, "He's the most arrogant player in the NFL."
Michael Sepulveda
Folsom
A true comedy act
Morgan's letter referring to the 49ers as a team of "class" and "dignity"
should have been published in the comics section.
I don't consider a team whose recent past includes punishment for cheating
the NFL salary cap, the suspension of DeBartolo for his fraudulent financial
dealings with Louisiana Gov. Eddie Edwards, the signing of convicted felon
Lawrence Phillips or the ongoing voter and financial debacle known as the
49ers' new stadium as an organization of "class" or "dignity."
How does the old saying go about people who live in glass houses?
Scott Schmolke
Sacramento