Thanks, but I’ll stick to the 49ers
They were at home. It was the fifth anniversary of the 9/11
attacks. President Bush had just given a speech on television.
Patriotism was everywhere. The roars were deafening.
At the end of the National Anthem, F-16 fighter jets roared with
ear-splitting sound over a packed McAfee stadium.
Thanks, but I’ll stick to the 49ers
They were at home. It was the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. President Bush had just given a speech on television. Patriotism was everywhere. The roars were deafening.
At the end of the National Anthem, F-16 fighter jets roared with ear-splitting sound over a packed McAfee stadium.
Yes, it was the season opener of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, and the Silver and Black were playing in front of a national audience, against an archrival in what is arguably the most intense division in the NFL.
Darth Vader was there with his light saber, so was Elvis with his jumpsuit and cape. The autumn wind blew in just about every weirdo imaginable, which helped pack the stands in Oaktown on Monday night, just a month shy of Halloween.
All of the hype and hoopla was there for a Raider win. How could they possibly just lose, Baby, on a night like this?
But sure enough, like a Santa Ana wind whipping across the La Jolla coastline, all the promise and excitement of the 2006 Oakland Raiders season got sucked into an inescapable Black Hole that the Raiders and their crazed fans were never able to get out of.
The result: a 27-0 shutout win for the Chargers of San Diego that left 60-thousand-plus fans in silver-and-black garb swearing every obscenity in the book as they scratched their heads for answers.
Yes, that was my first experience at an Oakland Raider game. Heck, I even rode BART to get the full effect.
As a long-time diehard 49er fan, I clearly was not in my element, but my friends that I came with were out to recruit me into the Raider Nation.
Before the coin toss, one of my friends – a season ticket holder from Modesto who eats, sleeps and breathes his beloved Raiders – told me that I should brace myself and get ready to see some “real football” at a “real stadium” with “real fans” that weren’t “a bunch of wine-sipping pansies.”
I must say I did see some real football Monday night. Unfortunately for Matt Caramella and everyone else in the Raider Nation that real football was only being played by the team that had lightening bolts on their helmets.
Yes, after seeing that pathetic display by Al’s boys I think I’ll stick with the white-collared sophistication, wine and cheese, and the five, count them, five – not three – Super Bowl rings that the team on the other side of the Bay has provided its fans.
Sorry, Raider Nation my heart bleeds Red and Gold. See you all on Oct. 8.
