The only time my loyalty was tested was on March 27, 2017. That was the day the Oakland Raiders announced their intent to move to Las Vegas. I remember that day vividly. I was at work, in the midst of a 10-hour day. I was sitting in my car; in one hand was a sandwich, in the other was my phone. I waited for the scheduled announcement. The Raiders are moving to Las Vegas.
When they leave, they will not only take the team with them. Along with all the football equipment, they will pack up will be the identity of so many fans. The sense of a community that so many people feel when they are a part of Raider Nation, the tailgating prior to games and the crazy outfits are all going to be gone.
My initial reaction was disappointment. I was shocked. I knew it was a possibility all along, but I never took it to be a serious one. My disappointment was soon overtaken by anger. How could they? Especially after all the loyalty us fans have shown you. That was the moment my loyalty tried. I had a way to enact revenge. I planned to cancel my season tickets that I had renewed just the week before. However, my loyalty talked me out of it. I felt so angry that my eyes began to water. In the end, I made the compromise that while the Raiders remain in Oakland, I’ll renew my tickets. Once they move to Las Vegas, my financial support is gone, but I will still support and be a fan of the Raiders. Deep down inside of me, I knew I would not be able to just cancel my tickets and ignore the team no matter how angered I was.
As Eric Simons explains in The Psychology of why sports fans see their teams as extensions of themselves, “A sports team is an expression of a fan’s sense of self.” There are pros and cons to that. The pros being pride, identity, belonging, and the cons being biases. Simons continues, “And if your relationship with a sports team makes your brain think that the sports team is you … then it also applies a lot those biases to the actions of the team.” This is clearly evident in Raiders fans. Some people say it’s true in all sports, Simons cites Dutch soccer fans, but I argue Raiders fans offer more outlandish attire.
This move was more than just a slap in the face of Oakland Raiders fans. It was also a slap in the face to the city of Oakland. The move to Las Vegas will be the second time the team leaves Oakland in 35 years. When the Raiders returned from Los Angeles in 1995, the city of Oakland added seats to the Coliseum, known as Mount Davis. The Raiders still owe approximately $75 million, and the city of Oakland is now planning to a lawsuit. It’ll be interesting to see the outcome of this lawsuit as the City of Oakland is trying to retain the team name (Raiders) and colors (silver and black). If Oakland gets to keep those, fans will have to decide: follow the new Las Vegas team, or remain a Raiders fan and hope a new team comes to Oakland.
The passion is excessive, and it shows on gamedays. I attend Oakland Raiders games regularly and can attest to the passion shown. Cars are lined up outside the parking lots hours before the kickoff. Driving through the lot to find a parking spot you’ll see each row lined with canopies accompanied by grills and coolers full of beer and ice. If you examine the parking lot you find Raiders car flags, as well as larger flags flying high in the air above the tailgates. In Indy, Paul Fussell wonders, “if it’s not the camping out … rather than the race and its excitements and hazards, that has drawn these multitudes here.” One can wonder the same about Raiders games, as the parking lot turns into one five-hour long party with 50,000+ people in attendance.
Looking around you might find yourself staring at the many characters that attend Raiders games. You’ll find your typical Raiders jersey, or t-shirt, wearing fan. Then there are those that dress to stand out. They make it difficult for you to confuse who they root for. They wear silver and black face paint. They have shoulder pads with spikes. They proudly wear the Raiders logo on their skin. Then there are those fans that are so recognizable they are known by nicknames, like Gorilla Rilla and Dr. Death. That loyalty shows in wearing the colors with pride. In wearing these costumes, they are telling you, “We are a part of Raider Nation.” They want it to be known who they are with, and they want that statement to be loud. Thus, we see the face paint and crazy costumes. These outfits reinforce what Simons identified as a benefit of seeing a team as an expression of a fan’s self. The costumes are about being proud of one’s team. They offer a sense of belonging to something greater than any one person.
The cool thing about attending the games is the relationships established with other Raiders fans. When watching the game, it feels like one big family is sitting in one section. People buy beers for someone that they see maybe eight times a year. I have been invited to multiple tailgates from people who are seated in my general vicinity. These relationships help foster a community and offer a sense of belonging. The shared love of the Raiders is the gateway to a new relationship. This is when you realize you are now part of Raider Nation.
Fans display blind loyalty and they wear team color shades when it comes to football. It’s difficult to take them off, and that is why they demand the same blind loyalty from the players. Meanwhile, the team is in the background doing as they please without having to answer to anyone. The concept of unbiased opinions appears to be a foreign one to sports fans. As Rick Paulas puts it in Home Games: The Strange Overlapping Borders of Sports Fandom, “Being a fan, after all, isn’t about the players, who change jerseys when the economics are right, or the ownership… If you care, that caring is about the people around you, wherever they may be.” That leads me to wonder: what will happen when the Raiders leave? Will the Raiders pack that community with them when they leave to Las Vegas? There are bars in the Bay Area dedicated to Raiders games, such as Ricky’s in Heyward.
The entire football world was shocked when the Raiders decided to trade star player Khalil Mack recently. Teams just don’t trade players that good in their prime. This is a case where fans blindly defend the team regardless of the information that is out there. I, too, do this, but to an extent. I know that there is a business side to football, and I’m okay with that. It’s the ones don’t understand that that defend the team at all costs. At the same time that I believe in supporting a team over individual players, I also believe that it is okay for players to look out for themselves, especially when playing a sport as violent as football at the highest level.
The Khalil Mack situation is the perfect example. When the national media was reporting the possibility of a trade, those same supporters claimed it wasn’t true because the local beat writers hadn’t reported it. After the trade was announced, fans came to the defense of the team once again. This time offering excuses for them, such as “You can’t pay a non-quarterback, quarterback money,” or variations of that. I, on the other hand, understand that players must get as much money as they can, while they can.
Despite the repeated actions of betrayal, I remain a fan. It was my choice to not cancel my season tickets so that I can enjoy the good times while I still can. I’m sure my final drive out of the Coliseum parking lot will be an emotional one. Until then, I will party with the rest of Raider Nation.
Works Cited
Fussell, Paul. “Indy.” Killing, in Verse and Prose, and Other Essays. 1990.
Paulas, Rick. “Home Games: The Strange Overlapping Borders of Sports Fandom.” Sports, 24 Aug. 2016, sports.vice.com/en_us/article/kbdbvx/home-games-the-strange-overlapping-borders-of-sports-fandom.
Simons, Eric. “The Psychology of Why Sports Fans See Their Teams as Extensions of Themselves.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Jan. 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-psychology-of-why-sports-fans-see-their-teams-as-extensions-of-themselves/2015/01/30/521e0464-a816-11e4-a06b-9df2002b86a0_story.html?utm_term=.4c790d1cf471.
College Writing 195 