Why I can't quit the Raiders

[haji81872]

This is the end of a great article written during the Covid era while a man was trying to replace sports with e-sports. I think his explanation of watching sport is on point and explains a lot. The collective memories through my life and experiences shared with all of you make it impossible to stop watching.

That, I think, is what sport is all about. If you follow a sport it becomes a thread which runs through your life and provides memories and narrative and meaning and context. Sport becomes a kind of companion, part of the richness and texture of lived experience. At the same time, you could argue that sport is the only thing on television that is real. The things you are watching happen are actually happening right now, as you watch. So much modern reality is mediated, packaged, predigested. This is obviously true for all forms of drama, but it is more subtly true of news and current affairs, where the effects can be more pernicious, because we’re seeing an image of the world which makes claim to be the real world. Sport isn’t like that. It is clearly artificial: it happens within a determined frame and a clear set of rules and in that sense is as mediated as human experience can be. But within that frame, when you’re watching live sport, you are watching reality as it really happens. It is perhaps the only completely, inarguably true thing you can see on TV. These events, which define the lives of the athletes taking part, are taking place while you watch.

You can have intense moments of feeling watching sport, just as you can have through reading or through drama or through art. The meanings it gives are both individual, because nobody else has seen exactly the things you’ve seen, and collective, because anyone with an interest in the sport has similar experiences, similar memories, and is connected to them, and to you, as a result. Esports give me none of that, which is the reason they can mean so much to people who play them, but nothing at all to me. And so although thinking about esports hasn’t made me get into esports – to be honest, if anything it has put me off – at least it’s made me realise where those thousands of hours have gone, and why. So thank you, esports. But also, respectfully, no thanks. I’m dancing with the one what brung me.

[Xramfan]

Because of my fandom of the Raiders as a kid my favorite colors are silver and black. I would literally have to get rid of 90 to 95% of my wardrobe. Pretty silly reason I guess but it's the truth.

Since my 20`s, from fall through early spring, I rarely left my house not wearing an Oakland Raiders hoodie sweatshirt. I have two remaining today. One is shot to doll rags and been through the wringer, the other I bought immediately following their announcement of Vegas so I had to grab the last "Oakland" Raiders merch I could and Ive worn it only a few times so it will last awhile.

Having said that, its now been about 5 years or so since Ive worn anything Raider related

[Raider_Len]

I might if I could; I can't. Can't really explain it. I'm 64, and not gonna bail now. Raiders have been part of my life since I was little, maybe even my first love, so to speak. She cheated, left me, I took her back, she left me again, and got ugly. She's still and always will be my first love in sports though, what can I say?

[Viper]

I might if I could; I can't. Can't really explain it. I'm 64, and not gonna bail now. Raiders have been part of my life since I was little, maybe even my first love, so to speak. She cheated, left me, I took her back, she left me again, and got ugly. She's still and always will be my first love in sports though, what can I say?

Pretty sad really. That first love got fat, ugly, lazy and self entitled.

[Reno Hightower]

I think those of us that are still here after enduring Super Bowl XXXVII, the events that led to it and the ensuing twenty three seasons, are lifers...

[RunOverByHubbard]

1969 to present -- so, no, I am not going anywhere. On the other hand, my interest in the team is at an all-time low. I cannot name our starting defense which says something. I was looking forward to Jeanty running, but this O-line makes it uninteresting. After the first game of the years vs. New England, I hopeful about the QB situation but that bubble burst real fast. Even our kicking game is not good. Crap, I hate it, but Raiders for Life for me. Oh, and my interest in attending a game in Las Vegas is very low. High prices, lots of opponent's fans, and I have to fly there and spend a lot on a room. Oakland: found pretty cheap seats, took the BART to the stadium, loved the parking lot scene (although once I smoked some one-hit wonder with some guys I met and was kind of too high -- but settled into it by the time I got in my seat. Oh yes, the pee troughs -- not a good thing but heck it was the House of Thrills where The Mad Bomber, The Snake, Branch, Freddie, Villapiano, Tatum and many more played.

[Reno Hightower]

I just hope that the Raiders do not sink to a sub .500 all time won/loss record, or that I am around to see it.

As of today we are at 511-487-11.

The only team in the AFC West that owns a winning record against us are the Chiefs.

Image 17.jpeg

Compliments of Mr Schottenheimer.

[Willmark]

The issue as I see it now? Just who are fans of the Raiders? The core of fans are older if for no other reason they remember when the Raiders were legendary.

Now its too much to try and explain "you see from 1965 to 1985 they were the most winnigest team in ALL of professional sports, so on and so on." Usually people's eyes just glaze over. The LA Raiders and the rap "cool?" Likewise a distant memory. To most people its inconceivable that anyone would be a fan of such a bad and poorly run organization.

And if were honest?

They are not wrong.

[Reno Hightower]

The issue as I see it now? Just who are fans of the Raiders? The core of fans are older if for no other reason they remember when the Raiders were legendary.

Now its too much to try and explain "you see from 1965 to 1985 they were the most winnigest team in ALL of professional sports, so on and so on." Usually people's eyes just glaze over. The LA Raiders and the rap "cool?" Likewise a distant memory. To most people its inconceivable that anyone would be a fan of such a bad and poorly run organization.

And if were honest?

They are not wrong.

Best way that I can sum it up is we are now as putrid as we were once great.

[Smucky]

Been a die-hard fan since 1983 but you can only break a guy’s heart so many times. Lost 90% of my emotional connection to this team and if things continued I should be at 100% soon. Thankfully the Raiders of late have helped me have a more productive Sunday.

[raiders93]

The issue as I see it now? Just who are fans of the Raiders? The core of fans are older if for no other reason they remember when the Raiders were legendary.

Now its too much to try and explain "you see from 1965 to 1985 they were the most winnigest team in ALL of professional sports, so on and so on." Usually people's eyes just glaze over. The LA Raiders and the rap "cool?" Likewise a distant memory. To most people its inconceivable that anyone would be a fan of such a bad and poorly run organization.

And if were honest?

They are not wrong.

I got into the team as a kid, during Gruden 1.0. Would’ve been nice if someone had mentioned at the time, that all the players I fell in love with were at the very back end of their careers (Gannon, brown, rice). Fast forward and we’ve had one decent season (2016) in my entire adult life. Fandom definitely transcends logic.

It’s not even that we’re bad… it’s that we feel incapable of improving. There’s rarely any obvious direction with this team. Equally rare is any semblance of competence. As of late the lack of inspiration feels like a disservice to the fan base. We stuck with Carr for at least 3 years longer than we should’ve and boldly moved on to…Jimmy G? Gardner f[raiders_icon]cking Minshew? Geno Smith? We’re not even gonna pretend like we’re interested in putting a compelling product on the field?

[Willmark]

Been a die-hard fan since 1983 but you can only break a guy’s heart so many times. Lost 90% of my emotional connection to this team and if things continued I should be at 100% soon. Thankfully the Raiders of late have helped me have a more productive Sunday.

Somewhat the same. I still watch but now it’s more gallows humor than anything else. As in “just how bad will we lose this week?”

[RickRyb]

As a fan of football, I watch all the time slots Saturday and Sunday, generally selecting what is the best game for me from a fantasy player standpoint or what should be a competitive game. If the Bears or The Raiders fall into one of those categories then I'll watch their game.

[SuperRaider]

Really strange now as the raiders can pay the players and they can pay the HC whatever they want…Pete Carroll is on 15 million a season….

[MrSiani]

I remember going to my 1st raider game as a kid-- Kenny King ran what was then the longest run from scrimmage as a Raider, which I missed as I was the hot dog stand.. My bother was jumping up and down at his seat when I got back. I had to watch the highlight on MNF narrated by Howard Cosell but back then MNF football highlights were larger than life and no one compared to Howard Cosell's naration of football highlights, "They came out of the gate struuggling-- BUT THEN!"

"...But they weren't done, not yet, not by a long shot...." I miss the old trifecta of Cosell, Gifford and Meredeth

[heavyD]

I was wearing Raiders colors in grade 5. It's just part of who I am in my mid-50's. At this stage though I have accepted that 1984 will be the last Raiders Super Bowl I see in my lifetime. Any chance of that changing hinges on Mark Davis being out of the picture and that stubborn mother f[raiders_icon]cker will likely hold on into his 80's.