Raider Fans Are Still Rugged And Ruthless

Fans around the NFL are pretty much alike.

They come to games wearing T-shirts bearing their home team’s logo.

Raiders’ fans, though, don’t stop at the shirt.

They just go ahead and have it tattooed right onto the skin.

Face paint is one thing. But this epidermal artwork must be considered a different degree of commitment entirely.

One guy tossing back a brew on the concourse at halftime had the old Jolly Roger one-eyed Raider proudly displayed on his shoulder.

And another shirtless gentleman with a paunch so profound it could be sold as space for advertising had the entire phrase “Commitment to Excellence” emblazoned on his gut.

So it’s clear that the Raiders’ emigration back to Oakland from South Central Los Angeles has done nothing to diminish their fans’ fervor.

But amid the almost riotous atmosphere in the Raiders’ 34-14 dismantling of Seattle, one has to point out that the turnstiles stopped clicking at barely over 50,000, making this a non-sellout - something that never happened in 13 straight years before the move to L.A.

That meant no TV in region.

A Silver and Black-out, if you will.

Why?

Well, with top ticket prices soaring to an NFL-high of $61, it’s certain that many of the good residents of Oakland will just have to keep their tattoos at home and listen to the game on the radio.

Granted, principal owner Al Davis needs the income. His monthly tab for Brylcreme alone must be staggering.

He is, however, doing everything he can to smooth out the problems in what must be an impossible situation - practicing during the week in Los Angeles and then flying to Oakland for your “home” games.

Davis even has a plane for the players’ families flown to Oakland on Sunday mornings, where they get together for a brunch on his tab.

They also ship up the Raiderettes, whom they bill proudly and without a hint of gender-sensitivity as, “Football’s Fabulous Females.”

But even the Raiderettes and one of the most talented teams in the AFC couldn’t fill this stadium in only the third game back in Oakland.

The problem may have been the opponent.

The Seahawks played well enough to stay close into the third period, but the Raiders found and exploited every Seattle weakness.

Their return teams devastated the Seahawks’ weak coverage units.

And back Harvey Williams and receiver Tim Brown combined for hundreds of yards - after the point where the first sad-tackling Seahawks should have nailed them.

Seattle players and coaches dutifully credited the Raiders as being the best club they’ve seen.

But those words seemed to burn a bit as they came out.

Is this the best team you’ve faced this year? Hawk quarterback Rick Mirer was asked.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Although I hate to say that.”

Why?

“Because this place is pretty ruthless, you hate to give them that satisfaction,” Mirer said.

Perhaps he was referring to the fan with what looks like swords buried in his skull, or the fans who showered beer on Steve Broussard after his touchdown run.

Every open-air stadium in the NFL has planes circling with ads for restaurants or radio stations. But above the Raiders game Sunday, a plane repeatedly circled the stadium towing a banner-ad for a brand of condoms.

“But,” Mirer conceded. “The team is really good and this is a very hostile environment.”

And it did have an effect on the Seahawks on the field.

“It was extremely noisy, you couldn’t hear anything,” Hawk coach Dennis Erickson said. “We couldn’t do anything at the line of scrimmage but silent counts. That made it very hard to audibilize, but that’s the advantage of playing at home and it’s a big advantage for them.”

Surely, this game was decided by Williams and Brown, and a vengeful Raider front seven, and masterful execution by Raider quarterback Jeff Hostetler.

Those guys get the win.

But the 50,000 crazies who were willing to fork over 61 bucks and carve the skull and cross-bones into their hides, at the very least, get the assist.

, DataTimes