This weekend, the 49ers are playing the Raiders in what some media outposts are feebly trying to pass off as a Bay Area rivalry. Truth is, there's no rivalry. For the most part, I think 9ers fans have mixed feelings of love and fear for the Raiders. Meanwhile, Raiders fans ... well, I would never attempt to guess what goes on in the heads of Raiders fans.I think Raiders fans are totally awesome. I also think they're out of their fucking minds.
Living in the Bay Area, I meet these people every day. I'll never forget the time I went to the grocery store to buy a tri-tip and the meat guy was wearing a Raiders hat. He said "You buying this for a bar-b-que to watch the Raiders game?" "No," I said, "they have a bye this weekend." "Where you from?" he asked. "I'm from the city. You?" "I'm from Raiders," he said. I might be confused by this whole interaction had I not been so familiar with Raiders doctrine. You see, a Raiders fan feels completely free to use the word "Raiders" in any sentence. That's how much they love the Raiders. When judging fanmanship, you really have to respect that.
Then there are fans like "raiderjoe" a regular contributor to the Football Outsiders comment section (and probably countless other blogs) who has developed something of a cult following with the blog's readers for the blind loyalty and mind boggling incoherence of his comments. Here are some of his recent highlights.
McFadden will be great player for Raiders. Possibly bets running back since Bo Jackson. Raiders rush offense 6th last year, probably be 1 or 2 in 2008. especially with passing attack of Russell to keep defense s honest.With fans like this guy, how can anyone hate the Raiders?
- Raiderjoe — 5/20/2008
Poster sounds insance. No way are Chargers going to dominate divisons ... Keep dreamign about Chargers cuase it sure as not going to happen in real life.
- Raiderjoe — 4/8/2008
Denver is not only threat to SD. Oakland as big as threat as Denbver, but even bigger.
- Raiderjoe — 2/16/2008
And then there's this, which just brings tears of joy to my eye every time I watch it.
I'm rooting for the Raiders this season. I think DMC is going to be a bad ass in his rookie season. With guys like Derrick Burgess and Nnamdi Awsom-O 4000, that defense is going to be tough to beat. So I'm saving all my hatred for the 49ers real rivals.
