Growing up....green?
I've been a Raiders fan as long as I can remember. Oakland, L.A., or Oakland - doesn't matter. I love me some Silver & Black.
I can remember being 4 years old and wearing my #33 Kenny King pajamas. Did I write that? I had KENNY KING PAJAMAS! How does a 4 year old have a favorite player? I can guarantee you that I had no idea what Kenny King did. It was all about the name. When you're 4 being a king seems like a cool job. This guy already had the name... And it was alliterative! (again, not that I knew what that meant)
Plunkett, the Tooz, Marcus Allen – these guys I knew better than my teachers at school. I knew that Marc Wilson was one of the worst things to happen to the Raiders, just like Bo Jackson was probably the best (until that fateful sideline tackle.. FREAKIN’ BENGALS). Steve Beurlein was the bomb – Todd Marijuanovich simply bombed. I could go on and on about crap quarterbacks or coaches (here’s looking at you Joe Bugel), but that doesn’t mean I ever stopped rooting for them. Like I said, a fan for life.
At least I thought so.
One day my dad let it slip that during the Raiders-Eagles superbowl I was rooting for...the EAGLES! What? I was only two or three years old...perhaps I was delirious...teething...something! But it slowly sunk in that green had always been my favorite color. I can see why I was drawn to the green guys. Why did I change? What was my allegiance? How can I not remember?
I grew up in the center of California. Literally. If you were to get the halfway point between North & South and East & West of California, you would most likely land at Modesto. Therefore we were much closer to the 49ers and Raiders than the Rams or Chargers. My dad was a fan of the closest teams and I guess that’s why I was too.
Al Davis’ move to LA really hurt a lot of the fanbase and made others (including my dad) angry. I didn’t know any better. I was just a kid who knew to root for Joe Montana & Jim Plunkett, so I stayed true to both teams. I rejoiced in the 49ers’ championships and suffered through the Raiders’ horrendous losses (like 51-3 vs the Bills in the 1991 AFC Championship? I had to go to sleep after that one). I thought being a fan meant that you loved your one or two teams through thick and thin and hated all the others.
I often wondered how people could like any other teams. ESPECIALLY division rivals. Were there really people who liked the Kansas City Chiefs? Surely they must be faking it. How could they all hate the Raiders so much? And don’t get me started on the Denver Broncos. I just assumed only people in those cities were fans of those teams. I knew that every stadium had some Raiders fans in it, but certainly not vice versa!
Zeal is a funny thing. Growing up is even funnier.
Even a few years ago I was still writhing inside. Were there really that many Tampa Bay fans at the SuperBowl? A friend of mine (who had just moved from Colorado) was hosting the party that year, and he was rooting against the Raiders. Half-joking, half-serious, I asked him how he could like the Denver Broncos. He gave me an answer that caused me to grow up that day.
“Look at Colorado,” he said. “There’s nothing around. Denver is it. Look around us. What other states are nearby? What other pro teams are nearby?”
I started thinking...Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Nebraska, the Dakotas....Nothing. (no offense to those of you in those states)
“Denver is all we have for hundreds and hundreds of square miles, so the fans cover a lot of ground. You have 15 professional sports teams in your state alone. [I guess he was counting football, basketball, baseball & hockey]. If you like football and you’re around the Rocky Mountains, the Broncos are your team.”
That was my literal light-bulb moment. In an instant he had given me a smidgen of respect for other fans when I used to have none (ok ok...more than a smidgen).
Nowadays I really don’t care who’s playing football on TV. I won’t turn it off because they’re not my team. I can root for Peyton Manning or Big Ben. Division rivals are still easy to root against. And I still have a few grudges (Tom Brady FUMBLED. I will never root for the Patriots as long as he is there....and you can forget about Tampa Bay while Gruden is around).
Relaxing my bias just a little bit has helped me in Fantasy Football as well. My first year I went with all Raiders (much like I still do in video games) and paid dearly for it. Now I know that when the Chargers come to town I’d better have LaDanian Tomlinson as my running back. It still kills me to the core - it’s like rooting against myself – but I’m better about separating fantasy from reality.
If only Rich Gannon were still healthy......or maybe Ron Jaworski
I can remember being 4 years old and wearing my #33 Kenny King pajamas. Did I write that? I had KENNY KING PAJAMAS! How does a 4 year old have a favorite player? I can guarantee you that I had no idea what Kenny King did. It was all about the name. When you're 4 being a king seems like a cool job. This guy already had the name... And it was alliterative! (again, not that I knew what that meant)
Plunkett, the Tooz, Marcus Allen – these guys I knew better than my teachers at school. I knew that Marc Wilson was one of the worst things to happen to the Raiders, just like Bo Jackson was probably the best (until that fateful sideline tackle.. FREAKIN’ BENGALS). Steve Beurlein was the bomb – Todd Marijuanovich simply bombed. I could go on and on about crap quarterbacks or coaches (here’s looking at you Joe Bugel), but that doesn’t mean I ever stopped rooting for them. Like I said, a fan for life.
At least I thought so.
One day my dad let it slip that during the Raiders-Eagles superbowl I was rooting for...the EAGLES! What? I was only two or three years old...perhaps I was delirious...teething...something! But it slowly sunk in that green had always been my favorite color. I can see why I was drawn to the green guys. Why did I change? What was my allegiance? How can I not remember?
I grew up in the center of California. Literally. If you were to get the halfway point between North & South and East & West of California, you would most likely land at Modesto. Therefore we were much closer to the 49ers and Raiders than the Rams or Chargers. My dad was a fan of the closest teams and I guess that’s why I was too.
Al Davis’ move to LA really hurt a lot of the fanbase and made others (including my dad) angry. I didn’t know any better. I was just a kid who knew to root for Joe Montana & Jim Plunkett, so I stayed true to both teams. I rejoiced in the 49ers’ championships and suffered through the Raiders’ horrendous losses (like 51-3 vs the Bills in the 1991 AFC Championship? I had to go to sleep after that one). I thought being a fan meant that you loved your one or two teams through thick and thin and hated all the others.
I often wondered how people could like any other teams. ESPECIALLY division rivals. Were there really people who liked the Kansas City Chiefs? Surely they must be faking it. How could they all hate the Raiders so much? And don’t get me started on the Denver Broncos. I just assumed only people in those cities were fans of those teams. I knew that every stadium had some Raiders fans in it, but certainly not vice versa!
Zeal is a funny thing. Growing up is even funnier.
Even a few years ago I was still writhing inside. Were there really that many Tampa Bay fans at the SuperBowl? A friend of mine (who had just moved from Colorado) was hosting the party that year, and he was rooting against the Raiders. Half-joking, half-serious, I asked him how he could like the Denver Broncos. He gave me an answer that caused me to grow up that day.
“Look at Colorado,” he said. “There’s nothing around. Denver is it. Look around us. What other states are nearby? What other pro teams are nearby?”
I started thinking...Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Nebraska, the Dakotas....Nothing. (no offense to those of you in those states)
“Denver is all we have for hundreds and hundreds of square miles, so the fans cover a lot of ground. You have 15 professional sports teams in your state alone. [I guess he was counting football, basketball, baseball & hockey]. If you like football and you’re around the Rocky Mountains, the Broncos are your team.”
That was my literal light-bulb moment. In an instant he had given me a smidgen of respect for other fans when I used to have none (ok ok...more than a smidgen).
Nowadays I really don’t care who’s playing football on TV. I won’t turn it off because they’re not my team. I can root for Peyton Manning or Big Ben. Division rivals are still easy to root against. And I still have a few grudges (Tom Brady FUMBLED. I will never root for the Patriots as long as he is there....and you can forget about Tampa Bay while Gruden is around).
Relaxing my bias just a little bit has helped me in Fantasy Football as well. My first year I went with all Raiders (much like I still do in video games) and paid dearly for it. Now I know that when the Chargers come to town I’d better have LaDanian Tomlinson as my running back. It still kills me to the core - it’s like rooting against myself – but I’m better about separating fantasy from reality.
If only Rich Gannon were still healthy......or maybe Ron Jaworski
posted by Count Olaf | 12:05 AM
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