12/21/24
November 16, 2005
Spike more bark than bite: There is no group of fans more polarizing in all of sports than that of the Raiders. Over the years, the stories are endless. Urinating on fans of the opposing team. Spitting on opposing players and coaches. Throwing batteries. Screaming every mom, sister, wife and daughter insult in the book.
All the stuff you hear about Raiders fans is way overblown. Most of them are just like most other fans in different cities. They dress up, tailgate and let off some steam screaming for their team. It's just a couple of idiots at the stadium that give the rest of the Raiders fans a bad name. And some street gangs have adopted the silver and black as their colors. Those fucking morons probably have never even watched a game on TV, let alone a game in person. It's all overblown. Go Cowboys!
posted by Desert Dog at 05:36 PM on November 16, 2005
DD: Tell that to the Steelers' fan who was beaten in the stands of The Coliseum about 12 years ago and was sent to the hospital. I can't find any links to support it, but I was at the game and saw the ruckus. I went in neutral colors and didn't cheer for my beloved Steelers at all that day because I was afraid... and made to believe I should be. Again, this was in the LA days, and The Coliseum wasn't in the best neighborhood, but this was in the stadium, not in the parkign lot. Their fans' intimidation is nearly as bad as an actual confrontation. I know a bunch of Raiders fans (a few with season tickets) and they are all really nice people (some of them are hippies even!), but even they tell me that some of the fans take their own reputation seriously and feel a need to be tough. I think the correlation to gang members is an accurate one that way. Personally, I think i would rather meet a Blood or a Crip in a dark alley... but Spike sounds like a nice guy :)
posted by scully at 07:06 PM on November 16, 2005
terrapin, yeah, I know that crap happens at the games. I'd like to think the majority of fans are good, decent people. But when a violent act occurs at a game, it usually gets covered in the media, as it should. But I think a few incidents can give the whole fan-base of a team an undeserved bad rep. Maybe I'm looking at things with rose-colored glasses.
posted by Desert Dog at 07:21 PM on November 16, 2005
When I tended bar at a pretty small but very central sports bar in Sacramento Spike would come in pretty often and is a great guy. He would often sign things and leave them for Raiders fans. He even offered to take me to a Raiders-Broncos game since he knew I am a Broncos fan. I declined.
posted by geekyguy at 09:14 PM on November 16, 2005
Not sure about Raiders fans, but I can say that the worse, in my opinion, are Philly fans. I am decent size guy, but I went to a few games in Philly... One was Sabre vs Flyers during the Stanley Cup. I wore my colors - mistake. I can honestly say I was scared to death. I prayed that the Sabres would lose so I could make it out of there alive. I went to an Eagles vs Buffalo game in Philly. I didn't wear my colors, but those who did or rooted for the Bills left pretty damn quick. When a stadium has a court house located within the stadium, it tells you there is something wrong with those people. An audience who throws snowballs at Santa Claus, tells you something is not right with them people.
posted by Stealth_72 at 04:52 AM on November 17, 2005
Too bad all that attitude doesn't extend to the playing field. The Raiders have sucked, for the most part, since the Marcus Allen days (that Super Bowl team that got blown out by Tampa a few years back was only a mirage). The Al Davis motto: Just Be Mediocre, Baby! And all those Raider fans couldn't even put on that act if they came to a December game at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo. It's a lot more fun to play dress-up when the temperature's in the 70s than when it's minus 10 (or below, factoring in the wind chill).
posted by dyams at 07:07 AM on November 17, 2005
You could take this example to anywhere you go in the world. Soccer fans in South America beat up refs on a regular. The same with hooligans wearing their "colors" in western Europe. Giants Stadium in December filled with snow is a hazard to ALL fans. It's the people, not the city.
posted by tadley86 at 09:40 AM on November 17, 2005
Absolute best fans in football: Browns fans! We love our team regardless of their record, and support them through thick and thin. if you go to a home game in cleveland, you can feel the pride when our Browns come onto the field! People need to celebrate their own team instead of degrading other teams. Go Browns!
posted by primejoe21 at 10:16 AM on November 17, 2005
primejoe: Um, batteries have been thrown from the Dawg Pound too, you know. And I'll give you that Browns fans are good supporters. They'd have to be after the way that asstard Modell treated them.
posted by scully at 10:37 AM on November 17, 2005
I heard they throw those hard-ass milk bones, too.
posted by Desert Dog at 11:29 AM on November 17, 2005
Wasn't there also an incident in Cleveland with beer bottles being thrown at the visiting team players?
posted by Stealth_72 at 11:32 AM on November 17, 2005
I hope they were empty bottles. It would be a shame to waste a good beer on the Browns.
posted by Desert Dog at 12:08 PM on November 17, 2005
I think the Browns fans were throwing bottles at the officiating crew, actually. So as long as you're not 65 years old and you don't show up in stripes, you should be good.
posted by fabulon7 at 01:14 PM on November 17, 2005
Yeah, they were throwing bottles at the officials, but managed to hit just about everybody, apparently.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 02:26 PM on November 17, 2005
There is one thing that some fans forget. When you act as an ass toward the visiting team, remember that if they were not there there would be no game for your enjoyment. So they deserve more than the a little respect.
posted by Joe Veltri at 02:29 PM on November 17, 2005
If there is ever a 10 cent beer night anywhere a plane will fly, please let me know.
posted by Desert Dog at 02:46 PM on November 17, 2005
When you act as an ass toward the visiting team, remember that if they were not there there would be no game for your enjoyment. Maybe, but my team would have a perfect home record due to all the forfeits. MY TEAM ROX!
posted by DrJohnEvans at 03:56 PM on November 17, 2005
Aaaaaawwwwww. Isn't just precious that Howie likes to play dress-up for his very favoritiest team?!? Too bad they're 3-6.
posted by alumshubby at 05:35 AM on November 18, 2005
I am a Chargers fan living in the Bay Area. I have gone to 7 straight Bolts/Raiders game at the coliseum. We get there early so we can tailgate right in the middle of all the 'Black Hole Crew' and I have had a chance to meet a lot of the guys who gear up and make the crowd shots on TV. I can say without a doubt that they aren't bad people and generally don't misbehave in the parking lot or the stadium. However, there is a large element of Raider fans who make that stadium a place I would never take my children to...it should be 21 and over, period. A ton of completely wasted jerks who think their tough because they have a Raiders jersey on. Every year there is a few of them around us...so wasted they have no idea what is going on in the game...only that they are the biggest bad ass around. Last year we sat in the Black Hole...a great experience but I would say that 60%+ of the people in my section and on both sections next to mine were way over the legal limit for intoxication and completely out of control. A running joke between me and my friends (some Raider fans themselves) is how many people at the game have felony warrants out for them. I have seen games at 10 different NFL stadiums and none of the other 9 are anything like a Raiders game. Sure there are always jerks...and drunks...and drunk jerks. But there are way more of all of these at the Coliseum.
posted by stofer71 at 11:33 AM on November 18, 2005
I was kidding, KIDDING about Howie, a.k.a Spike; I actually respect him, compared to the kind of useless Sunday-afternoon-spoiling asshat "fan" that stofer71 is describing. Howie may put up a rather, ah, involved front, but basically his heart is in the right place; I especially appreciated that "I don't like posing with people when they're holding a beer," he explains, "[to say nothing of posing when] "holding my own beer. That doesn't look right." This weekend I had the opportunity to run up to Cleveland for the Browns-Dolphins game, and besides the prospect of blowing $50 to see breathtaking spectacle of two 3-6 teams competing for higher slots in next year's draft, knowing that I might have to sit within earshot of obnoxious drunkards helped me decide to keep my money and watch the game on TV.
posted by alumshubby at 04:24 PM on November 18, 2005
every team sucks except the Philedelphia Eagles GO EAGLES!
posted by Dav at 07:55 PM on November 18, 2005
Remember the Randy Moss incident last year, don't forget about Packers fans. According to ex-Vikings reciever Chris Carter, "After a victory, they have a tendency to bang on the bus, throw bottles at the bus, and then on your way out of town give you a little moonshine, bam, take that with you."