Even when thuggary and ugliness rears its ugly head across the bay, Oakland haters come out of the woodwork and display their classic hatred of the Bay Area's most maligned city.
Saturday night's violence and mayhem before, during, and after the Raiders/SF 49ers exhibition game provided the red meat for the nation's sports mediums, (ESPN, in particular, what a surprise), to once again paint a broad stroke about Raiders' fans, Oakland; the garden variety stuff that's become standard fare lazy reporting 1A.
The truth is this: Yes, some, some Raiders' fans are crazy and quite violent, maybe trouble-makers personified. Underline some. But so are some 49ers' fans too, and Pittsburgh Steelers' and Philly fans. Did I even mention some LA Dodgers' fans too and the city of angels?
Yet Oakland is a convenient target, especially a national target, the easy kid on the block to repeatedly pick on when others in the barn are always ignored. See, it's those damn gangster dudes, the Raiders and their 'Raiders Nation'. (Closet racism here: read "Latino", "Hispanic" --they won't say it--I will).
Take a look at those YouTube videos. I see a lot of red and gold jackets and jerseys, (along with some silver and black too), yet all I've heard so far is that its all "Oakland's fault" and "Raiders' fans bring out the worst in behavior."
Not a peep about SF. (Gwen Knapp of the Chronicle, exception to the rule).
This is not to bash the 49ers, their faithful, 95% of their fans, and the front office of both teams. Hell, this isn't even an indictment about San Francisco. Oakland long ago got way past that "SF thing" and embraced its "Brooklyn of the Bay Area" badge. Oakland is what it is and doesn't need nor care about what the West Bay minions think of them, both in the social and/or sports arena.
Moreover, the sheer lunacy of Saturday night, and the tragic incident last March at Dodger Stadium didn't have Oakland on the dateline.
Matter of fact, I don't recall any of that type of behavior at the Oakland Coliseum and I've seen many events there. Sure, there's been fan fights at A's games, Raiders too, but not to the degree and severity of what took place at the Stick.
Yet, once again, all negativity, all the naysayers, the usual suspects, the news site "commenter's" point to Oakland. Maybe they just can't help themselves. Oakland, after all, is easy pickens'. The Herb Caen handbook put to full use.
One of these days, they'll understand. They'll figure it out. If not, they can always blame it on Oakland, after all, isn't it always Oakland's fault?
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Wear a Charger, Niner or Bronco jersey into the Coliseum for a game vs. the Raiders and you'd be whistling a different tune Richie-boy.
ReplyDeletePunched, beer thrown at, cursed, in your face pointing and other degenerate behavior are the norm there fella.
Oakland is the Bay Area's most maligned city? Try Richmond.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree, the commenters on SFHate were particularly quick to jump on the Raiders and Oakland when all of the videos clearly show it was mostly Niners fans fighting, at least the ones caught on video. And I'm a Niners fan.
And of course there's always a subtext of racism and classism to all of this. This isn't the wine and cheese crowd.
It's comical how smug and fake some SF residents and the media can be. That South Park episode was spot on.
ReplyDeleteActually from three videos we were shown (I'm sure there were more fights), The fights I saw were all just general drunken brawls... not necessarily RAIDER v 9er fans, I saw Niner and Raider buddies wailing on other fans of both stripes. This had very little to do with OAK v SF, but with a bunch of drunk fools acting out. Pacific Islanders vs. Latinos. Latinos vs other Latinos, and blacks and whites thrown in here and there. It would be reactionary and short sighted to end the series because of this.
ReplyDeleteActually, D-Bruce was quick to point out Niners "fans" as well this morning and their decent into thuggery. I would think, from your comments in this article, that you weren't listening but you posted early in the day a shot at Benz and Bruce, today's line up. So maybe you just took your shot without listening.
ReplyDeleteDBruce was playing both sides of the fence today..he can "see thugs when he's see's them"..and pretty much described Latino Raider fans. Then,he took on the almost non existent 49er security that let fights go on hoping they would end themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhen you get 10's of thousands of people together in a small area-a virtual city's worth of human beings,you don't do a Jed and hire bad security,no extra lighting,and play the game at a time where it ends in the evening.
The 49ers only have themselves and Jed York to blame and the media should take Jed to task for again,proving he's not up to the job.
Jed took the prepaid crowd of 60,000's money and gave who came two bit security. He should resign before he kills somebody with his total lack of how to run a business..safely,among the others areas he's miserably failed at already .
Oakland long ago got way past that "SF thing"...nor care about what the West Bay minions think of them..... - BA,HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
ReplyDeleteMost of the bay area media like Kawakami put no blame on the 49ers...none. Jed and his security people were outsmarted by thugs? Never saw it coming huh? Those thugs just took advantage of poor Jed and Amy? uhuh,see how far the thugs get to the luxury boxes.
ReplyDeleteIt's a joke whats being written and how the 49ers are getting a free pass.
The president of BP didnt know a thing about installing rigs..but he resigned. Jed? just sucks on his water bottle and gives no real answers.
nice to see you re-write gwen knapps column. plagerize much?
ReplyDeleteSF got past Oakland long ago too. It's a 100% total crap-hole and always will be. Quaint that you still defend it though.
ReplyDeleteThat's the perk of coming from a rich family. Jed gets on-the-job training on how to manage a million dollar company. For awhile, we give the kid a pass, hoping he proves himself and knowing Eddie D did the same. But in this bad economy, us ordinary folk don't get the luxury of NFL clubs as hand-me-downs from Mom & Dad.
ReplyDeleteTime to stop skimping on security to save some bucks!
The dude who got shot 4 times in the stomach Father said on KGO Ch.7 that 4 Raider Fans were beating down one of his friends in the parking lot. The shooting victim said when he stepped out of his truck to help his friend the Raider Fan shot him 4 times point blank in the stomach.
ReplyDeleteSo now what, where do we go from here?
According to Tony Bruno illegals are to blame.
ReplyDeleteI listened to Amy Trask and Jed York on the Murph and Mack show yesterday, answering questions about what they will do in the future so that families and real fans don't have to endure taunts and deal angry young gang-banger types who want to drink and fight. Where do these brainless nit-wits come from anyway? They seem to appear out of the woodwork from time and time and I know that they aren't football fans because they're usually too drunk to even pay attention to the game.
ReplyDeleteThat said, York and Trask made the usual obligatory comments about how "we'll study this situation and work together to make sure this doesn't happen again," but gave no specifics. A lot of empty talk that went nowhere. I guess this is what we have to expect from these two organizations, who are sadly a mere shadow of their former selves. Sad!
Unfortunately, the kind of thuggery that took place the the 'Stick Saturday night is indicative of a society that is losing its grip. We tell our kids to pay attention, stay in school, stay out of trouble, don't get into fights, if you're going to have sex, have safe sex, and don't do drugs. But unfortunately, some of the casualties of the many failed marraiges in this country are in plain view at many NFL games around the country. I think it's because the violence of the game and the colors of the team stir some kind of naimalistic tendancies in these sad, pea-brained fools who don't have much going on in their lives and would rather fight and shoot each other than spend a nice evening watching a game in a civilized manner. I guess the only answer is to stock each NFL stadium with more security people and immediately arrest anyone who starts acting belligerent and drunk. The NFL has taken some steps in recent years as they are the only organized sport in American that has security guards frisking people for guns or bootlegged booze at the gates before admitting them into the statium. That fact alone is a sad commentary on the state of our society.
ReplyDeleteOakland-hating never has been and never will be classic. It's partly laziness, part cluelessness, even part jealousy. How much of this bashing comes from SF NFL fans? How much of this bashing comes from sports fans? I see this happening not just in sports, but in schools, politics, even business. We need an extreme activist to tackle this horrific image of disrespect and shatter it for good.
ReplyDeleteOakland is the "Brooklyn of the Bay Area?" That's not very fair to Brooklyn.
ReplyDeleteNext time you have a chip on your shoulder, watch the KTVU news. My wife and I like to play a little game called "SF or Oakland" as we try to guess which city a particular news story is from before they show the location.
When it's a murder or other heinous crime, it's ALWAYS Oakland. When it's some ultra-left wing half-baked hippie idea, it's always SF.
The numbers don't lie. There's a ton of crime in Oakland, hence the (correct) perception of the city being a complete crap hole.
It is not hate. Only the truth.
ReplyDeleteNothing good ever came out of Oakland.
ReplyDeleteCloset racism? Look at the fights meat!
ReplyDelete