You've all seen it. A perfectly good discussion amongst members of Raider Nation. As the banter starts to get good, the post of some lonely hater breaks up the topic of conversation.It happens far too often to bother counting, but if I had a dollar for every time I've seen it, I wouldn't have a bill to worry about again. How many times I've been called a convict, pedophile, idiot, etc..., I can't really tell you. It's been quite a bit.
What's the point haters? I guess you are so filled with jealousy of my team that you can't seem to control yourself. I guess I should be honored that you find my team and myself so important in your life that you would waste part of yours to call me a loser or defame my team.
Is it really that bad hater? Is your life so empty that you have nothing better to do with your Saturday nights? Really? Maybe I shouldn't feel honored so much as I should pity your poor life.
You really must explain to me what it is that urges you so to jump on my message boards to tell me I'm a loser. What is it about you that makes you think, "Oh yeah! I'm gonna' go call those Raiders fans losers!"
Is it genetic? Really, is that what it is. Do you have a few branches in your family tree that DON'T branch out? Do some parts of your family just stop existing because it would be against the law to procreate? Ah, since you wouldn't understand that, what I'm asking is: Do you have family members that have married their brothers or sisters? You see, a yes would start to explain some things.
Is it that you didn't get enough nurturing? Be honest, does your mother have any children that she likes? Are there any children in your family that your father actually claims?
My guess is that the owners of your team of choice would be pretty embarrassed to call you their fan. You see, a real fan isn't a fan AGAINST another team. A real fan is a fan FOR their own team.
Well, I better get going. Lights out on cell block D, but you already knew that right?
For more articles by Rob Calonge visit his profile page.
Rob Calonge also writes for MVN.com. There he writes for the Raiders, Warriors, and Sharks pages.
Comments (10) Add a comment »
from 19 days ago
“The autumn wind is in the air”
from 19 days ago
Good article, Rob. It's true, that being a Raider fan, people seem to think you eat children, drink whiskey straight from the bottle, and spend the days running drugs on the highway.
Actually, I haven't had a drink since 1992, and since I wasn't a fan of soap suds, it never really impressed me as a good use of money. I have two kids, and rather enjoy a pizza, some tacos, or a good sub, rather than snacking on kids. And i'm not a druggie, considering I spent a lot of my time in the hospital, I hate needles.
I'm a Raider fanatic though. I'm probably also public enemy number one, in the Midwest, due to the devotion. If anything, I'm thinking it's jealousy, that drives the opponents. After all, you don't see Charger fans in the offseason, do you?
from 19 days ago
Absolutely Raider Card! You know what I'm talking about. Let me give you props for carrying the torch in enemy territory too.
from 19 days ago
Hats off to the Always true and loyal Raider fans.
from 19 days ago
You know, I'm a fan of your work and I have no problem with raider fans as a whole (despite the fact that I'm an east coast Pats fan and consequently hear some serious BS from some less informed members of raider nation) but the notion that the common fan hates the Raiders is absolute balderdash in my book, If I'm gonna hate on a 4-12 team it'll be the Jets and Eric Mangini (not for spygate someone was gonna leak this eventually, more because he left the Pats out to dry to take a bigger payday from the Jets, plus there's still a rivalry here regardless of how awful NY is right now.)
For most fans, the Raiders are a neutral team, the kind of team a Jets fan would root for if they were matched up against the Pats. Sure there is the occasional hater but more often than not, a fan like that will bash any team with a vocal fanbase, and Raiders fans are always vocal no matter how much the team sucks, and I've always admired that. I know some of my fellow Pats fans were embarressed to wear their team's colors in 1990 and that kind of thing would never happen in Oakland. Then again, I suppose that the amount of bull coming from some people on this site would warrent a rebuttal. Broncos and Chiefs fans may hate you guys but that's a divisional rivalry and is to be expected, people in places like Indy, Cleveland, New England, or Dallas really don't have it in for you guys though.
Peace,
Max
from 19 days ago
Max,
While I can completely see your point, you'd be surprised how many different teams' fans have gone out of their way to make their comments. It doesn't surprise me that fans of teams that are at the top of the league right now, don't particularly have an axe to grind with Raider Nation, I've heard and seen many comments from your fellow Pats fans about the Raiders over the past year.
When the Raiders went to the last Super Bowl, I walked into a store for supplies before the game when I was confronted by a Patriots fan. He walked right up to me to tell me how the Raiders sucked and how we were going to lose. If the Super Bowl wasn't that day and I hadn't been in such a hurry, I may have decked the guy and spent my night in jail. He was that obnoxious.
As you say, other teams' fans aren't going to care about a 4-12 team. That's true for many, I'm sure. I barely cared about the Chiefs, Broncos, and Chargers when the Raiders were winning the division. The thing is, it's far too often that a hater will venture into a Raiders discussion only to tell us all that we are a bunch of fools and criminals...and that our beloved team sucks.
And that's where Raider Nation gets its power.
Thanks for reading Max. It seems like not too many are reading my posts over here anymore.
from 19 days ago
well you did take some time off... and in reference to the idiot who confronted you... I had a similar experience once near a 7/11 in Delaware... than again I was only 11 so the Raiders fan in question could've kicked my little ass. I'm kinda surprised about the fact that it was a pats fan who confronted you... the team was a contender so i dunno what the hell was wrong with him.
There are a lot of bitter fans and given that the Raiders are quite a controversial team that happens to be down on its luck, not to mention that it's easy to get a rise out of Raider fans, makes Oakland an easy target for bitter niners fans or "haters".
Plus in reference to not many reading, the flame has gone back and forth between Raider lovers and people who are sick and tired of boistrous raider fans (Ron and John are usually pretty good writers who don't have agendas so I would venture to say that their articles were written in a moment of passion on the heels of a particularly unpleasant encounter with a member of raider nation, making it hard for me to call 'em haters.) so people aren't taking the time to continue it.
Peace,
Max
from 19 days ago
admittedly, i was considering writing a slightly tamer, perhaps slightly more objective version of this article after John wrote his article, I figured Raider fans were being unfairly trashed and something needed to be said, than again Raider nation has proven to be able to defend itself, plus nobody would've taken a Pats fan writing about giving the Raiders a break seriously.
Peace,
Max
from 18 days ago
Max, completely true. It is hard to defend a team that you aren't passionate about.
I keep getting other fans jumping on and posting garbage on various posts that I do for Thoughts From the Darkside. So I decided to write a post addressing that on Bleacher Report. Didn't think that it had emptied out so much though.
I appreciate your support though. Thanks for that.
-Rob
from 18 days ago
Great article Rob
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