I'm fairly new to the b/r but as you can probably tell, I'm a Raider fan.

The silver and black are by far the coolest organization in all of sports and beyond (yes, even cooler than that coolest of cool crimes, stealing)

Roughly around 1989. Growing up in Hollywood (when it was a shitty, dangerous place), the bad kids wore Raiders attire and under pressure by PTA groups, schools banned all Raider attire all together. Pretty soon it was assumed if you sported silver and black you were a banger or some kind of shitbag shitbird.

I fell in love. No one gave a about the Dodgers, even though they had just won the World Series the year before, everyone was over the Lakers and even in 89' it was already too expensive for anyone in my part of Hollywood to get in to a Lakers game. The Rams and the Angels, as far as we were concerned were always Anaheim teams and were always treated as such.

The Raiders represented those of us on the fringe. The underclass. All of us ugly, working class personalities and their up kids. We didn't take shit from anyone; and their on field play represented that attitude, even if it meant taking a penalty as long as the other guy wasn't getting back up.

Sure, there was the 'Raider' dress code at school and we followed it for about a couple of weeks or so. Finally, someone just said, it. We weren't going to be kept down and in spite of my Raider gear being limited to a "commitment to excellence" t shirt and a black hoodie my cousin gave to me I wore my Raider colors with pride that day. Even if it meant suspension and having to explain to my immigrant parents why I got suspended after I was told not to wear the shirt in the first place. Even at 10 I knew I was more than a fan, I was part of something bigger. I was part of a nation. No uptight principle in her BMW or the specter of my father beating me with his belt would keep me from showing the world my true colors. Silver & Black.