Oakland Raiders: I Was a Fan, Now Hope to Be Their Beat Writer

As a journalist in training, I’ve been lucky enough to cover the New England Patriots and San Jose Sharks and I even got to interview Joe Nedney, when I covered football for San Jose State University.

But I’ve always wanted to cover the Raiders. 

The Raiders are a bizarre franchise—from their history straight down to their owner.

One never knows what Al Davis and the Raiders are going to do.

Ironically, that has a lot to do with the reason I used to be a Raider fan.

I was born to be a Raider fan. They won the Super Bowl in 1984 less than 24 hours before I was born in Los Angeles.

Starting at the age of two, I used to go to Raiders’ home games every Sunday at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The Raiders were my team. My father was a season ticket holder.  His buddy sold tickets for the organization. We used to go to buffets with the team.

I used to think Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen were the greatest running backs of all time. I thought the Raiders were the greatest team of all time.

Then the Raiders betrayed me.

Al Davis moved the franchise out of Los Angeles and back to Oakland.

I took it personally.

In 1994, I couldn’t find it in my heart to root for the Oakland Raiders.

They betrayed me, I thought.

How could they leave town?

How could I ever root for a team based in Oakland as a Southern California native?

Well, times have changed. I grew up, moved to San Jose for graduate school and I still can’t find it in my heart to root for the Raiders. I follow the Raiders. I just can’t root for them.

Perhaps that’s why I’d like to cover the Raiders. I know I won’t find the need to root for them in the press box.