Why So Many Raider Haters?

As the Raiders 6 year slide into the abyss has dragged on, I have found the number and variety of Raider Haters has somehow increased rather than decrease as one might expect.  Living in San Diego County as a proud Raiders fan, I find myself continually abused by Charger fans who seem to focus on the Raiders more than Super Bowls.   

At my workplace, NFL Spirit Day is always the first Raiders/Chargers game and the official memo that came out allowed employees to wear their NFL team jerseys for the day but "No Raiders Jerseys".  Fortunately, my position allows me to disregard this memo and wear my Silver and Black proudly (I have a John Madden portrait circa 1970 hanging in my office - amazing how many Bolts fans don't recognize him).

After a number of years of pondering this situation, it has come clear to me that Raider Haters have more than a robust interdivisional disregard of rivals.   No, this hatred runs much deeper.   In San Diego, beating the Raiders is as good as winning the Super Bowl!   I would understand this prior to 2003 as the Raiders at that point had a massive lead over the Chargers since 1960.  With that said it will still take 6 STRAIGHT SEASONS of Charger wins to even the series!

But since the Chargers have won 11 in a row it would seem that they would start to look beyond the Raiders and focus on the teams that have really hurt them like the Colts and Patriots.  

Since we all know this is not the case, I have a few theories on why this absurd focus on the Raiders persists:

1 - They are still afraid

Sure the Raiders have not won in a while - and have lost badly many times recently.   I think that one reason for the irrational focus on the Raiders is that they know that this 11 game streak is a freak and that very soon the Raiders will return to kicking them up and down the field for a few more decades.   They know that at any moment the monster will awake and rip them apart, so they are getting all of this out while the giant sleeps.  Dawn is coming....

2 - They are actually Raider Fans at heart

The bard said it best "me thinks the Lady doth protest too much" meaning that those who are the loudest are actually concealing something.   In this case, I think that Raider Haters secretly wish they could embody the freewheeling swashbuckling attitude of the Raiders and their fans.  These people are repressed and unable to express themselves.  While I am not into the whole paint your face thing personally, I accept as fellow Raider Kin those who do.  I think that if you look deep into the closets of Raider Haters there are little bits of Raiders gear that they put on when no-one is looking....

3 - They are really bad football fans

As I indicated above, the rational thing for a fan is not to get all worked up over a team that you have beaten 11 times in a row, but get worked up about those teams that keep beating you in the playoffs.   Raider fans don't focus on the Chargers over time - the teams that we focus on beat us in big games.  Let's see, Tuck Rule, Immaculate Reception, etc.   The only game that the Chargers played in that has a name was the Freezer Bowl although perhaps we should add in the Holy Roller game.  Ahh, perhaps that's what is stuck in their craw!

Anyway, all I have to say to Haters is: get a life!  Root for your team rather than wasting your energy hating the inevitable - your team's ultimate destruction at the hands of the Raiders!