RAIDER RUFFIANS?

RAIDER RUFFIANS AND FOOTBALL FANATICS

Aaron Hernandez’s name came up during a recent Sports Law class. The former New England Patriots tight end was incarcerated earlier this year and charged with murder. It will take a while for his case to go to trial, as the wheels of justice move slowly in America. But eventually he’ll be convicted and sentenced.

 

Or will he?

What if Hernandez is found “not guilty?” Stranger things have happened. (Can you say “OJ?”)

Would he return to the Patriots? Highly unlikely. So I asked my students, if not the Patriots, then what team would be most apt to sign Hernandez?

“The Raiders!” they responded in unison. 

 

I laughed. An earlier discussion had centered on what will happen to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, now that he has been supplanted by Nick Foles. Vick is a convicted felon who did serious prison time for his involvement with dog fighting. If the Eagles release Vick, what team would be most likely to take a chance on him?

 

“The Raiders!” my students responded in unison. 

 

What is it about the Raiders?

Every team has its own culture, and Raider culture is renegade culture. Oakland has long been known to give second chances to purported bad hombres—which is nice, if you’re a bad hombre.

Having spent considerable time in San Diego, I picked up on the cultural differences between Charger fans (chilled) and Raider fans (swilled). San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium always sold out for the annual Raiders game, with many thousands of Raider fans donning their black and silver garb, putting on their eye-patches, grabbing their chains, and heading for the stadium.

 

This is not to say that all Raider fans are outlaws. It’s just that bad 90% that give the good 10% a bad name. Consider the recent Thanksgiving Day game in Dallas, where the Cowboys hosted the Raiders. Dallas’ Channel 11 reported how after the Dallas victory, Cowboy fan Carlos Olivares was leaving the stadium yelling “Go Cowboys!” His next memory was waking up in a hospital bed, unable to open his eyes.

“I woke up in shock,” Olivares said. “I got up real fast ‘cause I didn’t know where I was. Nurses held me down.”

 

Witnesses told police that several men wearing Raiders attire attacked Olivares . Friends found him lying on the ground, unconscious. His cell phone was gone, as was the cash from his wallet. Despite the beating and memory loss, doctors told him he was lucky.

“I’m just glad I was left alive,” Olivares said.

Laid-back San Diegans are familiar with such behavior. So with pro football being a business, the Charger management decided to screw the Raider fans. San Diego was struggling and was not selling out Qualcomm—except for the Raider game, when black-shirted fans bought every available ticket. So the Chargers decreed that anyone who wanted a single ticket to the Raider game had to buy a three-game package. Raider fans only wanted to see the one game, but were incensed at having to pay for three. This did not improve their moods as they tailgated in Qualcomm’s giant parking lot, drinking hard stuff and looking for trouble.

Other Sports Cultures

 

Referring to Raider fans as hooligans overstates the renegade aspect of Raider culture. Hooligans are British soccer followers who are actually criminals who use sport as an excuse for mayhem. But sports fans in certain American cities do take on tribal characteristics.

 

The aforementioned San Diego fans are famously laid-back, whereas Boston Red Sox fans were famously fatalistic—at least until 2004. New York fans are famously obnoxious. Philadelphia fans are famously cruel—known to boo everyone from Santa Claus to Miss Pennsylvania. Cleveland fans are famously morose.

Sport sociologists studied these tribal traits and identified the three most volatile fan segments.  Foxsports.com described an Emory University study that confirmed what many have long purported: Football fans—especially those rooting for New England, Pittsburgh, or Oakland—can be unstable.

 

Pats fans unstable? Say it isn’t so!

 

Marketing professors Michael Lewis and Manish Tripathi devised an algorithm and analyzed data to figure out how various fan bases deal with losses—and they found that fans of the Raiders, Steelers and Patriots do not cope well.

Patriot fans ranked high in terms of instability because they are the saddest fans after a loss, as measured by angry Twitter Tweets. It probably has a lot to do with expectations. Pats fans expect to win.

According to Lewis and Tripathi, the most stable fans are Cowboy fans. Over the last 15 years Cowboy fans have been conditioned to expect disappointment, so when Tony Romo fails them they are not surprised.

So what does all this mean? It means that the Raider Ruffians should be careful about showing up in black and silver the next time Oakland plays at New England. Gillette Stadium is not Qualcomm. Regardless of the outcome, if they’re looking for trouble, they’ll find it—and will likely end up paraphrasing Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

“We’re not in California anymore!”

Alabama- Auburn

FOOTBALL RIVALRIES AND ALABAMA–AUBURN

The last Saturday in November was college football’s Rivalry Saturday, when historic foes met for annual grudge matches. It’s a unique day on the annual sports calendar, as rivalry games are replete with special energy and emotion.

I was in California’s Orange County and made my way to a Buffalo Wild Wings Restaurant to take in the gridiron action. BWW has become a preeminent sports bar chain, with multiple large screens showing grid contests from across the nation. It was a perfect venue for Rivalry Saturday.

One of the rivalry games was UCLA-USC, and I shared a table with two blue-shirted UCLA Bruin fans. To our front was a table of red-shirted USC Trojan fans. After the game started, other Bruins fans sent drinks to our table. I was wearing a white shirt, but having accepted the free libations, I felt obliged to become a Bruins fan.

Other games were on BWW’s multiple screens, and I noted that Ohio State improved its record to 12-0 with a 42-41 win over arch-rival Michigan in Ann Arbor—where wondrous things have occurred in the past.

A Bruin alum at our table had a sister going to UCal-Berkeley. Cal had earlier lost its rivalry game at Stanford, 63-13. It was a tough loss for the Bears, but I pointed out that the greatest college football play of all time occurred at Cal when the Bears beat Stanford and John Elway in 1982. A last second kick-off was returned for a touchdown, a return that included five laterals. The Stanford band was coming out on the field when Kevin Moen scored the winning TD, bowling over Cardinal trombone player Gary Tyrrell.

 

“Check it out on You-Tube,” I advised. “Truly the greatest football play of all time.”

 

And then—suddenly—there was a NEW “greatest football play of all time!”

 

It was loud and raucous and most BWW patrons were focused on UCLA-USC, but on an alternate screen I saw a replay of a kick-return for a touchdown and fans swarming out on the field. Upon closer examination, I learned that the undefeated, defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide had lost to arch-rival Auburn, 34-28.

Last year Alabama trounced Auburn in the annual Iron Bowl by a score of 49-0. But this year, Auburn came into the rivalry game at 10-1, fresh off an improbable 43-38 win over Georgia. Auburn won that game with a last minute touchdown pass on fourth and long.

 

The 2013 Alabama-Auburn Iron Bowl had apparently ended in a 28-28 tie, making it an instant classic already. But officials found one second left on the clock, and Bama Coach Nick Saban opted for a 57-yard field goal attempt. The attempt was short and Chris Davis caught it nine yards deep in the end zone. Around 15 seconds later, after he’d returned the ball 109 yards for a touchdown, Davis became an immortal.

As long as he lives, Davis will be remembered for those 15 seconds. His run got him on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and the ball he carried into the Promised Land was soon valued at $100,000. He’ll never have to worry about finding a job. He’s now set for life, assuming he can handle the adulation.

Was Davis’ return the greatest play in college football history? I think so, given the circumstances. The 1982 rivalry game between Stanford and Cal featured two .500 teams. The Alabama-Auburn game had national championship implications. And there is so much more. Subplots like “Saban is a jerk.” The frenzied passion of SEC football. On and on.

After the game, I found the play on You-Tube. It had already been viewed 7000 times. By the next morning the viewing total had surpassed a half million. Check it out. The greatest play ever!

(Oh yeah. UCLA beat USC 35-14. Go Bruins!)