Oakland Raiders Fans Are Thugs, Criminals, And All Around Scary People

The Oakland Raiders’ fan base has gotten a bad reputation — but it is one filled with stereotypes, ignorance, and flat out hypocrisy.

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The Oakland Raiders are one of the most storied franchises in all of pro sports and their fans – the Raider Nation – is one of the most infamous. Face paint, spiked shoulder pads, Darth Vader costumes, a variety of scary masks, and of course, those iconic black jerseys will always single out the Raider fans for the masses. The Nation calls it passion and devotion. Others call it intimidating and scary, as well as indicative of thuggish and criminal behavior.

It’s not very often that I break that “fourth wall” and personally editorialize like this. But sometimes, I feel compelled enough by a story – or in this case, a blatant act of idiocy – to comment upon it directly. And in this case, that blatant act of idiocy is Stan Kroenke’s petulant desire to keep the Raiders out of LA – the city he now owns thanks to Jerry Jones and his cabal of rich dudes who basically want to gentrify the league and make it a safe and happy place only for dudes as rich as he is.

Cynical, you say? Perhaps.

Look, Kroenke’s first line of reasoning for wanting to keep the Raiders out of LA is solid. It makes sense. He views sharing space with the Raiders as a “marketing challenge” simply because of the Raiders’ history in the City of Angels. And that makes sense. When both teams were last here, the Raiders were always the bigger draw. They still maintain a huge, loyal fan base here in Southern California and would very likely continue to be the bigger draw.

The last thing Kroenke wants is for his Rams to be viewed as the JV squad in LA. Again. And given the fact the Chargers don’t have nearly the drawing power in Los Angeles as the Raiders do – they couldn’t sell out games in San Diego, does anybody really think they can sell them out here in LA? – it makes sense that Kroenke would want to partner with Dean Spanos and the Chargers.

Where Kroenke’s logic takes a turn for the stupid though, is his skittishness about having Raiders fans anywhere near his brand new stadium complex and shopping center. This, by Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole:

"“One of the big reasons, an underlying reason for the Rams wanting to have the Chargers in Los Angeles with them is that the Rams don’t really want to have the Raiders there. They view the Raiders as part of a marketing challenge because of the Raiders’ history there and specifically because they’re building such an elaborate complex in the Inglewood area that’s going to feature shopping. The Rams frankly don’t want to have a lot of Raider fans in that area. That’s what’s working against the Raiders working against Los Angeles in this situation.”"

See? See what he did there? He doesn’t want “Raider fans in the area” of his shiny new complex that is going to feature shopping. Because, you know, Raider fans can’t be trusted in areas that include neat, nifty things like retail stores. They’re likely to start a riot or steal stuff because that’s what the Nation does, right? They’re all thugs and criminals and can’t be trusted in affluent, high end areas, right?

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If you can hear my eyes rolling and the sound of double middle fingers going up, good. If not, go back and read the previous passage again and again until you do.

This snobby, elitist garbage from Kroenke came on the heels of some other league owners stating that they remember the fighting and the violence the Raiders brought to LA when they were there as a reason for wanting to keep the team out of the city.

Not only that, but you then had the mayor of LA, Eric Garcetti, celebrating the Rams’ return by feeding the anti-Raiders propaganda machine when he made an absolutely incorrect and utterly inflammatory correlation between LA’s crime rates and Raider fans. More specifically, that crime rates have gone down every year since the Raiders left town.

The trouble with Garcetti’s claim though, is that it is entirely false and without merit. Some might even say – he lied through his teeth. Because that’s what politicians do, right?

Garcetti’s completely garbage assertion was simply meant to make affluent people like Kroenke feel all safe and warm. More than that though, it was meant to make the fan base Kroenke is courting – a fan base he hopes is filled with chardonnay sipping affluents, rather than the rough around the edges, beer swilling Raider fans.

This asinine notion that fights in the stands is somehow unique to Raider games – not to mention endemic to the Nation – is frankly, a pile of garbage bigger than even Jerry Jones’ ego. And we all know how substantial that is. It’s a notion though, that continues to be reinforced by the Raider Haters, the league owners, and even the sports media.

And yet, didn’t we recently see a man nearly beaten to death at a San Francisco 49ers game? Didn’t we recently see another ugly fight at a 49ers game? Didn’t we also see a brutal brawl in the stands at the Cardinals/Packers game just a couple of weeks ago? Wasn’t there also an incident where multiple fights broke out in the stands at the Bengals/Steelers game? And didn’t we also –

You get the point.

Or if you don’t, allow me to spell it out for you. Fighting in the stands happens everywhere. It is not unique to the Raiders or the fans. Fights – brutal ones at that – take place even in places like the more staid, refined, cultured, chardonnay sipping, French cheese eating confines of Levi’s Stadium.

And yet, the media continues to beat the drum that it’s the Raiders fans who are the thugs, the criminals, and the reason we just can’t have nice things.

The problem isn’t the fans in Silver and Black. Nor is it the fans in red and gold, or black and gold, or red and white. The real problem is – more often than not – stupid people fueled up on too much beer and too much testosterone making really poor choices and doing outrageously stupid things.

That can and does happen in every single stadium in this league.

Look, I’ve been a Raider fan my entire life. I was a kid when they were here in LA and I have nothing but fond memories of tailgating at the Coliseum. And I have nothing but fond memories of the people I met while tailgating at the Coliseum. I remember the Orange County Boosters and their incredible set up – music, food, drinks. They were always good for a conversation and even better with a plate of barbecue.

The fans I interacted with at every game – contrary to the image being perpetuated by Kroenke and media outlets everyehere – were always warm, welcoming, and fun to hang out with. Like a lot of other fans around the league, the Raider fans I encountered were hard working, kind people who loved to get out there and support their team.

Yeah, a lot of them were in full Raider regalia and were breathing fire in their devotion to the team, but I never, ever had a problem in all the time we attended games in LA. The vast majority didn’t.

Ironically enough, the only time I ran into trouble at a stadium involved LA’s newest team and LA’s possibly second newest team. At a game in San Diego, I was verbally assaulted and had more things thrown at me than I could count. I wouldn’t say that I feared for my life, but I certainly didn’t feel comfortable among the crowd of San Diego fans.

Ditto that for a game I attended when the Rams played at the Big A. Almost the exact same experience – except for the boy who was about ten or eleven years old who ran up to me, gave me double middle fingers, and let loose a string of expletives that would make a Raider fan blush. That kid then walked off with his father who was giving him high fives and pats on the back the whole way.

The point in all of this is that outrageous, thuggish, or even criminal behavior is not limited to one color of jersey. There are idiots and criminals wearing jerseys from every team around the league – even Rams and Chargers jerseys. Sorry about it, Stan.

Kroenke may not like it and the media may not report on it, but it is an absolute fact. Raider fans – despite the make up, costumes, and outspoken passion for their team – are no scarier or prone to violence than any other fan of any other team in the NFL.

The problem though, is that people like Kroenke and certain media figures are mentally lazy and would rather fall back on stupid, tired, BS stereotypes than figure things out for themselves. Do you think that Kroenke has ever walked among the unwashed masses that are Raider fans and gotten to know a single one of them? I highly doubt it.

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When guys put on dresses and pig noses in Washington, they’re called loyal. When guys put on dog face masks and bark at the top of their lungs in Cleveland, they’re called passionate. When guys wear long yellow braids and horned helmets in Minnesota, they’re called devoted. And when guys take off their shirts in sub-zero weather to show off their green and gold painted chests in Green Bay, they’re called — okay no, those guys are just called nuts.

But slap on some shoulder pads, spikes, steel studded wrist bands to go with your silver and black face paint and all of the sudden, you’re a thug. A criminal. A banger. Or a hundred other different – and just as stupidly wrong – things.

The problem isn’t with the Raiders and it’s not just the fans. The problem is people, period. Stupid, criminal people doing stupid, criminal things. It’s not inherent to any one fan base or another. But it’s an image that’s out there and continues to be perpetuated by billionaire team owners, people who hate the team, and worst of all, the sports media.

Because hey, sterotypes and blanket generalizations of people are just easier and far more efficient, right?

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