Who's in your wallet?
Posted on 10/27/2005 9:08:04 AM PDT by SmithL
"Oakland Raider Parking Lot'' will be shown tomorrow night at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival. The documentary, by independent filmmaker Jason Blalock, introduces viewers to the infamous, loud and often boozy members of the Raider Nation. Blalock, now in graduate school at Cal, says he is no sports fan and so his friends warned him what he was getting into.
"Everybody I mentioned it to went, 'Oooooh, I don't want to go there. Not to the Black Hole,' '' Blalock says.
The film couldn't be more timely because the Raiders, as well as Oakland and Alameda County, are at a crossroads, in no small part because of the reputation of its fans.
When the team returned from Los Angeles 10 years ago, fans were sold personal seat licenses -- in effect, contracts sold to generate some of the cash needed to bring the team back to Oakland and renovate the Coliseum without a tax hike. Critics called the unpopular PSLs a ticket to buy a ticket -- the idea was to get fans to not only pay for a season ticket, but the privilege to buy it. It didn't work. Not enough fans bought the PSLs.
The 10-year PSL plan expires this year, and if fans don't sign up again -- or if another, more popular plan isn't introduced to replace it -- the losses to Oakland, which bankrolled the return, could reach tens of millions of dollars.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
"Oakland Raider Parking Lot," a documentary about the football team's fans, will be shown Friday at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival. The festival funs Oct. 28 through Oct. 30 at the Oaks Theater, 1875 Solano Ave. in Berkeley. For information, log on to www.berkeleyvideofilmfest.org or call 510-526-1836.
C.W. Nevius' column appears Tuesdays and Saturdays in Bay Area and in East Bay Life on Fridays. E-mail him at cwnevius@sfchronicle.com.
Looks like extras from Road Warrior.
No stinky talent is sinking the Raiders.
GWAR rejects.
LOL Is that JRBC I see in that crowd? ;)
Of course the reality of the guys in the Black Hole is that they are the high rollers who buy season tickets (the Black Hole is an expensive set of seats), they're just having fun enjoying Halloween 8 times a year. Oakland's seat filling problem has a lot more to do with a lack of winning than the fans than the "rowdy" fans. I'd love to see a game from the Hole, of course I'm one of those guys that thinks anytime I can talk the day after going to a sporting event then the event must not have been very fun.
Is that Paul Tuetel, Sr. in the back on the right?
Hey, I like GWAR and I am a Raider fan.
Ooooh, yeah.
These guys are so tough that they can't even sell out their home games.
And for the record I mean NO offense or disrespect to the Hells Angels MC - I'm an oooooold ex-biker myself.
Um, my spiked shoulder pads and executioner helmet were damaged when I moved. :o(
I HAVE BEEN KNOW TO GET REAL DRUNK AND ROWDY THOUGH!!!
The fans in Oakland during the Raiders' heyday in the 70s were rowdy, but considerably better behaved than a lot of these wannabe Road Warriors in the "Black Hole" these days. Actually the fans were more like the players -- more weird than violent. Dave Casper, Fred Belitnikoff, Ken Stabler, Ted Hendricks, Phil Villapinao, Otis Sistrunk, Lester Hayes. ....those were the days.
Wow a fan of GWAR, Rob Zombie and the Raiders. I'm liking you more and more ;)
Of course, if they had stayed in LA, the parking lot would be half filled with low-riders, and half filled with Priuses and Minis.
OMG, those are the shoulder pads I had that were ruined.
I need a pair to wear to work
to let people know today is not
the day to bring me stupid ;)
The writer of this bowel movement needs to get a life.
I am a big metal fan, I am a 21 year Raider fan, and I love NASCAR, NHRA, UFC too.
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