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 ...
I can't believe it's been 20-21 years since we last won one of them dang things.
Everybody can have an off-decade or two.
I see the Raider fans as no different than the Browns' "Dog Pound" or the Redskins "Hogs." With a team name like "Raiders," what do you expect the fans to dress up as.
It was kind of like the last time I was in a store and heard a muzak version of "Steet Fighting Man." It just seems weird that the ultimate outlaws apparently have a marketing group and business plan.
Yeah, it does seem a tad odd but the Hell's Angels incorporated decades ago. And from what I hear they 'stridently protect' against any trademark infringement :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.