ChampionshipHistory.com

It seems like it’s been quite a busy year for me. My life at work seems to be busier than ever and everything else going on outside of work seems non-stop and crazy hectic. Oye!

Where am I going with this? Since football season ended last year with the sweet Giants victory in the superbowl… I have not thought about football at all. Usually during the off-season I’m reading about the draft news, trades, anything to do with the Raiders and getting ready for preseason. And of course I also am doing a bunch of research on getting ready for my Fantasy Football league.

But this year… nothing. So, when it came time to leave work on Friday morning to head down to Oakland for the Raiders first game, I was honestly not ready. I remember thinking how tired I was and wasn’t really excited to be going to a Raider game. (FYI, I travel from Chico, CA to Oakland for all of the home games). My buddy Chris was also running late due to the Raiders complicating the schedule with an overlap on his wife’s birthday. So when I got there, I just parked in the regular lot (I haven’t picked up my club parking passes yet, ack!) and then just sort of wandered the lot to see if I could find anyone I know in our normal A lot area. (AholesbytheAPole)

3.5 hours till game time…
After a bit, we find Hank, Dan and crew. Around this time, I also finish my first beer of the afternoon, it’s a beautiful day out and I’ve pretty much shifted out of thinking about work to enjoying being here in Oakland. I’m not quite at full football/tailgate mode yet though.

2.5 hours till game time…
The group of us up to this point noticed a lot of the conversation was about “when is Chris going to show up”. Chris is pretty much the heartbeat of our tailgate party. He converted his suburban to be a tailgate party mobile. Speakers in the back door that are loud enough for the Raiders to initiate new sound rules for tailgating. The second Chris pulls up, the music is on, the beer pong table is set up and people are doing beer pongs off the top of his car. It’s official. Raiders season has started.

1 hour till game time…
I have now shifted into why I love Raiders season. Numerous friends are now here, we’ve had multiple people come up and ask if we’re the guys who tailgate in the A lot with the beer bongs off the roof of the car, we’re all talking about what record the Raiders will have this year (average prediction was 7-9) and it’s just a really fun time all around. Oh, and I won the two games of beer pong I played in.

Game time…
It’s pretty rare I make it to my seat before kickoff. Today was no exception. And this will be a theme as I write about going to all the Raiders games. A lot of the experience is about the tailgate. And because we usually celebrate quite a bit, there is a bit less recollection of what happened in the actual game. And in this game… really not a lot to talk about. First quarter ends 0-0 after a few dismal drives by both teams. Or should I say the defense dominated? Hmm, not sure that’s really the case here. 49er QB’s looked bad. Russel looked okay. Raiders running backs looked pretty good. Best play of the first half was of course the Raiders punt return touchdown. Which went right to the south endzone, where I sit in the BLACK HOLE (9th row baby, section 107).

Other usual activities included getting some beers, talking with the people in the rows around us that we haven’t seen since last year, talking to other friends nearby, more beers, talking on the phone to friends not at the game, general debauchery and yelling at refs… all your normal in the stands activities.

In the end, the Raiders give the fans a victory. Against the 49ers, which makes it even better, even if it is just a preseason game. Michael Bush’s rushing TD was sweet as he plowed over some hapless niner. 18-6 Raiders. Ahh, what a day. This is indeed why it feels so great to be a proud Raider season ticket holder. (Yes, I do realize this may be a short lived feeling this year).

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