Raider potpourri

Turns out the new bouncer/sometimes bartender at my favorite local bar is also a Raiders fan.  I found out when I saw the huge tattoo of the Raiders shield on his bicep, with the words "One Nation" across the top of it.  So we struck up a conversation about the team, and then I found $5.  Cool story, bro.    

It did get me thinking about Raider stuff, though.  Anyone else on here have a Raiders tattoo?  Since it's the offseason and it's slow, a couple of other tangenitally team-related things to talk about ...

1- What Raiders memorabilia do you own?  What's your favorite?  At this point, I have a few shirts.     

2- Raider-related books?  I've got a copy of Tom Flores's book "Coaching Football Successfully", and a copy of Ken Stabler's autobiography.  That's about it.      

3- Raiders-related superstitition?  Anybody have them?  Mine isn't specific to the Raiders, but I won't wear a team shirt on game day, as any time I've had the thought "Big game today ... 'gonna throw on this (Raiders) shirt and watch it!" , that team has lost.  This is true of every time I've ever done it for any team/any sport - dating back to high school.  The next one isn't really a superstition, but when I play the lotto, I usually pick Raiders players numbers.  It has resulted in a couple of respectable pay outs.        

4- Best random interaction with another fan.  Probably my favorite part about the bartender story is that (like most other Raider fans) usually other Raider fans = friend.  

Alright Nation.  Let's hear 'em.  
 

I have a Team of The Decades book. Alot of awesome photos that cover all their great games. Also have alot of Programs from the games i went to. Including a road game in seattle where Anthony Smith went off for 4 sacks and a safety. Have some old newspaper articles covering Ram Raider games from the los Angeles Times and OC Register. Coverage was good back then.

 I also have a virtualy unused Charles Woodson jersey. Should have bought a medium but its a large and a lil big for me.

1. i own a hat, a heavy windbreaker, a couple of shirts and a Rolando McClain jersey

2. I don't have any Raider books, because I don't know how to read and write and I thank you very little for forcing me to relive a dark part of myself.

3. For the last ten years, whenever I've worn Raider gear on game day, they've lost. Whenever I haven't worn Raider gear on gameday, they've lost. Everytime I've worn speedos and a tanktop, they've lost. I'd love to have a Raider related superstition that helps them win, but everything I've ever tried to do, is all they do is effin lose

4. My best interaction with a Raider fan was at the game versus the Jets last season about 6 weeks before Al died. I was waiting in the long line at the Coliseum to go to the rest room. Some guy took a whiz in the corner where everyone was standing. I yelled at him to stop doing that. He turned looked at me, turned away and resumed urinating. I'm not very intimidating due to the fact I'm tall and skinny with the upper body strength of a corpse 

I have several old issues for some reason that I kept of S n BI. One issue I held onto was with Eric Turner on the cover and a lot of stories about him and how well liked he was and how big of a blow it was to the lockerroom as much as on the field. I own a Bo Jackson authentic jersey and the complete history DVD which is 3 discs. Also had a poster of Bo with hit on one side in his Royals jersey and run on the other side with him in silver and black for the Raiders.

Never got a tatoo but was really interested in getting one and thought I had a symbolic idea of what was close to me. Had an idea for the Raiders shield with the swords being the Marine Corps cerimonial swords being the swords going through the skull. But never followed through with the idea because I was afraid of it ruining both logos/symbols and or becoming addicted to the ink. Nearly everyone I know cant stop with just one tatoo, they have multiple tats.

I aslo dont wear any shirts or hats leading up to a game and try not to after a win either. Its just been bad luck, but my attire always has sliver or black to it as do my vehicles. The ironic thing is maybe just because of where I live, everybody knows Im a Raider fan. If there is one thing people could state about me is that Im a Raider fan which may be why I dont wear the gear that much during the season because people already know where I stand to go along with being superstitiuos.

Have a lot of good memories from the bar scene back during the playoffs campaign and what was interesting was the clicks that where there a few Raider fans but when they played other teams seeing their clicks flock towards the same screens. Have to say the coolest fans I met aside from the Raider fans where the Bills fans that I met in 02 when the Raiders destroyed Buffalo in Buffalo. They where talking up their team and how Bledsoe was the MVP and they could come back and the Raiders just kept pouring it on highlighted by a huge interception return for td by Philip Buchanon that went something like 70 yds.

1- I have a few shirts my favorite is my Tatum throw back jersey
2- I had the Bo knows everything book Im not even sure what the name of the book actually was havent seen it in years
3- I always bet agains the Raiders, I feel if I pick them to win they will lose. In my weekly office pool every single time I pick against them. not sure my superstition helps (4-12 record) but to me it feels like it.
4- Arguement at work turned into who was a bigger fan over like/dislike of Pryor, I think I may have lost the arguement based off the fact that he has been a season ticket holder for like 20 years. So I ended up owing him a beer. IT was kind of like they guy who goes all in at poker with 30K more than anybody else at the table.

Well, I own just about anything with  "Raiders" on it  down to a tooth brush . . . . . .   mostly compliments of my lovely wife.
She gets pissed at me for buying Raiders stuff because they always lose, then she shows up with  " guess what I found ?" more Raiders stuff
Funny stuff going on right there
As far as interaction with other fans, too many to list on here,  lots of great conversations with other Raiders fans
Interactions with raiders players . . . . many . . . . had many conversations with Big Ben Davidson -may he rest in peace-  he lived a couple of miles down the road from me and saw him often. Have met several other players . . .  Marcus Allen, Cliff Branch, Ken the snake Stabler, and a few other ones.
My most memorable experience was a few years ago at a Raiders function got to meet otis Sistrunk. After a lengthy conversation about the good ol days,  he let me wear his super bowl ring for a few minutes.  I have the picture to prove it too.     

1. I have a wealth of Raiders memorabilia... highlights include a signed Howie Long Jersey, a signed Cliff Branch Jersey, and a signed Ken Stabler mini helmet... but my favorite piece is a blown up copy of a picture of the Raiders players taunting Lynn Swann before a game in the year following his "cheap-shot" injury... The players are standing in front of the Pittsburgh Steelers tunnel holding a home-made posterboard with the words "Swann season is open" written on it.  My friend's uncle took the picture, and it's not a published picture... but it's really cool, and seems to represent the teams of that era better than any 1,000 words could.
2. No Raider books, I didn't know Raiders fans read at all ; ) I do have a HoF book signed by several huge names like Johnny U, Joe Montana, Bart Starr, Bill Walsh, Jim Otto and a couple of others... this is possibly the coolest thing that I own... worth absolutely nothing in the days of authenticity for autographs, but my dad collected them for me as a kid, and gave it to me for my 25th birthday, when I was old enough to "treasure it, without tarnishing it" LOL

3. Hats are my superstition... and jerseys really. I buy a new hat every year, and the way I wear it (backwards, forwards, "rally-cap style" or not at all) will totally affect the outcome of the game... I haven't been doing to well at this one recently =X ... I will also take my jersey off if we lose the lead after about midway through the second quarter, or consecutive giveaways, stuff like that.  Superstitions are lame, but it is what it is...

4. I live in Indianapolis, and naturally, I go to the Raiders games when they are here... I wear the uni too, Bo Jax jersey, face-paint, cape, and I sit in the Raider's section behind the goal post and scream my heart out.  My dad had season tix directly in front of the visitors owner's box, but they were through his non-profit work, so he couldn't bring me in my Raider gear... A few years back, I decided to go catch a photo of Al by going over around half time to my Dad's seats... on the way, some drunken redneck hits me with a shoulder while walking by (clearly intentional) before I could even react, another Raider fan (amongst 40 other Colts fans) just comes up and levels him... this guy was about 7 feet tall, scrangly guy, with a glorious mullett. The guy just looks around (like, who else wants some?) and just says "yeah, we look out for our own; take care brotha!" it's a moment that I'll never forget, and I always think of it when I'm feeling like it's rough being a Raiders fan.

I have a tat!!

I have tons of Raiders stuff cuz my friendsa and family know I'm easy to shop for, lol. I prefer stuff that's not common or hokey, but I love and appreciate every gift I've been given, including Xmas stockings, piggy banks, shot glasses, etc...

I guess I can combine my fave piece and the "book" category, as I have a SB37 Media guide, and one of those kids books called "If I were a Raider" and you're supposed to attach your kid's pic so they are "in uniform" throughout the book, only my mom used my senior pic! LOL

Like this, only mine says "Los Angeles"

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/if-
i-were-an-oakland-raider-id-1571510
125.aspx

   I have way to much to name.  I have a complete Raider room with stuff going back to 1975 when I went to my first game with my dad. I was lucky enough to have a sister who became a Raideret from 1994 to 2001 and she married Josh Taves who played for the Raiders back then. I got to go to a bunch of family get togethers with the Raiders.  Two of the things I really like is My Signed Howie Long jersey that is framed and my signed photo of Tim Brown and I.   I do have one Tat, it's two swords crossed with a Raider flag coming off one of them and a USC flag coming off the other.  I am also a Huge USC fan and I have a wall of stuff for them as well

I have a Raiders Tattoo on my left shoulder. 

1.  I have all kinds of Raiders Memorabilia.  I have a flag, a Super Bowl Champ Banner, Signed Jerseys from Howie Long, Marcus Allen and Jerry Porter (LOL at the Jerry Porter).  I have a Fred Biletnikoff signed minin helmet.  I have Rookie Football cards for Marcus Allen, Howie Long, Bo Jackson.  I have probably over 70 Raiders Baseball caps.  I have about 15 different jerseys as well. And, there are lots of other things, too many to list.  I think that my favorite item is the Marcus Allen signed Jersy. 

2. I have "The Snake" and "Cruising With The Tooz" are my favorites...The newer John Madden Book is pretty good too.

3. I will wear the same Jersey on game day if we won last week without washing it.  Needless to say, I have changed my jersey a lot the past few years. 

4. Was at a Seahawks game in Seattle.  We went to a bar called Cowgirls where scantlily clad ladies dance up on the bar.  A buddy of mine from work (another Raider's fan) and I were getting the finger from them quite a bit at first because we were both in our Raiders gear.  That was until an extremely hot blonde flipped me off and I told her to come find me after the game.  She laughed and after that, we got the most attention at the bar from the ladies dancing on it...

Raidadave the legend. That story was hot. Say hi ro Rueben for me.

I can't believe this thread is still around.  I thought it died long ago.  Those are all great stories though, guys.  And "Raiders fan" is usually a great conversation starter, regardless.  

I remembered another story, while I was flipping back through this.  Several years ago, I was working at a school in Ohio.  The bus company for all of our away trips had this guy who had retired from his normal job, but did it to get out of the house.  When he was young, he played college football at Ohio State with Jack Tatum.  He was a few years older than Tatum, but knew him/liked him.  As a result, the guy was a HUGE Raiders fan.  Once he found out I was too, I couldn't see him without talking Raiders.  The funny part is, apparently this guy was really surly with other coaches/teams that had him for a driver.  We never had any issues.              

Anybody else?  Bueller?  Bueller?

You guys wouldnt believe me if I told you back in 99' I had a threesome with two Raiderettes, so I wont tell you.<br /><br /><br />Like everyone else a lot of jerseys and autographs. What I have done though is every season since 92' I've bought a specific season Raider cap and at the end of each season I write the record, awards and any playoff games on the bill of the cap.  

Im envious to all of you when reading all the Raider stuff you´ve got... I have only a jersey and a cap

But let me tell you this story of mine as a Raider fan (not really memorabilia): 

Here in Mexico, 40 yrs ago, our National Lottery issued for the first time ballots for american football (as we know it here, since football is soccer). This lottery is played every Sunday, during the regular season. The ballot has all Sunday games and you have to select for each game which team wins by more than 7 points, and the 3rd choice is if you think the win is by less than 3 points by any of the 2 teams. You bet the money you want, with a minimum bet set. I was at that time a kid but already liked football and was already a Raider. That first time, 40 years ago, I took a few pesos out from my home savings and played the American Football Lottery for the first time and of course bet for the Raiders, through a cousin since I was a kid and not allowed to do it by myself. And since then, I have always played and bet for our Raiders..... dont need to tell you Im bankrupted for the last decade  =)

I keep all the ballots, since the first one 40 years ago, as my personal memorabilia. Im not sure will have another 40 yrs of ballots in the future but what I can assure is that I will always bet for my Raiders, until the last game

FUERZA RAIDERS