Quote:
Originally Posted by ramsanddodgers
Just catering to the thug mentality? Raiders gear sells, sadly, because of gang associations I am afraid. So I hear anyway.
Raiders fans I talk to at job sites are pretty good guys (other than their taste in football teams?) and we can enjoy reasonable conversations about our respective teams but their has long been a undesirable connotation to wearing their colors.  |
Pretty much it, I'm afraid. I work in S. EL Monte and there's a Raider's store in the nearby mall. I throw-up in my mouth everytime I pass by...
Many Raider fans are really not football fans at all, just a bunch of wanna-be gang-bangers. They think it makes them look tough to wear the silver and bleak. As said above, it sells. Also, many of the more intelligent fans I know that follow the Raiders don't flaunt the colors and logo nearly as much as those that have never actually been to a Raiders game.
The Rams lost fans and respect soon after the Ms. took over and ran them into the ground. It's an old story and no reason to rehash it again here. But feelings for the Rams is one or the other here in LA, it's love or hate. Some (like myself and others here on the board) still hold on to them because "they're our team". The others hate them with a passion because of what they became with Ms. G. in control, and because they were taken away. Unfortunately, many outside LA/OC use the final years of their LA/OC existence (Georgia ownership) as their rebuttal as to why LA can't support a team. We can, we just won't when we're getting jacked around by the owner. ...and the comments Chippy boy makes about treatment of his mother by LA/OC is laughable.
I suspect that many Ram fans would have latched onto another team had they come to LA/OC after the Rams left, much like, I'm sure many St. Louis Ram fans are old Cardinal fans. None came, so many Ram fans remain true to the blue and gold just because there's no one else. Others latched onto the Chargers, or simply follow the Trojans or Bruins a little more closely to get their football fix.
But back to the LA and the NFL now. I watched an interesting interview last night with an exectuive with the Chargers. (can't remember his name, but he's the main player in getting a stadium deal done in San Diego.) When asked about the LA deal, he said he knows Roski personally, and that Spanos and Roski go way back together. When asked if the Chargers would be receptive to returning to LA, he said they have two options left in SD, in Chula Vista, and they would pursue those first, but that time and options were running out.
It sounded to me like the guy was using the LA deal to put pressure on SD. He said Roski is a serious guy with the money and drive to do this thing, and totally left it open to the Chargers moving north sometime in the near future if SD doesn't get it's "stuff" together. Half of the interview was about how screwed up the SD political and econonical situation is. He painted a pretty bleak picture about staying in SD. SO, those in LA wishing to get a new team, it could very well be the Chargers.