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Larry Stone: Those Gold-Diggin Neighbors
Oakland: The news in the Bay Area dominated Wednesday by San Francisco's firing of head coach Steve Mariuccui.
The Raiders were reduced to ''Oakland continued its preparation for the Titans. More on that, later in the week.''
I bet Al Davis loved hearing and watching that.
Our Titans Radio team has been to the Bay Area four times in the last four years, three times to broadcast Titans/Raiders games and the 1999 matchup with the 49'ers (trivia question: remember who introduced himself to the NFL that day? That's right Jeff Garcia).
Because the two Bay Area teams play so rarely (just 10 regular season matchups since 1970), fans are not forced to choose sides. However, in talking to the locals over the time we've been doing games here, it has been clear that more residents of this metropolitan area pull for the 49'ers. This despite the fact that the Raiders have generally had a better football team than San Francisco during that time period.
There are probably lots of reasons for that. Many are political/economic -- residents of San Francisco seem to consider the city of Oakland as a sort of ''hanger-on'' to its bigger neighbor. Oakland has been the home of the working class, while San Francisco prided itself as the home of the upwardly mobile.
Davis' move to LA and back again as well as his constant threats to move south again certainly have not endeared him to any residents of the Bay Area. The Raiders, despite their incredible home field advantage, have difficulty selling out games. Network Associates Coliseum lacks many of the amenities that other stadiums have, but Davis probably has little chance of securing public funding to upgrade the facility.
One Oakland resident told me Wednesday that he would never love the Raiders again because Davis did not understand what it was like to love something and have it taken away.
''I grew up silver and black, but he took that away from me,'' the man said. ''I work hard to make a living, I could go to the game, but Davis doesn't respect that.''
Even on a week where the 49'ers seem locked in a Raider-type soap opera (Mariucci wanted more control...no I didn't...yes you did) and the Raiders stand one game away from a Super Bowl trip, San Francisco has this region's interest at the moment.
No doubt, the region will turn its attention to the AFC Championship game as Sunday's kickoff approaches and the San Francisco story dies down.
That is, unless the coaching search becomes fruitful fast.
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