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Published on 09/24/2009 at Thu Sep 24 14:42.
Tagged: ,,,,.



Black Hole blacked out

Posted Thu Sep 24th by

An Oakland Raiders fan holds a sign during the team's Week 2 game in Kansas City. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

An Oakland Raiders fan holds a sign during the team's Week 2 game in Kansas City. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

If the Oakland Raiders pull out a win on Sunday, but no one is there to see it… does the win really happen?

As excited as Raiders fans seem to be at their team’s tepid start, and with one of the NFL’s most storied rivalries taking another spin, you would think Oakland fans could muster a large enough crowd this weekend to at least fill their stadium.

You’d be wrong.

That’s right, folks — the Raiders-Broncos game for Week 3 is not a sellout, and so the game will be blacked out in local markets. Bay area Broncos fans will not be treated to the televised Raider-thumping.

Frankly, I’m disappointed. I get tired of hearing how weak the division is – as true as it may be – without having to worry about the state of the Broncos-Raiders rivalry.

Few annual matchups in the NFL have been able to match the intensity, loathing and hatred we’ve enjoyed twice a year in Oakland and Denver. If one team is bad and the other good, it never mattered – both sides would show up, year in and year out.

This year, Raiders fans didn’t.

And get this — with a win and Chargers loss, Oakland would sit alone atop the division by the end of the weekend! When’s the last time that was even remotely possible, early in the season or not?

After six years of the league’s worst football, and with things finally looking up, it makes one wonder what it would take for Oakland fans to wake up and start pretending their team is a professional football franchise. Apparently competitive football isn’t enough.

And before Raiders fans come crying about the opponent being responsible for some tickets sales, too, let us remind them: this is Oakland. Broncos fans would be more willing to pony up if A) your stadium didn’t suck, and B) we weren’t afraid of being stabbed. No such luck there, though.

Enjoy your infomercials, Raiders fans. This rivalry deserved better.

  • http://ehalseymiles.com E. Halsey Miles

    Well crap. I guess I won't be watching the game this week either.

    You know, we pay so damn much for Sunday Ticket that Sunday Ticket holders should be able to get around these stupid blackout restrictions. :P

  • DenversFinest

    Pathetic….Broncos 20 Gayders 6

  • http://americablog.com magster

    Well, to be fair, the San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley metropolitan area with San Jose and Sacramento being an hour drive away is a really small pool of population to support an NFL franchise.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    Let alone two…

  • adamorange

    Seriously???

    2000 census data for metropolitan areas:

    Denver/Boulder/Greeley – 2,581,506
    Kansas City – 1,776,062
    New Orleans – 1,337,726
    Buffalo – 1,170,111

    SAN FRAN/Oakland/San Jose metro = 7,039,362

    Their fans just suck… its not about a small pool.

  • http://americablog.com magster

    I was being 100% sarcastic. If you count nearby Sacramento and San Jose, the San Fran area is the top 3 or 4 metro areas in the country and it beyond pathetic that they cannot sell-out a stadium.
    I guess sarcasm doesn't come off as well in writing….

  • adamorange

    :) yeah… i guess it didn't translate for me. lol

  • MrEast

    Internet sarcasm needs to have a font.

  • linmoo

    I'm going to the game because
    1) I'm a Broncos Fan
    2) They're giving away $100 grocery gift cards for 2 $50 tickets.

    Maybe I'll get punched in the face, but it will still be worth it.

  • Gary in SD

    I was hoping for a blackout here in SD too, then hopefully they would show the Bronco game. Looks like they sold enough though and now I have to go and watch it with obnoxious static and raider fans all around me!… Why the hell did I ever move here!!!

  • Gary in SD

    linmoo, you'll be fine just as long as you don't wear your colors there. I went one year and the fans were screaming the worst obsenities imaginable, to a guy in a Bronco shirt who was there with his wife and 3 year old daughter. Glad I was smart enough to leave the Elway jersey at home!

  • steeplebomb

    yeah sarcasm just doesn't translate into text. better to use sarcasm tags when in doubt.

  • mikey55

    wtf so if you have sunday ticket still no broncos game that is complete BS

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    I was in class and didn't even think about. Lol that's funny. /slaps forehead

  • linmoo

    Well, I thought my Cutler jersey was out of the question for….several reasons. My Broncos hard hat may be useful, but probably too obvious. A simple ball cap and sweatshirt would be reasonable, but these people are led by Al Davis. Reason doesn't seem to be an option.

    I think I'll just go in silver and black and boo the Raiders. I bet I'll fit right in.

  • troyn

    only if you live in the bay area mikey.

  • http://twitter.com/KMA55 Kevin Allen

    In a truly bizarre twist of fate, up here in Oregon, where they never show the Broncos games, we are going to be getting the game on the CBS affiliate. I'll never figure out the logic of the networks/NFL.

  • musicnut

    I am a huge Broncos fan living in the Bay area. I sat IN the black hole in a Broncos jersey three years in a row. No real problems, but definitely some tense moments (it helped that my friends were Raiders fans). The Raiders have the rudest, most obscene fans I have ever seen. I will take my son to a 49rs game, but never to a Raiders game as long as fans act as they do. Fan conduct has to be one of the biggest detriments to selling out the Raider games.

  • musicnut

    I agree about the Sunday Access ticket. I am very unhappy that the NFL just revised their balckout rules but did not lift the ban on Sunday Access subscribers. The NFL still gets their money!

    THIS SUCKS!

  • TD30isMVP

    San Diego fans are getting just as bad, the funny thing is that you go to the game and you got a guy decked out in Chargers gear who has a huge Raider tatoo, so it is probably the Raider fans at the Chargers games making it worse.

  • mikey55

    phew thanks troy n i literally bought it like last weekend pretty much only for the broncos games! but i'm rooting for them up north in BC so i should be fine!

  • j.b

    fuck your bitch ass broncos. dont 4get we won the 2nd game asshole come 2 oakland with that talk an get fucked up!

  • j.b

    fuck your bitch ass broncos. dont 4get we won the 2nd game asshole come 2 oakland with that talk an get fucked up!