Raider Fever

Last night Sarah and I went to the Oakland Raiders football game. I am not a Raiders fan, but I have only gone to two other professional football games before and I was excited about this experience. The first football game I went to was with my father so it was something I wanted to do with my daughter. I had invited my nephew to come with me, but he got sick and couldn't go, so it was just Sarah and I.

It was nice to spend the whole day with my youngest daughter. We went to church in the morning and then she spent the day at my house doing homework and then we went to the game that night. It was a historic game since it was the latest start in history. The game started at 8:20pm Pacific Standard Time, that is 11:20 on the east coast. So, the only station that covered the game was NFL Channel. the game started late because the field was used for the baseball playoffs and needed to be converted to football. Seeing the field made me a believer that football and baseball should not use the same stadium.

The seats were high up, but didn't make us really feel far away from the game. I didn't mind the seats and could watch the whole game. We took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to the game and that was nice. The train stopped right at the stadium. I didn't like the stadium because you couldn't walk all around the field like in other stadiums. You were limited to stay only near your seats so it felt like we were quarantined from the people that could afford the good seats. It just felt bad. The lady in front of us talked to me like we were old friends, even though we had never met before, it was nice.

The rest of the crowd around us were a little scary. They were all drunk and loud and rude. I wouldn't want my daughter to be around those people if I wasn't there. And, I wouldn't want to be around those people if the seats weren't free! I am glad we went, but we left at halftime because it was so late and Sarah had school the next day. Overall it was a great experience and I thank SFC Russel Bentley for getting me the tickets. It was nice of him to think of me and I appreciate his help. I understand why people feel Raider fans are not the most desireable people to be together with in a football game, but I'm glad they all had a good time. I didn't really feel unsafe at any time, just not relaxed.