Did the Raiders get their bad-boy, tough-guy image, reputation from L.A.?

[LINQ]

Based on all of the old school Raider fans I've talked to, there's some definite truth to this. We were seen as a fan base similar to the Steelers. Oakland fans were seen as hard nosed and blue collar, than L.A. happened, and the Raiders began to be associated with street gangs. NWA sporting Raider gear did more to hurt the team than do it good. The Raiders are still trying to fight the "thug" image. Trask has been asking the NFL cameras to mostly show kids during pre-commercial fan shots. Personally, as a fan, I'm sick of the violent image we're stuck with.

Couldn't have said it better. Thanks for saving me the time explaining this.

[LINQ]

No way, and to suggest that is a disrespect to great teams of the 70s. The Raiders were the Raiders way before the move to LA.

Yeah but they didn't have the stupid NWA gangsta image until LA.

That's the point you're missing.

[Raider Ran]

The answer is this:

They got the Gang bang, loser, wanna be tough guy, jumping someone 30-1, stealing, vandal, acting drunk and stupid internet thuggin, hubcap stealing, purse snatching image from L.A

They got their Tough, Bad-Boy, hit hard, hard nose, seek and destroy, party hard play hard, mean and nasty, gritty, blue collar, just down right badd ass to the bone image from Oakland.

There you have it, real true facts baby!!!

No offense to my LA homies but this is the truth.

[raiderman41]

I've been a fan since 1967. The Raiders' image since Al Davis was of a tough, hard-nosed, play-to-the-whistle-and-then-some type of team. In the 1970s, the Raiders' attitude was if you weren't cheating, you weren't trying. It wasn't that other teams didn't try this, it's just the Raiders always had the biggest, fastest, hardest hitting players in the league and attracted these players.

This "branding" attracted the gang element when the Raiders moved to LA, not the other way around.

[NEO]

Oakland Raiders DEFINED "BAD ASSES."

LA Raiders DEFINED "CANDY ASSES."

[RAIDKEN]

The answer is this:

They got the Gang bang, loser, wanna be tough guy, jumping someone 30-1, stealing, vandal, acting drunk and stupid internet thuggin, hubcap stealing, purse snatching image from L.A

They got their Tough, Bad-Boy, hit hard, hard nose, seek and destroy, party hard play hard, mean and nasty, gritty, blue collar, just down right badd ass to the bone image from Oakland.

There you have it, real true facts baby!!!

I could only wonder how your mind was racing coming up with some of those adjectives. Love it!

[SLVR and Black]

You must be young. if you ever get a chance to watch the 1976 Raiders there you will find the image and history. You can find the 76 raiders on youtube. I believe it started the moment Al Davis came to the raiders

Yep. Though I wasn't old enough to remember, the night before the 1980 SB in the Louisiana Superdome had the Raiders partying on Bourbon Street all night, some of the players not even going to bed before the game. Nothing like showing up to the biggest game of your life hung over or still drunk from the previous night's activities.

[Hawaiian Raider]

Ridiculous question.

Let's not confuse "thug" for "tough".

Did Ben Davidson play for the "LA" Raiders? Phil Villapiano? Otis Sistrunk? How's about Jack Tatum? ... those were the original names synonymous with the "reputation" of the Raiders.

[Raider Ran]

Yep. Though I wasn't old enough to remember, the night before the 1980 SB in the Louisiana Superdome had the Raiders partying on Bourbon Street all night, some of the players not even going to bed before the game. Nothing like showing up to the biggest game of your life hung over or still drunk from the previous night's activities.

This was not an anomaly. This was a nightly thing for most of the players in the mid 60's and 70's.

[Jzero]

the Oakland Raiders had such a bad boy image that even the rough and tough Steelers of the 70s complained about how hard the Raiders played. If anything the Raiders lost part of their bad boy image in LA. .

Yes ...

I became a Raider fan on the day of a famous game ... written about by Paul Zimmerman below.




Sportswriter Paul Zimmerman said of the ... 1967 Jets-Raiders game:

The 1967 game was one of the most vicious in Jet history. Namath was slugged to the turf; he was hit late, punched in the groin. They aimed for his knees, tried to step on his hands ... And Davidson got Namath. He got him on a rollout, with a right that started somewhere between [California cities] Hayward and Alameda. It knocked Namath's helmet flying, and broke his jaw, but Namath didn't miss a play, and he threw for 370 yards and three TD's in that 38–27 loss. (Raiders Victory)

And from the SF GATE :

BEN DAVIDSON .... his golden rule was, "Do unto others before they do it to you."

This often left a sour impression on Oakland's rivals. Most memorably, Davidson speared Kansas City quarterback Len Dawson after Dawson scrambled downfield Nov. 1, 1970. That triggered swift retaliation from Chiefs wide receiver Otis Taylor; a wild brawl ensued.

The incident neatly captured a popular image of Davidson and the Raiders as cheap-shot artists. It's a reputation Davidson politely disputes.

"I never considered myself a dirty player," he said. "I never gouged anyone's eyes or bit anyone."

At the same time, Davidson and his cohorts did not exactly avoid contact. On interception returns, for instance, he made a habit of finding the quarterback and vigorously blocking him.

"That probably made my reputation, because I was usually bigger than he was, " Davidson said. "The quarterback would just be getting up, and here comes someone to drop him again."

Read more: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? / Ben Davidson / 'Do unto others' / Ex-Raider says health attributable to playing style

[HC Raider Fan]

I've seen plenty of idiot wanna be gang-banger / real gang-banger Raider fans on both sides of the fence. Lot of Oakland homerism going on in this thread IMO.


Too be honest, I would only consider only about 1 out of every 10 "Raider Fans" I meet, a real Raider fan anyway.

The other 9 probably just think the colors are cool.

[dezcruel]

Yes ...

I became a Raider fan on the day of a famous game ... written about by Paul Zimmerman below.




Sportswriter Paul Zimmerman said of the ... 1967 Jets-Raiders game:



And from the SF GATE :

Read more: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? / Ben Davidson / 'Do unto others' / Ex-Raider says health attributable to playing style

the REAL Big BEN!! ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVES!! here's a blast from the past,lol..."all we need is one pin, Rodney"

[dezcruel]

I've seen plenty of idiot wanna be gang-banger / real gang-banger Raider fans on both sides of the fence. Lot of Oakland homerism going on in this thread IMO.


Too be honest, I would only consider only about 1 out of every 10 "Raider Fans" I meet, a real Raider fan anyway.

The other 9 probably just think the colors are cool.

I might see your "homerism" point in relation to the gang banging stuff, but that really did come about when the Raiders moved to LA regardless of how the ratio works out at the present time. The rest is less homerism and basically fact. The Raiders garnered their bad boy image as a team in Oakland. The fans acquired the thug rep during our time in LA.
Even fans of other teams that I meet, that are old enough to recall, always talk about the old Oakland Raiders as the original bad asses.

[Sacguy74]

The people that answered yes are kids. Al and the gang had that image decades before L.A.

Who thinks of L.A. as tough anyways? No one called the ram rammit Rams badboys.

[dezcruel]

The people that answered yes are kids. Al and the gang had that image decades before L.A.

Who thinks of L.A. as tough anyways? No one called the ram rammit Rams badboys.

and what sucks is that it's just another reminder of how close I am to fossil-hood,lol.