Yesterday’s amazing Oakland Raiders v. New York Jets game was, for this blogger, punctuated by a number of events. The first one was meeting Oakland Raiders’ Legend, Linebacker Ted “The Mad Stork” Hendricks, who was given the honor of raising the flag before the game, and to the roar of an appreciative crowd. “Anything to help the Raiders is a pleasure to do. Especially with a sellout game against the Jets. It’s a high honor.”
The other cool highlight was running into Oakland School Board member and friend Chris Dobbins, who took time to inform us that the Oakland Unified School District has to close five schools. Even at the Raiders game, Chris is an advocate for improving education in Oakland.
Also cool was meeting another Oakland Raiders’ Legend (they call them “Raiders Legends” which is true and a great way to honor former players) Kenny Shedd, who was introduced to me by another Raiders great, and friend, Morris Bradshaw.
Shedd promised to buy a drink for this blogger, but took a long time getting to the bar (he says because of the crowded men’s room at the Coliseum East Side Club) – that’s OK. I was tired of waiting for him, so I got a cocktail for myself, and a nice woman who was standing next to me. So because of Kenny’s tardiness, I was able to do a good deed for a Raiders fan.
Overall, the crowd was excellent, and the banter between Raiders fans and Jets fans was really funny, and without incident. But the Coliseum played host to probably the biggest Jets fan in terms of name recognition: Adam Sandler.
At the game as a guest of the New York Jets’ Owner Robert Wood Johnson (who had on his characteristic Jets visor), Sandler came out to meet fans and sign autographs. He also made a joke about Dan Patrick, who’s Dan Patrick Show on DirecTV Sandler regularly appears on and of which this space is a big fan of. Sandler said he left Dan Patrick “in the parking lot” of the Coliseum with a “couple of guys” and doesn’t know what happened to him.
Actually, Patrick was in New York City, getting ready for NBC’s Football Night In America.
In all, a lot of fun – well, it’s face it, the Raiders getting a home win over any team is fun, but especially when its The New York Jets.
Stay tuned.