‘Sick and tired’ Oakland fans bid Davis a notso-fond farewell

SAN LEANDRO, CALIF. >> Ivan Davis stared stonefaced at the television as the news came down that the Oakland Raiders would be moving to Las Vegas and was asked if he was a fan of the team.

“I used to be,” he responded.

Davis has been a Raiders fan for about a halfcentury, celebrating Super Bowl titles, enduring long stretches of losing and sticking by them even during a 13-year move to Los Angeles. But the NFL’s 31-1 vote Monday to approve owner Mark Davis’ application to move the team to Las Vegas will be the final straw that ends his support.

“All the Raiders fans my age, no way you can do it,” he said. “Anyone who lived through the first one will not support them. The older Raiders fans, you lost them forever. The ones who gave their life blood to you, you lost them forever.”

Ivan Davis was one of a handful of fans that showed up at the team’s unofficial sports bar, Ricky’s Sports Theatre and Grill, where the walls are decorated with memorabilia honoring the team.

A few other fans showed up at the team’s facility in Alameda but there were no big protests. That didn’t lessen the emotions of the team’s dedicated fans in the East Bay who regularly came to games in costumes even during a stretch of 13 straight seasons without a playoff berth that ended this past season.

“We’re sick and tired of just being pawns,” said Rob Rivera, the president of the Black Hole fan club. “Putting up with 13 years of bad football, embarrassing football and we stayed loyal to this team. When they needed something to hang their hat on, it was us who was there. For the team now to turn the corner and look to skip town, it’s just devastating. For Mark Davis to look us in the eye and say he wanted to stay in Oakland, his heart is in Oakland, it’s a bunch of bull.”

Rivera said the approval of three franchise moves in less than 15 months, with the Rams and Chargers both going to Los Angeles, has robbed the NFL of part of its soul.

He said fans need to mobilize and called for a boycott of Bank of America, whose $650 million loan is helping fund the new stadium in Las Vegas.

Rivera said he planned to tailgate at games when the Raiders plan to play in Oakland the next two years but probably won’t go into the stadium and won’t give his support after the move in a reaction he believes will be common among the East Bay fans.