San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Why fan-friendly Raiders still don’t have a stadium
One reason Mark Davis is cool — nay, frostbitten — on the idea of his Raiders playing home games next season at Levi’s Tanning Salon is this:
Raiders fans would realize, Hey, this place ain’t so bad. The Raiders coulda shared this stadium from the beginning, then we wouldn’t have to travel through the desert to watch our team play in the future. And, say, why is it that Jed York, allegedly a football lightweight, got a stadium built in the Bay Area on his own dime, but Mark Davis couldn’t?
Regardless of where the Raiders play this year, Davis has finally found a way to make his team entertaining and interesting. Although not on the field.
Yikes, it’s the middle of February and an NFL team doesn’t have any idea where it will play its home games this year? It’s a great plot for a reality TV show. Like “House Hunters,” where each episode features a couple checking out three homes and selecting one of them. Why not an episode where Davis and Jon Gruden kick the tires on the Coliseum, Levi’s and the Giants’ ballpark?
Gruden: Mark, I really like Levi’s. I know I’m old-fashioned, but I love the traditional feel, playing football on a field that has, you know, grass.
Davis: Yes, Jon, but that Giants’ ballpark has such potential! We could knock out the right field wall and make McCovey Cove a seafarin’ Black Hole, with our fans in cute little pirate ships!
Davis’ stadium decision will be made with Oakland fans in mind, his main goal being to salute and honor them for decades of patience and passion.
Just kidding.