National Football League

Fired up fans: Raider Nation is committed to excellence

Published Sep. 25, 2014 1:00 p.m. ET

Sid Saraf

It's hard not to get intimidated.

When you look up at the stands on a typical Sunday afternoon in Oakland, sometimes it's hard to see the sun while you swim in a sea of fanatics adorned in silver and black.

"Raider Nation is spiritual. It's religious. It's a way of life. Once it gets you, you're in it for life," said longtime Raiders fan Wayne Mabry said to the St. Petersburg Times back in 2003.

The Oakland Raiders have a long and storied history, starting from their days in the AFL. The fans from Oakland, a working-class bunch with a chip on their shoulder about their big city siblings in San Francisco, were fiercely loyal.

Things changed in the 1980s when team owner Al Davis relocated the team to Los Angeles, but all the move did was expand the Raiders' fan base. Now, instead of just a small group in Northern California, the team went national. And its bad boy image? On display for everyone to see:

Of course, Al Davis being Al Davis, he soon grew dissastisfied with the lack of a new stadium and decided enough was enough. He packed the Raiders up in 1995 and brought them back to their birthplace.

The reaction from the entire city of Oakland was joyous, to say the least. And it gave birth to ... Raider Nation.

The name was started by Jim Hudson to celebrate the the team's return to Northern California. Soon, the NFL jumped on board and secured the rights to the Raider Nation name and its logos.

Everything took off from there. Raiders fans were always known as a loud, sometimes unruly bunch who loved their beer, food and the occasional fight. New wrinkles were added.

We're talking costumes. Lots and lots of costumes.

Like this:

And this:

Would you care to do battle with him?

Well, he seems harmess ...

Well, that's just frightening:

Love them or hate them, Raiders fans are at their best when they're at O.co Coliseum sitting in The Black Hole, which is the lowest level of the stadium in the south end zone. There, security guards don't really check to see if people are sitting in the right seat and people seem to roam free and mingle with their fellow freaks.

It's the Black Hole that captures what Raider Nation is all about. Dedication to the point of lunacy. And for everyone wearing Silver and Black, there's no other way to watch football.

Of course, it doesn't always rub fans of other teams the right way, even though the Raiders haven't actually had a winning season in several years.

Denver Post writer Patrick Saunders had this to say:

"It's kind of pathetic. You'd think we would take pity on a franchise that's been teetering for years. Yet the black and silver still makes our blood boil and our skin crawl."

Notice the contempt that still boils in Saunders' sentence. He won't even give the Raiders the satisfaction of saying "Silver and Black," instead going with black and silver.

"Some of you younger fans may not perceive the difference between opponents and a rival, yet, but someday you will know the truth. The only team in the AFC West DESERVING of hatred is the Raiders," said a Chargers blog on SB Nation.

It goes on.

"Those hordes view the "Black Hole" in the way that a chihuahua views its bark: to them, it's terrorizing; to others, it's annoying," said Brett Gering on Bleacher Report.

Complain all you want, Raider Nation isn't going anywhere. What's more, they love what everyone hates about them. It's no wonder that they are one of the easily identifiable fan bases in the NFL.

We salute you!