The Oakland Raiders Are History

There is a warm breeze blowing down the coast today. Like a current overtaking the Santa Anna winds, a collective sigh can be traced emanating from Oakland, California.

The Raiders are officially leaving California and heading to Las Vegas, Nevada.

In a recent series of headaches, heartaches, and PR blunders, the Raiders fanbase has joined the Chargers fanbase for an undeserved ride out of town. When three franchises asked for permission to relocate (and all three were approved, with addendums), fans across the country began to brace themselves for the unknown.

In the wake of that, if we rewind the clock two years, we’ll remember the surprise and subsequent fiasco that was the proposed 1.8 billion dollar Carson Stadium.

The Chargers and the Raiders, blood-enemies of the highest degree, were going to be thrown together into the same stadium, with both host cities losing their teams to Carson (Los Angeles in name). That proposal really set the stage for the constant pain and restlessness of the last two years. Even the city of Carson got the ring-around, burning the fans of three cities in the process.

But eventually, the Chargers left San Diego for LA formally. The fear of the unknown was finally over for Chargers fans, but the pain was made fresh again with that stroke.

The fans of the Oakland Raiders can now join that sad and familiar sigh as the unknown is no longer being held over their heads. Their hopes for a last-minute deus ex machina, a hail Mary from the back, have been formally dashed.

The Raiders get to take two lame duck seasons in Oakland before they finally leave for the desert sands of Nevada. Whether that proves to be a gift or a joke for the Oakland fanbase, at least the most recent season of franchise tectonics has met its likely end.

...Or so we all hope. No fans deserve what the powers-that-be have done to these three franchises, these millions of fans.