Forget 49ers, Oakland Still Angry Over Raiders

The Miami Dolphins planned to move out of the Hyatt Regency-Oakland to a hotel near Stanford University today--the second time in three years the city has been abandoned by a National Football League team.

Fans around the East Bay agree with Gertrude Stein. There hasn’t been any “there” here since the Raiders left.

“It did a lot of damage to Oakland, right in the heart,” said Dick Hubbard, a real estate man. “The town never had any prestige except the Raiders. It didn’t even support the A’s when they won three World Series in a row.”

But for a week, the town has been alive again with football fever, resuscitated by the temporary residency of the Dolphins.

“They are excited,” Coach Don Shula said Friday. “They’ve been very nice and hospitable. I know they miss the Raiders.”

The fans, dressed in Dolphin orange and aqua, have milled around the hotel constantly in their quest for a glimpse at a player, a wave from a star.

But Al Davis would be advised to stay away. The delirious fans could turn quickly into an ugly mob.

“The people here went 20 years loving that team,” said Andy Mousalimas. “He took the heart out of this city. He hurt them. It was morally wrong.”

Mousalimas owns the Kings X, a popular sports pub on the north edge of town where opinions run as strong as the shots, straight up. Surprisingly, not all of the patrons resent Davis’ act.

“We have kind of a schizo group here,” Mousalimas said. “The young ones go for the 49ers now.”

But the older ones have had a tough time letting go of the Raiders. Oakland is a workingman’s town where, Mousalimas said, “all these people talked about all week was what the Raiders would do on the weekend.”

John Normart is ambivalent. He owns the Sirloin Restaurant, from which Davis used to conduct a lot of his business.

“Stop by,” he said. “I’ll show you where he had his phone. I always got along with him. His wife, Carol, was in last week.

“If you own a business, you should be able to do what you want with it. I still believe that.”

On the other hand, Normart used to play golf with some of the Raiders.

Al Kieselbach, a retired city employee who was president of the Raider Boosters Club, has tried to curb his resentment toward Davis.

“A lot of that goes away, but when somebody steals your candy you have trouble thinking of him as a good guy,” Kieselbach said.

“I understood what was going on. I didn’t like it, but I understood it. They might have looked harder for a way to keep him.”

Not many former Raider fans have gone over to the 49ers. There is a subtle statement in the fact that tolls are charged on Bay Area bridges only going into San Francisco. The other direction is free.

“Everybody wants to come out here and see San Francisco,” said Al Santini, a supermarket produce manager. “Nobody wants to see Oakland.”