The Raider Move--Someday, Irwindale Will Have Falling-Out

Irwindale’s leading export is Irwindale.

Day after day, year after year, gravel trucks rumble out of the city, loaded with rock dug from the deep, gaping pits. The crushed rock will be made into cement, coming soon to a driveway or patio near you.

The pits get wider and deeper. The nearest city to Irwindale is probably Beijing. Eventually, this little town’s import-export imbalance of mother earth will result in the ultimate poetic justice.

The Raiders, after leaving Oakland and Los Angeles in the lurch, will become the first pro sports team to be abandoned by its city.

Al Davis will wake up one morning in Irwindale and find that there’s no there there. The city will be gone.

“They can’t do this to us!” Davis will scream. “We have a lease. Irwindale can’t walk out on us like this. We’ll sue. Somebody get me the city’s forwarding address.”

The Raiders will survive, of course. Al will move his gypsy band of bonecrushers to Blythe, or Bangor, or by then freeway-close Beijing. But any temporary inconvenience Davis and the Raiders might experience will not be cause for tears in the City of Los Angeles.

That’s because Al Davis and his Raiders are deserting us. They are breaking promises. Johnny Raiderseed is movin’ on down the line. Thanks for stopping by, fellows. Don’t forget your carpetbag. Give our regards to Arrow Highway.

It’s just as I suspected all along--the Raiders were merely using the City of Los Angeles as a springboard to Irwindale.

Am I bitter? Disillusioned? Maybe a little. I realize football is a business. A contract was breached, or so we’re told. The Raiders were wronged, and they must move. But what about the breach of the emotional contract Davis and the Raiders had with Los Angeles?

When they came to this city, the Raiders demanded and received the hearts of the Los Angeles fans. A team such as the Raiders can’t flourish in a tepid fan climate, and the local folks quickly showed themselves to be as loyal as dogs and as flaky as pie crust. Instant Raider fans. What more could Al Davis ask for? Don’t ask.

The Raiders are an organization that understands the phrase Commitment to Excellence but is fuzzy on the concept of excellence to commitment.

Sure, the Coliseum Commission has treated Davis like a loony old uncle, at least on the matter of luxury boxes. But otherwise, haven’t the Raiders been provided a decent home? Is the Coliseum really the dirty old pit (no offense intended, Irwindale) Davis says it is?

If Davis thought he was gaining a whole new set of pals when he signed on with the Coliseum Commission, he didn’t do his homework. Historically, the Commission has rated high in arrogance and low in IQ. The self interests and petty politics of the commissioners sometimes take precedence over what’s right for the Coliseum and its customers.

Al should have known that when you go into league with these krazy kommissioners, you must be prepared to weather occasional storms and broken promises.

Davis would have us believe the move out of the Coliseum is a matter of honor and necessity. A pro football team, he insists, can’t remain competitive without luxury boxes. Some would say a quarterback is also important. But if you can’t have one, I guess you have to hold out for the other.

Only a cynic would suggest that Raider greed had anything to do with the decision to flee to Irwindale, and that the Raiders are the most loyal team money can buy. But that’s usually why teams move, for bigger bucks. Davis moved the Raiders to Los Angeles in order to cash in on this rich TV and merchandising market. Now, for whatever reasons, he’s moving again, to greener pastures, figuratively speaking.

Maybe Davis simply fell out of love with downtown Los Angeles. That happens. Maybe he was driving past Irwindale one day, with the window of his limo rolled down. He took a big sniff and said, “Ah, I love the smell of gravel in the morning.”

Of course, the Raiders aren’t really moving out of Los Angeles, are they? No sir, Irwindale is just a hoot and a holler away.

“It’s the geographical center of Los Angeles County,” said Raider executive John Herrera. Forget the map. The center of Los Angeles County is Los Angeles.

Herrera also said, in defending his team’s courageous move to Irwindale: “The West would never have been settled if people were not willing to cross the Rockies in a covered wagon.”

The West never would have been settled if the first settlers to settle here had unsettled and moved away the first time their landlord refused to fix the plumbing.

The settlers stuck it out, in hopes of someday acquiring a committed pro football franchise. The settlers are still waiting.