Go Raiders Go! (As Far Away As Possible) : Once a Raider fan, always a Raider fan. Or something like that.

I love the Raiders as much as anyone. I even went to that Tampa Bay game where no one else showed up except the gangs in the end zone. But it’s time to let go. We can’t have all the fun.

Why be selfish? The presence of the Raiders in Los Angeles did so much for civic pride and the stability of the inner city. Remember Mayor Tom Bradley’s words in 1984 after Super Bowl XVIII that the Raiders “have brought this community together as never before in the history of this city.” Well, now it’s Oakland’s turn to get back to the good life.

Oakland, like every urban area in America, has problems that only a professional football franchise can deal with--unemployment, racial tension, failing schools and decaying infrastructure. Get a winning football team and those problems just fade away. Put a Raider hat on an uneducated kid or a laid-off shipyard worker and self-esteem goes way up.

It’s the old Roman circus idea. We may not be able to solve our problems but we can certainly get our minds off them. That’s why civic leaders fight so hard to retain professional teams. If it works for Marion Barry, who’s getting a new sports complex built in Washington, the nation’s murder capital, it can save any politician.

The taxpayers hardly notice the money spent to attract and keep a team or that the payback to the host city is painfully slow. Last year, the Raiders played rent-free in the Coliseum. Al Davis needed to make sure that the government agencies that poured almost $100 million into that rat hole in earthquake repairs were doing a good job. Too bad they didn’t build the 21 luxury suites that Davis was demanding; we could now turn them over to the homeless.

Oakland taxpayers are eager to float the $90 million in bonds to build the new stadium boxes and seats plus cough up another $64-million loan for moving expenses. Generous Al promises to pay them back. Hey, the taxpayers in Oakland are lucky; they could be living in Irwindale, which gave Davis $10 million for not coming.

I know it rankles Angelenos to lose out to a burg like Oakland which has been something of a joke ever since Gertrude Stein said there’s no there there. But that’s what you want in a host city. Not too many distractions from tailgate parties. You don’t even need local people because most of those who can afford tickets come from outlying affluent suburbs.

One obvious problem with Los Angeles, often noted by Davis, is that there were local people living around the stadium. That negative persisted even in the league’s plans to build a new stadium in Inglewood. Urban people scare suburban people trying to park their cars and get to the game--they look too much like the players. As Raider Howie Long once remarked, explaining low Coliseum attendance: “Skip, Muffy and the kids don’t want to park three miles from the Coliseum and get the stereo stolen from their car while they’re watching a game.”

There are urban people in Oakland, but the city fathers long ago had the wisdom to build their athletic complex out by the airport where not that many people live. Also, the new season ticket scam requiring a $500 to $16,000 “personal licensing fee” will exclude most denizens of the city. The 47,000 season ticket holders who can afford to tie up that kind of money should provide a toney Coliseum audience for Oakland’s returning gladiators. If some of the local riffraff still manage to gain entrance, they will be kept at a reassuring distance from the VIPs in the carefully guarded 120 luxury boxes that Davis is having built.

Actually, I was once part of that riffraff, having purchased Oakland Raider season tickets that I couldn’t otherwise afford at a garage sale from a fan whose company had suddenly relocated him to Omaha. Yes, I was part of that hoary crowd of black-pantie-waving-Hells-Angels-wannabes risking our lives afterward crossing the ramp back to the BART station while testosterone tussles took over. But it was worth it when “we” won the Super Bowl. That poor guy in Omaha missed out on all the fun. All he had was a good job and low taxes.

But don’t get me wrong, I’ll die a Raider fan no matter where they call home. How can I turn my back on a team that produced John Matuszak? And Al Davis is not so bad--he’s just a kid from Brooklyn who remembers when L.A. stole the Dodgers. It’s all relative. Besides, I kind of like Oakland; it’s a very easy airport to get into and out of.