Departure of Raiders Doesn’t Even Rate a Moment of Silence

Now that the Rams and Raiders have left Los Angeles, the new rallying cry from L.A. football fans to the NFL about a new team should be: “Just When, Baby?”

PAUL ECKER

Diamond Bar

*

I’ll always be a Raider fan, but thank goodness the most despicable man in the NFL, Al Davis, is gone. Now I hear the second-most despicable man in the NFL, Buddy Ryan, wants to coach in L.A.? No, thanks! Let’s get a real team before it’s too late.

FREDERIC FAN

Glendale

*

Al Davis strikes me as a classic small-town hustler who couldn’t make it in the big city and is now running home with his tail between his legs. He may feel that he got jobbed by the Coliseum Commission, but I think he just found out what it’s like to be on the receiving end of the Al Davis way of doing business.

CHRISTOPHER WILHELM

Los Angeles

*

What makes the NFL think that bringing in some other city’s problem, like the Cardinals or Buccaneers, will sell in Southern California? The Raiders won almost 60% of their games and couldn’t draw. The solution for the NFL in front-running L.A. is simple. Each year, the defending Super Bowl champions would play their home games in the Los Angeles area, so L.A. would always have a winner to support.

MIKE VILELLO

Long Beach

*

I wonder if the fans in Oakland would have consistently filled their stadium watching Marinovich, Schroeder and Rusty Hilger play dull, predictable football.

STAN GORDON

Encino

*

This must be the first time in the history of sports franchises moving from one city to another that both cities involved are cheering the move.

GEORGE BROMBERG

North Hollywood

*

There’s a definite silver lining to the Coliseum Commission’s long record of alternating stupidity and arrogance. If they can continue with their high-handed bumbling, they may inadvertently perform one more civic service by squeezing the Clippers out of the Sports Arena.

With Mickey Mouse riding to the rescue of the Cowboy, and Peter O’Malley and Jerry Buss safely beyond the reach of the Coliseum Commission, L.A. area sports fans may eventually have the quality of ownership they deserve.

ALLEN F. KAHN

Playa del Rey

*

I had season tickets to Raider games nearly all the years they were in town. I never got in a fight. I never had beer spilled on me. I never screamed at another fan. I basically rode the highs and lows of every game, enjoying the diversity that is Los Angeles, every Sunday of each season.

To this day I still thrill at the uniquely Southern California experience of a picnic in Exhibition Park and a walk through the tunnel into one of the most beautiful and dramatic arenas in the world. Al Davis never got it.

Spend the money here. Buy the surrounding land, improve the parking, the landscaping, the safety. Build your boxes on the rim if you must, court the Los Angeles public with a friendly smile and they will come.

DOUG E. ROBERTS

West Hollywood

*

To think I used to sit in a stadium where seating was so bad, you had to have a radio just to know who had the ball. To think my car was broken into twice last year because parking by the Coliseum is so inadequate. To think I passed up a vacation so I could have money for season tickets.

The Coliseum Commission thinks the fans will do that for any team--think again!

TAMMY CHOW

Artesia

*

What rock has Allan Malamud been living under? Now that the slate has been swept clean with the departure of the Lambs and the MasqueRaiders, it is high time the NFL got the message: L.A. should have its own team, not the hand-me-downs from Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, Phoenix, etc.

What’s a few lean years after having endured the recent performances of Frontiere and Davis?

LAWRENCE M. KATES

Los Angeles

*

How big was the rock that Steve Springer crawled out from under? Al Davis’ move back to Oakland is only about money. Springer spoke of “empty seats” and to any owner that is lost revenue, not lost fan support. The move to Oakland provides Davis with luxury boxes that translate into more money. Davis is going to charge for the right to buy a ticket, up to $16,000 for a 10-year period, more money. If Davis feels he can win a Super Bowl in Oakland, that just means better merchandising, more money.

Davis took $10 million from Irwindale and you talk about his “principles.” Wake up!

BOB ARRANAGA JR.

Pasadena

*

Imagine someone trying to make a buck in America! [“Cash, Not Coliseum” by Kenneth Reich, June 27]. The gall of Al Davis going where he not only has financial support but the emotional support his team has missed for more than a decade. The Raiders now can live up to the tradition of the Oakland Raiders, which, obviously, they have not been for some time. Attitude makes all the difference.

DAVID SCHINNERER

Altadena

*

Reading the anti-Raider letters last week made me as frustrated as the Raiders’ move to Oakland did. It’s negative fans like these who offered the team no support that are responsible for the move.

Now what are you going to do? Root for the Buccaneers?

MICHAEL ZAJACZKOWSKI

Woodland Hills

*

It’s ironic that the same day Raider defensive lineman Nolan Harrison asks a fan why he can’t afford $35 for eight Sundays and then questions this person’s other priorities, another story tells about the Long Beach Naval Shipyard closing down, which will result in about 3,000 people losing jobs.

Just another example of spoiled, overpaid athletes being out of touch with reality.

ART MERCADO

Torrance

*

How much will a Raider season ticket-holder pay per game and per ticket for two 20-yard-line seats at the “new” Oakland Coliseum?

Using speculative but conservative figures, I factored in the following: ticket licensing fee, long-term interest lost on the fee, ticket cost, parking, city surcharge, minimal refreshments and other minor sundry stadium expenses.

My total comes to $175 per ticket per game. I’ll enjoy expanded TV coverage until the new L.A. team(s) arrives with a similar deal.

RON BATTLE

Long Beach

*

Thank you, Al Davis, for indirectly striking a blow for your native Brooklyn. And to the fans who so cavalierly stole the heart and soul out of our beloved Brooklyn, I have one thing to say: Now you know, at least a little, how it feels.

JAY SCHUSTER

Sherman Oaks

*

So Los Angeles won’t have any football next season. I wasn’t aware that either the Rams or the Raiders played any football last season.

CURT GEBHARD

Redondo Beach

*

Great picture by Bob Durell of Al Davis’ empty parking spot [June 24]. That’s exactly how I’ll remember Al: oil stains on cement!

HARV KAUFFMAN

La Costa