Here we are. The likely final Raiders game ever in Oakland Coliseum. How does one prepare for this? As a fan. As a player. As a coach. As a member of the media. I don’t think there’s a way to know. You just try to go about your game day preparation as you always would and ride out whatever emotions may come with that.
Like most things of this nature, it doesn’t really seem real until it’s upon you. When you realize this is the last time you’re going to walk through those gates or come out that tunnel or take that seat.
It’s heartbreaking for the Bay Area and Northern California fans. Whether or not you continue to be a diehard after the move to Las Vegas or not. There’s going to be a void that was once filled by the team that represented your home and was within driving distance.
Former players feel it. Many of whom will be on hand today. Rich Gannon is calling the game for CBS. Several Raiders legends will be there, as is often the case. Though no official word has been given, many believe Charles Woodson will light the Al Davis torch. He has never done it and two other former Jon Gruden drafted and coached Oakland Raiders greats lit the torch the past two home games in Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler.
The current players and coaches aren’t numb to the gravity of this either. They feel the fans’ pain. The history of this stadium and the four AFC/AFL Champions and two Super Bowl-winning teams that took this field. They feel a bond with the city as well.
The bond runs especially deep for head coach Jon Gruden who got his first head coaching job with the Raiders n 1998 and returned to coaching two years ago. When the Raiders win, he makes a trip to the Black Hole to celebrate with the fans with whom he says he has a kinship because they are the only people who are as crazy as he is.
“It’s hard right now to really think about what it’s going to be like stepping in there for the last time ever,” said Gruden. “The last time of the season is one thing, the last time ever really hits a tone with me and I’m sure a lot of people. Really want to do a great job of providing the best effort that we can. Can’t make any guarantees, but we want to try to give a memorable effort to our fans, and it’ll be emotional for sure.”
Oh yeah, there’s an actual game to prepare for in all of this. The Raiders aren’t just taking the field Sunday for a farewell ceremony. They have had to game plan for an opponent all week. That opponent is the Jacksonville Jaguars.
So, while they may want to just give the fans a big hug, they have the responsibility of actually giving them a send-off that includes winning a football game. And it will take more than raw emotion and want-to to deliver that.
“We got to play good football and at the end of the game, we’ll show our respects no doubt. But we got to get ready to play a good football team that’s had a top-5 defense coming in here that is going to play hard and nobody gives you anything in this league,” Gruden said Friday. “So, we got to play better football and we got to concentrate on getting a win.”
A win would make the final game at the Oakland Coliseum a bit more special, but at the end of the day, it will be accompanied by the same bittersweet feeling. Win or lose, it’s still the end of an era.
That fact will hit us all at different times and in different ways. Perhaps when you get in the car to drive to the stadium for the last time. Perhaps when you are sitting at your Raiders tailgate in the shadow of the coliseum for the last time.
Or watching from home as Gannon and the CBS crew get nostalgic about it. Certainly when you see the gridiron painted field with OAKLAND and RAIDERS across the end zones and realize you’ll never see it again.
There is no question there will be an energy running through Oakland Coliseum today that is as unique as the Raiders franchise is to sports. And equally and indescribable.
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