The Day the Raiders Football Died

[Willmark]

With apologies to Don McClean and American Pie (revised 11-2-25)

The Day the (Raiders) Football Died

A long, long time ago, I can still remember
How Raiders football used to make me smile
And I knew if the Raiders had one chance
That they could make the Broncos prance
And we’d be laughin’, beatin’ the Chiefs all the while

But football season made me shiver
With every loss the Raiders delivered
Bad news on the end-zone doorstep
The Raiders offense couldn’t take one more step
I can’t remember how our winning died
When I read about our wounded poise and pride
But on first down we ran straight inside
The day the football died

So, bye-bye, Al Davis’ pride,
Drove my Chevy to the stadium, but the stadium was dry
And them good old Raider fans were drinkin’, whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the game where we die,
This’ll be the game where we die.”

Did you write playbooks without the shove?
And do you have faith in Lombardi above
If the offensive “game plan” tells you so?
Do you believe in the Holy roll(er)?
Can football save your mortal soul?
Can you teach me how to stop watchin’ this nightmarish show?

Well, I know that you're attached to them
'Cause we sure ain’t singing the Super Chargers hymn
Us diehard fans all kicked off our shoes
To watch the Raiders give us the blues
I was a lonely Raider fan outta buck(s)
With too many football frustrations — damn that Tuck!
But I knew we were out of luck
The day, the football died

I started singin' bye-bye, Al Davis’ pride,
Drove my Chevy to the stadium, but the stadium was dry
And them good old Raider fans were drinkin’, whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the game where we die,
This’ll be the game where we die.”

Now for forty years we’ve been on our own
And the losses grow fat on a rollin’ stone
But that’s not how it used to be
When the jackass coached for the dopey King
In a jersey he borrowed from Snake, you see
And an anguish that came from you and me

Oh, and while Mark Davis was lookin’ down
The jackass coach stole his Hooters crown
The meeting room was adjourned
No game plan was returned
And while McDaniels was lookin’ for a spark
The Raiders practiced in the park
And we sang Autumn Wind in the dark
The day the football died

We were singin' bye-bye, Al Davis’ pride,
Drove my Chevy to the stadium, but the stadium was dry
And them good old Raider fans were drinkin’, whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the game where we die,
This’ll be the game where we die.”

Lack of offense in the summer camp swelter
The fans ran lookin’ for some shelter
The silver fades, the losses last
Carr’s pass landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With Jimmy G on the sidelines in a cast

Now, the Immaculate “Deception” — NOT sweet perfume
While the League overplays that pathetic tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, Raider Nation never got the chance
'Cause the Raiders tried to take the field
The scoreboard refused to yield
Do you recall what The Sea of Hands revealed
The day, the football died

We started singin' bye-bye, Al Davis’ pride,
Drove my Chevy to the stadium, but the stadium was dry
And them good old Raider fans were drinkin’, whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the game where we die,
This’ll be the game where we die.”

Oh, and there the offense was, all in one place
A formation of wide receivers lost in space
With no time on the season left to start again
So come on, Jimmy G be nimble, Jimmy G be quick
Jimmy G couldn’t play for the 49ers in Candlestick
'Cause losses are the Raiders only friend

Oh, and as I watched the team on this stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No fandom born in Hell
Could break that Raiders spell
And as the losses climbed high into the night
To light the Al Davis sacrificial light
I saw the commissioner laughing with delight
The day, the football died

He was singin' bye-bye, Al Davis’ pride,
Drove my Chevy to the stadium, but the stadium was dry
And them good old Raider fans were drinkin’, whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the game where we die,
This’ll be the game where we die.”

I met a Raiderette who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the team’s store
Where I'd heard the Raiders were good before
But the man there said the Raiders couldn’t play

And in the streets, the season-ticket holders screamed
The fans cried and the hopeless dreamed
But not a snap count was spoken
The points on the scoreboard all were broken
And the three men I admire most
John Madden, Snake, and the Ghost to the Post
They caught the Madden Cruiser away from the coast
The day, the football died

And they were singin' bye-bye, Al Davis’ pride,
Drove my Chevy to the stadium, but the stadium was dry
And them good old Raider fans were drinkin’, whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the game where we die,
This’ll be the game where we die.”

They were singin' bye-bye, Al Davis’ pride,
Drove my Chevy to the stadium, but the stadium was dry
And them good old Raider fans were drinkin’, whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the game where we die.”

[LayneStaley]

IMG_8702.jpeg

I’m glad this isn’t a real poster or I would have been gifted 2 or 3 by now.

[BoKnows81]

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[Oaktown Superman]

Tony Sarigusa. And as smug as he was after that cheap shot I would gladly piss on his grave.

I have zero problem with what Siragusa did. You take their QB out, it’s like kill the head and the body will die. If a Raider did that to Tom Brady, no Raiders fan would be mad. Siragusa did what needed to be done.

[raider_kin]

I have zero problem with what Siragusa did. You take their QB out, it’s like kill the head and the body will die. If a Raider did that to Tom Brady, no Raiders fan would be mad. Siragusa did what needed to be done.

\What needed to be done was both barrels of a greener to that retards face

[Oaktown Superman]

\What needed to be done was both barrels of a greener to that retards face

Again, Siragusa did what needed to be done. If Darrell Russell took Troy Aikman out in the SB with a similar play, Raiders fans wouldn’t be upset at Russell. Football is a violent sport, and cheap shots are taken all the time. It’s the nature of the beast.

[Toast]

I have zero problem with what Siragusa did. You take their QB out, it’s like kill the head and the body will die. If a Raider did that to Tom Brady, no Raiders fan would be mad. Siragusa did what needed to be done.

Bullshit. The cocksucker bellyflopped Gannon and then drove his shoulder into the ground.

If you have no problem with what he did then take your shit and go root for the Ravens.

f[raiders_icon]cking stupidest post I have ever seen. I don't like going off but Judith f[raiders_icon]cking Priest.

[Toast]

Image 4.jpeg

\What needed to be done was both barrels of a greener to that retards face

Yes, and it's the only time in my life that I have ever spoken ill of the deceased.

A clean shot on the QB is a different matter entirely. Sarigusa was a chicken shit, classless fat f[raiders_icon]ck. Gannon had already gotten the pass off.

25 years later and that play still pisses me off. And yes, had Darrell Russell or Bill Romanowski put Brady or Aikman on the turf like that I would have been just as critical.

Alzado never pulled that shit, Lawrence Taylor never pulled that shit, neither did Howie Long or Von Miller for that matter.

I wish Wisniewski would have cut blocked that fat tub of shit and ended his career.

I apologize for the rant. I am done with this.

[Oaktown Superman]

Bullshit. The cocksucker bellyflopped Gannon and then drove his shoulder into the ground.

If you have no problem with what he did then take your shit and go root for the Ravens.

fcking stupidest post I have ever seen. I don't like going off but Judith fcking Priest.

And if a Raider had done that there’d be crickets what he did.

[Attyla]

And if a Raider had done that there’d be crickets what he did.

I mean it's football. Talking about pissing on someone's grave over a dirty play? Gannon had two picks in that game before he got injured. Could we have won the game? Sure anything is possible, but that defense that day was lights out and Gannon was struggling , our run game was struggling and Gruden did not have an answer. This is why I question people. Telling someone that the should become a fan of the Ravens because they expressed an opinion? And I do think it is right, had it been say Grady Jackson who had taken out Dilfer on a dirty play we would have been celebrating. But the game came down to Sharper, he was lights out that day and we could not stop that guy. And it is our own fault that we did not have a better backup for Gannon. Hoying was flat out garbage.

We had our shots during that run. We swung big the next year with some really key additions and it did not pan out. We aged out quickly and the old man should have gone on a serious rebuild instead of retooling thinking we were still viable. His decisions, everything from Kerry Collins to Sapp to Seymour, all of them cost us in the long run.

[Oaktown Superman]

I mean it's football. Talking about pissing on someone's grave over a dirty play? Gannon had two picks in that game before he got injured. Could we have won the game? Sure anything is possible, but that defense that day was lights out and Gannon was struggling , our run game was struggling and Gruden did not have an answer. This is why I question people. Telling someone that the should become a fan of the Ravens because they expressed an opinion? And I do think it is right, had it been say Grady Jackson who had taken out Dilfer on a dirty play we would have been celebrating. But the game came down to Sharper, he was lights out that day and we could not stop that guy. And it is our own fault that we did not have a better backup for Gannon. Hoying was flat out garbage.

We had our shots during that run. We swung big the next year with some really key additions and it did not pan out. We aged out quickly and the old man should have gone on a serious rebuild instead of retooling thinking we were still viable. His decisions, everything from Kerry Collins to Sapp to Seymour, all of them cost us in the long run.

I’m not upholding what goose did on that play, but let’s not kid ourselves, many have done that same thing. It’s football. It’s a violent sport. Lots of wackos have played. What was it that Al Davis said? “The QB must go down, and he must go down hard.” Those words came back to haunt him. And as soon as Sharpe scored, I looked at my cousin and said, “Ball game.”

[Attyla]

It was a brutal game, 4 picks and they were in our backfield damn quick every snap.

[Oaktown Superman]

It was a brutal game, 4 picks and they were in our backfield damn quick every snap.

Then there was the OPI on Rison that called back a TD, but it was OPI. If not for that INT, they’d been shutout.

[GoodTimeCharlie]

I mean it's football. Talking about pissing on someone's grave over a dirty play? Gannon had two picks in that game before he got injured. Could we have won the game? Sure anything is possible, but that defense that day was lights out and Gannon was struggling , our run game was struggling and Gruden did not have an answer. This is why I question people. Telling someone that the should become a fan of the Ravens because they expressed an opinion? And I do think it is right, had it been say Grady Jackson who had taken out Dilfer on a dirty play we would have been celebrating. But the game came down to Sharper, he was lights out that day and we could not stop that guy. And it is our own fault that we did not have a better backup for Gannon. Hoying was flat out garbage.

We had our shots during that run. We swung big the next year with some really key additions and it did not pan out. We aged out quickly and the old man should have gone on a serious rebuild instead of retooling thinking we were still viable. His decisions, everything from Kerry Collins to Sapp to Seymour, all of them cost us in the long run.

“Retooling”. For 30+ f[raiders_icon]cking years now. Thank goodness we never deigned to “rebuild”.

That’s where the dumbf[raiders_icon]ck failson keeps screwin’ the pooch. I’m sure doofus loved the sound of Carroll saying all he does is win.

For God’s sake can we for once get it right. I don’t know if it’s Spytek yet or not, but how it’s supposed to work is the GM gets final say. LET HIM DO THE JOB MARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once again we are runnin’ with a HC that’s thinks he can get us winning with the most bereft of talent roster in the league and a handful of has-been free agents.

Stupid, f[raiders_icon]cking stupid, f[raiders_icon]cking stupid.

[Toast]

And if a Raider had done that there’d be crickets what he did.

Of course, but it wouldn't have changed what it was. I also doubt the Raider defender would have been applauded for doing what needed to be done by the Raven's faithful or had a crab cake fest thrown for him at the Inner Harbor.

I do apologize for suggesting that you go root for the Birds or implying that your opinion was foolish, it was wrong of me to pull the fan gestapo horseshit.

Sports bar banter [shrug].

f[raiders_icon]ck Goose.

[Willmark]

(EDIT): See first post for the updated lyrics.