Pilgrims Travel to Raider Mecca
September 17, 2005

By Stefanie Boewe
Special to Raiders.com

Fans participating in Raider Mecca weekend festivities pose for a photo on the Raiders practice field at the team's Alameda facility.
Tony Gonzales

Silver and Black was to be seen just about everywhere. An intense atmosphere was palpable among a unique mixture of joy and jumpiness, euphoria and discipline, passion and respect while 200 of the most engaged Raiders fans were awaiting the guided tour of their favorite team's facility at The Oakland Raiders Alameda, Calif., complex on Saturday - as part of the 8th Annual Raider Mecca fan festival, a three-day fan event that is organized by dedicated Raiders fans, which will culminate Sunday night at McAfee Coliseum when The Oakland Raiders take on their AFC West rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the 2005 regular season home opener.

Saturday's Raider Mecca tour also included a stop at the new The Raider Image at Hegenberger Gateway in Oakland where two lovely representatives of Football's Fabulous Females - Cherie and Erica of the Raiderettes - were present to meet the fans, sign autographs and have their pictures taken. The Raider Image at Southland also featured the appearances of four Raiders players and two Raiderettes. TE Courtney Anderson, LBs Tim Johnson and Kirk Morrison, and RB Omar Easy, and Raiderettes Mercedes and Rachael were on hand to greet the fans and sign autographs.

Raiders legend Lincoln Kennedy signs an autograph for a fan in the auditorium of the Raiders Alameda facility.
Tony Gonzales

Representing the diversity of the Raiders, fans from all over the country - and even from Aberdeen in Scotland - have traveled to Oakland to be part of Raider Mecca 2005. Groups from Oregon and Florida made the trip as well as fans from Alaska. Together they enjoyed the guided tour of the facility that included an inside look at the locker room, weight room, training room, and the practice fields. They also took the opportunity to talk Senior Administrator Artie Gigantino as well as to Raiders legend Lincoln Kennedy.

While Susanne Stampke of San Francisco, Calif., is experiencing her first ever Raider Mecca, Chuck Foltz has been a Raider Mecca pilgrim before. Like many of his fellow fans he is willing to sacrifice a lot for his favorite team. Foltz, for instance, has been driving down from Reno, Nevada, to attend every home game for the past four years. Although he needs to leave the house for work at 6:00 a.m. on Monday mornings, he keeps making the five-hour drive - knowing that there won't be much time for sleep before he has to get up. "That's the way it is with the Raiders. You either love them or hate them  and if it is love, it is special," says Foltz who knows that his affection is well understood throughout The Raider Nation.

Former Raiders OT Lincoln Kennedy, who put an end to his outstanding NFL career of 11 years a year ago, got right to the point when he addressed the fans. "There have never been any fans like the Raiders fans," said three-time Pro Bowler Kennedy. The fans responded immediately. "There has never been a team like the Raiders," shouted a fan from the auditorium and everybody loudly clapped their hands.

Raiders executive Marc Badain (right) gives a tour of the Raiders facility for Raider Mecca participants.
Tony Gonzales

And so the Raiders are making friends - and fans - easily. German Susanne Stampke moved from Hamburg, Germany to San Francisco only three years ago, where she fell in love with Raiders fan Robert J. Rogers. It was only a matter of time for her to fall in love with the Raiders, too. Finally, her whole Hamburg family has joined the global Raider Nation. "My family is visiting over once a year," said Stampke. "Meanwhile they have been to a Raiders game with us, they have bought Raiders caps and Raiders sweaters, and we even have a picture of the whole family behind a huge Raiders shield."

Quite the opposite, James and Micheal Finley have grown up with love for the Raiders from their infancy. The grandmother of the two young men of Aliso Viejo, Calif., was the family's original Raiders fan. Their father Mark bleeds Silver and Black. "I have been a member of the Raider Nation since 1968," says Mark Finley who has held season tickets for the major part of his life. To the Finley family, "there's only one team that's worth our love."

Stefanie Boewe is from Berlin, Germany, and serves as the Raiders auf Deutsch correspondent for Raiders.com. She has been visiting Alameda and Oakland this week.