Sunday, December 21, 2008

BARTing with the Raider Nation

Let's get one thing straight first. My husband and I are longtime 49ers fans (great game, by the way!) but he was recently invited by a vendor attend the Raiders-Texans game in a luxury suite and appreciatively accepted the invitation. He figured the suite experience itself will make a Raiders game bearable. He decided to take BART to the Coliseum to avoid potential traffic on and off 880. He looked up the BART schedule for both ways and off he went to the Raiders game.

The first thing that went wrong was BART's next train signage. When he arrived at the platform, it said next train, 2 minutes, and 22 minutes. He waited 10 minutes and the next train was still 2 minutes away. Then, suddenly, the train that was supposed to arrive in 2 minutes disappeared! Without any announcements on when the next train will arrive, he and others waited and waited...it took him 1 hour and 15 minutes to get from Orinda to the Coliseum. Ridiculous.

Now, once he FINALLY got on the train, the BART ride itself was quite "interesting". Inside, there were many Raiders fans, of course. A few of them were actually drinking beer on the train! Where is the BART police? Apparently, there were 2 groups of fans drinking; one drinking Corona, the other drinking Bud. When they saw each other drinking and appearing intoxicated, they happily, and loudly toasted each other and screamed profanities related to the Raiders. How lovely.

Not that all Raiders fans are like this of course, but this experience only reinforces the stereotypes of what most associate with the Raider Nation.

Anyhow, my husband's BART experience to the Raiders game was quite negative-- while he did enjoy the suite experience, he left at half time to beat the BART crowd in the return trip.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ugh. I dislike sports fans very much. They get loud and drunk, and sometimes are worse when loud and sober.

It's fun when you're a kid, but honestly, people are just so rude and obnoxious these days. And sports seems to bring out the worst in people.

Perhaps BART wasn't feeling the Raider love either. :P

Anonymous said...

As an agent I can honestly say, "Raider fans are the worst!"

Anonymous said...

There must have been a train taken out of service. BART could have grabbed one of the game trains, sent it to Lafayette, or Pleasant Hill and turned it back to fill the hole. I'm surprised they didn't do something, with all the game trains around.

Send in a comment card and find out what happened.

Anonymous said...

Get over yourselves! What a bunch of yuppies? I understand the BART fiasco, but really...I know plenty of 49er fans who drink, get drunk, get obnoxious and rowdy. Most sports have these types. Not all Raider Fans are like this. I've been a fan since I was 10 and yes, I hate Al Davis, but truly, I can't stand 49er fans because they really think they are better than everyone else. Pansies!