(CBS Sports Radio) Reports of the Oakland Raiders' Christmas Eve game against the Denver Broncos perhaps being the last one ever in Oakland are jarring. The city is suing the franchise because of the relocation to Las Vegas. The team doesn't want to pay rent to a group that is in litigation with them. So in this lawyer battle of grand pettiness, the fans get royally screwed as always.
Most assumed the Raiders would play one final year in Oakland in 2019 because the stadium isn't ready in Vegas yet. This season was to be the penultimate dance for Raider fans in the East Bay. Nothing is easy about saying goodbye to a beloved team, but at least there was the safety net of knowing they'd have one more year to emotionally prepare.
Not any more. Unless cooler heads prevail, that Dec. 24 date with Denver could be it. Reports of the Raiders playing in San Diego, Portland or Arizona have been floated. Even Derek Carr admits he has no idea where they'll play next year. Sorry, Raider Nation! You've been one of the best fan bases the league has ever seen, but hope you didn't have plans on Christmas Eve yet! It'll just be your run-of-the-mill emotional gutting. Clear your schedule!
The NFL is a $10-billion-a-year business and treats its cities like absolute trash. It flirts with the new hot thing at the bar every chance it gets.
"Los Angeles. Glitzy, glamorous, Tinsel Town. We'll move two teams there for you. Shut up, St. Louis. Pipe down, San Diego."
"Oh, Las Vegas. The nightlife on the strip. A brand-new stadium. Shut up, Oakland. Go away. Nashville? Beautiful. Shut up, Houston. Oh, a new dome in Indianapolis? Shut up, Baltimore. Go away. Oh, Baltimore's got a new stadium now. Shut up, Cleveland. Go home. We never liked you anyway."
The one constant in NFL history has been to forget about the people that brought you here. The league does it with former NFL players all the time. These warriors that put the league on their backs and dragged it to cultural dominance and wealth beyond any of the owners' imaginations, have to fight tooth and nail for their settlements.
The fans that have been showing up in Oakland since 1961, in a decrepit old stadium for a team that went basically oh-for-the-2000s? A fan base that has shown up passionate every week for decades? Boisterous, emotional, amazing fans. They haven't sat on their hands through pathetic losing seasons. They wear spikes for shoulder pads instead. They don't show up late and leave early. They paint their faces silver and black. They wear Bo Jackson and Kenny Stabler and Howie Long jerseys.
Yet these people don't even know whether they've got more than one game left. Because the NFL doesn't have the compassionate to tell them, "Sorry, guys. This is it." They refuse to step in and declare, "Don't worry, guys, this isn't it." No, it's just legal limbo.
This stinks. It stinks because the NFL watches a city fight with a team, and doesn't get involved, and lets the fans be pulled emotionally like silver-and-black Laffy Taffy. The league could've stepped in before all of this and created a healthier exit strategy. The NFL could've appeased hard feelings within the city government, covered some financial shortfalls, made sure there was a final year in 2019.
Next year should be an honorary swan song for the Raiders. Old championship teams, Hall of Famer players, all of the Oakland ghosts should be feted in front of the fans. There should be entire weekends centered on the '76, '80 and '83 squads. John Madden, Art Shell, Marcus Allen and other greats should be honorary captains. If we're going to rip them away from the city that loves them, just to experiment in Las Vegas, then respect Oakland. Make sure both sides understand one another.
The right thing to do is play this out kindly over the final year. Essentially, the NFL needs to be mommy and daddy, making sure to put off the divorce until the kids are in college. They're going to graduate anyway next year for crying out loud. Can't you at least playing nice for two more semesters? But what the NFL refuses to do is walk in and say let's make it right. Why? Because the league doesn't care. It got its new stadium that someone else will pay for, and that's all that matters.
It's pathetic. It's crass, and brazen, and obnoxious. Raiders fans have poured their hearts into this team, and the league doesn't have the guts to be able to tell them whether that heart gets ripped out on Christmas Eve of all days. Thanks for nothing, NFL. Yet again.
Damon Amendolara, known by his fans as D.A., hosts "The D.A. Show," from 9 a.m.-noon ET, across the country on the nation's largest 24/7 major-market radio network. "The D.A. Show" is known for its unique perspective on sports, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, colorful listener interaction, and candid interviews with athletes and coaches. Amendolara also appears regularly on NFL Network as part of the "NFL Top 10" documentary film series, CBS television and SNY TV. He is a Syracuse University grad and native of Warwick, N.Y.
