Oakland Coliseum To Be Renamed

I don’t like the Oakland Raiders and in a way, because I hate them so much, I kind of do like them. You can’t have light without the dark. Rivalries make football great and great rivalries are born out pure hatred and a begrudging respect. The Oakland Raiders are certainly one of KC’s biggest rivals.

It’s been easy to dump on the Raiders in recent years. They have a crazy old owner who looks like he stepped right off the set of Night Of The Living Dead. He fires everyone in sight, except, much to the chagrin of Raiders fans, himself. He’ll hire pretty much anyone in sight, except, much to the chagrin of Raiders fans, a GM. Al Davis used to be a  respected football mind but in his later years he has made a string of questionable decisions that have led some to believe he is solely responsible for the team’s recent decade of futility.

Through all the losing seasons I have never hesitated to laugh at the Raiders’ misfortune. You always like to see your rivals falter. Still, no matter how bad they got, the Raiders continued to be a thorn in KC’s side, always playing the Chiefs tough and often beating them. The Chiefs have had their own troubles in recent years and it made me long for the days when Chiefs vs. Raiders mattered for both teams.

In 2010, both the Raiders and the Chiefs returned to respectability. The Chiefs won the division but the Raiders won the season series and regardless of the fact that the AFC Championship is back in KC where it belongs, any self respecting fan of the red and gold couldn’t have been satisfied by a season that saw the good guys fall to the Raiders twice.

The rivalry is back and I for one am excited about that. Chiefs vs. Raiders! Battling it out for the division! Going to war at Arrowhead! Squaring off in the Overstock.com Coliseum.

Wait…what?

The Oakland Tribune is reporting that the Raiders and the Oakland A’s will soon play in the Overstock.com Coliseum.

"Not only will Overstock.com have the right to change signs throughout the Coliseum; the company’s monikerwill be displayed on the Coliseum’s website, in its official stationary, and on the jackets or name tags of guest service staff employees."

Get ready to start seeing this crap all over the Coliseum:

Terrible.

It makes me frightened that Clark Hunt will lose his mind and sell the naming rights to Arrowhead Stadium to Victoria’s Secret or something? Can you imagine? Is nothing sacred?

I’d feel bad for Raiders fans if I didn’t hate them. =)