Creciprocal moves, confrontation with the commissioner, an image of a dirty and misbehaving team that has been part of the mysticism, history and tradition of today. Las Vegas RaidersHowever, two scandals with their former head coach John Gruden in early October and now with their former successor Henry Ruggs III are not uncommon in the history of the team from Sin City.
Nomadic collective
The Raiders were a big sporting success in the 1970s, but in the 1980s, founder Al Davis went into a war of threats and statements with the then NFL. Commissioner Pete Roselle due to his desire to move the team to Los Angeles, which happened in 1982 against the league’s own will.
Even when the team was crowned Super Cup XVIII in 1983, during the presentation of the Vince Lomardi trophy, Davis behaved decently, but the tension was such that it seemed that the presentation would not take place.
Bad Boys
It’s no secret that they have always had the image of a dirty team, tough outside the rules of the game, to the point that in Mexico, where they have a large fan base, they were nicknamed “Los Malosos” (Bad Guys), and in California many motorcycle gangs have perceived their skull shield as a subversive image in the face of the status quo.
The moving theme returned twice more when they left Hollywood to return to the Bay Area in 1994, the Raiders returned to Oakland, but the marriage fell apart again.
While playing at the Oakland Coliseum, the pressing need to stop using the oldest, least comfortable and only stadium shared with the MLB team, the Oakland Athletics, prompted them to try and strike a new stadium deal with the city, but after many unsuccessful negotiations, the team moved, and in the past year, in 2020, they named Las Vegas their new city with a fantastic home, the Allegiant Stadium, finally, the franchise found stability and peace of mind.
Scandals with John Gruden and Henry Rug III
But the Raiders’ DNA took over again and on October 11 last year, following leaked emails with homophobic, misogynistic and racist messages that their then head coach, John GrudenPosted ten years earlier when he was an analyst for Monday Night Football on ESPN, prompted the forced resignation of the famous “Chucky”, the team was left without its star strategist.
And if that wasn’t enough, last Tuesday Henry Ruggs III, the receiver chosen by the Raiders in the first round of the 2020 draft crashed his car at 156 mph at 3:40 am (local time), killing a woman and ending up in jail after being discharged from the hospital. The raiders stabbed him the same day.
Current owner Mark Davis, son of Al, said this at an NFL owners meeting on October 28 in New York:
We are raiders. We’re used to it
“We are raiders. We are used to it. This is the whole essence of our life. This is disappointing. “