Raiders star pours salt in the wound for fans in Oakland with heartfelt comments
It’s a franchise that has made its share of moves. The Oakland Raiders were one of the eight charter members of the American Football League, and made their share of AFL and AFC Championship Games. They fell to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II and eventually captured Super Bowls in 1976 (XI) and 1980 (XV). They spent their 22 seasons in the Bay Area before making a move in 1982.
It was the Los Angeles Raiders that won a third Super Bowl (XVIII) in 1983 for Al Davis, and it’s actually the last time the team hoisted the Lombardi Trophy. The franchise spent 13 seasons in the City of Angeles, then returned to Oakland in 1995. They remained in that city for 15 years before making the move to Las Vegas in 2020.
In 2019, the Silver and Black made defensive end Maxx Crosby a fourth-round pick. The Eastern Michigan product has not missed a game in his five NFL seasons. He’s emerged as one of the league’s best pass-rushers, and brings plenty of intensity to the team.
Speaking on his podcast recently, it’s apparent that he misses those days when the team was still in the Bay Area.
Maxx Crosby puts Oakland fans in their feelings over Raiders move to Vegas
“It’s funny, I was just talking about this today,” explained Crosby (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk), and someone was asking me, Did you play for the Oakland Raiders at one point? And I was like, ‘That year, I’ll never forget it, for many reasons, good and bad.’ The fans in Oakland, I’m so happy I got to experience that and obviously it was the last year in Oakland, and the fans — I can’t even explain.
“I’m coming from Eastern Michigan, we had 12,000 in the crowd, they’ve got tarps over the away side because there’s nobody over there. That’s what it was. And then my first game we’re playing Denver on Monday night, Von Miller’s on the other side, we’re playing Denver, the crowd was — I can’t even explain how ridiculous it was.”
Crosby continued to reminisce. “They’re throwing sh*t on the field, people are falling out of the stands. A sh*t show. By the time the fourth quarter hits you get the wave of kush going through the whole stadium. I’m looking around and all the guys are like, ‘Welcome to Oakland.’ I’m like, this is legendary. I’ve got so much love for Oakland.”
The three-time Pro Bowler has certainly been a bright spot for a team that once again has a new head coach (Antonio Pierce) to start the season (the fourth different sideline leader for Crosby since his arrival in 2019) and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2002.