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OAKLAND — A grown man two rows behind me slumped in his seat, his blue poncho hanging loosely on his limp body. His eyes were open, but there was no human behind them.
A woman standing over him launched F-bombs his way as vomit lay on the concrete below. In his drunken haze, this man was convinced he was in the right seat. For about three minutes, his significant other watched as the woman berated him. The row’s actual occupants stood nearby, waiting for their seats to open. Even after the man was finally dragged away, they sat elsewhere to avoid the vomit.
It was only the end of the first quarter.
Bottom line: You never know what the Black Hole will deliver. And with Monday night potentially being the last Raiders game in Oakland, you knew the Black Hole would show up, even if that meant getting overly inebriated before 6 p.m.
The City of Oakland recently sued the Raiders and the NFL for the team’s impending move to Vegas, a lawsuit that makes the Raiders’ already non-existent 2019 lease agreement with the Coliseum even less likely to materialize. The Black Hole, an Oakland staple and iconic NFL fan section, might’ve only had one last shot to show the powers that be what they’ll miss if the team plays home games elsewhere in 2019 before moving to Vegas in 2020.
I bought a Black Hole ticket off StubHub on Friday for $147.60 and sat in Section 106, Row 13, Seat 10. This is only my second season covering the Raiders and I’m from Connecticut, so almost everyone in attendance Monday night knew more about the Black Hole’s rich history than I. Still, I wanted to experience one of the NFL’s most famous, rowdy and eccentrically dressed fan sections for (possibly) the last Raiders’ game in Oakland.
There was vomit. There was the type of PDA that would typically get people arrested in public. There was a Black Hole security guard who, when I mentioned potential field-stormers, said his Raiders fandom took precedence and he wouldn’t stop any hooligans. There was a pregnant woman who told me she wanted her unborn child’s first game to be the team’s last in Oakland as we watched police truck fans charging the field. There were other security guards screaming “F*** Mark Davis” after the game. There were Chucky masks and gorilla masks and Jason masks, just to name a few.
In other words, I wasn’t cheated of the authentic Black Hole experience. And Monday night’s edition was on steroids given the occasion.
The Raiders, believe it or not, compiled their most complete performance of the season in a 27-14 win over the Broncos (6-9). Oakland is officially out of the running for the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. But nobody cared about that Monday night, nor did they care about the Raiders’ paltry 4-11 record. In the Black Hole and beyond, everyone wanted one more win, one more Oakland party if this was indeed the last hurrah. And what a party they had, with an epicenter right behind the south end zone.
“They were rowdy and it was a playoff kind of atmosphere the whole game,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said. “With all the big plays, it got really loud, especially towards the Black Hole.”
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The first fan entered the Black Hole at 3:08 p.m. shortly after a vicious downpour stopped, just over two hours before kickoff. He wore a red poncho, black Raiders baseball cap and silver and black paint around his eyes. His name was Darrin Merrival, a Marine Corps veteran, there with his father Joe, brother Tony and daughter Mia. They’re lifelong Raiders fans from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, and they were attending their first Raiders game in Oakland. Joe, the father, worked in the Bay Area, hence their fandom.
But they never experienced the Black Hole in person, so I asked what they heard about it.
“It gets wild, I heard,” Merrival said. “This was on my bucket list as long as I can remember.”
There’s Merrival and family, then there’s the most famous Black Hole member, Gorilla Rilla, the 23-year first row regular. Monday night he wore his patented gorilla mask with a Santa outfit, earning plenty of ESPN face time and embracing Jalen Richard when the Raiders’ running back leaped into the Black Hole following his fourth-quarter touchdown.
There’s Dominic Rea, a long-bearded Black Hole security guard whose father was an Oakland businessman and ingrained in his son a love for the silver and black. There’s Dennis and Annie Scriven, a middle-aged Dallas couple making their first Black Hole visit, wearing silver and black spiked shoulder pads like they fly in every weekend.
There’s Mike Green, a 16-year Black Hole native, and Cory Abellera, a 42-year-old woman who’s held season tickets for just five years in the Black Hole, friends only because they share residence in sections 103-108.
The inhabitants of the Black Hole pride themselves on its diversity. Look left and you’ll see an Italian flag with a Raiders logo in the middle. Look right and you’ll see five different ethnicities in the same row. Look forward and you’ll see a frat bro flipping two middle fingers at the Broncos. Look back and you’ll see — er, hear — a young girl screeching at every big play (the reason I lost hearing in my right ear).
“You see all these different characters out here,” Abellera said. “You don’t see that anywhere else.”
Before Raiders coach Jon Gruden even joined his team for warmups Monday evening, he visited the Black Hole. Gruden adores the place — he said this week it reminds him of his college buddies at Dayton because both groups live life on edge — and he’s made several trips there this season. He still recognizes some faces among the bunch from when he coached the Raiders from 1998-2001, and says he’s never seen another fan section like it during his 28 years in the NFL.
The Raiders entered Monday night at 3-11, the second-worst record in football behind the 3-12 Cardinals. They’ve locked up last place in the AFC West and a Top 10 pick in the draft for a second straight year. They faced the 6-8 Broncos with nothing at stake except pride, paychecks and one last bittersweet memory if this uncharacteristically dominant Raiders win was the last in Oakland.
Yet you would’ve thought it was a playoff game. One drunken, toothless fan stood atop his seat behind the south end zone and hollered, “Yeah, this is f****** awesome! Merry Christmas!” when Carr and backup quarterback A.J. McCarron simply jogged out for warmups. Phones shot into the air to capture moments big and small all night. Rarely did a few seconds pass without someone screaming “Rrrrrrraaaaaaiiiiiiidddddeeerrrrrrrssssss” and a host of others echoing the call. The Black Hole crescendoed so loudly for every third down on defense you’d think one stop meant the Raiders were postseason bound.
Many Raiders fans, whether it be with signs or spoken words, felt like this would be it. That Monday night, though there remains a possibility the Coliseum hosts Raiders games in 2019, was the grand finale. The Raiders could play at the home of the San Francisco Giants across the Bay Bridge or even 45 minutes south at the home of the 49ers. London and San Diego and Reno are reportedly options, too. But no matter how close or how far the Raiders’ 2019 home stadium lies from 7000 Coliseum Way, if different at all, you can’t replicate Oakland. Monday night in the Black Hole proved that much.
“It’s the most Raider fanatics you can get in one spot,” said Green, the 16-year Black Hole member. “That’s what the Black Hole is.”
* * *
Mac Dre’s “Thizzle Dance” blasted over the loudspeakers as fans danced on their wet seats and the Raiders stormed out to a 17-0 lead. Vell’s “Oakland” took its turn hyping everyone up, too. Section 106 resembled an outdoor rap concert, this one featuring Darth Vader helmets and skull-inspired face paint and WWE wrestler masks interspersed among a crowd that smelled like Bud Light mixed with jalapeño poppers mixed with chicken fingers.
Everyone in the Black Hole remained on their feet for the majority of the game, and I felt obligated to as well. My 23-year-old back used to sitting in a press box chair felt 85 as a result. Above the raised cell phones and Corona cans, there were children no older than 4 years old hoisted like Simba in The Lion King, fathers simply wanting their kids basking in the moment like they were. One Chucky doll sporting a headset and Carr jersey stayed high in the air, along with posters that read “Thanks for the Memories” and “Storm the Field.”
After Dwayne Harris’ 99-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter, Monday Night Football play-by-play voice Joe Tessitore shouted, “How ’bout it, Raider Nation?” SportsCenter host Scott VanPelt gave Raider Nation several shoutouts postgame, too. Raider Nation and the Black Hole may just be groups of fans to some, but they almost seem like brands, especially after spending a night among them.
“One nation,” said Dennis Scriven, the Raiders diehard from Dallas. “The Raider Nation.”
Richard’s 3-yard rushing score gave the Raiders a 24-7 lead early in the fourth quarter, then the Broncos cut it to 10. After a Daniel Carlson field goal and Erik Harris game-sealing interception, Carr entered rare victory mode up 13 with two minutes left. A thank you video to Raider Nation flashed on the jumbotron with messages from various players during the two-minute warning before Carr knelt down three final times.
Video of Erik Harris’ game-sealing INT from the Black Hole point of view pic.twitter.com/iLdbSOnin7
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) December 25, 2018
Gruden, immediately after shaking hands with Broncos coach Vance Joseph at midfield, darted to the Black Hole. Carr, too, before taking a lap around the entire field. Erik Harris, linebacker Marquel Lee and linebacker Kyle Wilber ran for the iconic fan section, as well. Fans in the Black Hole poured down to field level, if only to touch fingertips with Gruden or a player, as others stood atop their seats to capture the aftermath of what might be the last Raiders victory in their beloved town.
“That’s why I ran over and paid my respect to the Black Hole, and I did a whole lap around the stadium, to pay my respect to the fans,” Harris said. “The season has not been easy. I respect all the fans who have been loyal to us and been supporting us all along.”
MC Hammer’s “Oaktown” got a group of fans dancing atop the visitor’s dugout, and security didn’t resist. Fans stayed as players made their rounds, then as they entered the locker room, then as Gruden spoke at the podium, then after Gruden finished. Nobody wanted to leave, the Black Hole still buzzing 15 minutes after game’s end.
https://twitter.com/dkurtenbach/status/1077419718783291392
Fans tried running on the field individually from the Black Hole with varying success. One man made it 50 yards before taking a Karl Joseph-like hit from police. One made a security guard eat dirt in the end zone. One woman failed to make it out of the end zone before being cuffed, trying to escape the cuffs, wrangling with security for 50 yards and finally losing the battle.
One woman struggled to fight a headlock, and her friend jumped on the field simply to tell the security guard to ease up. At one point, the battered Coliseum grass looked like a war zone, bodies dispersed around the field as people lay motionless in handcuffs waiting to be transported to holding cells.
Fans threw popcorn and cups at police from the Black Hole, some trying to catch the kernels launched their way like it was a game.
Music was shut off, so remaining diehards stood in place instead of dancing. Fans chimed in with chants of “F*** the police” and “F*** Mark Davis,” the latter even echoed by some security guards.
I went onto the field once the Black Hole was subdued but still mostly full, security guards and cops lining the end zone to thwart any more daring jumpers. I was told to leave because my green press pass might incite fans to “perform” for my camera. As I entered the tunnel to the Raiders’ locker room, fans still stood atop the dugout. One held a sign reading “What Happens in Vegas Started in Oakland,” and others lined the front rows along the south and west sides of the Coliseum, trying to bask in that raunchy Coliseum glow for maybe one last time even if they couldn’t show off for any cameras.
It wasn’t until shortly before 9 p.m., almost 45 minutes after the clock hit triple zeroes, that the Black Hole emptied out. Only because security forced fans to leave. The soggy Coliseum grass finally laid bare of security guards and misfits. Fittingly, the skies opened up right away, almost as if the tears of departing Raiders fans all came flooding down at once.
Monday night may not be the Oakland finale for The Town’s beloved Raiders after all, but it certainly felt like it at the heart of the fanbase in the Black Hole.
If it was the end of a 40-year run at the Coliseum, though, what a way to go out.
