December 31, 1967: The 1st Oakland Championship

Daryle Lamonica (3) back to pass. Blocking for him

are Jim Otto (00), Dan Archer (78) and Jim Harvey (70).

Note the infield dirt, left over for baseball.

December 31, 1967: The American Football League Championship Game is played at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on this New Year's Eve. The Oakland Raiders hosted the Houston Oilers.

The Oilers had played in the 1st 3 AFL Championship Games, winning in 1960 and 1961, but losing in 1962. Their starting quarterback was George Blanda. Pete Beathard was now the Oilers' quarterback. This would be the Raiders' 1st title game. Blanda was now playing for them.

But while he was their main placekicker, he was not their starting quarterback. That would be Daryle Lamonica, who threw the ball so often, and so far, he became known as "The Mad Bomber." Raider coach John Rauch, having been a quarterback himself, knew he had two good ones. Lamonica would not be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but Blanda would, along with receiver Fred Biletnikoff, center Jim Otto, guard Gene Upshaw, and cornerback Willie Brown.

The game kicked off at 2:00 Pacific Standard Time (5:00 Eastern), and the temperature was 47 degrees. Just a few minutes earlier, the NFL Championship Game had ended in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and, to those inside Lambeau Field, 47 degrees would have seemed like beach weather in comparison.

The only scoring in the 1st quarter was a 37-yard field goal by Blanda. But the Raiders pulled away in the 2nd quarter, with Hewritt Dixon scoring on a 69-yard run, and Lamonica throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Dave Kocourek. It was 17-0 Raiders at the half.

In the 3rd quarter, Lamonica scored on a quarterback sneak, and Blanda kicked a 40-yard field goal. Blanda kicked one from 42 yards, giving the Raiders a 30-0 lead early in the 4th quarter. The Oilers finally scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Beathard to Charley Frazier. But the Raiders put it away with another field goal from Blanda, this one 36 yards, and a 12-yard touchdown pass from Lamonica to Bill Miller. The final was Oakland 40, Houston 7.

This was the 1st league championship for Raiders owner Al Davis. There would be more. Moreover, while Oakland had been the much-maligned "little brother" to cosmopolitan San Francisco across the Bay, this game was the beginning of a shift.

The San Francisco Giants had won the National League Pennant in 1962, and just missed Pennants in 1964, '65 and '66. But the Raiders were now AFL Champions, and Oakland had just become home to the NHL's Seals and the ABA's Oaks, and were about to become home to baseball's Athletics. Oakland would soon have 4 teams, to San Francisco's 3 -- and when the San Francisco Warriors moved in 1971, taking the name "Golden State Warriors," taking the place of the Oaks who had moved, Oakland would, briefly, have 4 teams to San Francisco's 2.

From this game until the 49ers' NFC Championship of January 10, 1982, the City of San Francisco had no league champions in any sport, while the City of Oakland had 8: The 1967 AFL Champion Raiders; the 1969 ABA Champion Oaks; the 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Series Champion Athletics; the 1975 NBA Champion Warriors; and the 1976 and 1980 NFL Champion Raiders. And that doesn't even count the Oakland Clippers, earlier in 1967, winning the title in the National Professional Soccer League, which could hardly have been called "major league." But it did happen.

For a few years, sports-wise, Oakland was the place to be. It was a golden age -- or, as A's and Seals owner Charlie Finley might have put it, a Green and Golden Age.

In 1999, The Sporting News released their list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. Jim Otto was ranked 78th, and George Blanda 98th. In 2010, the NFL Network ranked Otto 63rd on its list of the 100 Greatest Players, but Blanda didn't make it.

*

December 31, 1967 was a Sunday. The 1967 NFL Championship Game was played the same day. While the Oakland Coliseum has been known for chilly conditions, there was no issue with the weather there on that day. That would not be the case for the NFL title game: It was well below zero at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 21-17, in a game that became known as the Ice Bowl. I have a separate entry for that event. The Packers went on to beat the Raiders, 33-14 in Super Bowl II, in a much-warmer Orange Bowl in Miami.

There were 2 games played in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the expansion San Diego Rockets, 147-118. It was the 1st game the Lakers played at their new arena, The Forum, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And the San Francisco Warriors beat the other expansion team, the Seattle SuperSonics, 126-124 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. For the Warriors, Nate Thurmond had 34 points and 25 rebounds.

There was 1 game played in the American Basketball Association, which was in its 1st season: The Pittsburgh Pipers beat the Indiana Pacers, 121-106 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. The Pipers would go on to win the 1st ABA Championship. But before the 1972-73 season, they were out of business. The Pacers would win the ABA title in 1970, '72 and '73, and were 1 of the 4 teams absorbed from the ABA into the NBA in 1976.

There were 4 games played in the NHL that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0, in one of the last events at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 9-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 6-4 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Oakland Seals, 3-0 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Montreal Canadiens, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota North Stars were not scheduled. 

December 24, 1994: The Rams and Raiders Abandon Los Angeles

December 24, 1994: The Kansas City Chiefs defeat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Raiders, 19-9, before 64,130 fans -- a big crowd, but hardly a sellout at the 93,000 seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Coliseum had been the home of the Raiders since moving from Oakland before the 1982 season, and the home of the Los Angels Rams from 1946 to 1979. The Rams had moved 38 miles southeast to Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). On this same day, they played there, and lost to the Washington Redskins, 24-21. The crowd was 25,705, a pathetically small one for a stadium whose football capacity was 69,000.

Before the next season opened, the Los Angeles metropolitan area dropped from 2 NFL teams to none: Al Davis took the Raiders back to Oakland, and Rams owner Georgia Frontiere took the team to her hometown of St. Louis. The Rams' move also killed the famous Los Angeles-San Francisco rivalry with the 49ers, whose run of success the preceding few years hurt the Rams as much as anything: For about 15 years before it, the Rams had dominated the division that became the NFC West.

It took the Rams a while to get going in St. Louis, building "The Greatest Show on Turf," winning Super Bowl XXXIV, and losing Super Bowl XXXVI, before falling apart again. After the 2015 season, with Stan Kroenke having bought the team from Mrs. Frontiere's estate, the Rams moved back to Los Angeles, playing 4 seasons at the Coliseum before Kroenke's SoFi Stadium was built in Inglewood, on the site of the Hollywood Park racetrack, across from The Forum. The NBA's Los Angeles Clippers have begun building their new arena, the Intuit Dome, on the same campus.

The Raiders' return to Oakland was shaky. They fell victim to the Tuck Rule Game in the 2001 season, then won the 2002 AFC Championship, but lost Super Bowl XXXVII. Al Davis died in 2011, and his son Mark Davis inherited the team. He never liked Oakland, and tried to go back to Los Angeles, before making a deal to move to Las Vegas for the 2020 season.

With the Raiders having balked in their negotiations, it was the San Diego Chargers who moved for the 2017 season, spending 3 season at Dignity Health Sports Park in suburban Carson, California, before moving into SoFi as tenants of the Rams.

*

December 24, 1994 was a Saturday. No college football bowl games were played. Baseball was out of season. The NBA had no games scheduled. And the NHL team owners were locking out the players. So the only games played on the day were in the NFL.

At the time, the NFL preferred not to play games on Christmas Day, even when it fell on a Sunday. That changed the next year. This time, the only game played on Sunday, December 25 was the Miami Dolphins' 27-20 win over the Detroit Lions at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida, and that was in prime time. The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings beat the San Francisco 49ers, 21-14 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The rest of the NFL slate, including the 2 L.A. farewells, was played on the afternoon of Saturday, December 24:

* The New York Giants beat the Dallas Cowboys, 15-10 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Arizona Cardinals, 10-6 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 34-19 at Tampa Stadium.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Denver Broncos, 30-28 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The New York Jets lost to the Houston Oilers, 24-10 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Seattle Seahawks, 35-9 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 33-30 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Buffalo Bills, 10-9 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

* The New England Patriots beat the Chicago Bears, 13-3 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* And the San Diego Chargers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 37-34 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

December 21, 1974: The "Sea of Hands" Game

December 21, 1974: The Oakland Raiders host the Miami Dolphins in an AFC Divisional Playoff at the Oakland Coliseum. The Raiders went 12-2 and won the AFC Western Division, while the Dolphins went 11-3 and won the AFC Eastern Division.

The Dolphins had won the last 3 AFC Championships and the last 2 Super Bowls. In contrast, the Raiders were already known as a team that "can't win the big one": They had lost Super Bowl II to close the 1967 season, the 1968 and 1969 AFL Championship Games, the 1970 and 1973 AFC Championship Games, and a Divisional Playoff in 1972 on the Pittsburgh Steelers' "Immaculate Reception."

The 1974 season was the one in which NFL Films producer Steve Sabol was inspired to write a poem about the Raiders, a 4-verse piece titled The Autumn Wind, closing:

The Autumn Wind is a raider

pillaging just for fun.

He'll knock you 'round and upside-down

and laugh when he's conquered and won.

Sabol showed it to Raiders owner Al Davis, who loved it, and said, "This is what the Oakland Raiders are all about." So Sabol gave it to his voiceover maestro, John Facenda, who spoke the words over highlights, making it an NFL Films classic.

Raider fans were ready to dethrone the Champions. A banner -- incorrectly identifying dolphins as fish, rather than mammals, and also incorrectly writing "Super Bowl" as one word -- read, "THE DOLPHINS BELONG IN A FISHBOWL NOT A SUPERBOWL."

George Blanda, a former quarterback still playing for the Raiders at age 47, kicked off, and Nat Moore returned it 89 yards for a touchdown. But on the Raiders' next drive, despite holding them off, the Dolphins lost safety Jake Scott to injury. In the 2nd quarter, Ken Stabler threw a touchdown pass to Charlie Smith, but Garo Yepremian gave the Dolphins back the lead with a field goal, making it 10-7 Miami at the half.

A great catch of a Stabler pass by Fred Biletnikoff gave the Raiders a 14-10 lead early in the 3rd quarter. But a dumb pass interference penalty by the Raiders aided the Dolphins' drive, and Bob Griese threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Paul Warfield. Former Baltimore Colts star and future actor Bubba Smith blocked Yepremian's extra point attempt, so the Dolphins only led 16-14. Yepremian made it 19-14 with a field goal early in the 4th quarter.

With 4:37 to play, Cliff Branch made a great catch of a Stabler pass, and took it 72 yards for a touchdown, and a 21-19 Oakland lead. The Dolphins struck back, and Benny Malone ran broke 4 tackles on a 23-yard touchdown run. With 2:08 left, the Dolphins led, 26-21.

The Raiders took over on their own 32-yard line, with 2 minutes and all 3 timeouts remaining, but facing the Dolphins' "No-Name Defense." It was a bad name: linebacker Nick Buoniconti was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; and ends Bill Stanfill and Vern Den Herder, tackle Manny Fernandez, and safeties Dick Anderson and the injured Scott were regular Pro Bowlers.

Stabler threw a pair of 1st-down passes to Biletnikoff. He got the ball to the 8-yard line, calling his last timeout with 35 seconds left. On the next play, he looked for Biletnikoff in the end zone, but he was too well-covered. Den Herder bore down on him, and perhaps Stabler was thinking this was his "Immaculate Reception" moment. He threw in mid-sack. Clarence Davis was covered by 3 Dolphins in the end zone: Safety Charlie Babb, linebacker Larry Ball and Mike Kolen. Still, he made the catch.

Stabler later told NFL Films: "Clarence Davis made the play. I certainly didn't make the play. Vern Den Herder hits me, and I get very little on the ball, and it's kind of a dying duck, end-over-end deal, back into a sea of hands in the end zone." The term "Sea of Hands" would be applied to this game for all time.

The Raiders led, 28-26, but the Dolphins still had a chance. That chance ended with Phil Villapiano intercepted Griese on the Raider 45, and Stabler ran out the clock. Of all the crazy games in Raider history -- in Oakland, in Los Angeles, in Las Vegas, and on the road -- this may be their most cherished, outside of the 3 Super Bowls they've won.

In contrast, Dolphin head coach Don Shula -- who, remember, was the head coach of the Baltimore Colts when they lost Super Bowl III to the New York Jets in a shocking upset, 6 years earlier -- said, "This has to be the toughest loss I've ever suffered."

But, just as the Steelers did when they beat the Raiders with the Immaculate Reception, the Raiders ended up losing the AFC Championship Game, to the Steelers. And, as with the Steelers, it would take them 2 more years to go all the way, winning Super Bowl XI. The Dolphins have been to only 2 Super Bowls since, losing both.

In 1981, author John Thorn left his comfort zone, baseball, and published Pro Football's 10 Greatest Games. He included this game as one of them.

*

December 21, 1974 was a Saturday. There was 1 other NFL Playoff game that day: The Minnesota Vikings beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 30-14 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

There was a college football bowl game that day: Miami University of Ohio beat the University of Georgia, 21-10 in the Tangerine Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in Orlando, Florida. Miami, Champions of the Mid-American Conference, completed an undefeated season: 9-0-1. The game and the stadium would later be known as the Citrus Bowl, and the stadium is now named Camping World Stadium.

There were 7 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 109-91 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 117-101 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 101-96 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 87-74 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Kansas City-Omaha Kings beat the Golden State Warriors, 107-84 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-104 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-97 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

There were 4 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets beat the Indiana Pacers, 134-122 at the new Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Billy Paultz led the Nets with 30 points. Julius "Dr. J" Erving scored 18. George McGinnis had 33 points and 18 rebounds in defeat.

* The Virginia Squires beat the Spirits of St. Louis, 99-93 at the Hampton Coliseum outside Norfolk in Hampton, Virignia.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Memphis Sounds, 115-98 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 119-104 at the Denver Auditorium Arena. Mike Green scored 39 points.

There were 6 games played in the NHL that day:

* The New York Islanders and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 3-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 8-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Philadelphia Flyers played to a tie, 2-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-7 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the cross-State Kansas City Scouts, 6-4 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the New York Rangers, the Oakland Seals, the Buffalo Sabres, the Vancouver Canucks, the Atlanta Flames and the Washington Capitals were not scheduled.

And there were 3 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Houston Aeros beat the New England Whalers, 5-3 at the Big E Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Chicago Cougars, 3-0 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.

* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the San Diego Mariners, 2-1 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

Also, Arsenal traveled to Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and beat Stoke City, 2-0 at the Victoria Ground. 

December 13, 1981: The Raiders Play Their Last Game In Oakland -- The 1st Time

December 13, 1981: The Chicago Bears beat the Oakland Raiders, 23-6 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The game didn't mean much to the Bears, who finished the season a week later, at 6-10. It didn't mean much to the Raiders, either, as they finished 7-9.

But it meant a lot to the people of the City of Oakland, Alameda County, and the East Bay region of Northern California. It was the Raiders' last game in Oakland. Or so everyone thought.

It was a rough way for the Raiders to go out. The defending NFL Champions, and known as the toughest team in the NFL, they gave up 2 touchdown passes from future Raider quarterback Vince Evans to Rickey Watts, another from Evans to Ken Margerum, and a safety when Marc Wilson, substituting at quarterback for the injured Jim Plunkett, was sacked in the end zone. The last Raider scoring play came in the 1st quarter, a 27-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Bob Chandler.

The Raiders had made Oakland, always with an inferiority complex compared to the much more cosmopolitan city across the Bay, a major league city. They started with the Oakland name, but in San Francisco, at Kezar Stadium, in 1960, moved to Candlestick Park in 1961, then spent the next 4 seasons at the 18,000-seat Frank Youell Field, before the Coliseum opened in 1966.

The Raiders were followed by the Coliseum's Arena opening in 1967, becoming the home of the California Golden Seals, the Kansas City Athletics moving to the Coliseum in 1968, and the San Francisco Warriors moving to the Arena in 1971. The Seals moved out in 1976, but the A's won 3 straight World Series, the Warriors won an NBA title, and the Raiders won 2 Super Bowls. Oakland was a happening place in the 1970s.

But Raider boss Al Davis wanted improvements to the Coliseum, including luxury boxes. When he was told he wouldn't get them, he decided to move to Los Angeles, as the Rams had left the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to play in Anaheim. While it wasn't yet clear that this would be the last Raider game in Oakland, everyone pretty much knew it would be. Winning a court case in May 1982, Davis made the move official.

But he wasn't happy in L.A., either. He wanted improvements to the L.A. Coliseum. He didn't get them. He threatened to move the team to Irwindale, 20 miles east of downtown L.A., where the City Council was ready to build a stadium for him.

But Oakland decided to renovate their Coliseum, including building the bleacher section that would be nicknamed "Mount Davis," ruining the nice view of the foothills as seen from the infield seats. So, for the 1995 season, the Raiders moved back.

With the Rams also vacating the L.A. area for 1995, and other big cities without NFL teams jockeying for position, there was always the threat that Al Davis would move the Raiders out of Oakland again. He never did, dying in 2011. But his son Mark Davis moved the team to Las Vegas in 2020. With the Warriors having moved back to San Francisco in 2019, and the A's threatening to leave for Las Vegas themselves, Oakland's day in the Sun was coming to a close.

*

December 13, 1981 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 20-10 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots, 19-10 at Schaefer Stadium (later Sullivan Stadium and Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Washington Redskins, although they have no rivalry with them, beat their geographically closest opponents, the Baltimore Colts, 38-14 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 24-23 at Tampa Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-10 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-7 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the New Orleans Saints, 35-7 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 21-10 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Seattle Seahawks, 23-13 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Houston Oilers, 28-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The day before, the New York Jets beat the Cleveland Browns, 14-13 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* And the Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings, 45-7 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* And the night after, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 21-16 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

One college football game was played, and it was the last edition of the Garden State Bowl, at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, New Jersey. Tennessee beat Wisconsin, 28-21.

Baseball was out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 127-108 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, 122-118 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 33 points.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Detroit Pistons, 105-99 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the San Diego Clippers, 98-74 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Edmonton Oilers , 4-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* The Quebec Nordiques and the Buffalo Sabres played to a tie, 4-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Hartford Whalers, 8-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 2-1 at the Winnipeg Arena. (By a weird coincidence, when the Jets played their last game before moving, in 1996, it was also a home loss to the Red Wings.)

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-6 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

September 3, 1995: The Raiders Return to Oakland -- But…

September 3, 1995: The Oakland Raiders, playing their 1st game back in their former city after 13 seasons in Los Angeles, beat the San Diego Chargers, 17-7 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

At first, it looks like the righting of a great wrong. But it turns out to be a temporary return, and those who drank a toast to it would discover that, metaphorically, they were drinking from a poisoned chalice. Sports fans in the East Bay region of Northern California would have been better off if the Raiders hadn't gone back.

Team owner Al Davis originally left after the 1981 season because he wanted improvements to the Coliseum, including luxury boxes. When he was told he wouldn't get them, he decided to move to Los Angeles, as the Rams had left the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to play in Anaheim.

But he wasn't happy in L.A., either. He wanted improvements to the L.A. Coliseum. He didn't get them. He threatened to move the team to Irwindale, 20 miles east of downtown L.A., where the City Council was ready to build a stadium for him.

But Oakland decided to renovate their Coliseum, including building the bleacher section that would be nicknamed "Mount Davis," ruining the nice view of the foothills as seen from the infield seats. So, for the 1995 season, the Raiders moved back.

The construction carried over into the start of the 1996 Major League Baseball regular season, forcing the Oakland Athletics to move their 1st 6 home games. As it turned out, they moved to Cashman Field, the 9,300-seat home of the Class AAA team in Las Vegas, Nevada. It turned out to be foreshadowing.

The Oakland Coliseum, once considered a good home for baseball in spite of his vast infield foul territory, and with the East Bay hills giving it one of the nicest views of any MLB stadium, now felt like just another multipurpose sports stadium. The County of Alameda couldn't keep up the maintenance, and by the 2010s, it was in bad shape. Both the A's and the Raiders wanted out, and looked at various options.

And neither team saw much success. The A's won 3 straight Pennants, including the 1989 World Series, but never won a Pennant after 1990. That same year, in Los Angeles, the Raiders reached the AFC Championship Game. But after returning to Oakland, in 25 seasons, they made the Playoffs only 4 times, reaching Super Bowl XXXVII in the 2002 season, and making 1 other AFC Championship Game, for 2000. Davis' slogan of "Just win, baby" became hopeless; while his other slogan, "Commitment to Excellence," became a joke.

With the Rams also vacating the L.A. area for 1995, and other big cities without NFL teams jockeying for position, there was always the threat that Davis would move the Raiders out of Oakland again, possibly back to Los Angeles. He never did, dying in 2011. But his son Mark Davis moved the team to Las Vegas in 2020. With the Warriors having moved back to San Francisco in 2019, and the A's threatening to leave for Las Vegas themselves, Oakland's day in the Sun was coming to a close.

UPDATE: The A's, too, decided to move to a new stadium in Las Vegas, which wouldn't be ready until the 2028 season at the earliest. In the interim, they will be playing at the Class AAA ballpark for the team representing the California State capital of Sacramento.

*

September 3, 1995 was a Sunday. This day also marked the regular-season debut of 2 new expansion teams. The Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Houston Oilers, 10-3 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Field). And the Carolina Panthers lost to the Atlanta Falcons, 23-20 in overtime at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. I have a separate entry for those events.

It was also the St. Louis Rams' 1st game representing St. Louis, after 48 seasons representing Los Angeles. They beat the Green Bay Packers, 17-14 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins, 52-14 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The New England Patriots beat the Cleveland Browns, 17-14 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 21-6 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Arizona Cardinals, 27-7 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions, 23-20 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Indianapolis Colts, 24-21 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 31-14 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 24-22 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Buffalo Bills, 22-7 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Seattle Seahawks, 34-10 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants, 35-0 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Oakland Athletics, 10-9 at Yankee Stadium. So both outdoor Oakland teams won on this day. Rickey Henderson went 2-for-6 with the game-winning home run in the top of the 10th inning, a stolen base, and 2 RBIs. David Cone started for the Yankees, but John Wetteland gave up the homer. Tony Fernández went 4-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs for the Yankees. Don Mattingly went 3-for-6.

* The New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Carl Everett went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs for the Mets. Barry Bonds and Deion Sanders each hit home runs for the Giants.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the California Angels, 8-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-6 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Ken Griffey Jr. only appeared as a late defensive replacement, and did not come to bat. Alex Rodriguez, then a rookie, did not appear at all. Cal Ripken Jr. went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Jason Schmidt pitched 8 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and Mark Wohlers completed the 6-hit shutout.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-8 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Omar Vizquel singled Wayne Kirby home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Joe Girardi singled Andrés Galarraga home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 8-5 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Houston Astros, 8-7 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Marlins scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th, and the Astros only 1 in the bottom of the 11th.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

June 8, 1966: The NFL-AFL Merger Is Announced

The AFL's logo, and the logo the NFL was using at the time

June 8, 1966: After 6 years of "war," the established National Football League and the upstart American Football League reach an agreement on a merger.

The process began 2 months earlier, when Al Davis, head coach of the AFL's Oakland Raiders, was named Commissioner of the AFL, replacing Joe Foss, who had been Commissioner since the league's founding in 1959. Davis' approach, much like the pirate on his team's helmet, was "Take no prisoners." That spooked the NFL team owners, who were tired of the rising salaries that the bidding war between the leagues was producing.

So Tex Schramm, general manager of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, contacted Lamar Hunt, founder of the AFL and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs. Hunt, more respected by the AFL team owners than Davis was, went behind Davis' back, and undercut Davis in his desire for all-out war. This resulted in Raiders vs. Chiefs being a very nasty rivalry that lasts to this day, in spite of the Raiders' moves.

On June 8, Hunt and Schramm called a press conference in New York, and announced that they'd agreed upon these points:

* The AFL's 8 teams, which would be 10 teams by the time the process was completed, would join the NFL and its 14 teams, which would soon grow to 16, and the combined 26-team league would keep the NFL name.

* All existing teams would remain in their respective metropolitan areas for the time being. Some teams soon built new stadiums out in the suburbs of their anchor cities, including the AFL's Boston Patriots and Buffalo Bills; and the NFL's New York Giants, Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. But no team in the combined NFL would move to a different metro area until the Raiders moved to Los Angeles in 1982. (That, however, began a new era in which several teams moved, and others at least threatened to do unless their current cities built them new stadiums.)

* Each league's champion would meet in an "AFL-NFL World Championship Game," starting with the end of the upcoming season. As it turned out, it would be informally nicknamed "the Super Bowl" at the time, officially so for the one at the climax of the 1968 season, and, for the 1970 season, officially named that with a Roman numeral added: Super Bowl V.

* Starting in 1967, there would be a common draft between the two leagues.

* Also starting in 1967, there would be preseason exhibition games between teams in the two leagues. So the first "AFL-NFL World Championship Game," retroactively renamed Super Bowl I, became, in Hunt's words, "the only time a pure AFL team played a pure NFL team."

* Starting in 1970, with everybody in one league, the National Football Conference would be made up of "original NFL" teams, while 3 such teams -- the Baltimore Colts, the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers -- were moved over to join the AFL teams in the American Football Conference.

* Each Conference would be divided into Eastern, Central and Western Divisions. Each Division's champion, plus a "wild card" team, would go into the Playoffs, resulting in 4 Playoff teams in each Conference, competing to be the Conference Champions, who would then face each other in the Super Bowl.

* Each league would keep its current television contract: CBS would keep the NFL/NFC games, and NBC would keep the AFL/AFC games. For interconference games, whichever was the visiting team would decide it: If an NFC team was visiting an AFC team, CBS would televise it; if it was the other way around, it was on NBC. This would hold until 1993, when new contracts were signed. (CBS ended up broadcasting so many Dallas Cowboys games that people joked that their initials stood for "Cowboys Broadcasting System.")

* And Pete Rozelle, currently the Commissioner of the NFL, would remain in charge of the combined league.

That last point ticked Davis off: He wanted to be Number 1 in everything he did, from running the Raiders to football competition. He resigned as AFL Commissioner in July, replaced by Milt Woodard, who had been Assistant Commissioner under both Foss and Davis, and served until the merger was completed in March 1970.

*

June 8, 1966 was a Wednesday. Actress Julianna Marguiles was born.

Football was out of season. So were basketball and hockey. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Joe Pepitone each got 2 hits, but Gary Bell outpitched Mel Stottlemyre. Jim Bouton, Bell's future roommate on the 1969 Seattle Pilots, and chronicler of that team in his book Ball Four, did not get into this game. I guess Bell smoked them inside.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 7-6 at Shea Stadium. Hank Aaron went 4-for-5 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs. Joe Torre went 2-for-5. The starting pitchers were Jack Fisher for the Mets and Hank Fischer for the Braves -- obviously, no relation. Jack Fisher was the losing pitcher, and the winning pitcher, in relief, was Clay Carroll.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-6 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The Phils got home runs from Dick Allen, Tony Gonzalez and Clay Dalrymple. Pete Rose went 1-for-5.

* A doubleheader was played at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Well, sort of. In the opener, the Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 6-5. Cam Carreon doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning, making a winning pitcher of Stu Miller in relief of Jim Palmer. The nightcap was interrupted in the 8th inning, because the American League then had a curfew: No inning could start after 1:00 AM. The game was completed the next day, and the Orioles won, 8-7. 

Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 5-for-10 with a solo home run, while Frank Robinson went 2-for-9 with 2 walks.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Lou Brock went 1-for-5. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-3, and Willie Stargell went 3-for-4 with a 2-run homer.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Don Wert drew a bases-loaded "walkoff walk" in the bottom of the 11th inning, making a winner of Larry Sherry after Denny McLain pitched 10 innings. Al Kaline hit 2 home runs, while Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4. The Red Sox got a home run from Tony Conigliaro, and 2 of them from Jim Gosger (who turned out to be another '69 Pilot).

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Randy Hundley hit a home run off Don Drysdale, to help make a winning pitcher out of Dick Ellsworth, who advanced to 2-8 on the season. (He finished at 8-22. With the Cubs in 1963, he went 22-10.) Ernie Banks went 2-for-3. 

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Mike Cuellar outpitched Juan Marichal. Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with an RBI double.

* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 1-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). George Brunet (who turned out to be another '69 Pilot) pitched a 2-hit shutout.

January 9, 1977: The Oakland Raiders Win the Big One

Fred Biletnikoff (left) and Ken Stabler

January 9, 1977: This remains the earliest day in the calendar year on which a Super Bowl has been held, and the earliest definitive pro football "world championship" since 1959, when the NFL Championship Game was still held in December, and alone, without an AFL Championship Game to leave the world championship disputed.

Perhaps being played so early explains why "The Autumn Wind" finally made its presence felt in Winter.

The Oakland Raiders were founded with the American Football League in 1960. By 1963, with Al Davis beginning to run things as head coach and "managing general partner," they were a 10-4 team. In 1966, Davis stuck to the management side of things, and hired John Rauch as head coach.

In 1967, he hired John Madden to be linebackers coach. They won the AFL Championship, losing to the Green Bay Packers of Vince Lombardi in Super Bowl II. A year later, the Raiders lost the AFL Championship Game to the New York Jets. Rauch resigned, and Madden was named his successor as head coach.

Davis built a team in his own image. Nasty. Sometimes weird. Someone once compared them to "the Island of Misfit Toys" in the 1964 Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. But with Davis running the organization, and Madden running the team, they built a record that made them one of professional football's iconic franchises. They inspired NFL Films head Steve Sabol, in 1974, to write a poem:

The Autumn Wind is a pirate
blustering in from sea.

With a rollicking song,

he sweeps along,
swaggering boisterously.

His face is weather-beaten.
He wears a hooded sash,
with a silver hat

about his head,
and a bristling black mustache.

He growls as he storms the country,
a villain big and bold,

and the trees all shake

and quiver and quake,
as he robs them of their gold.

The Autumn Wind is a Raider

pillaging just for fun.

He'll knock you 'round

and upside-down

and laugh when he's conquered and won.

Sabol showed the poem to Davis, and he loved it, saying, "This is what the Oakland Raiders are all about." So Sabol had NFL Films' regular voiceover performer, John Facenda, record it, and then played it over highlights of the team. And that's how the Oakland Raiders, the toughest football team of its era, became the only NFL team with an official team poem, something you'd expect from a more literary city like New York or Boston.

The mustache was a reference to old perceptions of pirates. In fact, most of the Raiders didn't have mustaches, and even the pirate logo on their helmet doesn't have one. "Bucco Bruce," the original helmet logo of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, did.

But the team did enjoy its "villain" image. Defensive end Ben Davidson, who did grow a horseshoe mustache, was regarded as the dirtiest player in the AFL. Linebacker Ted Hendricks, already known as "The Mad Stork" when starring for the Baltimore Colts, burnished his Hall of Fame credentials with the Raiders, being nicknamed "Kick 'em in the Head Ted."

Safety Jack Tatum was the hardest hitter in the game, so mean he leveled an unnecessary hit on New England Patriot receiver Darryl Stingley in 1978. In a preseason exhibition. Stingley was paralyzed. Tatum titled his memoir They Call Me Assassin.

And the quarterback was no exception. Ken Stabler, prior to the arrival of Steve Young, was the best lefthanded quarterback football had ever seen. He could have been mistaken for a member of the Hell's Angels, the drug-dealing motorcycle gang founded in Oakland years before the Raiders arrived. He had the long hair, the mustache, and the bushy beard. And he had the attitude: He would do whatever it takes to beat you from the long bomb to "those 14-yard and 16-yard darts," as one writer described him at the time.

Off the field, though, he wasn't mean. He was a country boy from Alabama who enjoyed a good time. He once said, "There's nothing wrong with reading a playbook by the light of a jukebox." Someone once read him a quote by novelist Jack London: "I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than be stifled by dry rot," and asked Stabler what he thought it meant. He thought for a few seconds, and said, "Throw deep."

To later fans, who knew him as a broadcaster, or as the creator of the video game series that bears his name, John Madden seemed to be too nice a guy to coach the Raiders. Nothing could be further from the truth: That personality made him exactly the kind of guy who should have been their coach. Most coaches in those days acted like domineering fathers. He was more like the cool older brother, who would teach you things that Dad wouldn't teach you. The players related to him: White and black, urban and rural, the straight-laced and the party animal, the merely mischievous and the truly dirty.

He gave his players one rule, and only one: "Be on time." That gave them a freedom that most coaches wouldn't give. He coached them for 10 seasons, and went 103-32-7. He was the Light Side of the Raider Force, Al Davis was the Dark Side, and, together, they built something that wasn't always good, but was must-see TV, long after John left for the broadcast booth.

But the Raiders had difficulty winning big games. In 1968, his last year as an assistant, they beat the New York Jets in a regular-season game remembered as "The Heidi Bowl," but lost the AFL Championship Game to the Jets. In 1969, they lost the AFL Championship Game to the Kansas City Chiefs. In 1970, the 1st post-merger season, they lost the AFC Championship Game to the Baltimore Colts.

They missed the Playoffs in 1971. In 1972, they thought they had the Pittsburgh Steelers beaten in a Divisional Playoff, before a play known as "The Immaculate Reception." Various Raiders insisted that the play was illegal for various reasons: The pass hit Frenchy Fuqua, not Jack Tatum, therefore all Steeler players were ineligible receivers; Franco Harris caught the ball when it was on the ground, therefore it was an incomplete pass; and Phil Villapiano was illegally blocked by John McMakin, therefore the ball should have been placed at the spot of the foul, and then 5 yards marked off, negating the touchdown.

It's been nearly half a century. Every piece of footage of the play that has ever been found has proven that the ball hit Tatum, and never hit Fuqua. Every footage found shows McMakin's block was legal. And no footage found has yet shown the ball hitting the ground as Harris caught it. Still, Madden said he would never get over the play: "No matter how many times I watch the films of the Immaculate Reception play, I never know for sure what happened."

The Raiders lost the 1973 AFC Championship Game to the Miami Dolphins. In 1974, they dethroned the 3-time defending AFC Champion Dolphins in a wild game at the Oakland Coliseum that became known as "The Sea of Hands," but lost to the Steelers again in the AFC Championship Game. They lost to the Steelers again in the 1975 AFC Championship Game.

Finally, in 1976, after a 13-1 regular season, and a controversial Playoff win over the New England Patriots, they beat the Steelers, and advanced to Super Bowl XI. On January 9, 1977, they walked onto the field at the Rose Bowl, in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California.

Their opponents were the Minnesota Vikings. In contrast to the Raiders' rather plain combination of silver, black and white -- they wore their white jerseys on this day -- the Vikings wore purple and white, with gold trim. They had a strong defense, with a nickname that made them seem as fearsome as the Raiders, taken from a rock and roll novelty song from 1958: The Purple People Eaters. Tackle Alan Page, ends Carl Eller and Jim Marshall, and safety Paul Krause, the NFL's all-time leader in interceptions, are all in the Hall of Fame.

Their offense was nearly unpredictable, largely due to their quarterback. Fran Tarkenton was known as the Scrambler, because chasing him out of the pocket was often a bad idea, as he ran and searched for open receivers, such as Sammy White and Ahmad Rashad, or perhaps running back Chuck Foreman. And if he couldn't find one, he kept running. He finished his career with more passes, more completions, more touchdown passes, more passing yards, and more rushing yards than any quarterback before him. He, center Mick Tinglehoff and offensive tackle Ron Yary are also in the Hall of Fame, as is head coach Bud Grant.

But the Vikings were also a team that "couldn't win the big one." Despite having won 8 of the last 9 titles in their Division, they had lost Super Bowls IV, VIII and IX. Now, 2 teams known for falling apart when it mattered most were playing for the biggest prize of all. Something had to give.

It remains the only Super Bowl to not have the National Anthem played or sung before it. Instead, singer Vikki Carr sang "America the Beautiful." Kickoff was at 12:30 PM Pacific Time -- 3:30 Eastern. It remains the last Super Bowl to have been played entirely in daylight.

The Rose Bowl

The Raiders' opening drive ended when kicker Errol Mann hit the left upright on a 29-yard field goal attempt. Later, Fred McNeill of the Vikings blocked a punt by the Raiders' Ray Guy, who had never had one blocked before. But the Vikings' Brent McClanahan fumbled the ball away on the Raider 3-yard line.

That began a Raider drive to end the quarter, but they could only get a 24-yard field goal from Mann. They could easily have been up 14-0. Instead, it was just 3-0.

But after holding the Vikings and forcing them to punt, Stabler went to work, tossing to Fred Biletnikoff, Dave Casper and Cliff Branch, finally finding Casper in the end zone to put the Raiders up 10-0. They held the Vikings again, and Pete Banaszak ran the ball in for a touchdown to make it 16-0. But, again, Mann missed a close kick, this time the extra point. The Raiders should have been up by 28. Instead, they were up by 16.

Still, they had held the Vikings to just 1 1st down. They got 3 more, but were still well short of the Raider end zone when the half expired. To this day, the Vikings have been in 4 Super Bowls, scoring a grand total of zero points in those games' 1st halves.

Midway through the 3rd quarter, Stabler drove the Raiders again, and, from 40 yards out, Mann did not miss. His field goal made it 19-0. In their 3 1/2 Super Bowls to that point, the Vikings had scored only 20. A roughing-the-passer penalty on Hendricks gave the Vikings a chance, and Tarkenton threw a touchdown pass to Sammy White, making it 19-7.

The Raiders had to punt on their next drive, and Tarkenton got the Vikings to the Raider 37. It looked like the momentum had shifted. But Willie Hall intercepted a pass, and Stabler nearly got into the end zone with a 48-yard pass to Biletnikoff. Banaszak ran it in 2 players later, and the game was effectively over at 26-7.

On the Vikings' next drive, veteran cornerback Willie Brown intercepted a Tarkenton pass, and ran it 75 yards for a touchdown. Mann missed the extra point again, but at 32-7, nobody cared. The Vikings added a touchdown with 25 seconds left, but few people cared about that, either. It ended Raiders 32, Vikings 14.

Biletnikoff was named the game's Most Valuable Player. For the Raiders: Stabler, Biletnikoff, Casper, Hendricks, Brown, Guy, guard Gene Upshaw and offensive tackle Art Shell were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So were coach Madden and owner-GM Davis.

When The Sporting News named its 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999, Brown was ranked 50th, Shell 55th, Upshaw 62nd, Hendricks 64th, and Biletnikoff 94th. When the NFL Network named its 100 Greatest Players in 2010, Upshaw was ranked 56th, Brown 66th, Shell 76th, Hendricks 82nd, and Biletnikoff had dropped off the list.

The Raiders would win a 2nd title in the 1980 season, under head coach Tom Flores, beating the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XV. They moved to Los Angeles in 1982, and Flores guided them to a 3rd title in the 1983 season, beating the team then known as the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII.

It is noteworthy that, from the Giants' Pennant of October 3, 1962 to the 49ers' NFC Championship of January 10, 1982, the City of San Francisco had no league champions in any sport, while the City of Oakland had 8: The 1967 AFL Champion Raiders; the 1969 ABA Champion Oaks; the 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Series Champion Athletics; the 1975 NBA Champion Warriors; and the 1976 and 1980 NFL Champion Raiders.

The Raiders went into a down period, but reached the AFC Championship Game in 1990. They moved back to Oakland, and won another AFC Championship in 2002, losing Super Bowl XXXVII to the other pirate-themed team in the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2020, they left Oakland again, moving to Las Vegas.

The Vikings haven't been to a Super Bowl since, losing the NFC Championship Game for the seasons of 1987 (losing to the Redskins), 1998 (despite finishing the regular season 15-1, losing in overtime to the Atlanta Falcons), 2000 (getting slaughtered 41-0 by the New York Giants at the Meadowlands), 2009 (losing in overtime to the New Orleans Saints) and 2017 (getting clobbered by the Philadelphia Eagles, denying them a chance to play Super Bowl LII in their home stadium in Minneapolis).

*

January 9, 1977 was a Sunday. Obviously, no other football games were played on the day. Baseball was out of season. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons, 124-118 at Cobo Hall in Detroit.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 150-113 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. Despite the high score, no player on either side scored more than 22 points.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the New Orleans Jazz, 92-76 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 3 games played in the NHL that day:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 5-4 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Cleveland Barons, 7-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. After the 1978 season, the Barons and the Minnesota North Stars, both going broke, were merged, with all of the Barons' assets, including players, transferred to the Stars. The Barons remain the last team in North America's "Big Four" sports leagues to go out of business.

* And in an "Original Six" matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

And there were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the San Diego Mariners, 5-2 at the Colisée de Québec. San Diego to Quebec City is about as far as you can go on a North American sports roadtrip.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Birmingham Bulls, 4-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Indianapolis Racers, 5-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.