Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders is a pro-football team that is based in the popular city of Oakland, California. They are, at present, a member of the American Football Conference representing the Western Division in the NFL. This American Football team started their first play in 1960. They are 8th member of the AFL where they subsequently won three division titles and one championship.
The Oakland Raiders were one amongst the handful of teams that were handpicked to join the merger between AFL and NFL in 1970. Since joining the NFL, the team has already won three Super Bowls, won twelve division titles, and appeared in another two Super Bowls. The Oakland Raiders boast for thirteen Professional Football Hall of Fame accolades.
During the first three seasons of the Raiders, the team struggled on and off the playing field. Al Davis was brought to the team as their general manager as well as their head coach. Davis brought so much good luck to the team and has immediately turned them into winners. Under Davis’ supervision, from 1963 to 2002, the team amazingly only had 7 losing seasons. He was also the mind behind the popular team slogans: Commitment to Excellence, Pride and Poise, and Just Win, Baby – all of which by the way are registered trademarks under the team. Davis has been with the team continuously, except for a brief AFL Chief Commissioner term.
Upon Davis’s return to Oakland, he became a managing partner of the football franchise. After a couple of years doing legal battles, Davis has finally been approved of moving the teams to Los Angeles, California in 1982. While in L.A., the Oakland Raiders have won their third Super Bowl. However they have only made 2 appearances in the playoffs for the rest of the decade.
In 1995, Davis has then moved the team back to Oakland. In 2000, they hired a new head coach, Jon Gruden. He have successfully led the team their first division title since 1990. Under subsequent coach named Bill Callahan, the team was brought to the Super Bowl XXXXVII and ironically faced Gruden’s new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – where they lost with a score of 48-21. Since that lost, the Oakland Raiders faced another four consecutive seasons of defeat. In January 2007, the team has named their fourth head coach, a 31-year old named Lane Kiffin.
Oakland Raiders Logo And Uniforms
The original Oakland Raiders football uniforms consist of colors black and gold with helmets that are black with just a white stripe without a logo. The team wore this uniform from 1960 until 1962.
When Davis became the general manager and the head coach in 1963, the teams subsequently changed their color scheme to black and silver and added a distinct logo in the helmet. The logo consisted crossed swords, the word RAIDERS, and a head of a Raider wearing a football helmet. Over the years, the team uniform and the logo have both undergone minor changes, specifically in the color scheming, but it has generally remained the same.
The Oakland Raiders’ current black and silver uniform has essentially remained similar since it first debuted in 1963. It included silver pants, black or white jerseys, and silver helmets. The white jerseys have black player numbers while the white jerseys had silver numbers.
The Oakland Raiders might have incurred a series of bad lucks in their first appearances, but when they found a new coach and moved to L.A, things have looked up for them. However, for some reasons they had to go back to Oakland. But when they arrived back in their original hometown, they were a whole lot better.