American Football
Second annual Raiders Fan Convention South draws big crowd at the Handlery Hotel in Baja Oakland, a.k.a. San Diego. Raiders Fan Convention Oakland scheduled for 8 November 2014.
San Diego has a football team of its own (if you can call the Chargers a football team), but you’d never know it by the tide of Silver and Black that swept through America’s Finest City on 23 August 2014.
Now in its second year, Raiders Fan Convention South drew 1,200 Raider fans, roughly 3 times as many as attended last year’s event. Included were Super Fans Gorilla Rilla, Mystic Raider, and Hi- Roller Raider.
Former Raider Running Back Charlie Garner, who played in the ill-fated 2002 Super Bowl, signed autographs for free, and the first 50 Raider fans to arrive received Charlie Garner magnets.
Commitment to Excellence!
Entertainment was provided by the Hazmat Boyz, 4DUB, Domi Young, Autumn Wind, and DJ MardeeMar.
According to Mike Sommers, co-founder of the Raiders Fan Convention, the fun-filled event came off without a hitch.
“The event was fun, energetic, and without incident,” Mike says, adding that the entertainment was fantastic, and the facility was beautiful.
“Everyone says they had a great time,” Mike says
South Bay Raiders Booster Club
Tiffany Baxter of Chula Vista, California, is a member of the South Bay Raiders Booster Club. She says Mike Sommers, always manages to out-do himself.
“The convention is for Raiders fans from all over to get together like a family reunion and have entertainment, vendors selling Raiders products, and basically to have fun celebrating the team we love,” Tiffany says.
“The convention is an amazing experience that the whole family can enjoy together.”
Raising Funds
Two separate raffles were held. The first was to raise funds to make future Raiders Fan Conventions bigger and better.
The second was to raise money for charity. It was organised by Jesus Vazquez, a corpsman with the United States Navy, who raffled off some of his extra Raiders gear to raise money in support of Veterans with Leukaemia.
Angielee SD Raiderette Elejorde helped Jesus with the raffle.
“It was an honour to work with him, and the support our Raider Nation showed for him was amazing,” Angielee says.
“It was my first convention so it was a blessing to see how everyone came together in unity to honour this soldier and help with what they could. Our Raider Nation definitely is more than a fan base, but a family. I’m so proud to be a part of that.”
Chargers Fan Convention? Not!
If there is Raiders Fan Convention in San Diego, do Charger fans in Northern California have a fan convention in Oakland?
Apparently not. We tried searching for one on Google. We couldn’t even find a Chargers Fan Convention in San Diego!
Not sure why, but rumour has it they couldn’t find a venue small enough …
The 2014 Raiders Fan Convention Oakland will be held on 8 November 2014 at E-One Entertainment on Hegenberger Road, which is half way between Oakland International Airport and the Black Hole.