It's hard to like the new sexy Raiders — After L.A.

Raider Sellout

The Oakland Raiders are tied for the best record in the league at 7-1 and are drawing attention from around the bay again. They even have a legitimate sellout for this weekend's game against the Chiefs at the Coliseum. This former Raider fan, however, can't jump back on the bandwagon just yet. I have to state that, despite growing up in San Francisco and the peninsula, I was a huge Raiders fan. Kenny Stabler was my favorite player and Ted Hendricks was my defensive hero. Like other Raider fans, I felt betrayed when the silver and black deserted us for L.A. Maybe I should let bygones be bygones, but I've been comparing my relationship with the Raiders to marriage. Let me explain this seemingly strange analogy. Imagine that you're married to a woman ...let's call her "The Raiders." Though she's not the glitziest wife (like that "The Cowboys" woman), you respect each other, have sell-outs at all of her games and share a happy, economically-feasible relationship. She then meets a guy in Los Angeles who she thinks has more money than you and she leaves you for him based on what you know are a lot of empty promises. You're heartbroken. You've been by her side through thick and thin and she just throws you aside. Within a year, however, you're caught off-guard and meet a younger, more attractive woman. Let's call her "The 49ers." She emerges from nowhere and you embrace one another. She even wins five Super Bowls along the way. Meanwhile, your former wife, "The Raiders," finds that the guy she ran off to in L.A. isn't as rich as she had first thought. The relationship with you, she figures, wasn't so bad after all. She decides that she wants to come back to you and assumes that you will leave your new wife and jump into her arms as if nothing has changed. I know that "The Raiders" appear to be more attractive than "The 49ers" right now, but I'm in this relationship for the long haul. "The 49ers" need a makeover right now and "The Raiders" already underwent plastic surgery (they were in Hollywood, after all), but personally, I find it difficult to open my heart again to a partner who didn't value my loyalty in the first place. I hope "The 49ers" don't take too long completing that makeover though, because that "Raiders" woman is looking mighty fine these days.