Oakland Raiders: Ice Cube believes team owes the city a Super Bowl
By Randy Gurzi
With the Oakland Raiders set to move to Las Vegas for the 2019 NFL season, one of their biggest fans, Ice Cube, thinks they owe their city a Super Bowl
It hasn’t been easy for the people in Oakland. From their inception in 1960 up until 1981, they were Raider Nation. The Oakland Raiders were their team, and they became one of the most famous and rabid fanbases in all of sports. Then they lost their beloved franchise in 1982 when they became the Los Angeles Raiders. They remained there through the 1994 season before finally returning home where they belonged.
Fast forward to 2017 and the Raiders are officially preparing to leave Oakland again. This time they will be exiting the state of California all together as they set up shop in Las Vegas, NV. It was a tough blow for a fan base that lost their team once before, and one of their biggest fans is speaking up about it.
Rapper/actor/Oakland icon Ice Cube is part of the Raider Nation and, although he would have loved having the team return to Los Angeles, he does believe the team owes the city something special before walking out on them yet again, saying this to Paul Gutierrez of ESPN:
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"“I was sad they wasn’t coming to L.A.,” said Ice Cube, who grew up in Los Angeles. “But I feel sad for Oakland, straight up. I think the NFL makes so much money. They have enough money to build a stadium here. What are they doing? Why they have these teams uprooting and leaving?”"
After asking if Oakland wanted the Chargers who were coming to Los Angeles, Ice Cube continued with his talk on the Raiders. He said they owe the fans in Oakland a Super Bowl before they leave following the 2018 NFL season, again per ESPN:
"“I think the Raiders owe Oakland a Super Bowl championship before they leave, so that’s why, I think, people are going to support them.”"
Not too long ago the idea would have sounded ridiculous. Oakland hadn’t owned a winning record since 2002, but then this past season they reeled off 12 wins behind the strength of starting quarterback Derek Carr. Now they’ve added star running back — and Oakland native — Marshawn Lynch to the mix and spent some draft stock on revamping their defense.
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Suddenly winning it all doesn’t sound like it’s out of the realm of possibility for them. While that may make the fans happy, it could even make it harder to see them ride off into the sunset for the 2019 season. Although the team has such a strong following that Raider Nation may not care about state lines dividing them from their franchise. We know Ice Cube will still be a fan, and maye the Raiders can win one for him as well as the city of Oakland.