I was a little disappointed in the Oakland fans outside McAfee Coliseum this morning.

No eggs. No beer bottles. Only a smattering of upraised middle fingers, mainly from one collection of early, silver-and-black-clad revelers who peeked out from a tent at the entry to the parking lot.

By East Bay standards, this was a church picnic, not a tailgate.

Where’s the hate?

I’ve come to expect the familiar thump of projectiles against the side of the bus as it ambles its way through rows of cars and into a tunnel adjacent to the Coliseum. Some years, the hurled objects have served as a wake-up call after falling into slumber on the bus, since it’s a solid 30-35 minute-ride from our hotel near San Francisco to Oakland.

Had I slept this year — and I nearly did, which would have been quite the feat, falling asleep to the mellow strains of AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” — I might still be sitting on the bus somewhere outside the stadium, still contentedly snoring.

The surprises continue once we found our seats in the cramped press box, since we haven’t yet heard any AC/DC here at the Coliseum. So far, we’ve had some post-David Lee Roth Van Halen (“Dreams,” to be specific), and “The Power” by Snap! Now the smattering of fans wandering into the stadium is being serenaded by “Rock of Ages” by Def Leppard and subsquently “Raise Your Hands” by Bon Jovi. (I always think of Barf from Spaceballs using a spoon to scrape dinner from his dog dish when I hear this song.)

We’re still waiting for any music created since the Raiders moved back to Oakland.

Inactives to come.

Tags: Music, Oakland Raiders, Snap!, Van Halen

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