Can Raiders And 49er's Share A Stadium?

Absolutely NOT! Why? Look at the Democrats and Republicans, The Irish and Brits, The Palestinians and Israelis, The Catholics and Protestants, Males and Females.

These rivalries have endured through natural disaster, world war, civil war, economic hardship, plague, revolution, terrorist attack, slavery and the holocaust.

Asking a sports fan to "SHARE" a stadium with one of his teams most hated rivals is like tying him down, putting a funnel in his mouth and force feeding him Alpo. Sure Alpo may be more nutritious and healthier for him than that cold crusty Roundtable slice sold at the game, but it's not what experts tell us is good for our sporting health, its what our inner gut tells us. And the inner gut of many Raiders fans says "I won't tolerate any team playing home games in my stadium unless they're wearing Silver and Black," period, end of story.

You can spin the numbers all you want about how profitable a joint football stadium in the Bay Area could be (A la The Meadowlands). To have the Raiders and 49er's share a stadium is like inserting a gasoline soaked fuse into the already unstable explosive dynamite. Sooner or later one too many Niner fans will come to a Raiders game wearing red and gold with something to prove, igniting what is already an explosive relationship. Ka Boom! And then of course there would have to be retaliation come the following week. Ka Boom! A regular West Bank/Gaza Strip scenario in the Bay.

Now if the Niners were to change their colors to Silver & Black, keeping the Sucka Free "SF" on their helmets for nostalgia's sake, then maybe we could have a truce and a winning forecast for the future of both teams.

Call it childish, call it Bay Area football suicide, but I believe the feelings of most Raiders fans would be; "sure, build it and we'll come, but don't expect us to change our attitude toward any breathing mammal in another team's jersey come game day."

If you wanna feed us Alpo and tell us its hamburger helper, then fine; but don't let us peel back the label and find an Alpo label underneath. Don't slip up and leave the SF Insignia on the field the day of a Raiders game. Or have red and gold show up anywhere in the stadium on a silver and black weekend. If so, we go back to that wet, gasoline soaked fuse being inserted into the dynamite. And this time its lit and sizzling toward the explosive stick faster than you can say "First Down." Ka Boom!

So go ahead, build the damn stadium. Maybe our newly elected President Barack Obama can give the opening ceremony unity speech and inspire us all to get along.

With the 49er's and Raiders having two of the three oldest stadiums in the league, its just a matter of time before facility and land leasing circumstances force the hand of one to go shopping elsewhere for a home soon. Time will tell. Until then.............Niners Suck!