The Raiders rankled their current hometown when they announced their plan to relocate to Las Vegas in 2020, and Oakland isn’t going down without a fight.
The city has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the team and the NFL, alleging in a public statement that the Raiders and the league “boycotted Oakland as a host city.” The statement claims that the city has essentially been held financially hostage by the NFL, and is now being left to pick up the pieces of their failed Oakland enterprise while the league, the team, and the city of Las Vegas reaps the benefits.
The lawsuit won’t look to block the Raiders from moving to Las Vegas, but this puts an interesting kink in the team’s plans for next season.
As of right now, the Raiders don’t have a lease to use a stadium for the 2019 NFL season. They’ve said that the team will leave their current home in the Oakland Coliseum if slapped with a lawsuit, so it’s safe to say that this particular bridge has been burned. However, they’re not slated to move to Las Vegas for an additional year; their new stadium won’t be ready until 2020.
This story is obviously still unraveling, but it will be interesting to see where this lawsuit ends up taking the Raiders next season. Some of the locations being tossed around include San Diego, Reno, or a temporary home in Las Vegas.
The Miami Miracle
After watching the Patriots lost to the Dolphins on Sunday in a play that NFL history will remember, New England Twitter users had a collective meltdown.
In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the play that sealed the deal for Miami:
IT’S A MIAMI MIRACLE! #FinsUp#NEvsMIA pic.twitter.com/qvzsiI9a5g
— NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2018
Here’s another view of what happened, because it really was a play straight out of a video game.
The 8-bit Tecmo version of the “Miami Miracle” pic.twitter.com/RnzvKOu6dO
— Benstonium (@Benstonium) December 10, 2018
A few of the post-game Twitter highlights included:
This frustrating statistic:
Per ESPN, Patriots had a 99.9 percent chance to win after Gostkowski’s kickoff pic.twitter.com/JUrWUvJjFO
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) December 10, 2018
This hurtful but apt comparison:
Here’s another angle of Gronk trying to make that tackle.#dolphins #patriots#finsup pic.twitter.com/TvAYqiUsxo
— Johnny Manziel (@thebillymanziel) December 10, 2018
This NSFW Grandpa who has had just about enough:
Patriots grandpa, who has been through some really dark times with his sports franchises over the years, loses it pic.twitter.com/usFqY0Xf8M
— Busted Coverage (@bustedcoverage) December 10, 2018
This (accurate) depiction:
This is how I felt doing the highlights this morning. #Patriots pic.twitter.com/xqx1weoHet
— Blake Lipton (@Blake_Lipton) December 10, 2018
And, last but not least, this cultural mashup for the ages:
A MIAMI MIRACLE!!!!! THE @MIAMIDOLPHINS WINNING ON THE FINAL PLAY OF THE GAME IS EVEN BETTER WITH TITANIC MUSIC!!!! WHAT A PLAY BY KENYAN DRAKE!!!!
— TITANIC TD (@TitanicTD)
RIP the Pats’ playoff home field advantage chances.
End of an Era
Lebron James and Dwyane Wade faced each other on Monday for what’s likely to be the last time. The meeting between the former teammates wraps up a chapter marked by friendship and rivalry as Wade prepares for retirement at the end of the season.
“Thanks for pushing me to be greater than I knew I was.” – Dwyane Wade to LeBron James. pic.twitter.com/xOfn4DYOOP
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 11, 2018
Special shout-out to my dad for making me get Lee Smith’s autograph at Fenway back in the mid-nineties. He said he’d make the Hall of Fame someday, and it only took 16 years from his first appearance on the ballot.
Media credit: NBC San Diego
