NFL Roadtrip: Oakland, Calif.

Where Jack London worked on The Call of the Wild, Al Davis found a home

1. RICKY'S SPORTS THEATRE & GRILL Barring a TV blackout, Raiders rowdies congregate for HDTV broadcasts amidst a jerseys-on-the-wall ambience, ex-Raiders Jack Tatum and Rod Sherman often among them.

2. VELLA'S LOCKER ROOM Lineman John Vella peddles Raiders swag at five locations. Now in stock: number 81 Tim Brown onesies for infants, Raiders mugs and, in holiday season, nutcrackers.

3. JACK LONDON SQUARE QB Ken Stabler and coach John Madden are fans of the man who sketched out The Call of the Wild here at Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon. In a recent Super Bowl bid the city promised to turn the area into a theme park. Think Jack London's NFL Playland. (Never happened.)

4. LANEY COLLEGE Junior college next to Frank Youell Field, the Raiders' home from '62 through '65.

5. CLEM DANIELS' END ZONE Raiders RB Daniels has run the sports bar for 29 years. Thursday-night feeding spot for the 300 Club -- the team's 300-plus-pound offensive linemen.

6. SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND BAY BRIDGE Partially collapsed during 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Bay Area before Game 3 of '89 A's-Giants World Series.

7. DALY CITY Stomping grounds of a young Madden and UNLV coach John Robinson -- who would hitchhike from there to watch East-West Shrine Game practices. Today minor league Daly City Renegades play at John Madden Field.

8. SANTA ROSA Raiders training camp where, in the 1970s, LB Ted Hendricks rode in on a white horse and lineman Bob Brown assumed a three-point stance and, as related in Madden's book Hey, Wait a Minute, I wrote a book!, took out a wooden goal post with a forearm shiver.

9. COLISEUM LOCKER ROOMS Stories of spying are legion. Once in the early 1970s Chargers coach Harland Svare, suspecting a bug, shouted, "I know you're up there, Al Davis," at a light fixture. Davis's response: "The thing wasn't in the light fixture, I'll tell you that."

10. RUBY HILL GOLF CLUB On the day he signed with Oakland in June 2001, Jerry Rice played nine holes with Jon Gruden, then ceremoniously received his silver-and-black number 80.

11. MCDONALD'S Bore the brunt of post-Super Bowl XXXVII riots (a 27-point Raiders loss). Some $30,000 in damages included broken windows, a smashed sign and a torched garbage can.

12. NETWORK ASSOCIATES COLISEUM
• FORMER NAME: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
• SURFACE: Natural grass
• RAIDERS' TENURE: 1966-81; 1995-present (first pro sports team to leave a stadium and return)
• USFL'S OAKLAND INVADERS AT COLISEUM: 19-8-1 (.696)
• RAIDERS AT COLISEUM: 131-56-3 (.697)
• FOOTBALL CAPACITY: 63,132
• BASEBALL CAPACITY: 43,662 (A's)

Issue date: October 25, 2004