The NFL yesterday announced that the start of the Chargers-Raiders game on Sunday has been pushed back to 11:35pm ET and will air on NFL Network and Westwood One, as well as over-the-air stations in San Diego and Oakland. The move was made to accomodate a Tigers-A's ALDS game on Saturday at O.co Coliseum, as the Raiders share the stadium with the A's and the Coliseum needs time to convert back into a football stadium on Sunday (NFL). In Sacramento, Tom Couzens writes, "For those of us who have lived on the East Coast, the late local start isn't a big deal." But how many NFL fans "on the East Coast are going to watch the Raiders against the Chargers until nearly 3 a.m., especially the way they've played this season?" Sacramento residents have been "spoiled with even the Sunday and Monday night games over well before bedtime for even the earliest risers." Couzens: "We've been programmed to watch NFL games with our breakfast and lunch for the most part, not hours after the dinner dishes have been put away" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 10/1). In San Diego, Tom Krasovic writes NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig "owe NFL fans an apology for the scheduling fiasco." It takes "up to 18 hours to reconfigure the field" at O.co Coliseum for football following a baseball game. Krasovic: "Sorry, that's not good enough, and the blame goes" to the NFL. Having the Raiders play at the Chargers before the World Series ended "should've been the original plan, even if it meant front-loading the Raiders' schedule with three games in the four weeks before baseball's postseason began" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/1). CSNBAYAREA.com's Ray Ratto writes of the Chargers-Raiders and Texans-49ers games on Sunday, "People all over are watching -- well, the aftermath if not the games." They are "expecting the very worst" from fans. Ratto: "So don't act like troglodytic swine, okay?" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 9/30).
