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ByJohnMarshall TheAssociatedPress OAKLAND Their reputation is notorious, these NFL versions of hooligans, the action on the field often a sidelight to more vicious violence in the stands. Some of them are downright scary looking, dressed in black, covered with piercings, neck and face tattoos, scowls straight off a mug shot. But as a buddy and I waded into the depths of Oakland Coli- seum's Black Hole, a sense of ca- maraderie, not fear enveloped us. "I feel comfortable here," I said. "These are our people," Peter Elorduy responded. He nailed it. As kids, Elorduy and I rode to Raiders games with our dads to watch the Snake, the Ghost and the Mad Stork. We reconnected when Kenny Stabler died and de- cided to take in a game in case the Raiders do in fact move to Los Angeles. The Black Hole was the only option. The south end zone sections of Oakland-Alameda County Coli- seum are known to have some of the rowdiest fans in American sports, face painters who dress up in evil costumes, often with spike-covered shoulder pads. They are known for hurling vit- riol, sometimes other things. Friends joked to be safe. We weren't laughing; stabbings and beatings took place down there NFL Fingers,highfives andhugsinBlackHole Reportersurprisedbyfans'civility,butnot passion for Raiders with costumes and antics BENMARGOT—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE The Black Hole fan section is shown during the third quarter of a game between the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos in Oakland. The south end zone sections of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum are known to have some of the rowdiest fans in American sports. TONY AVELAR — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Oakland Raiders fans watch during the second half of a game between the Oakland Raiders and the Cincinnati Bengals in Oakland. Fans include face painters who dress up in evil costumes. By Dan Gelston The Associated Press DOVER, DEL. For a driver on the brink of championship elimina- tion, Kevin Harvick might have the biggest target at Dover. The mission is clear: Knock out Harvick, knock out a cham- pion. "Everyone in this Chase knows they are the biggest threat for the championship," four-time champ Jeff Gordon said. "If they get eliminated then that takes the biggest threat out of it. "Kevin and that team are go- ing to be working hard and all the other teams are going to be working hard to win this race and potentially eliminate one of the biggest threats." Harvick and his team have been doing a pretty good job of taking themselves out of the run- ning in their title defense. Time may have run out on the No. 4 Chevrolet. The third race in NASCAR's playoffs is a crucial one — the bottom four drivers out of the 16 in the field are cut and gone from the title picture. Harvick is 15th and will have to win to advance and remain in championship contention. Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Har- vick and Clint Bowyer are in the bottom four and most at risk of NASCAR SPRINT CUP Rain at Dover washes out all qualifying Kenseth has pole position as field gets set on points due to inclement weather in Delaware NICK WASS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Crew members push the race car of Denny Hamlin in the garage area for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race Friday at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del. Staff Reports RED BLUFF Local volleyball teams had a rough Thursday with Red Bluff, Corning and Mercy each losing in three sets. Corning dropped its match against Las Plumas in Oroville 25-11, 25-21 and 25-16. "Tonight we played great as a team in game 1," said Corning coach Mike Albee after the match. "Our hitting and net play was on. That set the tone for the rest of the night, even when we struggled at times, we were able to make a great plan to push through tough times." Gillian Wunsch had 3 aces and 3 assists; Daisy Alston had 3 aces, 2 blocks and 2 digs; Tania Navarro had 2 aces and a kill; Mariah Cas- tle had 13 digs and 5 kills; Kay- lee Shoemaker had a block, 9 digs and 10 kills; Mikayla Burreson had 3 kills; Brenna Johnson had 8 assists and Sam Haydon had 2 assists. The Cardinals, now 8-13 on the season, are scheduled to face a 19-3 West Valley squad at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Cottonwood. HAMILTON3,MERCY0 The Mercy Warriors fell to Hamilton at home Thursday, 25-21, 25-23 and 25-14. Tasha Pimentel had 8 kills, an ace a block and 20 assists; Mad- eline Flynn had 6 kills and 3 blocks; C.J. Johnson had 5 kills, an ace and an assist; Laura Ke- ane had 4 kills and a block; Selena Dobson had 3 kills and 2 assists; Annie Feser had a kill, a block and an ace. Mercy, now 6-8, was scheduled to host American Christian Acad- emy, 3-4, at 3 p.m. Friday. FOOTHILL 3, RED BLUFF 0 The Spartans lost to Foothills in Palo Cedro Thursday 25-15, 25-22 and 28-26. No stats were available for the match as of Friday afternoon. ROUNDUP Spartans, Cardinals, Warriors all beaten Mercy tennis team falls to Willows, stumbles to 0-8 By Michael Wagaman The Associated Press ALAMEDA Justin Ellis is the first one to admit his absence along the Oakland Raiders' defensive line the past two weeks has been hardly noticeable. That's because the Raiders' run defense has gotten progres- sively better since Ellis went out with an ankle injury early in the team's season-opening loss to Cin- cinnati. "Those guys have been playing good," Ellis said Friday. "Stacy McGee, he's been playing well, just as good as I could do it. Most of the (backups) on this line can do it just as much as the first string and sometimes better." Not that Ellis is considered a weak link. If anything, the player com- monly referred to as Jelly by his coaches and teammates is one of the best run defenders on Oak- land's roster. Ellis returned to practice this week and is expected to be back in the starting lineup when the Raiders play the Bears in Chicago on Sunday. The timing couldn't be better for Oakland's defense. Linebacker Khalil Mack has NFL Ellis' return provides boost to Raiders' defensive line San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis is listed as doubtful for Sunday's game against the Green Bay Pack- ers. Davis le last week's 47-7 loss to the Arizona Cardinals with a right knee injury. NFL 49erstightendDavis doubtful for Packers FULLSTORYONPAGEB2 The 26-year-old gunman who opened fire in a community college English class, killing nine, was an Army boot camp dropout who studied mass shooters before becoming one himself. TRAGEDY IN ROSEBURG Gunman Army dropout, studied mass shooters FULL STORY ON PAGE B8 The Red Bluff Spartans cross country team will be at the Clam Beach Invite in Arcata starting at 10:45a.m. today. The JV swim team will be at Anderson and JV volleyball at Foothill today. SPARTANS Red Bluff teams to go on the road today Jamboree Rides are set at Foothill High School Oct. 10. Millville Plains 26mi.; Ash Creek 41mi.; Ponderosa 63 mi.; Lassen Foothills Century; Give Me Wings Super Century 126mi. shastawheelmen.org CYCLING Jamboree rides set in Palo Cedro Oct. 10 ROUNDUP PAGE 2 ELLIS PAGE 2 NASCAR PAGE 2 OAKLAND PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, October 3, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1