Raiders’ superfan Violator suffered through ‘strangest season ever’
For Wayne Mabry, a lifelong Raiders fan better known as The Violator, this season has been one long exercise in frustration, soul-searching and reflection.
Being a fan of an NFL team means more to some than just clapping for touchdowns. For some, it’s a culture so deeply rooted they have rituals.
Buffalo Bills’ fans flop onto tables and cover themselves in ketchup. The Seattle Seahawks raise a flag for the 12th man — their fans.
And the Raiders have the Black Hole.
But in 2020, fans of the Silver and Black, known for adorning themselves with skulls and bones that liken the pirate mascot on the team’s shield, have had to watch from a distance.
Raiders owner Mark Davis declared that the team would play Allegiant Stadium’s inaugural season without fans amid the coronavirus pandemic, that if all 65,000 couldn’t gather on Sundays for home games, none would.
Mabry’s ritual of transforming himself into the character “The Violator” begins at 4 a.m. on a typical game day. Ever since his “heart had been pricked by that Raiders’ sword” at the age of 12, Mabry made it his mission to move from Mississippi to California as a way to intimately follow his favorite team.
As Mabry said it in an interview on this week’s Review-Journal “Takeaways” podcast, sitting out this season has felt like “needing to go to your therapist and you don’t have a car or transportation to get there.”
For Mabry, a member of the Black Hole, it’s the first time in nearly three decades that he won’t turn into a larger-than-life persona who rallies behind his team from the league’s most famed section of fans. He won’t emblazon his face with silver and black war paint or pull his No. 57 jersey over the spikes erected atop his shoulders.
For the retired Moreno Valley resident, it has become “the strangest season ever.”
After all, the team moved from Oakland to Las Vegas this year. There was a new stadium to christen. Then the pandemic and uncertainty hit.
“I was calling it the new beginning, a new era, so to speak,” Mabry said. “When we drive by and when you come to town and you see that beautiful Death Star there, there will be no other arena ever looking like that one. That was custom built for us from (former Raiders owner) Al (Davis). I just say that’s Al spirit. He’s seeing his dream come to fruition.
“But until we can cut the ribbon as a fan base and go inside and really let our spirits go inside of there, it’s still just a new house where we haven’t walked across a threshold yet.”
Mabry admits he feels lost without his usual outlet for release. He thinks the team is struggling to adjust, as well.
“I think in part they miss that energy, that (connection) with the fan base. And I’m saying that for all the teams that don’t have their fans there, but especially the Raiders. They’re used to the ruckus, for lack of better word, that we bring.”
While the country continues to adapt to a world where human contact should be avoided, Mabry is aware that at 64 years old, he needs to abide by social distancing guidelines. The retired construction worker hopes those loyal to the Silver and Black can reconvene sometime in the foreseeable future. With a vaccine on the cusp of reaching the masses, perhaps that could become a reality in 2021.
“I have to use common sense and just stay away from crowds,” he said. “There’s no way I’m going to be around my family, my Raider Nation family, and not be able to enjoy it.”
Though Mabry admits the team’s current 7-7 record has fallen short of his expectations, there’s one thing that the Raiders can do on the gridiron to help cure his woes.
“Go out there and show your moxie,” he said. “Show what you can be and what you will be in 2021.”
Heidi Fang is a visual journalist, Vegas Nation show co-host and podcast host. Contact her at hfang@reviewjournal.com. The Takeaways podcast can be heard on VegasNation.com every Wednesday. Follow @HeidiFang on Twitter.