Raiders fan honors team with spirited landscaping at Santa Rosa home

Antonio Mendoza came to the door Sunday wearing Raiders slippers.

His wife, Piedad, had on a Raiders apron and a Khalil Mack jersey.

But I didn’t knock on their door to do a wardrobe check. I wanted to talk about their hedge.

In front of their West Avenue home (a house painted silverish gray and black, by the way) and behind a wrought iron fence painted black with silver accents, is a hedge, cut with precision, to spell out RAIDERS.

I’m not the only one to take notice. How could I be? The Mendozas’ home faces a super busy Bayer Park and Gardens. They are next to two schools. They get substantial foot traffic.

“A lot of people, people that are Raiders fans, ask me to take pictures,” he said.

And why wouldn’t they? Mendoza, 73, knows what he’s doing

He and Piedad have lived here since 1985. A retired groundskeeper with the Roseland School District, Mendoza says he was hired there on the basis of his front yard.

“That is why I got the job,” he said pointing next door to the campuses of Sheppard Elementary and Roseland Accelerated Middle schools. “The people who managed the schools said I have a nice yard, ‘Let’s hire him.’”

And that was before he manicured the name of his favorite football team into his front hedge.

He recalls doing a similar design on one of the district campuses years ago. He used a low, white-flowered ground cover to spell out “Raiders.”

Someone ripped it up.

Forty-Niner fans probably, Mendoza said, smiling.

In the off season, Mendoza lets the hedge go a bit. He’s mindful of the drought and his water use. But by the time the preseason started Aug. 14, Mendoza was on his game and the hedge looked sharp.

“I just keep pulling weeds out and trimming it when it gets messy,” he said.

On Sunday, it was pristine.

Mendoza has loved the Raiders for nearly five decades. The relationship dates back to 1972.

“When I started to watch American football, I chose the Oakland Raiders because they are a local team,” he said. “They are the team I liked because of the color and the logo.”

Clearly.

The paint scheme on his house is mirrored by the colors of the two vehicles in his driveway — both silver, both sporting Raiders license plate frames.

When his sons — he and Piedad have three boys, Raiders fans, of course — park at the house with their black cars, the symbiosis just feels right.

When the Raiders beat the Ravens on Monday Night Football Sept. 13, Mendoza and his sons, four nephews and some friends were in Las Vegas to see the game.

“We were season ticket holders for so many years,” he said. “Now, we maybe go to one game a year.”

Mendoza can’t shake the Raiders even though the Raiders always seem to try to shake their fans.

When they moved to Los Angeles in 1982, Mendoza stuck with them.

“I was disappointed, but anyway, that is my team,” he said. “We have been Raiders fans for life.”

After they moved back to Oakland in 1995 he bought season tickets. When they played in Mexico City, he went.

The Raiders tchotchkes built up inside the house and out. Lawn ornaments. Slippers. Jerseys. Mendoza said he mainly dons the silver and black just during football season. He’s an Oakland A’s fan too, you know.

But the house tells a different story. Mendoza may root for the A’s, but he loves the Raiders.

And he’s not alone in his West Avenue home. Piedad, in her Mack jersey and black apron, makes enchiladas with red sauce on game day. The boys come over. They, too, are adorned in Raider Nation gear.

Game days are a family affair for the Mendozas.

“Always together,” Mendoza said.

Sometimes Piedad paces. If it gets too much, she will occasionally leave the room, he said. She gets nervous.

On Sunday, Piedad probably took a couple of laps around the hedge out front. The Raiders would go on to beat the Dolphins 31-28 in overtime in a game that shouldn’t have been that close or that exciting.

“Sometimes she gets nervous,” Mendoza said of his wife. “She screams like we do.”

All was well in the end. The Raiders are 3-0 for the first time since 2002.

Maybe Mendoza’s meticulous groundskeeping is good luck.

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @benefield.